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Wednesday, August 24, 2011

testing testing 1,2,3

So, as promised here's a little treat for you! For the past couple of weeks I've been putting together some test animation for Arrival and I'm pretty pleased how it came out. It's not perfect, but I learned some good techniques about how to make it look like there's a lot more going on than there really is haha.

I was also going to have the clouds move left to right (or visa versa) but it actually ended up looking rather cheap and very boring. So instead I have the clouds pulling back slightly as the camera zooms in- also known as a "Dolly Zoom." It blurs reality every so slightly and it makes the background seem much more vast.

Basically the point of this was to see how detailed with the actual animation I could get, while finishing it within a reasonable amount of time. I have another, quicker set of animation to clean up as a test, but I'm going to take a bit of a break for the time being. Enjoy!

Monday, August 8, 2011

oh HI, I didn't see you there!

SO! I'm still here hahaha. I haven't really posted in a month but there's a very good explanation for that, and you'll see why soon. Just hang in there for a bit longer while I finish everything up. Expect a new post by the end of the month :)


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Monday, May 4, 2009

Days gone by or...I'll Share if you will..

Catchy title? Yesterday we had lunch with our dear friends and had so much fun. I was a bit of a party pooper because, for some reason, yesterday my ears decided to stop up. It was like my head was in a bucket so I felt like I was talking really loud so then I tried to speak softly - it was weird and I just knew that everyone was thinking "what's her deal?" Except that they have three children who JP and I love. I've stayed with them a couple of times and we have a pretty casual and honest relationship. I know that Lovely K would've said "Ummm,,Mrs. JP why are you talking all weird like that?" So I took comfort that I could count on the kids to tell me if I was being as weird as I felt. All that to say that at one point our conversation turned to how we looked in the 1980's. JP had long hair! Then our first few dates were spent changing his hair to the super cool punk look. That's right, I know it's hard to believe that conservative us were not so conservative once. Here's the deal...I'm dedicating this post to how we used to look. I dare you to do the same! Of course you know these aren't digital so excuse the quality of the pictures. Okay here's the picture map. The top photo is JP and I on our wedding day - fancy huh?

Here's us at my parents for Christmas.

JP at my parent's farm.

Our little family.

This is me and my dad.
Me in my cool fro at Christmas.

OK,,,we better see some pictures soon!

Farm Chick Paula said...

Great post! Loved seeing the old pictures. You all haven't changed a bit!

I, on the other hand, don't know if I'm brave enough to reveal what a dork I've been my whole life... LOL

YD said...

It's always fun looking at old pictures, especially someone else's.

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Wednesday, 14 May 2014

As Orlando awoke 1 morning from uneasy dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a woman.

For the time being, I don't know what to make of Orlando's sudden sex change (a satire or a more 'literal' version of Freud's idea about the development of a feminine identity? an absurd situation in which the character is trapped, as in existentialist works? a grotesque change of perspective, change of role which forces the protagonist to rethink his/her own former views? a depiction of Vita's different sexual roles, the inspiration for "Orlando"? an exploration of gender and the differences between the 2 sexes? pure comedy? etc.)
1 thing I find striking is that Orlando, after a 7-day sleep, wakes up to find himself transformed into a woman and yet shows no sign of perturbation or confusion. Orlando doesn't even pay it much thought, but gets dressed (unisex clothes) and goes on with his/her life, and albeit leaving his/her place, does it as if in a trance and lives as if no change occurred. Such reaction is remarkably similar to Gregor's reaction when he turns into an insect in "The metamorphosis".
Any chance Virginia Woolf thought of Franz Kafka when writing this passage?
Or is it random?
Or were they inspired by the same source?

  1. Di,

    Interesting linking. I hadn't thought about Kafka's Metamorphosis when I read Orlando, but you are right. Neither seemed to be too upset or distraught over this impossible change. And, again, there was no attempt in either to provide an explanation. It was just something that happened, so might as well make the best of it and carry on.

    1. A couple of days and I still don't know how to reply to your comments. Haha.

    2. Di,

      I'm also unable to explain the strange behavior of the two characters. It's been a puzzle to me and also to others who have commented on Kafka's work.

    3. I don't feel that way about "The Metamorphosis". Gregor Samsa has always been treated like an insect, turning into a real one doesn't make much of a difference, which is why he, even as an insect, worries about being late for work instead of worrying about his body and his life after the transformation.
      That of course is also Kafka's joke. It's only when I read the story the 3rd time that I laughed. The guy's so deluded, and so he remains till his death.
      On the other hand, I am puzzled by Orlando's metamorphosis and reaction. Virginia Woolf may be making a point about the development of a feminine identity (or whatever, I don't know yet), but it's still weird that a guy wakes up, finds himself transformed into a woman, and doesn't question it.


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Thursday, November 29, 2012

It's Whineter. I Mean, Winter.

I had one of those clothing dilemmas this morning. If you are female, you know what I'm talking about. It's when your bedroom is organized and everything is picked up and then you can't decide what to wear so your room looks like you were robbed during your shower.

I was set on wearing my new boots. So I put on the sweater dress that's warm. But then the tights I wanted to wear didn't match so I tore through all of them but didn't find the color I wanted. So I had to choose something else to go with the tights I do have. Which ends up being less warm than the sweater dress. Which led to this conversation in the bathroom at work:

Co-Worker: How are you?
Me: I'm good! Just cold.
CW: Well, you're wearing a dress.
Me: But I'm also wearing tights and boots and a scarf.
CW: But you're hardly covered from here to here.
Me: I don't care! I am inside!! It should be warm inside buildings! I shouldn't be subjected to freezing temperatures while I'm working! Besides, winter doesn't mean that you have to dress frumpy!! It doesn't mean that you have to look homeless in layers and layers of things that don't match!!! I had to wear these boots and this was all I could find after destroying both closets in my room!!!!

Okay. I didn't really scream that. I didn't even whisper it. I just sort of shrugged my shoulders shamefully and walked out. I could have said it though. It's all perfectly reasonable.

Winter is not my friend.

Serial Monogamist said...

I have the opposite problem. When it gets slightly cold here southerners CRANK up the heat so I have to dress like it's still summer inside. I seriously have sweaters I haven't worn once since I moved out here. And not because it doesn't get cold in the winter - it does! Frost this morning! 30 degrees out! But it's sofreakinghot in here.

Of course, I also have about 25 lbs of extra insulation on my body ... that may have something to do with it ....

Kat said...

That is just crazy! I think part of the cold in our building comes from having all the big windows over the river. It's beautiful in the summer, just wish that part would last longer.

And, yeah, my extra fluff isn't helping out in the warmth department.

The Martini Chronicles. Design by Exotic Mommie. Illustraion By DaPino


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Thursday, December 15, 2011

Amsterdam: Part I

Jeff was in Amsterdam for a week in a half in mid-November for work.  I flew there for the weekend and we spent the weekend being tourist.  It was a bit chilly there compared to Barcelona, which we weren't prepared for.  Here in Barcelona it is still in the 60's during the day and it is mid-December.  It was in the 40's in Amsterdam the weekend of our visit.  I know being from Chicago that is nothing, but our blood has thinned out since moving here ;-)
This is the central train station in Amsterdam.

Dam Palace.

Sights on our canal cruise.

