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Saturday, January 7, 2012

Mystery House across my Window

There is a mystery house just across my northern window. It is a stone house surrounded with a stone brick wall. The house is beautiful! It is one of a few stone houses built  around the 1920's on this slope of Mount Carmel in Haifa. I remember that when I arrived here many years ago,  there was a married couple living in it. We used to exchange polite greetings whenever we passed by. Meanwhile I have been away from this part of the city for about 20 years, and have returned here only  about six years ago.

Ever since I've returned, I've been passing by this house, but there is no one there...!

Every time I park near the house, the windows and shutters are tightly  closed. There is a heavy lock on the iron gate. A concrete path leads to the main door. At night it is dark and the only light shining on it is the street lamp. Whenever I watch out my  window,  I look at it with curious admiration, but never see a living soul there. Yet - the garden is well taken care of, and it looks in good condition. The staircase is not very clean, but then you see this in houses with people in them too... I've been wondering - I've never seen a gardner there. Who is taking care of the garden? how is it that someone is cleaning the paths and keeps the house in good shape and I never see him/her?!

Today, as I was walking to my car, which I park not very far  from it, I decided to take photographs. I stopped by the gate and drew out my camera. For a second I was afraid that someone might come out to and grab my camera or...whatever .Well - luckily this did not happen!

The mystery house
If I ever see someone in the house, I will write another article. Promise! Ha!

our home to yours said...

I love the white brick, and the mystery....I always enoyed driving past homes in the evening, and seeing a light in the window, and wonder what life is inside.

pasqueflower said...

Beautiful house -- but heavily secured. That is a mystery....

My Hideaway said...

I love a good mystery! That house does look very interesting. :)


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Risen King Messages

These messages are listed newest to oldest. If you are interested on a particular sermon series, click on the name of that series to see related messages.

Messages from Worship Services of Risen King Community Church in Redding, CA. Messages are from Pastor Tim Kayser and occasionally guest speakers.

Finally Home

Sunday, December 17, 2017

Series: Welcome Home
Message: Where You Belong

By Tim Kayser
Sermon Audio

Sermon Notes

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Wednesday, June 23, 2004

wash day

Seems to be the time of year to wash the fleece. This fleece is not mine, but instead, belongs to a friend that lives down river from me. She has just started to spin (about 2 months ago) and is doing very well. She had started out to get just a fleece or two from a farmer who she brought her piglets from...but as chance would have it, the farmer was quite generous, and she now finds herself in possession of 20 fleece! She brought a few up to my house the other day, and we picked and scoured for a few hours in the afternoon. I believe we worked on a Southdown (the vanilla color) and a Columbia/Dorset Cross (the grey color). They both washed up quite well, but I have not had the chance to spin up any of it yet, as all of my bobbins were full.

At spinning group today, I worked on plying up the Alpaca that was on the wheel. I wound up with 310 yards of 20wpi, double ply, about 8oz. Just short of being able to fill the 6 foot triloom. My friend twisted up a piece of the Columbia/Dorset...and held it next to the Alpaca. It made a nice blend of colors. The bag was on my car seat when I went to leave, what a sweet surprise. I will have enough to spin up and put on the loom with the Alpaca, for a nice shawl.

One of the fleece she received was called a Baby Doll. I have not seen it yet, but have been reading about the breed. They are a miniature breed from a Southdown. They have the cutest faces, looking somewhat like a little teddy bear. No wonder they call them Baby Dolls! You can read more about them at this link.

Sunday, June 13, 2004

worth waiting for

Spring is late in arriving to this mountainous river valley...but it is always worth waiting for. Every where you look, new life is springing up. The birds are busy feeding their young, the deer and raccoons, the skunk and the bear, the frogs and the fish and the is all the same. Another spring and everything reproduces! Including the chipmunks! They must reproduce at a fantastic rate. I am battling with chipmunks this year. There are way to many of them. We are overrun with them. It is time to take drastic measures. Ideas anyone, anyone?
It is slow going on the fiber front. I have started too many projects at once, and therefore, have finished not a one. Now I am starting to play with something called finger weaving, or finger looping. It has been around from the period between the late 12th and the early 15th centuries. I do not yet have the hang of it, but with some decent time set aside to play, I will master it.
I spent a good amount of time with the bunnies yesterday. I have been so busy with the garden that they have not had a through grooming since I clipped them. Black Jack continues to grow, and still remains as sweet as he was when I got him. Such an outgoing disposition for a bunny. I am tempted to bring him indoors and make a real pet out of him. He has such personality!

Saturday, June 05, 2004

shhh, keep it a secret, Odocoileus virginianus

This little fawn was first noticed by the chickens! I had not seen the mother come to drop it off, but I did hear my chickens clucking that "I am telling on you" sound. It is not an alarm cluck, but it is more of a "something is not quite right" sound. I walked out onto the deck to see what was going on and I saw that several Black Stars had surrounded something on the hillside under the tree house. There, on one of the big rocks, was this little fawn. I shooed the chickens away (they will go anywhere for a bit of scratch)...and then I slowly walked down the slope to get a picture. The fawn stayed very still and allowed me to get quite close. I could have reached down to touch it. It was so very beautiful, and I marveled at how well it was camouflaged, the spots on the fawn blended remarkably with the dappled shade.

A newborn fawn has no scent (or so they say). This is to protect it from predators...mainly black bear in this area. I snapped a few pictures, and walked away. I could observe the fawn from the deck as I hung my clothes out to dry, and I continued to check on it throughout the day. I wondered if it was Sweetpea's fawn. She has been a good mother around here for the past few years, but I had not seen her lately. She is easy to recognize, as she has a broken leg that healed with a big knob at the knee. She is also quite tame because my neighbor took care of her when she was lame. She comes to him, but I try to discourage her from hanging around. She may become to used to people and this is a sure death sentence for a deer during hunting season. I waited all afternoon for the mother to fetch her baby. She did not show up. It started to rain late in the early evening, still no momma, and the fawn just stayed right where it had been all day.

After supper, we went out on the deck to check on the fawn, and it was gone! Mamma came and collected her little one, just as secretly as she had dropped it off. I saw them in the grass across the street the next day...there were two grown does and one fawn. I could not tell if one of the does was Sweetpea, because the grass was to tall, but I expect to see them again on their daily walk down to the river.

I am STILL working on the lace socks. It should not be taking me so long. I think to myself that it is because the stitches are so tiny, but I think I am making excuses. I have completed one sock, and now I am halfway down the cuff of the second one. I have also started another shawl on the 8 foot triloom. This time I am using up some stash merino leftover from an afghan that I made some 18 years ago! Think it has aged sufficiently? I have not given much thought to the design of the plaid, but sometimes I figure I just have to let it happen by itself, that is the fun of it. I wanted something to work on that was mindless...I have had to much counting pattern rows with the lace socks!

I received a nice package in the mail from CW. I had traded some Hopi Black Dye Sunflower seeds for some wool rovings to sample. She sent me some Border Leicester, Corriedale, Llama and some plucked satin that I could compare with my angora. I am so happy to get this fiber, as it will give me more experience as a spinner working with different breeds to add to my notebook. There is so much to learn, and it is so nice to have someone help me along the way. I have never met another spinner without learning something new...and that is part of the fun of this craft.
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Weetamoo Woods, Tiverton RI

On the Trail — by Garry Plunkett
WildfloraRI, Spring 2015

Weetamoo Woods in Tiverton is the centerpiece of one of the few remaining large continuous canopy forest preserves along the coast of southeastern New England. Together with Pardon Gray Preserve and the Pocasset Ridge Conservation Area, over 1,500 acres of forest in Tiverton are protected. An unbroken stand of this size has important ecological value, particularly for wildlife species that need significant interior forest shelter to thrive.

There are diverse habitats for visitors to see along the eight miles of trails that weave through Weetamoo Woods and the neighboring Pardon Gray Preserve. There is, however, a challenge for those who come looking for botanical excitement – the temptation to put away the field guide in favor of exploring archeology. Many footprints from the area’s past lie in the Woods of Weetamoo: cellar holes and stone walls from long-abandoned home sites, remains of a 19th century sawmill, and prominent scars from the last glacier whose retreat scoured out the nearby Sakonnet Passage.

The main trailhead of Weetamoo Woods is off East Road about a ¼-mile east of Tiverton Four Corners. The trail leading from the parking area is an old right-of-way originally surveyed in 1681, when Plymouth Colony was still recovering from the war. This original “Eight Rod Way” continues northward over three miles through the entire greater Pocassetlands forest preserve. Most of it is indistinguishable now, but it is quite evident for a twenty-minute walk beyond the trailhead.

Ten minutes into that walk is a massive, slab-stone bridge spanning Borden Brook, and Eight Rod Way still has rude cobblestones that likely came from a nearby field. Pausing to reflect on how that bridge was built before the age of power machinery, one can imagine the rattle of oxcart wheels passing by.

Garry Plunkett - photo

Garry Plunkett – photo

Borden Brook is the main waterway that drains the 150-acre cedar swamp in the core of Weetamoo Woods. This stream also provided power for a sawmill that operated in the 19th century. The stonework complex of that mill is further up the trail, including the millpond dam, the millrace, and a marvelous dry stone bridge that arches across the race.