We visited two markets in the area and one flower market.

Here is a bunch of fried seafood at the market, not really my thing.
The smallest car ever...I think it was even smaller than the "Smart Car".

Waffles and Pancakes are big in Amsterdam...both sweet and savory.  Here was a stand at the market that customized waffles.
Jeff and I got one with chocolate and almond slices.

Oh no

Jeff and I got food hasn't been a good week.  We have had to be near a bathroom at all times, it is kind of a bummer.  I hope it leaves before the weekend starts.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Christmas at the Hecker's

On Thanksgiving Day while our family and friends ate turkey and pumpkin pie I decorated our Christmas tree.  Here she is, isn't she a beauty?  The best is still in the 60's and sunny during the day here!

Friday, December 2, 2011

Thanksgiving results....

Well Thanksgiving dinner went well everything turned out, but I still missed having it back in the States.  I made a turkey roast thing, green beans, corn bread, sweet potato casserole, pumpkin bread and sausage, apple and cranberry stuffing.

Here is the turkey thing I was okay.  I did find an actually turkey breast last week so I might try that later.

Monday, November 28, 2011

TV commercial

A few weeks ago there was a commercial shot in our neighorhood.  The crew was right outside our apartment window on the other side of the street.  Here are a few shots from that morning.  We have lots of commercials/videos/photo shoots in the area.

Friday, November 25, 2011

Yesterday was Thanksgiving in the States and Jeff was traveling for work so I was all by myself.  Today I am going to attempt to cook a Thanksgiving dinner with what I could find here.  On the menu is:

Turkey-breast thing
Sweet Potato Casserolle
Green Beans
Sausage, Apple & Cranberry Stuffing
Corn Bread
Pumpkin Pie
Pumpkin Bread

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Finally our trip to Madrid

One weekend in July Jeff and I took the train to Madrid.  It was a nice weekend, but extremely hot.  It was in the high 90's and if you haven't been to Europe before air conditioning isn't extremely common.  We did a lot of walking and sweating that weekend.  We decided on this weekend because we found a good deal on a hotel in Madrid.

Here we are on the train.
This is a little tray of goodies we received upon arrival.  Spanish champagne (aka Cava), bottled water and fruit.
Circulo Bellas Artes:
I had Jeff take a picture of this is because he calls me the "Minister of Interior Affairs" that is what this says in Spanish.
Puerta del Sol:
One of the many street performers.
This is strawberry tree and bear statue that is the symbol of Madrid.

Plaza Mayor:
Of course we had to stop to have a jar of sangria.

 Me and a Spanish Elvis that Jeff insisted I have a picture with.

Templo de Debod: An Egyptain temple that was relocated to Spain in 1972.

Palacio Real & Church of Saint Nicholas from the Templo de Debod:
Here I am sweating like a pig.
Palacio Real:  It was closed to walk around as the Pope was to be there the following week.

Church of Saint Nicholas:

San Miguel market:  In the market there are many vendors and counters where you can enjoy a glass of wine and beer along with some tapas.  Locals can also purchase produce and speciality items.


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Thursday, July 10, 2014

book - Thrive

The third metric to redefining success and creating a life of well-being, wisdom, and wonder
by Arianna Huffington

image from

This was such a great book!

She is the Huffington from Huffington Posts. I looooove reading those, especially the mom one. She is the backbone of this great work. She's also a mother. She's a hard worker who fell down and was not well with herself after sleep deprivation and working way too hard for her own good.

This made her realize something. She had tons of money, smarts and resources. Yet she wasn't happy or fulfilled in many other important ways. She knew she had to change.

So she says it's utterly important to take care of our well-being, wisdom and wonder, and then we'll be successful. LOVE this spin on the age-old topic of success, where we typically think of money and fame and power. She thinks of other things.

This is a great book for colleagues and work places, but as a mother I found TONS of ideas in this book that make sense for parents as well. We, too, could be sleep deprived and working too hard for our own good. We need reminders of what's important also.

She quoted Iain Thomas,
"And every day the world will drag you by the hand, yelling, 'This is important! And this is important! And this is important! You need to worry about this! And this! And this!' And each day, it's up to you to yank your hand back, put it on your heart and say, 'No. This is what's important.'"

Huffington wrote about how women oftentimes feel they have to push themselves harder, rarely sleep, work work work to get to the top like their male counterparts who seemingly get there easier. She said instead we NEED to be rested, taking care of ourselves in order to get our way to the top.

"By sleeping more we, in fact, become more competent and in control of our lives," she wrote, page 80. She said to "imagine what we can do when we're fully awake."

She said we need methods to tell our bodies to sleep, shut down, rest, put things away. Avoid TV, movies, technology, Facebook, etc. just before bed. I know I'm guilty of this. That seems to be my main time that I can zone out and scan things... it's relaxing to me. But she's saying - and studies prove - that it's something that keeps people awake, using technology before bed. We need to shut off the world in order to get full rest.

She suggested getting fancy silk comfy pajamas. Not just sweatpants and t-shirts like we work out in (something with high energy, not soothing and falling asleep clothing). That's a great start I think for those of you up all night with babies, get something comfy to sleep in that tells you it's time for sleep.

She also suggested making bed time like an appointment. Schedule it into your life. Make it happen. Figure out how many hours a night you need to function at your best. Is it 9? 8? 7? Whatever you find out, make it happen more nights than not in the week. As a new mom that could be rough... but as you get your child sleeping more, make your sleep priority. You focus better when well-rested.

Along with your well-being and sleep is moving your body. Exercise. Practice yoga. Stretch. Hike. Get outside. Do what you need to keep active. This also helps keep your mind sharp.

She also suggested doing 5 minutes daily of meditation. Sit quietly and breathe and think and be with yourself. I've never meditated but it sounds like just what we busy moms need... a time out so to speak. A minute to ourselves. I think even if you could manage a minute a day to be quiet with your breathing, that could go a long way to giving us patience and stamina for the day.

"It turns out, not surprisingly, mastering the art of slowing down doesn't happen quickly. Learning the wisdom of slowing down, of truly living, is itself a journey. But it is also a prescription for better health." (page 144)

Eat slower. Be intimate slower. Walk slower. Talk slower.
Slowing down is synonymous with being present, taking it all in.
What mother doesn't need this reminder?! We need to be reminded that our kids are growing up quickly and if we don't slow down, put aside other things that don't really matter to their or our well-being, we're going to miss it. I think this is a fantastic reminder for all moms.

"We fear that if we don't cram as much as possible into our day, we might miss out on something fabulous, important, special or career advancing. But there are no rollover minutes in life. We don't get to keep all that time we 'save.' It's actually a very costly way to live."

Moms are so this way. I know I am. Do, do, do, go, go, go. Keep it moving.
Yet kids have a great way of reminding us to slow down, don't they? They remind us to take a minute, stare at that ant on the ground or see that airplane in the sky for the 10th time this week and yet still be amazed by it and have to stop what we're doing to observe it.

We love this about our kids. And it drives us nuts when we're rushing. We need to slow down so they can grow. It's that simple.

The first thing we can try to do is to let go of things we don't need. Relationships that drag us down or stress us out. Technology or social media we don't really care about. Reading every little thing we see on a certain topic. Responding to criticism or complaints that don't matter. Reading into things that we aren't sure on.

"Listening to your inner wisdom, let go of something today that you no longer need - something that is draining your energy without benefiting you or anyone you love. It could be resentments, negative self-talk, or a project you know you are not really going to complete." (page 171)

She encourages starting a gratitude list. Something to share what you're thankful for. Write in it daily if you can. Just small things, the way your son helped his sister up when she fell. The way the person in line at the grocery store let you go first since the kids were melting down. How you found this awesome book you had been searching for at the library. Whatever it is, write it down some place, or even just think it in your mind at night before bed. Better yet, she encourages you share your list with two friends and have them share theirs with you.

Disconnect from the digital world. Set a time at night that you will say goodnight and shut down, then get yourself ready for bed.

"Wonder is not just a product of what we see - of how beautiful or mysterious or singular or incomprehensible something may be. It's just as much a product of our state of mind, our being, the perspective from which we are looking at the world." (page 174)

We need more silence. We need quiet and peace in order to see the wonder around us. It's very simple, really, but something that many moms struggle to find with kids around and partners and jobs and chores to do.

Focus on your breathing, Huffington suggested.

She wrote about forgiveness also, of your own faults and others.

Lastly, she said we need to GIVE. We need to be compassionate. We need to volunteer our time and give back to our world. She said at Huffington they give their employees 3 days off a year to specifically do volunteer work. I LOVE this concept. What a great thing. Volunteering our time, helping our community is such an awesome thing. We could do this as moms, too, even with small children. Clean up trash on Earth Day for instance, you don't have to join a group to do that. You can do it more than just in April also.

Some sites for giving back: - helping in your pajamas at home, a UK site. - helps connect professionals to nonprofits to do pro bono work

Let us all take a minute daily, or frequently, as much as you can, to sit back, enjoy, relax, take deep breaths, and realize that success is not that in monetary form or our names in the paper. It's about happy, smiling kids. A solid relationship or marriage. Strong self esteem and confidence in our own self and mothering skills.

We are enough. That's what all this reminds me of.

Excellent book. I highly recommend it!

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In case you’re reading this and find yourself wondering what in God’s green earth is a lumbersexual, let me start things off by filling you in.

The lumbersexual (think metrosexual turned hipster… but earthier) looks like he just conquered the great outdoors, yet probably did no more than assemble his wardrobe and manicure his beard before he left the house. Hip and handsome, the lumbersexual is on the cutting edge of urban culture, while maintaining the rugged freshness of a manly-man from eras past.

Elitedaily describes the lumbersexual man as:

“essentially an urban woodsman. He is brawny, wears expensive flannel, has an impressive beard that is painstakingly unkempt and represents the ultimate sense of manliness. The look of the lumbersexual man can be described as something similar to a hipster-outdoorsman hybrid. However, you won’t find him in the forest chopping down trees. The lumbersexual man traded in his days of tree felling for hitting up hipster bars, and instead of wielding an axe, he now carries around a MacBook Pro.”

Proven by the popularity of articles like those in and Bustle, the ‘lumbersexual’ trend may be catching fire. So what do you buy the bearded, flannel-draped man for the holidays? Here are a few ideas.

1. The Mantry

Part hipster, your lumbersexual may have a love for food. Find your way to his way heart with a gift subscription from the Mantry., $225 for three months

2. Straight Edge Razor

Nothing says B.A. more than trimming that beard with a straight edge razor. Help your man bring the craft back into shaving. (Extra bonus: it’s environmentally friendly.), $249.99

3. OHanlon Mills Mule Slippers

Everybody needs a pair of slippers for Christmas. These ones happen to be dawned with plaid.
Urban Outfitters, $19

4. Faux Deer Taxidermy

What says, “I have a love for the urban outdoors” more than a polyresin deer head hanging on your wall?
White Faux Taxidermy, $84.99

5. The Glencairn Whisky Glass with Teroforma Whisky Stones

Glencairn Whisky Glass

The ultimate whiskey glass, this set is a must for any whiskey (or wannabe whiskey) enthusiast., $64.95

6. Beard Oil

Beard oil

Beard oil is this year’s must-have item for anyone sporting a long, ‘I-think-some-of-last-night’s-dinner-might-still-be-in-here’ beard.
Prospector Co, $28

7. Plain White Tees

A necessary commodity. What else (other than all that bearskin chest hair) is going to go under all that flannel?
American Apparel, $18

8. Driftwood charging dock

Driftwood iphone charging dock

Made from real driftwood, each one is unique., $105.84

9. Mackinaw Cap by Filson

One of the original outfitters of lumbersexuals before ‘lumbersexual’ was even a thing, this Filson cap should complete your man’s rugged look.
Filson, $55

10. Texas BBQ Smoking Bags

Help him bring the outdoorsy flavour of real, smoked wood to grilled meat., $5,95 each

11. HBC Collection Flannel Sheet Set

The Hudson’s Bay Company provides the ultimate Canadian classic to keep you warm at night.
The Bay, Queen Set $157.50

12. Italian Leather Candles

Indulge him with these manly scents to set the mood or light his way.
Restoration Hardware, $49 for a set of 3

13. Mugolio Pinecone Syrup

Adventurous and willing to try something different? Why not drizzle your food with the essence of tree sap? It’s culinary cutting edge., $29.99 for 3.6 oz

14. Italian Leather Hard Shell iPhone case

Luxe yet rugged. Handsome yet functional. Crafted with care by a 150-year-old Italian tannery, each is made from the finest English hides, chosen for richness and character.
Restoration Hardware, $20-25

15. Horseshoe Game Set

Have fun in the outdoors and give him a reason to sling around some premium horseshoes for a jolly old time.
The Bay, $110

16. Leatherman Tool

Pull out a Leatherman around any brand-obsessed outdoors-man, and you’ll get a nod of approval., $99.85 – 109.85

17. Horned Bottle Opener

Handmade in Finland, this bottle opener is attached to a shed reindeer horn.
Anthropologie, $30

18. Whiskey Making Kit

Help him grow in his intimate knowledge of whiskey by allowing him to witness the aging process DIY.
Woodinville Whiskey Co, sold by Binny’s Beverage Depot, $149.99

19. Buck deer & Antlers stacking game

Pile all thirty antlers on this buck’s horns before they fall. When not in use, the game doubles as an accent piece.

20. Beardsman Bundle by Duke Cannon

A manly-man’s brand of bathroom essentials, the Beardsman’s Gift Pack includes an exclusive 3-in-1 clear shaving gel and two bars of beard conditioning soap.
Duke Cannon Supply Co., $27

21. Hershel Novel Plaid Duffle

Practical and handsome. What more could one ask for?
Herschel Supply, $79.99

22. Pipe Smoking Starter Kit

If he is fond of smoking cigars, then a pipe set might have just the right amount of retro flair., $78.50

23. ‘Downward facing log’ Yoga Bag

Enhance his literal lumberjack look, and insist your man slings this over his shoulder on his way to yoga class., $35

24. The Chicago Comb

The ultimate beard comb, this pocket-sized tool is made of laser-cut stainless steel., $35

25. Wood Slice Coasters

Bring some of the outdoors in with these coasters handmade from slices of real oak wood., $11.75 each

26. Light My Fire Swedish fire knife

Impress your friends with your skills outdoors and start a fire without matches using this handy flint knife. $39.62

27. A Fleece Onesie

Christmas just isn’t Christmas without a new pair of pyjamas. This cozy onesie is right on trend., Apprx $28.54


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Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Interview with Exquisite Corpse Authors and Illustrators!