Old recorded names for trees are unreliable, but “cedar swamp” probably refers to what once was an Atlantic White Cedar swamp. These were common in colonial times along the Atlantic seaboard, but are threatened today. Scattered Cedars (Chamaecyparis thyoides) can be seen along the trails, and a small stand survives in the interior. But the wetland is now more of a red maple –deciduous shrub swamp, possibly due to the sawmill cutting out the cedars. They do not stump sprout, so regeneration back to a cedar community would have been thwarted by a clear-cut.

Much of the upland surrounding Cedar Swamp is mixed oak–American holly forest, found in coastal Rhode Island where slightly warmer maritime temperatures result in American Holly (Ilex opaca) being part of the sub canopy. Black and scarlet Oaks, Red Maple, Yellow and Black Birches, and Beech are in this community, with Blueberry and Sweet Pepperbush in the understory.

The American Holly has the “distinction” of being New England’s only native broadleaf evergreen tree. Broadleaf evergreens are dominant in tropical forests, but those species gradually disappear from forests going northward, replaced by deciduous and conifer trees. The last species in forests this far north is our native holly, and its glossy, green leaves and red berries are a welcome addition to rather colorless winter woodlands.

Along a low, north-south ridgeline in the north end of Weetamoo Woods are drier, rockier soils, so the forest transitions to mixed oak/hickory forest. The hollies are fewer, and there are more Hickory (Carya spp.), Sassafras (Sassafras albidum), Black Cherry (Prunus serotina), and Hop-hornbeam (Ostrya virginiana) trees, with an understory dominated by Huckleberry (Gaylussacia baccata).

The total area of Weetamoo Woods is about 650 acres, almost all of it mid-successional forest. The oldest trees are around 100–125 years old–those individuals that were young and pliable enough to survive the 1938 Hurricane. There are, however, a few older tupelos (Nyssa sylvatica), perhaps in the 200–300 year range. Their famously twisted grain makes them less susceptible to hurricane wind throw, and they are practically unsplittable, so they were shunned as firewood.

 There is one non-forested habitat to be seen, the result of a long-term restoration project. It was completed three years ago and adds significant wildlife diversity to Weetamoo Woods. Twelve acres of old plow-land next to Eight Rod Way had been abandoned a few years before it was acquired and added to the preserve. With help from a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grant, the interior hedgerows were removed and the entire area restored to create a single, unbroken meadow. The sweeping view of this grassland is beautiful, and it is being managed to sustain quality habitat for severely threatened ground-nesting birds and edge species. A partnership with a local farmer for late-season haying, along with edge mowing over the winter, has resulted in noticeable increases in bird species.

In the spring Weetamoo hikers may be lucky enough to enjoy the raucous mating chorus of wood frogs, since the topography is perfect for vernal pools. Isolated bowls of poor drainage are scattered throughout the forest, so on a quiet, sunny day following the “annual migration” of amphibians, the ducky chattering of wood frogs can be a cheery accompaniment to a springtime outing.

The flora of Weetamoo Woods is typical to the forest types described above; oak-dominated ones found in rocky, acidic soils that range from poorly drained, sphagnum dominated wetlands to barren granite outcrops. Common shrubs of the understory are Spicebush (Lindera benzoin), Highbush Blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum), Huckleberry, Arrowwood (Viburnum dentatum), Nannyberry (Viburnum lentago), Sweet Pepperbush (Clethra alnifolia), Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis), Wild Sarsaparilla (Aralia nudicaulis), and Winterberry (Ilex verticillata). There are also some pure patches of Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia) that can be spectacular around the third week of June.

The spring wildflower array along the trails includes Sessile-leaved Bellwort (Uvularia sessilifolia), Wild Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis), Canada Mayflower (Maianthemum canadense), Dwarf Ginseng (Panex trifolius), Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum), Jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum), Wood Anemone (Anemone quinquefolia), Pink Lady Slipper (Cypripedium acaule), and Squaw-root (Conopholis americana). The Squaw-root is an interesting member of the broom-rape family of parasites. It grows on oak tree roots and looks like a small, pointed ear of corn coming out of the ground. It is state-listed (concern) and perhaps the best population is in Weetamoo Woods, where it can be seen in May near the sawmill.

As in all our woodlands, the floral display diminishes in summer. A few to be seen are Whorled Loosestrife (Lysimachia quadrifolia), Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis), Indian Pipe (Monatropa uniflora), and Indian Cucumber-root (Medeola virginiana).

A summer visit to Weetamoo Woods is well worth the drive to East Bay. There is history, diverse habitats, and the ultimate reward–cooling off at Tiverton Four Corners with a double dip of Gray’s Ice Cream.


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Saturday, July 6, 2013

Continuous Integration In PHP

Here is a nice article I found about continuous integration in PHP wrote by Eric Hogue. He covered some aspects and some useful tools like:

  1. PHPUnit
  2. PHP CodeSniffer
  3. PHP Depend
  4. PHP Mess Detector
  5. PHP Dead Code Detector
  6. Jenkins
Most of this tools were written by Sebastian Bergmann. Great work!

I use PHPUnit and code coverage tools and I must say its a great experience, and its very useful! I am planning to use the new tools I discovered on my next project.

I recommend them to any PHP programmer, even if some of you are not programming in PHP I am sure that there are similar tools for you too. For example JUnit for Java developers.


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Holly Johnson

 November 2014

Holly Johnson Koko 74

                              I'be been having fun working with Holly Johnson on his latest album tour. The music is great with a co write on a couple of tracks from Vangelis which gives Holly's music a real 'Blade Runner' sound and feel about it. I'm playing keyboards, Saxophone and Flutes along with some back up vocals so it's a busy gig but great fun. The next concerts are in Germany in the first week of  December.

Copyright © 2018 Rob Hughes Music. All Rights Reserved.
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Jun 19, 2015

CJ Ramone / Shonen Knife - Metro Gallery

By Bob Suehs

Shonen Knife / CJ Ramone June 19, 2015

Metro Gallery

Baltimore, MD

I will admit that I was initially confused with the overall billing of this show because I had thought that CJ Ramone was a member of Shonen Knife for this tour and was expecting to see CJ jam with the J-pop princesses but the way the show worked out was that the opening act dropped off day of show and Shonen Knife’s set started the night off. CJ Ramone played a solo set as the headliner at 10 PM.

I was impressed with the quality merch Shonen Knife and CJ had at their tables. CJ sold hand painted skateboard decks, vinyl, and solo shirts. Shonen Knife had merch that reminded me of The Beatles back when they were a pop band; everything was cute, fluffy and nice.

Shonen Knife posted a sign on the front door which stated they did not want any flash photography, video, or cameras in use during their performance. Songs about Green Tea, food, and all things fluffy is how I’d describe the Shonen Knife set. Shonen Knife set were squeaky clean, nice, and poppy and it reminded me of 70’s Saturday Morning Cartoons where the good guy always won, everything was “good” and no one was ever sad.

The crowd for Shonen was obvious to spot and once they finished their set a portion of the crowd went to the merch table to meet the band and then promptly left.

CJ Ramone entered the venue midway through Shonen Knife’s set and he looked a little different than how I remembered him from his tenure with The Ramones. CJ took the stage with a 3 piece band that tore up the Metro Gallery with punk-rock-passion and fury!

The first 1/2 of his set was all CJ solo material while the 2nd 1/2 of his set was all Ramones standards with the closer being “Ramones” by Motorhead!

Watching the crowd go off on songs like “Rockaway Beach”, “Sheena Is A Punk Rocker”, and “Blitzkrieg Bop” you realize just how pivotal The Ramones music truly was to an entire generation of punk rockers. Oddly enough their music transcended through 4 generations of punkers and the crowds prove that point! I overheard one guy in the crowd say, “This was the best $15 I spent this year!” and that is the best comment any musician can get from their audience!

Click here to “Like” Rock N Roll Experience on Facebook!


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War of the Worlds Slots Review

This game is more properly title “Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of the War of the Worlds 100 Line Slot.”  A name that I found a bit misleading because no one in the slot game breaks out in song.  But the “musical” version of War of the Worlds was actually a 1978 concept album using progressive rock to tell the classic story and the slots game does have a good sound track filled with dramatic science fiction appropriate music.  But this game is also worth checking out for the quality of the graphics, which are the best I’ve seen on a slot game so far.

The game will appeal to lovers of Science Fiction and Steam Punk as well as anyone who enjoyed the classic War of the Worlds novel by H.G. Wells, which it is based on rather than the contemporary interpretation of the Steven Spielberg movie.  It is a 100 line slot game, and as with all slot games, you’ll want to play all the lines for the best odds at winning.  So, plan to spend at least $1 a spin unless you play for free.  This isn’t a cheap game to play. I was down $150 virtual dollars at one point.

Virtual dollars because this slot is available only on sites like Virgin Games, which do not accept players from the United States.  Now, I was able to find a wireless connection that allowed me to play the free Flash version on the Virgin Games website.  Since I can’t open an account with the site, I only played the free version.  If you are in the United States, you’ll face similar restrictions.  If you’re in the UK, can I come visit?  Also Virgin Games offers either a low resolution or high resolution flash version of the game.  Unless you are on a connection with an extremely slow download speed, play the high resolution versions because the stunning graphics are the reason to check out this game.