An Interview with NCBLA Exquisite Corpse Adventure Contributor, Author Shannon Hale!

Check out Episode 7 and Episode 19 of The Exquisite Corpse Adventure to read Shannon's fun contributions.

Award winning author Shannon Hale writes for young adults and adults. She began writing at age 10 and has never looked back. One of her graphic novels, Rapunzel's Revenge, co-authored with her husband, was an Al's Book Club for Kids selection on NBC's Today.

NCBLA asked Shannon the following questions:

Q- What did you find to be the most challenging aspect of writing an episode for The Exquisite Corpse Adventure?
A-"It's so hard to write your episode without knowing where the story will go. When writing my own book, I can rewrite the whole thing extensively to make sure all the parts work together, but with this kind of writing you have to write your little bit and then let it go."

Q- What were some of your favorite books when you were in elementary school?
A-"The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis, Nancy Drew by Carolyn Keene, The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander, The Blue Sword and Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley, The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken, The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin, and Homecoming and Dicey's Song by Cynthia Voigt."

Q-What are you working on now? Do you have a new book coming out this year?
A-"I have two twin babies coming out this year! But no book release. Daisy Danger Brown probably won't be for a couple of years."

Look for Shannon's wonderful books at your favorite library and bookstore.

For more information on Shannon and her books, visit her website.

The Final Episode of The Exquisite Corpse Adventure Will Be Revealed at The National Book Festival on September 25th!

Join emcee Mary Brigid Barrett and Team Corpse authors and illustrators, M. T. Anderson, Timothy Basil Ering, Linda Sue Park, Katherine Paterson, and James Ransome for an hour of fun and surprises as they bring you the conclusion to the rollicking, episodic story The Exquisite Corpse Adventure.

Katherine Paterson, National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, will lead her colleagues in a reader's theatre presentation of Episode 27, the FINAL episode, to conclude this yearlong adventure that began at last year's National Book Festival.

Be sure to join us in the Children's Pavilion on the National Mall in Washington, D. C. at 10:00 AM sharp to be among the first to learn the fate of Nancy, Joe, and their friends!

Read more about this year's book festival on the LOC's 2010 Book Festival website.


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Wake Forest vs. Stephen Colbert and Kevin Wilson

Wake Forest football is an odd target for barbs, given the Demon Deacons are seven years removed from their last bowl appearance, finished 2014 3-9 and had the nation’s worst scoring offense save only SMU. And yet, here is poor Wake in the headlines because of it’s been mocked by Stephen Colbert and Indiana head coach Kevin Wilson.

First, Stephen Colbert’s quip from his commencement speech at Wake Forest last month:

“Wake has been a trailblazer, this is a school that respects tradition. Traditions like rolling the Quad with toilet paper after big wins. And this is actually an eco-friendly tradition because, looking at this season’s win-loss record, you guys saved a lot of paper.”

Wake Forest head coach Dave Clawson told The David Glenn Show he won’t tune in to watch Stephen Colbert as new host of The Late Show “for at least a year,” which presumably gives Clawson more time to study up on the Deacs’ 2015 opponents. Stephen Colbert’s alma mater Northwestern isn’t on Wake’s docket.

But another Big Ten team is: Indiana. And the Hoosiers’ Week 4 visit to Winston-Salem is suddenly one of the more intriguing Power Five nonconference games of the 2015 campaign after Indiana head coach Kevin Wilson slammed Wake Forest.

Jeez, is everyone annoyed with Wake Forest because of this?

In defense of the Deacs’ offense, which hit rock-bottom of a 14.8-point-per-game season with that scoreless gem against Virginia Tech, it should be improved in 2015. Clawson started a true freshman, John Wolford, last season, and Wolford took his lumps. He should be much improved from the experience, and playing behind an offensive line that returns four-of-five starters certainly won’t hurt. Against an Indiana defense that allowed nearly 33 points per game, the Deacs should show more firepower than they ever could muster in 2014.

Given the sudden animosity between the two teams, Indiana and Wake Forest should play for a trophy. It wouldn’t be any more contrived than the trophy introduced for that heated Texas A&M-South Carolina “rivalry.” And, to sweeten the pot, why not have it awarded to the winning team by Stephen Colbert on The Late Show.

The appearance of Dave Clawson or Kevin Wilson on the program couldn’t be any more awkward than Crispin Glover’s with Letterman, right?


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Sunday, May 15, 2016

Every Exquisite Thing by Matthew Quick Review

Every Exquisite Thing by Matthew Quick
I would first like to thank Little Brown for sending me an ARC of this novel along with three other novels by Matthew Quick. This book was so inspiring and eye-opening to me in retrospect to how people feel when they think that no one cares and how sometimes families and people appear to be something when they’re really not. This was my first Matthew Quick novel, and it’s safe to say that I will definitely be reading more of his work very soon. The characters in Every Exquisite Thing are relatable to a wide spectrum of readers and develop beautifully into people who are aware of what they what from the world and what they want from themselves. I loved how we are immersed into Nanette’s life and her mind. This really allowed me as a reader to understand Nanette and her feelings throughout the novel and help me form an idea of who she was in my head. I highly recommend this novel to fans of All The Bright Places, it truly captures the same feel and essence that All The Bright Places brings to the table and goes even further than I imagined. This novel will truly change your perspective on life and how you will see the world.

"And then one day you will look for you in the mirror and you’ll no longer be able to identify yourself - you’ll only see everyone else. You’ll know that you did what they wanted you to do. You will have assimilated. And you will hate yourself for it, because it will be too late."
- Matthew Quick, Every Exquisite Thing

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Reflections-Response Counter To “Deepening Liberia’s New Democracy”

By Bai M. Gbala, Sr.

The Perspective
Atlanta, Georgia

September 19, 2016

The Writers argue (FPA, September 8, 2016) that “Liberia has not, historically, been the model of liberal democracy. However, conditions are changing gradually. The seeming end of the Legislative stand-off which resulted in the Speaker’s (of the House of Representative)... recusal, symbolizes the strength of our emerging democracy. The state of our unity may be fragmented, but our new democracy has proven to withstand shocks that could have resulted in crisis, under previous governments... credit goes to the Liberian people . . . who fought for many generations to reach this stage. President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf also takes credit for patiently nurturing the nascent social order”.

“Just 15 years earlier”, the Writers posit, “under (former President) Charles Taylor, consequences of the hold-off had deadly potential... then Senate President Protemp Charles Walker Brumskine found himself at loggerheads with President Charles G. Taylor. Brumskine had no other alternative but to seek refuge abroad for fear of his life”.

“Similarly, under (the late President) Samuel K. Doe, the result of such a stand-off could have led to coups and counter-coups. Also, in the prior one-party oligarchy, the stand-off would have been unimaginable. Throughout the saga, there were fears of chaos, but in the reality, it was the forces of pluralism that were at work. The fact that the state withstood the tremors is indicative of the blooming seeds of people power”. Therefore, the conclusion follows that the Liberian polity - past, recent past, recent and present-prevailing had been, and is, “deepening, new democracy”.