Now, the game does feature one of my frustrations with slot games — the standard J, Q, K, A symbols. But with so much else going on visually in the game, I’m willing to let them get by with a few simple symbols.  Other than these basic symbols, everything is animated when you hit for a win and even the images on the side bar change as you play.  You’ll want to keep an eye out for the Wild symbols which are liberally scattered on the reels.  If you hit two wilds on the same reel, they’ll expand making the entire reel wild.  This will help keep some small winning coming in.

But it took me over an hour to hit three bonus symbols to trigger the Fighting Machine bonus games.  The game is a very simple arcade style game. You have three cannons which you use to blast away at attacking alien machines.  The power on the cannons increases and decreases, so you want to fire your cannons when they’re at high power.  If you’re in the mood for blasting away at aliens, this bonus game can be very satisfying.  It can also help you earn back some money.  I was down $150 virtual dollars while playing but after a good round with the bonus game, I won that back and was ahead by $28 virtual dollars.

If you’re looking for a slots game with a little classic science fiction action, this may be the slot game for you.

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El Camino Hospital Here We Come

El Camino Hospital Here We Come

Project Details:

Location: El Camino Hospital, Mountain View CA.
Installation: August 3-4
Scope of Project: 4 private exam/infusion rooms with one bed per room, 1 staff lunch/break room
Project Coordinator: Nancy Ballard/Andres Torres
Lead Designer: Linda Cavanaugh
Story Board Due: June 20, 2013

We have been wooing this hospital for several years. A dear friend, Linda Cavanaugh lost her husband to cancer two years ago. He had chemotherapy in this facility and we promised her we would not give up until she had a chance to rock a room for her husband, Ken. All four rooms will follow Linda’s theme of birch trees with stencils donated from Cutting Edge Stencils. All wall art will be donated by Art.com. The enviroments will be soothing and organic.

Several of the “designers” are not designers at all, rather friends and fellow art class members of Linda. All have lost loved ones to cancer, making our El Camino project very unique.

The three additional patient rooms will be transformed with the same birch tree motief. Vounteers who will be rocking these rooms are: The Master Botanical Art Class headed by Mary L. Harden with fellow artists Mary Ann Ho, Catherine Delor and Judy Ellis.

Janet Paraventi-Holt is volunteering her time in honor of her brother-in-law and father, both of whom passed away from cancer.

RTR4C Designer Marsha Heckman who was our lead designer at Children’s Hospital in Oakland, CA in April 2013, will complete our private room team.

The break room will be designed by RTR4C Designer, HGTV Designer Cora Sue Anthony and her assistant Andres Torres. Her design will transform the staff break room into a 1940’s travel paradise with decals donated again by Art.Com

There is still time to help if you are interested – just contact us at nancy@roomsthatrock4chemo.us and thank you!

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Whether Rotarians realize it or not, they assume a number of responsibilities, and one of these is to their club as is pointed out in the Ottawa, Illinois Weekly Letter.
"Real Rotarians get acquainted without waiting for introductions.  They try to know each other.  They arrive at the meeting place rather early than late, and sit beside a different member at each meeting.  Rotarians draw those who are not participating in the conversation, such as new members, and draw them in.  Cordial attention will make new members and guests feel at home.
"Each Rotarian owes it to his club to promote the fellowship and association which give Rotary its personal appeal.  A Rotarian owes it to his or her club, at all times, an interest in a tolerant attitude toward their fellow man."
Some things never change.  This was taken from a 1928 San Pedro Rotary Log and 87 years later, it still rings true.
Steve Cole, Club Historian


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Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Action List for Thursday, March 10

  • Email drafts of any paragraphs or letters to me by 1:00 PM on Thursday, March 10, 2001, if you would like the possibility of us reviewing them anonymously in class.
  • Bring as complete a draft as possible to class so that you can use it as we work on formatting and style issues.

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Tuesday, March 8, 2011

A few days in Barcelona

Greetings from Spain!
Our adventures started last Wednesday (Mar 2) by getting up at 6am to catch the train to Eindhoven to deal with our Europe visas.  Thankfully, everything went smoothly and we were back at our apartment shortly after 12pm.  The guy at the visa office was really nice and chatty, which eased our nerves since we were really worried we had filled even one line on the forms out wrong and would get sent away.  (Apparently they're quite sticklers about these applications.)  We now have a colourful sticker taking up an entire page of our passports that indicates we are official residents of the European Union!  We won't get the "official" okay for about a month, but the sticker lets us travel quite easily and tells any officials that we have filed for a visa.  We spent Wednesday afternoon at home packing up and then hopped on the bus to the train station around 4:30pm.  We then caught a train to Brussels airport to make a flight to Barcelona, Spain.  Once arriving in Barcelona, we took a cab to our hotel where the driver was listening to the football (aka soccer) game on the radio and would take his hands off the wheel in a celebratory "fist pump" every time his team got a goal or even made a nice pass.  After arriving at our hotel, we quickly settled in for the night, after being up 19+ hours already.
Thursday (Mar 3) we spent mostly catching up on sleep.  Thankfully, my professor had cancelled Thursday's class so we could all work on our papers (oops...I spent it in Spain instead!).  "Health in Times of Crisis" course is now finished (well...once I finish this 3000 word paper looming over my head) so we are able to travel for 10 days in Spain as it is now reading week.  It poured rain most of the day but we still made it outside for a walk to the beach situated on the Mediterranean Sea.  In the evening, we went to "Las Ramblas" which is the main (tourist) street where we had a buffet dinner and watched a great Flamenco show.  After the buffet, I asked Ron to grab us seats for the show while I went to the bathroom, and of course, he snagged two seats in the centre of the front row.  The show started with 3 guitarists and 2 singers/clappers playing a nice little ditty to get everyone in the mood.  At this point, Ron leaned over to me and (loudly) "whispered", "When do the Geishas come out?"  The saddest part was, he was totally serious.  I'm sure half of the audience heard him and I was embarrassed (and also reminded that I have married a man not unlike my own father).  He later told me that he had never heard of FlaminGO dancing before and I shouldn't blame him for calling them Geishas because he grew up in a family with three boys.  Anyways, the show was great and the combination of the buffet (including all you can drink! - I ordered a glass of white wine and the man brought me an entire bottle!) and the show proved to be quite economical.
Friday (Mar 4) We trekked a few kilometers to La Sagrada Familia, a huge cathedral still in the works.  Unlike most European cathedrals with ancient roots, this cathedral only started construction in 1882 and is expected to be completed in 2020.  The blueprints and design were all plans created by Antonio Gaudi, a Spanish architechit who committed 40 years of his life to the cathedral project.  We didn't get too many good pictures of it becuase our camera died, but google "La Sagrada Familia" and you'll have a better idea of what we saw.  Barcelona is quite a large city, both in terms of population and area, so we put quite a few miles on our running shoes during our stay in Barcelona, especially since our hotel was less central than we originally thought.  We spent the evening lounging in our hotel room and ordered room service and watched "127 hours" which Ron had downloaded on his computer.  I bought Ron the book "Between a Rock in a Hard Place" (which was the inspiration for the movie) when he forgot his reading material at home during our travels to Switzerland.  He finished the book in just a few days and we have both wanted to see the movie, but it hasn't been playing in theatres in Maastricht, so we downloaded it instead and both really enjoyed it.
Saturday (Mar 5) we rented a "GoCar".  (Visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnZxlyEE6DY to watch a video about the workings of a GoCar.)  On Friday, we had talked about what the best way to see the whole city was.  Being such a large city, we decided it wans't feasible to walk around all the sights and thought perhaps a bus tour would be a good idea.  But upon one of our walks back to the hotel, we passed a parked "GoCar" and grabbed a brochure.  Essentially, it is a scooter/moped turned into a tiny convertible car.  The car has talking GPS and tells you where to turn and about the sites and even sang to us and told us a joke at one point.  We got quite a few interesting looks, and a few cackling spectators at stop lights, but it was truly a great way to see the city.  The car is small enough that we could park it in motorcycle parking, which is free throughout the city, so we were able to stop at quite a few of the sites and get out and walk around for a closer look.  Some of the highlights we saw were the 1992 Barcelona Olympic stadium, the Port Olympic area (the harbour), Christopher Columbus statue, Las Ramblas street, Botanical Gardens, Barcelona Cathedral, and a former F1 Racing Track (we actually drove up this track, which is actually a normal road, but the reason it's a "former" F1 Racing Track is that 5 spectators died during a crash in a 1970's event...).  We stopped at one of the harbours for some lunch on the beach giving us a great view of the Mediterranean Sea. All in all, the GoCar was probably the highlight of our whole Barcelona trip.  After an afternoon nap, we made a frustrating trip out to Las Ramblas for dinner.  We tried to catch a cab, as it was over 3km one way to walk, but couldn't find one anywhere (until about the last kilometer) and then when we got down there, we were continually disappointed with the options of restaurants.  All of them seem to have a bar area with some dishes filled with mostly obscure seafood behind a glass partition.  I was quite excited to have tapas as a meal, since I really love snacking more than eating a big meal, but we were really disappointed at the selection and the preparation of the food.  I kept thinking to myself, "This CAN'T be what everyone raves about when they talk about tapas!"  We also hoped to catch the parade for Carnival (a European-wide festival celebrated mostly by the Catholics during the week before Lent starts.  Carnival is the reason for "reading week" in Europe.), but given how long it took us to get to Las Ramblas and then how long it took us to find something decent to eat, we missed the parade and called it an early night.
Sunday (Mar 6) we spent mostly doing homework and lounging in our hotel.  All in all, we weren't overly impressed with Barcelona.  It's quite a dumpy city, and I didn't realize that it was pretty much the armpit of Spain until the 1992 Olympics which sparked an attempt to renovate of most of the city.  Most of the buildings look like they're going to fall down, and a lot of the streets made us feel unsafe at night.  We still aren't sure what all the hype truly is about Barcelona, but still made the best of it.  That being said, if someone had told me, "Don't go to Barcelona, it's worth missing", I don't think I would have believed them and would have gone anyways.  Sunday night we had our best Spanish dinner yet (although remember, the bar was set pretty low) at the Port Olympic area where we had a "fixed price" menu with lots of FRESH tapas and a steak and some wine.
Monday (Mar 7) marked 2 official months we've been in Europe.  We packed up in Barcelona and headed to the airport to fly to Malaga in the South of Spain.  We had an uneventful flight and eventually settled into our hotel after a few minor setbacks (including a nausea-inducing cab ride, the hotel losing our reservation, and getting a smoky room that required us changing rooms.)  The views from our hotel are awesome; this is more what I pictured Spain to be like!  We'll keep you posted on our adventures in the south of Spain, probably next Monday when we get home and back into the groove of school!
Ron at the Flamenco buffet
Waiting for the show to start...I need some mascara or something!
Front and centre for the show

Flamenco men (guitarists and singers/clappers)
Stunning stained glass at La Sagrada Familia
Passion Facade at La Sagrada Familia
Barcelona's Arc de Triomf
Windy side streets make perfect terrain for the GoCar
Driving along the beachside
Christopher Columbus (pointing to the Americas)
View of Barcelona from the West side of the city (Near the Olympic area)
Ron in front of the Olympic Stadium
Downhills are also perfect for the GoCar
Mediterranean Sea
Beer on the beach
Our GoCar!

1 comment:

  1. I ♥ the Go-Car.... it's so cute
    I'm sorry this trip was not great as some of the others. Nice to see you made the best of it. Your pictures are awesome as always and make Barcelona look fantastic. Men are from Mars and women are from Venus the sooner we all learn this the better off we will all be....lol
    Love you guys lots
    A. Karen


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Friday, June 3, 2011

Egypt Is The New Iran;

By Barry Rubin

1. How Egypt is the New Iran

To put it simply, what has happened in Egypt is not just the undoing of the “Mubarak regime” but the undoing of the “Sadat regime,” that is, repealing the revolution Anwar al-Sadat made in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Sadat changed Egypt’s course from a radical state trying to destabilize other Arab countries, destroy Israel, and oppose U.S. interests. He deemphasized spreading revolution, made peace with Israel, and allied Egypt with the United States.

Now, with help from President Barack Obama, those processes have been undone. Egypt will return to the pre-Sadat era to support radical forces, try to wipe Israel off the map, and oppose U.S. interests.

According to a recent poll, 65 percent of Egyptians said they supported the revolution because of economic reasons; only 19 percent cited lack of democracy. Eighty percent of Egyptians say they believe their economic situation will improve in the next year. But it won't. Foreign investment won’t risk sending money to Egypt; tourists won't risk going.

When Arab governments can't provide cheap bread they turn to cheaper hatred and foreign adventures. The only question is the relative proportion of radical nationalism and Islamism there will be in that mix. The mass media will discover this in September. Yet it is obvious in June.

Egypt’s transformation will be for today what Iran’s meant for the last thirty years. Inasmuch as U.S. influence had an effect, Jimmy Carter’s incompetence helped give us Islamist Iran, Barack Obama’s incompetence and ideology helped give us radical (perhaps Islamist) Egypt.

2. Egyptian "Moderate" Leader: We Don't Want to Fight Israel; We Just Have To.

And what about the Facebook kid moderates? One of their main leaders, Ahmed Maher, gave a talk at MIT on April 29. He said, according to the translation:

“We do not want to have any problems or war with anyone. But there are things we cannot ignore. There are people beside [neighboring} us being oppressed and killed. And they have been treated very harshly, Palestine. We cannot remain silent about something like this."

In fact, though, the translation was wrong. He used the word “ibada,” which doesn’t mean “oppressed and killed” it means “genocide.”

This mistranslation softens the point and the extreme hatred even Egyptian “moderates” have toward Israel. But let’s leave that aside to consider what Maher’s saying:

We don’t want conflict or war with our neighbors BUT there’s genocide next door and so….

If you believe genocide is being committed next door one must act, right? If the United States went to war to “protect” Libyans; how can Egypt not do so to save fellow Arabs and Muslims from being murdered a few miles away?

Thirty years after the Egypt-Israel peace treaty; eighteen years after Israel agreed to the Palestinian Authority ruling almost all West Bank/Gaza Palestinians;  and six years after Israel withdrew from all of the Gaza Strip, the basic Egyptian moderate's view of Israel has not changed one bit.

A group that openly proclaims it wants to kill all Jews (genocide, ibada) rules the Gaza Strip. It violently represses any opposition, helps to expel all of the Christians there, teaches children that they should grow up to be terrorists and kill Jews, breaks a functioning ceasefire and openly attacks Israel militarily. Israel defends itself. But to this Egyptian moderate (whose statement on Israel the audience at MIT applauded wildly) Israel is supposedly the one committing genocide.

Why should Israel's giving up all of the West Bank and east Jerusalem have any more effect than Israel leaving the Sinai Penninsula, the Gaza Strip, southern Lebanon, and the populated portions of the West Bank? And how can anyone dare assert that doing so would end the conflict without even having the decency to deal with these facts?

Contemplate those three paragraphs before advocating the idea that more Israeli concessions will bring peace.

This is no abstraction. After September, Egypt will have a radical, possibly Islamist parliament. Before the year’s end it will have a radical, possibly Islamist, president.

--What hope is there for the 30-year-old Egypt-Israel peace treaty?

--Will the U.S. government recognize and do something about it if/when Egypt stops honoring the peace treaty (whether or not it is explicitly announced?

--If Hamas attacks Israel again (inevitable) will Egypt join in the war?

--Will Egypt let thousands of terrorists and volunteers cross into Gaza to fight? Weapons to flow freely from Iran and Syria? Huge amounts of money to go into Gaza to finance the war?

--Will Egypt let—or just not try too hard to stop—terrorists crossing the Egypt-Israel border to wage attacks, thus possibly triggering an Egypt-Israel war?

3. So Who Are the Good Guys in Egypt?

A star is born and her name is Yasmine el-Rashidi. She’s written an E-book on Egypt’s revolution. Her article is featured in the New York Review of Books. El-Rashidi is good at describing conditions in Egypt. Her article begins:

“On a recent a busy downtown Cairo street, armed men exchanged gunfire, threw rocks and Molotov cocktails, and freely wielded knives in broad daylight. The two-hour fight, which began as an attempt by some shop-owners to extort the customers of others, left 89 wounded and many stores destroyed. In the new Egypt, incidents like this are becoming commonplace. On many nights I go to bed to the sound of gunfire….”

“Even more worrying, it seems increasingly clear that a variety of groups have been encouraging the violence….There have been a series of attacks on Copts, and the perpetrators seem to include hardline Islamists (often referred to as Salafis), remnants of the former regime, and even, indirectly, some elements of the military now in charge, who have allowed these attacks to play out—all groups that in some way have an interest in disrupting a smooth transition to a freely elected civil government and democratic state.”

The second paragraph is a typical view hinting at a conspiracy rather than facing the reality that Muslim militants have long hated Christians and that preachers and key Islamic texts incite that violence.

If any Arabs are facing "ibada" it isn't the Palestinians, it's the Christians of Egypt, and also the Gaza Strip, Iraq, Pakistan, and several other places.

At any rate, el-Rashid shows she’s sophisticated by not blaming Zionist and American agents. Many or most Egyptians will do so. Indeed, in one of the first talk-backs to her article an Arab reader says this instability is being promoted by the United States, Israel, and the Gulf states (i.e. Saudi Arabia).

So who are the good guys? El Rashid proposes a candidate: the Muslim Brotherhood. Of course, it genuinely does want a smooth transition to an elected government since they’re the ones who’ll be elected. In her long article, El-Rashid only mentions the Muslim Brotherhood to praise it as being moderate and a force advocating tolerance.

Yet the Brotherhood is allied with the “radicals.” The two groups work together and their differences are merely tactical, not strategic.

What's emerging in many places as the new line among Western media and experts:

Al-Qaida, Salafi extremists, bad!

Hamas, Syrian regime, Muslim Brotherhood, good!

We’re already hearing that theme regarding the Gaza Strip and as a rationale for opposing a revolution in Syria. Perhaps that’s what they’ll tell us after the Brotherhood emerges as the most powerful bloc in Egypt.

Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center, editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal, and a featured columnist at PajamasMedia His latest books are The Israel-Arab Reader (seventh edition), The Long War for Freedom: The Arab Struggle for Democracy in the Middle East (Wiley), and The Truth About Syria (Palgrave-Macmillan). The website of the GLORIA Center is His PajamaMedia columns are mirrored and other articles available at

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Grateful Dead Music Forum

A place to talk about the music of the Grateful Dead

 #157000  by Jon S.
 Wed Jun 14, 2017 5:52 am
I have two identical 1X12s (SSP by Tracy), one has an E120 I know to be all original (I bought it in an NOS unopened original box), the other a K120 that I'd thought was all original but now I'm wondering.