The Argument
The Writers present a political, philosophical argument – ivory tower, academic, scholarly, historical and intellectual comparative analysis, with conclusions that although the Republic of Liberia, founded a century and half years ago in 1847, has shown, “historically” and beyond all reasonable doubts, not to be the example of liberal, democratic state, but political “conditions” have changed, “are changing gradually” for the better. For example, the Writers claim, the apparent “end”, but on-going of the recent stand-off by deeply-divided, factional members of the Lower House of the Nation’s Legislature, the House of Representatives, which resulted in the recusal of the Speaker “symbolized the strength of our new emerging democracy” and that the “credit” for this success of democracy – growth, development and “deepening” – goes tothe Liberian people and, especially, “President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf for patiently nurturing the nascent social order”.

Firstly, like the criminal trial, defense attorney who places the credibility of the testimony of an important prosecution witness (not the person/personality of the witness) in reasonable doubt  and likewise the message (not the messenger) unlike Liberian traditional approach, we take a closer look at the political relationships of the Writers and the Liberian political leaders of recent past and present/prevailing status quo, in the light of or given the Writers’ foregoing political statements, argument and conclusions:

  1. That it is not only reported, documented, known and proven facts of history that the Writers of the subject article on the politics of liberal democracy under law do have in common and share basic political beliefs and philosophical orientations with leaders of the present/prevailing political status quo, but also that the Writers were and are employees and paid Public Relations agents for the recent, present/prevailing leaders of the status quo, who, also, represented/represents political leaderships of the distant, turbulent past, past and recent past.
  2. That,  as the matter of fact, the Writers’  “Deepening Liberia’s New Democracy” and giving credit to the present-prevailing political leadership of the status quo for the “seeming end of the stand-off” that is, in fact, still on-going is proof of their (Writers’) ideological, philosophical partnership and support.
  3. That in so doing, the Writers consciously planned support, and did support, the premier political organization, the Association of Constitutional Democracy in Liberia (ACDL), which conceived the idea or notion of the removal from office of the government of Liberia by force of arms and which, also, planned, financed and launched the effort with insurgent agents - NPFL, INPFL - and related others which, now includes the present/prevailing leadership of the political status quo, the writers, therefore, are part and parcel of the historic tragedy of the civil war – of looting, plunder, destruction, human suffering and death, brought upon the Liberian People in the cities, towns and villages of the nation (Woewiyu, 2005).
  4. That in their “comparative analysis”, the Writers, apparently, consciously ignored and disregarded the glaring similarities of political beliefs, philosophy and operational methodology held in common by the Indigenous, Ethnic/tribal Liberians, the emerged/emerging Political Class which now dominate the Legislature, Ministries, agencies and the Judiciary Branch on the one hand and the supreme ruling, dominant Americo- and Congo-Liberians on the other, let alone the Charles Taylor regime, by-product and the agency of the ACDL ( Wion, 2016).
  5. Also, that in their comparative analysis, the Writers, apparently, ignored and disregarded the fact the leaders of the military coup d’état, an international accident of history, not a Liberian monopoly, were young men aged twenty-something of the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL),  politically-inexperienced, but trained/experienced in the rigid system of military culture of “obey, obey, obey and duty before complaint” in which there is no democratic, reasonable, educated discourse or debates – disagree and compromise to agree; and that it was, and still is, the Liberian traditional, public dishonest and morally decadent system that infiltrated and introduced corruption, jealousy, in-fighting, power-plays and coups d’états into the ranks of the PRC. We stand by to cite incidents.

The Writers argue, a scholarly/intellectual rationalization as paid PR agents, that “The state has managed . . . to reduce some of the structural incentives to violence by inviting the emergence of multi-party political system” and that “The once pariah state (Liberia) has acquired international legitimacy”.

Regarding “reduction of incentives to violence”, Bai Gbala wrote  that  “As long as the majority of the Liberian nation’s population is entrapped and remains in abject poverty, hunger, disease and the lack of information/education; as long as there is rapid population growth with rural-to-urban migration, conspicuous consumption without production; as long as there is no attention paid to rural Liberia, in term of socio-economic and political development, where the overwhelming majority of the population lives and where the nation’s known, natural resources are located; and as long as the “transformation” or  transfer/release of administrative, economic and political power to regional, political/administrative, semi-autonomous sub-divisions, while a very few, less than the usual, political minority who control political power and policy-making lives in palatial mansions, but pays no attention, does little or nothing to assure or resolve the critical problems of the people, the seed of this class of organized, collective mob violence is planted and will, certainly, germinate with collateral damage.  This is a sad commentary on and about the people, country and society founded in response to political tyranny and on the principles of the rule of law, economic justice and equality of treatment in pursuit of happiness, when the people are driven to extra-legal acts to awaken political power holders to acknowledge and to redress justified grievances (Gbala, 2014)”.

On the “once pariah state and the Liberian multi-party” regime, Bai Gbala observed regarding the issue of pariah state that “From and on the basis of the facts of Liberia’s past and recent past history, Liberia was not, never a declared a pariah state, an international outcast, nor subjected to diplomatic sanctions for any reason throughout the nation’s 169-year existence as a sovereign state.  On the issue of Liberia as a broken state, indeed it is true that the Republic had been a broken state, with overwhelming, validated evidence - local, national/international – and that it was the sole responsibility of the ACDL and its agents, Mr. Charles Taylor and his NPFL, INPFL. They brought Liberia and its people to their knees, face-to-face with near-total destruction, which began with the November 12, 1985 invasion by force of arms, led by AFL Commanding General who, unfortunately, lost his life, including thousands of innocent Liberian citizens (Gbala, 2016)”.

Regarding multiparty regime, Mr. Gbala held that “There is a critical, troubling challenge in 21st century Liberia regarding the prevailing problem of multiplicity of political parties in our small country.  Presently, there are some twenty-something political parties (and counting) in the country of less than 4 million people and 16 major, tribal groups. Compared to other countries, particularly, the United States, from which we borrowed, almost, all of our laws and upon which we modeled, almost, all of our political and economic activities, there are only two lawfully-recognized, national or federal political parties with a population of 300 million, ours is a joke”.

Firstly, the Liberian multi-political parties are organized and managed NOT in accordance with traditional convention of “shared beliefs” or political philosophy, but in accordance with or along ethnic/tribal lines.  One may argue, reasonably, that the Tribe is still alive and well in Liberian, rural and urban communities as the major, instantly and conveniently available source not only for socio-cultural fellowship and unity, but also for economic, political and security protection, including related interests and multi-parties,  along tribal lines”.

“Secondly, the divisive nature of our traditional ethnic/tribal bigotry – of fear, suspicion, envy, jealousy, superstition, prejudice, segregation/discrimination, and antagonism bordering on hatred, a condition which has been exacerbated by the recent civil war and created not only deep tribal cleavages, but also, lends abusive tendencies to the system of multi-parties, which must be overcome and, eventually, eradicated”.