There are two visible and performance differences in the speakers of note.

The first is the cone on the K120 is darker than the cone on the E120.

The second is the excursion on the K120 is greater than on any speaker I've owned. Not only is it quite easily visible even under moderate volumes, with the grill cloth cover on the amp, the flapping in and out of the grill cloth while playing through the speaker is readily noticeable. This is significantly less the case playing through the E120.

What would you make of this? (Both speakers sound fine, may I add.)
 #157015  by Jon S.
 Thu Jun 15, 2017 3:47 am
Not sure that can be the whole story - I have many other speakers in many other apps that I drive with equivalent wattage and none has the excursion of the K120 as far as I can tell - but it certainly may be part of it and I appreciate your reply.


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Thursday, March 28, 2013

I've asked Michael to post about the long journey required to write his best-selling memoir, The Atomic Times:

By Michael Harris

Three-eyed fish swimming in the lagoon.  Men whose toenails glow in the dark.  Operation Redwing where the F words were Fallout and Fireball. In 1956, I was an army draftee sent to the Marshall Islands to watch 17 H-bomb tests. An "observer," the Army called it. In plain English: a human guinea pig.

I knew at the time that the experience could make a fascinating book, and I wrote a novel based on it while I was still there. The problem was that Eniwetok was a security post. There were signs everywhere impressing on us that the work going on (I mopped floors, typed, filed requisitions and wrote movie reviews for the island newspaper “All the news that fits we print”) was Top Secret. “What you do here, what you see here, what you hear here, when you leave here leave it here.”

I was afraid they would confiscate the manuscript if they found it but a buddy who left Eniwetok before I did concealed the pages in his luggage. When he got back to the States, he mailed those pages to my father so I had what turned out to be a very rough draft.

What was wrong with the book?  Let me count the ways.  I didn’t know how to write action, plot and character.  I did know how to leave out everything interesting that was happening  around me. Back in the States after my discharge, I thought about writing Version #2 but for ten years, I had nightmares about the H-bomb almost every night.  I survived the radiation (unlike some of my friends), but the memories were also a formidable foe.  I tried to forget and more or less succeeded.

My perspective gradually changed over the years and I began to remember what I had tried to forget:
  • We were told we had to wear high density goggles during the tests to avoid losing our sight but the shipment of goggles never arrived—the requisition was cancelled to make room for new furniture for the colonel's house.
  • We were told we had to stand with our backs to the blast—again to prevent blindness. But the first H-bomb ever dropped from a plane missed its target, and the detonation took place in front of us and our unprotected eyes.
  • Servicemen were sent to Ground Zero wearing only shorts and sneakers and worked side by side with scientists dressed in RadSafe suits. The exposed military men developed severe radiation burns and many died.

The big breakthrough came when enough years had passed and I had overcome the anger and the self-pity resulting from the knowledge that I and the men who served with me had been used as guinea pigs in a recklessly dangerous and potentially deadly experiment. At last I had the perspective to understand my nuclear year in its many dimensions and capture the tragedy and the black humor that came along with 17 H-bomb explosions. In addition,  certain significant external realities had changed.
  • Top Secret documents about Operation Redwing had been declassified.  I learned new details about the test known as Tewa:  the fallout lasted for three days and the radiation levels exceeded 3.9 Roentgens, the MPE (Maximum Permissible Exposure).  Three ships were rushed to Eniwetok to evacuate personnel but were ordered back after the military raised the MPE to 7.  That, they reasoned, ensured everyone's safety.
  • I made contact with other atomic veterans who told me about their own experiences and in some cases sent me copies of letters written to their families during the tests.  As we talked, we also laughed:  about officers who claimed Eniwetok was a one year paid vacation;  about the officer who guarded the political purity of the daily island newspaper by deleting "pinko propaganda," including a speech by President Eisenhower.
  • By now, Ruth knew the material almost as well as I did and provided crucial perspective and detailed editing expertise.

At last, I was able to pull all the strands together.  After 50 years, I was able write the book I had wanted to in the beginning.

Having struggled to write a memoir for so long and having been asked for advice by others contemplating writing a memoir, I can pass along a bit of what I learned along the way.
  • Make sure you have enough distance from the experience to have perspective on what happened.   Exposure to radiation and the resulting reactions—anger, terror, incredulity—produce powerful emotions that take time  to process.
  • Figure out how to use (or keep away) from your own intense feelings.  In the case of the H-Bomb tests, anger and self-pity were emotions to stay away from.  So was the hope of somehow getting “revenge.”
  • Sometimes the unexpected works. For me, finding humor in a tragic situation—  the abject military incompetence in planning and executing the H-Bomb tests—freed my memory and allowed me to write about horrific experiences.
  • Figure out (most likely by trial and error) how much or how little of yourself you want to reveal.
"A gripping memoir leavened by humor, loyalty and pride of accomplishment. A tribute to the resilience, courage and patriotism of the American soldier." Henry Kissinger

Thursday, March 21, 2013

The aaargh draft & the universe of Writing Fast

We all know about a certain anatomically impossible act frequently recommended but today I’m going to talk about another, less frequently recommended, but also anatomically impossible act: the plusses of holding your nose and typing. But, you ask, won’t I add to the “tsunami of crap”? The answer is yes, of course, but let me remind you that writing slowly and agonizingly can also result in unspeakable crap. So, you choose.
  • When you write fast, you get the engine running.
  • You quash the inner scold, that mahatma of negativity that rains on your parade. By writing fast, you don’t give yourself time to censor or second-guess yourself and you avoid obsessing over whether your hero should be blond, brunette or a power-baldy à la Bruce Willis. You can always figure out the details later and, more often than not, as the character engages and develops, hair color (or lack of hair) will become obvious.
  • Writing fast increases your chances of “getting into the flow” and gaining access to your sub-conscious or what Steven King calls “the boys downstairs.” Those “boys”—or girls if you’re of the female persuasion—are the source of creativity. They are the ones who come up with the unexpected (even to the writer!) plot twist and help you get the work done.
  • By watching the words and the pages pile up, you give yourself the gift of a sense of accomplishment. Where there was nothing, there is now something and the mere fact that there’s “something” where once there was nothing builds confidence.
  • Last of all, writing fast is professionally crucial in these days of self-publishing because new books help sell old books. Just ask Joe Konrath or Dean Wesley Smith.

Now that I’ve persuaded you (I hope!) of the plusses of writing fast, one obvious question rises: How do you make yourself write when you’re tired, distracted, uninspired or just plain “not in the mood.”
My friend Rona Jaffe used to “read something good.” Which meant one of her already-published books. For Rona, reading her own work reminded her of what she did well and what she’d been successful at.
Other writers read something by an author whose work they admire
Coffee works for some. Loud music for others. Vivaldi’s The Seasons for still others.
An external deadline can help: a contract or even a promise to someone else—including the dog who is in need of a walk.
Setting a word target, a time target, a scene target adds focus in the form of an achievable goal.
Do you respond better to the kiss or the whip? If the first, promise yourself a Dove Bar at the end of your just-get-it-down writing session. If the whip, then no dessert for you tonight unless you get your quota filled!
Shut the door, turn off the phone, the internet, do whatever you have to do to get the job done.  Adapt Nora Roberts’ approach: you will permit interruptions only in the case of “blood or fire.”
Roni Loren wrote 97k words in 55 working days and did the revisions in 5 days. She had always thought of herself as a slow writer but deadlines compelled her to speed up. She was surprised by the result and blogged about what she learned here.
Once you've done your prep work , whether you're a pantser who starts out with a vague idea or maybe some characters plus an incident or a plotter who loves detailed outlines, begin to write your story. Power through because once you’ve got something —just about anything—down on paper or, these days, on the screen, you have a point of departure. You can always fix it later. If you don’t have something down, there’s nothing to fix.
In the Universe of Writing Fast, there are a number of possible outcomes:
  • Might be much better than you think and just needs a light edit. Yay! Treasure the moment because you get to feel you're better than you think.
  • Might be pretty good but needs a careful edit. OK, editing is part of the job of being a writer so get on with it.
  • Might be dull, drab and needs major, butt-in-chair revision. That’s OK, too, because revision is also part of the job.
  • The aaargh! draft: So what you wrote is real crapola and needs a four-corners rewrite? Don’t let that get you down and don’t forget: It ain’t the writing it’s the rewriting. Professionals know it and the aaargh! draft is the perfect case in point.
  • Even worse than the aaargh draft is draft so putrid it threatens the integrity of the time-space continuum. We’ve all been there, done that and that’s why keyboards come with delete buttons. Just because you wrote it doesn’t mean you have to publish it or even that anyone else has to see it. Just trash it, see if there's anything you can learn from it, and move on.
  • Saving best for last: OMG! Did I write that? It’s just about the best feeling a writer can have and, when you write fast, you outrun your insecurities and second guesses, your tendency to “fix” and fiddle, you’re also raising the odds of the OMG!-Did-I-write-that? outcome.
So, dear readers, do you write fast? Or slow? Have you ever tried to change the way you write? How did that turn out?

As for me, I wrote THE CHANEL CAPER fast because the MC, Blake Weston, her voice, her attitude came to me one day more or less out of the blue. What did take time, though, was revising, editing and polishing that first draft. But that's the way the process usually works for me.

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Thursday, March 14, 2013

James Bond meets Nora Ephron. Or is it the other way around?

SHORT TIME ONLY! Park Avenue Series Books 1-3 Boxed Set usually $7.50 now $.99.  Get em while they're hot—and they ARE!   Kindle   Nook

The Story Behind The Story: The Chanel Caper

For a long time I’ve wanted to write about the ups and downs of a long-term relationship and about the way romance can wax and wane, evolve and transform over time. In The Chanel Caper, Blake Weston and her DH, Brooklyn boy and ex-NYPD cop Ralph Marino, have been through it all—the break ups and makeups, the squabbles, the spats and the stand-offs. Even so, after twenty-six years of living together (and sometimes driving each other crazy), they are still holding hands in the movies. And they still have the hots for each other!

A second element that went into creating The Chanel Caper was that as my friends and I approached sixty, I realized that 60 isn’t what it used to be (and maybe never was). Maybe 60 is—or isn’t—the new 40 but attitudes toward age and aging have been transformed by medical advances, new discoveries about the importance of nutrition and exercise and Baby Boomers' determination to stay on top of their game.

Throw into the mix the fact that I’m a news junkie and love to write about the social and cultural atmosphere of the time in which a book is set. The Chanel Caper takes place in the fall of 2008 when the global financial system faced collapse. From Ponzi-schemer Bernie Madoff to bankers in five thousand dollar suits flying their private jets to Washington to scrounge for money, the financial crisis of 2008 was a richly ironic background for my story of murder, .

Other characters in the story were inspired by headlines, news stories & current events:

  • a washed-up Martha Steward wannabe trying to make a come back with the help of a red balconette bra
  • a one-eyed, one-legged Afghan warlord who doesn’t speak a word of English
  • an über neurotic, germ-ophobic billionaire freaking out as the stock market plummets and his net worth goes down—and down
  • a flack-jacket-wearing gung-ho war zone reporter with a humongo pair of 36 DoubleD's
  • NYC’s ubiquitous sidewalk vendors of faux designer label bags, sunglasses and scarves
  • the city’s vast selection of ethnic restaurants and foods.
  • news reports about the deadly consequences of counterfeit drugs
  • the rise of the Chinese economy and the glam and glittering city of Shanghai
  • trendy gurus and hot self-help fads

Add in Bollywood movies, the world's best shade of red lipstick and one drop-dead fantastic way to deal with a cheating husband (+ a dick joke) and you have an idea of some of the ingredients that went into The Chanel Caper. I had fun writing it. I hope you have fun reading it!

 Kindle|   Kobo   Nook

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Who loves you, baby?

SHORT TIME ONLY! Park Avenue Series Books 1-3 Boxed Set usually $7.50 now $.99.  Get em while they're hot—and they ARE!   Kindle   Nook

And now for the subject du jour:

There are—at least—two kinds of just about everything. For example:

Dog lovers or cat lovers but there’s overlap.

MickeyD’s or Burger King but that doesn’t preclude the occasional Taco Bell.

Perfumed or Fragrance Free but not always—sometimes the hint of jasmine is irresistible.
Black or White but there are also shades of grey (sometimes more than 50!)
Mozart or Notorious B.I.G. but there’s room for both.
Jamaica Blue Mountain or Indian Single-Estate Darjeeling but both coffee and tea taste good and will keep you going.
Macs or PCs but both do the job.
Beach or Mountains but both have sun, fresh air and natural beauty.
Bikes or Cars but they’ll both get you where you want to go.
Beer or Wine but both go soooo well with dinner.
Audrey Hepburn or Marilyn Monroe—blonde or brunette—but they both left a mark.
Lots of choices but there's one fool proof way to sort the diamonds from the rhinestones:  People who do what they say they’re going to do and people who don’t. The first are treasures beyond words and you will forgive their cranky moments, lousy taste in clothes/music/tv/movies and  inability to tell Warhol from Watteau because they are reliable and you know you can count on them.
Headache? They’re there with the aspirin.
Bad breakup? They’re the shoulder you cry on.
Fired, laid off, downsized? They’re there with comfort and contacts who will help you find the job you need.
Then there’s the rest: They love you, love your book, wouldn’t miss your opening/party/reading for anything, will call their best friend, the President/CEO/Big Boss on your behalf.
But don’t hold your breath—because you know they not gonna do whatever it is they promised on the Bible/their sainted mother’s memory/their favorite pair of Nikes to do. They’re the here-today-gone-tomorrow, leave-you-in-the-lurch buddies, the bff’s we all know and even like—but also know we can’t depend on.
So now you know what pissed me off this week.
At least it gave me the idea for this blog so I’m counting my blessings and telling all my reliable friends how much I love, cherish and appreciate them.

 On her way: THE CHANEL CAPER, a romcom mystery thriller starring a Baby Boomer couple that addresses two of the most crucial questions of our time: Is there sex after marriage? Is sixty the new forty?

In a nutshell:  James Bond meets Nora Ephron. Or is it the other way around?

Here's a peek at the cover:


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March 2016

There are 33 blog entries for March 2016.

Worry Free Living in Perfect Arvada Location - West Woods Hometown Townhomes

Rare end unit with wonderful views and lots of privacy. Kitchen opens to dining and living room, gas fireplace warms your toes or step out onto the balcony to enjoy a warm summer night with food on the grill. Large master suite with oversized tub and wonderful walk-in closet plus balcony off the bedroom. Laundry located on the 2nd floor for convenience plus two bedrooms with shared bath.

Attached 2 car garage and low HOA's. Table Mountain in foreground of unit plus park/circuit training spot just yards away.

Listed by Lauren Eddy for Live Urban Real Estate. Please contact Lauren for current pricing and availability.

15296 W 66th Drive, Arvada CO 80007.

1,039 Views, 0 Comments.

Countryside home that backs up to open space with an unobstructed view of the Flatirons and Longs Peak

Fantastic backyard oasis with huge oversized deck, kids play set and plenty of lawn left to entertain. Access to Countryside Park from the backyard! It's only a 5 minute walk to Ketner Lake and Ketner Open Space. Only 25 minutes to downtown Denver or Boulder. Nicely finished and well-kept home with 4 full-size bedrooms and 2.5 baths. Newer carpeting on the main floor with brand new carpet throughout the entire upstairs. Kitchen features pull out drawers which maximizes usage and accessibility.

Every bathroom features a skylight for additional natural light. Upstairs features a Master bedroom with en-suite bathroom with an additional 3 bedrooms

933 Views, 0 Comments.

Congratulations to all of Live Urban Real Estate's Award Recipients!

The Denver Metro Association of Realtors (DMAR), an organization comprised of over 6,000 real estate professionals, hosted its 38th Annual Excellence Awards event on March 24th at the Hyatt Regency Denver at the Colorado Convention Center. The event recognized the Denver-area's top performers in residential real estate for 2015. Awards were given in 32 categories. The prestigious awards have a long tradition of honoring the determination, dedication, and endless drive of Realtors in our community.

We are thrilled to announce that several of Live Urban's agents received DMAR Excellence Awards for 2015!

SILVER ($10-14.9 Million, 35-49 sides)         Mic…
1,230 Views, 0 Comments.

Part One.

How many of us watch those cable channels specifically geared to make us feel that anything is possible with remodeling or rehabbing a home?  We were privileged to meet and help a couple who dreamed of taking this type of journey.  Even better they are willing to share with us some of their trials and tribulations with the process.  In the next few months we will be sharing their story.

We met Kelsey and Meghan at an open house almost a year and half ago.  At that time they had started the process of looking for a property they could call home.  They knew what they were looking for might be hard to find and wanted to give themselves enough time to find just the right home.  After seeing many homes both physically and virtually, they

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This is it! Wonderful, affordable Highlands 2/1 condo lives large and has everything buyers want.

Beautifully remodeled kitchen with granite counters, glass tile backsplash and gathering island open to living/dining with tons of light, spacious rooms, big windows and plenty of room to chill. Outside features over-sized private fenced patio with new flagstone and room to grow veggies and flowers, 1-car detached garage, grassy front yard with new, modern horizontal fencing and a well-maintained building. Bathroom is newly updated and laundry is in-unit. Extra storage in garage and utility room.

All this in a top Highlands location perfectly situated between Jefferson Park, Highlands Square and Sloan's Lake. This is the place and the place to be!

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Gorgeous home in East Quincy Highlands!

This super clean and crisp home exudes ease of living. Three total bedrooms including a spacious master suite big enough for an entire king sized bedroom set are just some of the amenities you’ll enjoy in this great home. A chefs dream kitchen with enough storage for everything and an open modern layout for endless entertaining options.

A full unfinished basement leaves the possibilities endless with a rough in bath and very high ceilings. Solar system installed to keep the utility bills low enough to leave the AC on all the time! This wonderful home also backs to an open field that provides a very private setting to enjoy the mountain views from the chic patio. This one will go quickly as it’s just

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So many possibilities in Lakewood.

Wonderful property in the heart of Lakewood that is just under 1/2 acre and is also zoned for horses. Large 2,044 sq ft Ranch home with lots of potential. Newer furnace, A/C and roof, with original hardwood floor throughout. With 1950s classic charm this home is ready for you to make it your own. Huge lot with mature trees and landscaping.