“And thirdly, regarding the National Elections Commission (NEC) and the electoral process –laws, demarcation of constituencies, registration of political parties and voters, campaigns by the political parties and independent candidates, party finances/financing and oversight, vote-counting, declaration of results and adjudication of disputes in Liberia, as we have experienced – have not been free, fair, transparent, credible or legitimate. Indeed, the electoral process is seen by the Liberian people as being manipulated and controlled by ruling, political parties. For example, the recent, unusual and un-ceremonial abandonment of his position as chairman of the NEC and the secret, un-announced departure from the country while in the midst of several allegations of electoral fraud, is a critical, painfully-troubling case in point (Gbala, 2012)”.

Indeed, we know and admit that there had been and are, in fact, positive, “gradual” (political) “changes” due, mainly, to the “forces of pluralism”, but a powerless, poor and hungry majority in constant danger posed by powerful, wealthy, minority politico-economic forces in control of and dominating state corridors of power and the state treasury. We note the Writers’ call upon the leaders of tomorrow, some being kids still in diapers, metaphorically. Why not the globe-trotting, wine/booze-gulping Ivy-league University graduates of today’s present/prevailing leaders of the status quo who are in control, with awesome socio-cultural, economic and political power?

“Throughout the saga (of the Legislative stand-off)”, the Writers argue, “there were fears of chaos”.  We note, also, the Writers’ call on and exhortation of the “leaders of tomorrow” who, the Writers say, “will have to convince the people (citizens) to vote for them (leaders of tomorrow) and, therefore, (the leaders of tomorrow) will have to address the issues voters care about: Empowering the people to take ownership of their own development”, or the Right to vote.

In a Rejoinder to one of the Writers’ Fears, Apprehension . . . of UNMIL Departure (The Perspective, November 9, 2015), we observed that “In a representative, liberal democracy . . . the Right-to-vote, particularly, in the selection of important public officials - mayors, town, clan, paramount chiefs and superintendents of counties of rural Liberia, for example - is not a privilege, but an inalienable right that inheres to adult citizens by virtue of their citizenship.  But that right to vote, since 1847, had been, and is, denied citizens of the counties. Federalized Decentralization, with Unitary Structure abolished, seeks to make that right available to the overwhelming majority of Liberian voters”.

Throughout 169 years, successive, Liberian, political leaderships and their derivatives held on to the Unitary Structure, while the nation becomes a “failed State”.  Now, we are told by the national, public policy theorists & counselors that “Liberia shall remain a unitary state with a system of local government and administration which shall be decentralized with the county as the principal focus of the devolution of power and authority”.  Therefore, we hasten to provide comparative, contrasting analysis/conclusion below, showing the critical difference between the two, main, systems of government – Federal and Unitary. For, according to the premise/conclusions by the “Candidates for President of Liberia”, come 2017, the Liberian nation will have to wait, perhaps, for another 169 years or more for change, reforms, transformation!!

Decentralization – Federal & Unitary.
Both Federal and Unitary systems refer to or define “devolutionas decentralization of power. But there are distinct, important differences and conditions, critical to successful democratic practice and results, particularly, in the light of Liberia’s turbulent past. In the Federal system, devolution-decentralization is guaranteed by written, constitutional provisions, with terms and conditions binding upon the central, federal government and its regional, semi-autonomous constituents; whereas, in the Unitary system, devolution-decentralization is non-constitutional and that the central, unitary government reserves the right to alter, re-arrange or abolish the devolved-decentralized powers without consultation and/or consent of the regional constituents, because, unlike  federal system, the regional constituents lack constitutional right to exist, in the first place.

Put differently, devolution of political power as defined, the right to vote in the selection of Mayors, Town, Clan, and Paramount Chiefs and County Superintendents, as desired and expected by the overwhelming majority of the nation’s citizens, is not governed by constitutional provision, and that the Unitary, Central government, the system now prevailing in Liberia, reserves the right to change and/or abolish the devolved powers without consultation and/or consent of the regional constituents, the counties in the Republic of Liberia.  But, the Liberian voter in Fish Town, River Gee; in Saiquellie, Nimba; Tubmanburg, Bomi, let alone Bentol, Montserrado Counties need not a rocket scientist to tell him/her that this has been and is undemocratic!!

It is very important that we note that all “presidential hopefuls” or declared candidates for President of Liberia, premised the operations of their future governments, if elected, on 1847 or 169-year old assumptions - outdated, obsolete Unitary Structure of government, a structure that is not, any longer, valid or relevant to the socio-cultural, economic and political realities of the Liberia of today’s 21st century, pro-democracy world culture, world-wide.

 For no other reason, for crying out loud, one would think, that any reasonable public administrator or democratic politician, answerable to the citizens, would seek to implement change, with reforms, in the light of doing the same thing for a century with disastrous results.

Finally, again we ask, why not exhort today’s present, prevailing leaders, of the status quo, to address the disgraceful Global Witness report/allegations against the Government of Liberia by, first, disclosing the identities of Big Boys 1 & 2 and NOT sweep the probe under the proverbial rugs to protect the powerful. But, then we realize that this approach will be inconsistent with the Writers’ employment and PR obligations. Therefore, we are not persuaded by the Writers’ argument that the Liberian polity is “new deepening democracy”.

Apparently, the Writers of the subject article are new comers on-ground in Liberia, having lived almost more than 75% of their cognitive lives out of the country. We argue that a dedicated/committed Liberian political animal should and must live and experience the political dynamics on-ground in Liberia of who says and does what to whom, where, when, why and the context of these dynamics. For, pie-in-sky political analysis and pontifications from the comfort of distant lands do not transfer democracy by osmosis.

Gbala, Bai M., Reason, Public Policy and Violence: The case of Tokadeh, Nimba County (and Butaw, Sinoe County) in Analyst Liberia, Monrovia, 2014.

Gbala, Bai M., EJS Reluctance to pull the Trigger on Ineptitude, Rejoinder to FPA in Analyst Liberia, Monrovia, 2016.

Gbala, Bai M., Commentary on Bill to fund Political Parties in The New Dawn, Monrovia, 2012.

Gbala, Bai M., Rejoinder to Fears, Apprehensions . . . in The Perspective, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, 2015.

Wion, Jerry W., Classes of Liberan groups: Americo-, Congau-, Indigenous ethnic/tribal-Liberians, in FPA, Monrovia, 2016.

Woewiyu, Tom, Open Letter to Madam Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf (www.Liberiandialogue, Sept. 15, 2005.

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© 2016 by The Perspective
E-mail: editor@theperspective.org
To Submit article for publication, go to the following URL: http://www.theperspective.org/submittingarticles.html


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Wednesday, May 26, 2010

A piece of the past

Hadley- I miss him so much, he was the kind of person I really felt comfortable around I didn't care about anything when I was with him. Hadley could change my whole day just by talking to him he was so happy and full of energy. Hadley was a boy who loved to draw, skateboard, and just live life. Like most people Hadley had a past, he used to use drugs I know he was sent to rehab but I never asked about it, maybe because I didn't want to know it deserves to be left unsaid. He remembers everything about me; my middle name, my favorite color, where I'm from, where I go to school... and the list goes on. There's this fire inside of him almost like a dangerous trouble maker side and that's why I like him. The attraction has always been there though. Whenever I see him he always says hi and whispers in my ear. He always touches me in a way to let me know he is always there for me, even though he lives a couple blocks away, he might as well be a million miles away because he has his own life. He doesn't look back he just keeps moving making small mistakes along the way. I honestly don't think I could ever meet anyone else like Hadley.

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Monday, November 22, 2010

The Compliants team

On Friday we talked about asking to speak with a manager at your power company.  Now what might not be known is that in addition to managers there are also complaints teams at Power Companies.

The complaints teams handle complaints that are either
1) Submitted in writting, or
2) Submitted by staff.  We at the Power Panda are not yet aware of any Power Company where the contact centre staff can submit complaints to the complaints team.  Usually only managers have this authority.

The Complaints team are the last step before the Electricity and Gas Complaints Commission.  This means that the complaints team want to settle all complaints at $5000 or less.  (For reasons see our earlier blog post)  This also means that they have more power than Managers.

In addition the Complaints team can also be more flexable in policy than managers.  This is because the Complaints team are graded (and their pay is dependent upon) solving as many complaints as possible.  The right or wrong doesn't matter as much as the resolution.

However because they are managers complaints about staff and rudeness should go to managers who have more power to see this corrected.  However any time you want a different policy followed and a manager is not being helpful insist on putting a complaint through.

Also if for any reason you want compensation, put a complaint in writing.  This gives you the best chance it will be seen by the people who can grant it.

Hopefully this makes sense, tomorrow we'll come back and finish off some of the differences and some more specific situations when you would choose the complaints team over a manager.

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Home » » Mr. Right (2015)

Mr. Right (2015)

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MLB Game Recap - Reds v Cubs

MLB Baseball
Scoreboard|Postseason|Stats|Standings|Teams|Players|Player News|Injuries|Transactions
Final 1 2 3   4 5 6   7 8 9   R H E
Cincinnati0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 1 5122
Chi Cubs5 0 0 1 3 0 0 0 x 991
  W: J. Lester (2-2)   L: A. Garrett (3-3)   S: K. Uehara (1)
11:20 AM PT12:20 PM MT1:20 PM CT2:20 PM ET14:20 ET18:20 GMT2:20 11:20 AM MST1:20 PM EST1:50 PM VEN22:20 UAE1:20 PM CT, May 18, 2017
Wrigley Field, Chicago, Illinois  Attendance: 36,023

Baez hits grand slam, Bryant homers as Cubs beat Reds 9-5

AP Sports Writer

CHICAGO (AP) The Cubs are starting to show the pop that helped propel them to their first championship in 108 years.

For that, manager Joe Maddon credited their starting pitching.

Javier Baez hit a grand slam, Kris Bryant homered and the Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds 9-5 Thursday to complete a three-game sweep.

"Starting pitching drives the engine," Maddon said. "I will never be deceived by that thought. While that's happening, you have a chance to hit better just by keeping the other team down. Guys get a chance to get in the flow and do their thing."

Chicago outscored Cincinnati 25-15 in the series after struggling at the plate for much of this season. The Cubs have 23 wins in their last 28 games against the Reds.

Baez came through with three hits and a season-high five RBIs. He got the rout going when he capped a five-run first inning against Amir Garrett (3-3) with his third career slam .

Bryant hit his eighth homer this season in the fourth, a long solo drive to center , and the Cubs scored three in the fifth to take a 9-0 lead.

Jon Lester (2-2) followed up solid starts from John Lackey and Kyle Hendricks by allowing three runs and six hits in six-plus innings. He improved to 11-0 in his last 15 regular-season home starts. Lester left with a 9-1 lead after giving up singles to Jose Peraza, Tucker Barnhart and Arismendy Alcantara in the seventh.

"We're trending in the right direction, which is good," Lester said.

Cincinnati has lost six straight, its longest skid since dropping 11 in a row last May. Recalled from Triple-A Louisville, Garrett gave up six runs and five hits in four innings. He walked four - three in the first inning.

"We didn't throw strikes here," manager Bryan Price said. "This was not a series where we did what we're capable of doing as a staff. We didn't throw enough strikes and it exacerbates a problem."

Chicago's Koji Uehara got his first save this season after he entered with the bases loaded and no outs in the ninth. He retired Adam Duvall on a sacrifice fly , then struck out Eugenio Suarez and Stuart Turner, both on three pitches.

Even after viewing video and still photos from Major League Baseball, Price still was not convinced Votto should have been ruled out at first on a replay review that ended Wednesday's 7-5 loss.

"I think if we're going to make this as good of a system as possible, you have to able to give the team that's on the wrong side of that call the clarity that allows us to go, `Hey, they got the call right. We'll live with that,'" Price said.

With two out in the ninth on Wednesday, Votto hit a grounder up the middle that shortstop Addison Russell fielded on the other side of second base. Anthony Rizzo had to stretch as far as he could go to bring in the throw. Votto was ruled safe by first base umpire Ed Hickox, but the Cubs challenged the call - and won.

RHP Barrett Astin was optioned to Louisville.

Reds: C Devin Mesoraco (tight hamstring) was out of the lineup for the third straight game and might be headed to the disabled list. "We haven't gotten to that point yet," Price said. "There's been improvement each day. But it's a hamstring. It's not the same as an oblique, but I think it can be as easily exacerbated." Mesoraco was limited to a combined 39 games in 2015 and 2016 because of injuries to both hips and his left shoulder.

Cubs: OF Jason Heyward (sore knuckle on his right hand) was scheduled to begin a rehab assignment with Class A South Bend on Thursday.

Reds: After going the distance in his first big league start since 2014, RHP Lisalverto Bonilla (0-1, 4.85 ERA) is slated to be on the mound when the Reds open a five-game homestand against Colorado and LHP Tyler Anderson (2-4, 6.43) on Friday. Bonilla pitched a six-hitter for his first big league complete game, a 3-1 loss to San Francisco on Saturday.

Cubs: RHP Eddie Butler (1-0, 0.00) makes his second start of the season as the Cubs open a weekend series against Milwaukee. Butler pitched two-hit ball over six scoreless innings at St. Louis on Friday for his first win since May 14 last year with Colorado.

Updated May 18, 2017

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Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS is strictly prohibited.


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Thursday, April 4, 2013

egg nest sugar cookies

Last month, a neighbor adopted lab puppy. Because puppylore says you can multiply lab puppies' weights at 14 weeks by 2.5 to estimate their adult weight, we started a weight pool and had a Yappy Hour to see whose guess came the closest.

Yield: 24 cookies
175 calories per cookie
Active time: 10 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes

3/4 cup sweetened coconut flakes
2 sticks of unsalted butter at room temperature
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup of M&Ms

1. Spread the coconut flakes out on a baking sheet and bake at 300 degrees until golden brown, about 10 minutes. You'll want to mix the coconut flakes occasionally for even browning.  Set aside and increase the oven temperature to 350 degrees.

2. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. See step 9 of "oreo cupcakes" for more on creaming butter.

3. Add in the vanilla extract and egg, beating until well incorporated, about 30 seconds.

4. Fold in the flour and salt, beating on a low speed until shaggy dough forms, about 1 minute.

5. Using your hands, gently knead the dough inside of the bowl and form a solid mass large bowl.

6. Refrigerate for about 10 minutes.

7. By the tablespoon, form a ball and roll it in the toasted coconut. Use your fingers to form a well in the middle of the ball and place on a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet.

8. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until golden brown.