Detached garage, covered patio with a built in bbq, and a green house. Property is on Bonvue water and sewer but also has a WELL and 3 Water Irrigation Ditch Shares. Lots of room to add on to this home, add a large garage, build a green house. Endless possibilities!

Listed by James Sanchez for Live Urban Real Estate. Please contact James for current pricing and

968 Views, 0 Comments.

Sunny + bright, adorable brick single family bungalow with private yard. Artists & craftsmen will love the oversize 2-car garage with 10' ceiling, exposed brick & natural light... plenty of room for a workshop, art studio, outdoor gear storage, or additional entertaining space. Note: 1 bedroom is a pass-through to the other. Hardwood Floors, Newer Hot Water Heater, Furnace Serviced Feb 2016, Freshly Painted.

Located just steps from Cherry Creek Bike Path. Easy 8-10 min walk to Trader Joe's & Gov's Park, Mayan Theatre, South Broadway dining & shops. 10 min bike ride to Wash Park. Art Student's League of Denver is just 2 blocks away.

361 Grant Street, Denver CO 80203.

Listed by Heather

1,106 Views, 0 Comments.

  Enjoy all that Sloan's Lake and Highlands have to offer in this sensational three bedroom, one and a half bath bungalow.  In additional to a well appointed and beautiful interior, you will also find a plethora of shops, restaurants and recreation minutes away from your front door.  Notable hot spots include the recreation and shops surrounding Sloan's Lake, the bustling Highlands Square shopping and dining district, and the emerging St. Anthony's redevelopment project.    Charm, modern amenities and outdoor space abound in this beautiful brick home.  With approximately 1400 square feet of living space, the wonderful layout lives very well.  The rooms flow in a way that make entertaining, relaxation and everyday living very easy.  In…
2,527 Views, 0 Comments.

Ditch the I-70 Ditch. For those that aren't familiar with this slogan, it refers to Denver's plans to expand I-70 east bound and a grass roots effort to find a better solution than expanding the highway 3 times wider and putting it 40-45 feet below ground level, hence the ditch. There are so many reasons why most Denver residents feel this is a bad idea. Some major concerns are that it will be below the water table in a contaminated ASARCO SuperFund site, it will displace at least 50 families and significantly increase pollution to some of Denver's most depressed neighborhoods and of course cost. The proposed plan will cost Colorado $1.2 billion or $65 million per lane per mile.

A very dedicated group, Ditch the I-70 Ditch, has fought against this

5,719 Views, 0 Comments.


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What Foursquare 3 means to Small Business

Foursquare has always been about encouraging people to explore their town and discover new places and things to do and eat. By using tips and to-do’s and highlighting trending locations it provided an interesting way to find out what people liked, where they had previously been and what they thought about the place.

Version 3 of Foursquare has just been released and with it they’ve really revised the way users will interact and find venues – and because of that SMB’s have the ability to benefit more than ever before. Previously I wrote an article on “Local Search Marketing using Foursquare” which is still a great lead-in to this post as the same underlying reasons of why a business should use Foursquare to begin with still apply. But lets talk about what small business can get out of Foursquare 3.
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Lot # 1189 (of 1807)   < Previous Lot | Next Lot >

Circa 1880 Baseball Team Albumen Display Photograph

Starting Bid - $300.00, Sold For - $1,185.00

Rare original albumen photo (10.25 x 8 inches), circa 1880, capturing nine members of an unidentified baseball team posing together in a formal studio setting. What makes this photo unique is that it is comprised of two separate photos that have been affixed upon a plain cardboard mount. The left segment features six team members while the right segment pictures three players. It is interesting to note that both photos were taken in front of the same backdrop, only the three players on the right are posed slightly further to the left of the large Doric column in the background. Along the base of the right photo segment one can see the lightly embossed letters "B.F. K. Riv"[es] (indicating the manufacturer of the photographic paper). The other half displays a lightly embossed "No. 74." While we can only speculate as to why this photographic display piece was composed in such a manner, it is very likely the case that the three players on the right were not available for the original sitting and were therefore photographed at a later date. The two photos were then merged to create the full team pose. Eight of the nine players are wearing bib-style jerseys, with seven of those jerseys featuring a large "A" on the front. A ninth player is wearing a sleeveless jersey with an "A" on the front. A "star" design can be seen on the top of one of the caps. There is no photographer's credit, nor are there any written notations on the front or reverse that would help to identify the club. The dating of the piece is based primarily upon the fact that an early style catcher's mask is held by one of the seated players. The catcher's mask was first mass produced by Spalding in 1878, but it wasn't until a year later that its use became widespread. Unfortunately, there is also no history to the piece, as our consignor just purchased it recently at an estate sale in Virginia. What it lacks in information, however, it more than makes up for in aesthetics. This is an outstanding early baseball team photo, showcasing not only the early bib-style jerseys and cap design, but the early catcher's mask and period equipment (two baseball bats and a ball). Both photographic segments present seamlessly as a single image with outstanding clarity. The mount (12.75 x 10.25 inches) displays light toning and may have long ago been slightly trimmed along all four borders for framing. This is a particularly unusual, outstanding, and early baseball display team photo. Reserve $300. Estimate (open). SOLD FOR $1,185.00

(Click the smaller thumbnails to the left and right (if any) to cycle through each photo in the gallery of images for this lot.)


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Lot # 56 (of 1807)   < Previous Lot | Next Lot >

1887 N690 Kalamazoo Bats Mike Dorgan, NY's

Starting Bid - $5,000.00, Sold For - $8,887.50

Graded VG+ 45 by SGC. Presented is an extraordinary Kalamazoo Bats example of New York Giants' outfielder Mike Dorgan. Dorgan is a particularly rare card in the Kalamazoo Bats set. In fact, this card is only the second example of Dorgan we have ever seen (REA sold the other example in 2004) and we know of only one other. All New York Giants and Mets player Kalamazoo Bats are exceedingly rare. We estimate that fewer than fifty examples in total are known in the entire collecting world. The New York player Kalamazoos all feature portraits, and are considered by advanced collectors to actually be a set unto themselves, distinct from the rare but far more available Philadelphia Athletics series. In Lew Lipset's The Encyclopedia of Base Ball Cards Volume 1 - 19th Century Cards, published in 1984, he speculates that the Kalamazoo Bats Mets and Giants players actually date from 1886 (as opposed to 1887), and an analysis of the known players (including checklist additions discovered since 1984) verifies that this is almost certainly the case. The offered example of New York's Mike Dorgan is in extraordinary condition. Very clean and strong in all respects, with just the slightest hint of corner wear, and superb photo quality. This card has an appearance far superior to its SGC-assigned grade. At a glance it appears Ex-Mt or better, and has been downgraded due to a vertical crease on the reverse. This is a tremendous example of an incredible rarity. Reserve $5,000. Estimate (open).

SOLD FOR $8,887.50

(Click the smaller thumbnails to the left and right (if any) to cycle through each photo in the gallery of images for this lot.)


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By Grant Napear

Grant opens the show and takes callers on the Rashard Mendenhall tweets. Grant’s Rant is on the NHL Playoff coverage. Mayor Kevin Johnson comes on to talk about recent Kings arena news. The Mayor’s interview kicks off talk about the arena. Matt Vasgersian talks with Grant about the MLB this early in the season. Brandon Thompson comes on the show to talk about his experience in the NFL Draft.

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Tuesday, April 27, 2010

linking to the life~

when things getting tough...
it is when u need to calm yourself realllllllllyyy....
and when things getting smoother
it is then u reminisce all thing back..
sought of the way u like and the way u dont like...
u decide..
u propose and
u do it..

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Popular Posts

Monday, February 28, 2011

The smile that signaled my road ahead

Mani whom I affectionately call Maniyettan (Ettan means elder brother in Malayalam) fortunately or unfortunately is the reason for me to start my journey through the spirited path of palliation.

I still remember those childhood days when Maniyettan used to get me chocolates from the shop near by my home, how he used to hold my hands during those brisk evening walks through the green field to the river which flows through the village.

Life turned dark for him as he lost is father and he was forced to take up the responsibility of his mother and younger sister.He had to stop his education in the primary classes itself and work hard as a daily laborer to make both ends meet.He had to approach the local money lenders to make sure that there was sufficient money to arrange for his sister's Marriage.

Life turned even worse when he himself got married in a very early age to take care of his old mother. A year after his marriage Maniyatten kissed his pregnant wife good bye as he decided to go abroad to earn ample money as he was even finding it difficult to earn the daily bread for the family.

Maniyatten with a heart full of dreams was shattered as he was not able to find a promising job abroad.The deserts could only drain him worse.the news about the birth of his son filled in hope and he decided to stay back dreaming of the day he will be flying back home with lots of love and gifts for his baby boy.

The happiness didn't last long. few days later he heard the news that his sister with her two children were back home separated from her husband which mentally broke his mother.Maniyettan somehow wanted to be with his family to support them, but it remained a mirage. The totally depressed Maniyettan started falling ill.On the fifth year of his stay at abroad his health was so worse that his friends on the instruction of his doctor had to help him fly back home.

He was taken to a private hospital which was one hour drive from his home. The two major surgeries made him half dead. Maniyettan along with his family stayed in the hospital just to hear that "Sorry, Nothing more can be done".With unbearable pain he was shifted to the Medical College where he was diagnosed cancer at its secondary stage. Discharged from the Medical College he was taken to his home to just get stuck to his bed, counting his days as if in hell.

I took few days off from my college to get back home so that I could spend some time with him. On my way to his home I found a vehicle near to the gate on which it was written 'Palliative Care Home Care Team' something which I never heard before.

Maniyettan was sitting on his bed leaning to the pillow placed between his cot and the wall next to it.He was smiling through his pain to those wonderful team caring him.That smile made me understand the essence of palliative care in its most powerful way.I could see the added life to his days. That smile signaled me my road ahead.

  1. Very touching and so true. God has strange ways and leads HIS children to the path HE has chosen.
    Very well written. The emotions can be felt by the reader.
    God bless you!

  2. very touching and inspiring.nice life can be so difficult and we need to get through it .and always remember that something better is waiting.good luck.i hope man is better now.

  3. Really True ,,, And Heart touching... It is always said that "God help those , who help themselves..." I pray for them.

    Nice and good job .

  4. my heartfelt prayerz... n u r doin an incredible job... gud luck!! Allah bless..

  5. Good notes Saif. Glad to see your sharing your experiences. You should convince others , social workers, patients, doctors, nursing staff to start sharing stories. It will be an incredible way let the world know of palliative care movement and might inspire several others to join and contribute, G


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Saturday, 11 September 2010

Riverbanks at Full Capacity at the Hahn River International Match Race, Korea

by Reuben Corbett

The rain stole the show today with the river level centimetres from overflowing the banks. Authorities banned all sailing on the water so we have the afternoon to check out the city of Seoul.

On the racing front there is insufficient time to complete the current format so we expect to see some changes tomorrow morning. We are currently sitting top of the table but the Australians are in hot pursuit.

The team would like to thank the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron friends, and family for their support. Thank you!

Black Sheep Racing is Reuben Corbett, Brad Farrand, Tom Bentham, Nicolas Derberque and James Sandall.

Black Sheep Racing


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and flomax cialis

Laurie Bruce

Mrs. Bruce,  a Lead Teacher in our two-year-old program, has been at Saint Luke since the 2010-2011 school year. She previously enjoyed several years of teaching in New Jersey and now resides in Silver Spring with her husband. She has two step-daughters and three grandchildren. Mrs. Bruce believes that it takes many people with passion and dedication to provide the necessary elements to teach young children during their important formative years. Her priorities are safety, encouragement and love for the individual students and the class as a whole, instilling values and establishing relationships with the children that will support and affect their lives in many positive ways.  One of her favorite quotes is “It takes a village to raise a child.” Mrs. Bruce holds a nationally awarded certificate in Child Development (CDA.)

<<Back to Teacher page


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MLS® Property Listing Sitemap

2,517 Properties Found. Showing Page 14 of 34

College Station

The information being provided is for consumers' personal, non-commercial use and may not be used for any purpose other than to identify prospective properties consumers may be interested in purchasing. The data is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed accurate by the MLS.

Listing information is provided by Bryan-College Station Regional MLS.


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Did you know that in addition to our numerous printed resources, the SAM Libraries provide access to important electronic resources on art and art history through our online library catalogue (OPAC)?

For those digital immigrants among us, “electronic resources” in the SAM Libraries are documents, reports, e-catalogues, and websites that provide research-level information just like printed materials. They’re just in digital formats: .pdf files, websites, Google Books, etc.

Here are some great examples:

e-Catalogues: Chinese Painting & Calligraphy (Seattle Art Museum, 2011)
Part of the Getty Foundation’s Online Scholarly Catalogue Initiative (OSCI), this catalogue, which allows unprecedented access to SAM’s Chinese painting and calligraphy collection, allows you to do things online that could never be done in person: view a thirty foot handscroll in its entirety on the screen, zoom in so close you can see paper fibers, and have marks and text translated with ease.

Patron viewing SAM's Chinese Painting & Calligraphy catalogue. Photo by Traci Timmons.

Patron viewing SAM’s Chinese Painting & Calligraphy catalogue. Photo by Traci Timmons.

Reports: Supporting the Changing Research Practices of Art Historians (Ithaka S+R, 2014)
This report, gleaned from 70+ interviews with faculty members, curators, librarians, visual resources professionals, and museum professionals (including several from the Seattle Art Museum), investigates the research practices of scholars and shares how digital resources both enhance and created some challenges for the field of art history.

Collected Papers: Studying and Conserving Paintings: Occasional Papers on the Samuel H. Kress Collection (The Conservation Center of the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, 2006)
This electronic version of the original print publication records the processes, with an emphasis on elements of discovery, that accompany conservation on paintings in Kress Collections throughout the United States. Many of the works currently on view in the Seattle Art Museum’s European galleries are Kress Collection works.

Patron viewing the electronic version of Studying and Conserving Paintings: Occasional Papers on the Samuel H. Kress Collection. SAM’s Kress painting, Hagar and the Angel by Bernardo Strozzi (61.168), is featured. Photo by Traci Timmons.

Print to Digital: Native Paths: American Indian Art from the Collection of Charles and Valerie Diker (Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1998)
Published to accompany the exhibition of the same name at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1999, this catalogue, originally in print, is now available via Google Books and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We’ll be hosting an exhibition of works from the Diker Collection in 2015.

See the full list of more than 250 resources. Many other online resources from the Seattle Art Museum are included. We’re constantly adding new material, so check back often.

To search for any of our library materials, start at the SAM’s website. Click on Programs & Learning, then Libraries & Resources. Click on Art Research, then Search Catalogue.

Our library staff are here to help you with any of your research needs. Start here.

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Male figure with balamwezi pattern

With the night sky subsuming our ever-shortening days, darkness takes on new meaning. Some might embrace these early evenings and winter constellations, while others surely count the days until the spring. No matter where we land on the spectrum, I think we can all agree that it is increasingly difficult to appreciate darkness as a larger force in our lives, especially with all the technology helping us override our circadian rhythms.

At the risk of sounding like a horoscope, a new moon begins tomorrow evening, November 18, and our night sky will be even darker than usual. While we might not be as in tune with the lunar calendar as preceding generations (or, if we are, we likely use an app), for the Tabwa people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the moon—and its absence—is certainly worth noting.

Though hard to make out, this figurative male Tabwa sculpture features traditional iconography called balamwezi, triangular patterns that reference the rising of the new moon and lunar phases. Balamwezi roughly translates to “the rising of a new moon,” and is a metaphor that contains both darkness and light. A moment of transition and rebirth, the new moon brings complete darkness while also holding the promise of illumination. To quote the scholar Allen F. Roberts, “balamwezi patterning was a visual proverb insofar as it conveyed its sense of uncertainty, transformation, and . . . the courage to persevere, even in the darkest hours.”1

In Tabwa culture, darkness—representing obscurity, ignorance, danger, and destruction—is balanced by more positive attributes such as light, wisdom, safety, and hope.2 Ultimately, forging a nuanced connection between darkness and light makes inextricable their disparate attributes and associations. Perhaps this way of thinking can change our own behaviors and attitudes toward darkness, and what better time than during the onset of tomorrow’s new moon!

– Elisabeth Smith, Collections Coordinator

1 Allen F. Roberts, A Dance of Assassins: Performing Early Colonial Hegemony in the Congo Page (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2013), 87.
2 Rosalind Hackett, Art and Religion in Africa (New York: Cassell, 1996), 126.
Image: Male figure with balamwezi (the rising of the new moon) pattern, Tabwa, wood, 34 x 7 3/4 x 8 in., Gift of Katherine White and the Boeing Company, 81.17.790.

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Friday, 9 April 2010

Sad day for us proud old punk rockers....

So farewell then Mr McClaren.

As many of the people reading this will know, I am very much a child of the punk revolution. I was a babe-in-arms (well 13ish) when punk really took off in 1977 and it is fair to say it truly changed my life. The music excited and inspired me (it still does incidentally) and it put me on a musical journey that has never ended to this day. I may not look as 'punky' as I used to but in my heart that is what I still am.

Therefore I was sad to hear yesterday of the death of Malcolm McClaren, the svengali manager of the pioneering punks The Sex Pistols.

He may have been a bit of a wide boy and a player (although to be fair he never pretended to be anything else) but this guy had a massive influence on all the lives of those of us who believe punk truly changed our lives forever.

My own favourite band, The Stranglers, may have pre-dated them (and American heroes The Ramones certainly did) but it was The Sex Pistols that propelled punk to the surface and as a result many of the bands we all know and love got deals, made records and the rest as they say is history. Glorious, unpredictable history.

This sad death has also prompted some great punk nostalgia. Nicky Campbell on Radio Five this morning was talking about his punk days (he called himself Nic-O-Tine in 1977) and he talked about his first 'pogo'. I can still remember mine – I was on holiday with a friend, Nigel, in Prestatyn in 1978 and I bounced up and down on the spot to Five Minutes by The Stranglers and Ca Plane Pour Moi by Belgian pop-punkster Plastic Betrand. Bouncing up and down on the spot..yep, we called that dancing. Happy days.

To be honest I would never list The Sex Pistols in my 'best ever' bands list (when I saw them again a couple of years ago on their comeback tour I realised they had made four killer singles and a couple of cracking album tracks but there was a lot of 'filler' too) but, like every pop fan who acknowledges The Beatles I know the debt I owe to those boys. And they simply wouldn't have broken through without Malcolm's guiding (manipulating?) hand.

So farwell Mr C. A genuine original. A genuine character. A genuine loss.

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