9. Remove the cookies from the oven and garnish the nest well with M&M candies. You can used colored frosting to jazz them up.

Original recipe found on the back of a bag of M&Ms.

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Who’s participating in research on Amazon’s Mechanical Turk?

[Methodological Psychology]

Mimicking 10 facial expressions gets you $1.60. Taking a 90-minute survey on your emotions is worth a buck. Throughout the social sciences, it’s becoming increasingly common for researchers to employ Amazon’s Mechanical Turk–an online marketplace where “workers”are paid to complete tasks offered by “requesters”–in their empirical research. MTurk, as it’s known, is efficient and inexpensive making it an especially attractive research tool. But one of the big questions that remains is who are the workers, or in the case of research, participants, that complete the tasks?

In a recent article, published in Current Directions In Psychological Science, Gabriele Paolacci and Jesse Chandler, review the latest research examining the use of MTurk as a participant pool. Demographically speaking, the MTurk workforce is made up of over 500,000 people from 190 countries, with about 75% of workers living in the United States and India. Paolacci and Chandler report that MTurk offers researchers a participant population that is more diverse than the typical college student population, but still not representative of the population as a whole. According to the authors, “Workers tend to be younger (about 30 years old), overeducated, underemployed, less religious, and more liberal than the general population.” Furthermore, within the US’s MTurk workforce, Asians are overrepresented, while Blacks and Hispanics are underrepresented.

Paolacci and Chandler report workers are motivated primarily by size of the payout, but are also motivated by the intrinsic aspects of the tasks as well. Evidence also suggests that MTurk workers respond just as truthfully, and are similarly attentive as traditional participant samples. However, because obtaining future work on the site is often dependent on how they completed previous work (accurate, on-time) the authors highlight the possibility of demand characteristics within MTurk. Likewise, increased experience completing research tasks, particularly economic games and problems, may lead to a practice effect impacting worker responses. The authors also caution that arbitrary factors in experimental design could impact participant selection, and emphasize the need for researchers to take steps to understand and report the make-up of their participant population.

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2 replies
  1. Ari
    Ari says:

    I am interested to see a similar study with the participant pool of CrowdFlower – a common alternative to Mechanical Turk. Are they a more representative group of “workers”?

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text:
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text:
Monday, April 30, 2012

I think older people ( including me ) likes to exaggerate when describing things. I was talking to a che-che member before the class. Then we started to talk about age.

Her : Aiya, you young people of cos can do fast steps la. I old already la.

Me : Young? ( process mengexagerate bermula .. ) No la. I'm almost 40 liao lo.. ( i'm 35 ;p )

Her : 40? I'm reaching 50 liao la.

Me : Wow .. Really?

Her : Haha . no la.. i got 4 more years to go before 50.

Then we continued talking about other stuffs. On my way back, while driving.. i suddenly thought of a scenario. What if lah kan .. i twist the conversation a bit .. like ..

Her : Aiya, you young people of cos can do fast steps la. I old already la.

Me : Young? ( process mengexagerate bermula .. ) No la. I'm almost 40 liao lo.. ( i'm 35 ;p )

Her : 40? I'm reaching 50 liao la.

Me : Can see lor.

What do you think will happen huh?

Happy Labour Day everyone. :)
Tonite can go memburuh huh? lol ;p

Sunday, April 29, 2012

call me ( gaga ) maybe.

Went to apply for Unifi for my house. The girl gave me the form to fill. Then she asked me the ' soalan cepu emas ' ..
" Apa ID you nak guna? Tolong bagi dua option ye. "

I was like, aiya... names again. I'm not very good in creating names ( that's why till now i have not register my company ;p ). Then i thought, what the heck? It's only for logging in ( not that i have to mention to my client, or anyone ), so dengan selambanyerr i wrote :

First Choice : DANNYGAGA

The girl saw it and laughed!!!
" Biar betul. "

I stared at her for 1 second and back to the form. Celaka punye betina! Makes me embarrass only. I actually wanted to use " THEBIGMOUTH " as my second choice, but i don't think i can take another embarrassment. So i wrote :

Second Choice : DAMOUTH ( as in The Mouth )

Now all i can do is praying that they give me my first choice, cos i think it's cool.
Say say one day you open your wifi and saw an iD by the name DANNYGAGA. Do you want to find out who is the person? ( syok sendiri ;p )

You have any unique / crazy IDs to share? :)

Friday, April 27, 2012

ask me first!

I was having dinner with friends when she received call from her friend :

" Oh, i'm now having dinner with friends. You should join us... "

And immediately she sensed a very strong and powerful bitch-stare from me. And she realized she did something wrong, by inviting stranger ( to me ) to our gathering/meeting. Cos she knows, i'll extremely uncomfortable with people who i met for first time and most likely end up keep quiet the whole night. Not that i'm cold or arrogant, but i just dunno how to socialize with strangers.

I got a few friends who always check on the guest list before decided to join the gathering/dinner. If there's new name, then most likely you won't see us there. ;p

Do you like to have surprise guests/ strangers in your gathering/ party?

One more thing that my friends will ask me first before doing anything .. buying me presents.
Cos i received complaints from friends every Christmas that i am extremely hard to shop for. ;p

Thursday, April 26, 2012

I am a light sleeper. A very small noise will wake me up. But i love to sleep listening to the sound of pouring rain. Not sure why, but it's very calming to me. On the hand, i totally hate sleeping with the sound of running water in the drain/pipe or water dripping from the tap.

Both same same water ( rain and from the pipe ), but why i only can accept one of them?
Strange kan? ;p

Can you sleep with noise?
Or you prefer to sleep with a certain noise only?

Anyone know when i can get those sound/noise machine with different sound ( like those we see in the movies )? Interested to get one and try the effect. :)

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

laughter's the best medicine?

I was having dinner at a cafe in Jaya 33. It was a quiet evening. The cafe was so peaceful with only a few customers. But i all ended when this group ( only 3 ) of map dating came in!

Ya allah! Pilih tempat duduk pun kena 5 minit. Dah settle down, then ordered food. And the nightmare begun...
They talked and talked and talked ... so loud. But worst of all, is their laugh after the talk. Very annoying.. like a bunch of TURKEY only.. Gobble gobble .. crockokok ( how to describe turkey's noise huh? ) I quickly finished my noodle and walked out from that 'farm'.

I was once scolded by my secondary teacher for laughing too loud .. with a rather high pitch ( if you know what i mean ;p ) So now i have to control the volume and tune when i laugh ;p

How do you describe your laugh? Crazy? Demure? Divaish?
Do you have a signature style?

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

you are what you watch.

Sometimes i feel a bit sorry to the staffs at my usual dvd shop. Cos every time i go to the shop, they'll try to sell me the latest movies, and most of them are action movie. Padahal, i sikit pun not interested in actions. My list very simple niarr... no action, no thriller/horror and no sic-fi. My philosophy is very simple. I just want to watch the movie without using my brain. Action makes me kan-cheong, thriller/horror lagi kan-cheong and sic-fi ... just too complicated for me to think. ;p

Therefore i usually go for comedies and dramas. But if there's dance or fashion element in the movie, then i'll definitely get it, even fashion in horror. lol ;p
If 'you are what you watch' .. then i'll be a dramatic person with lots of sense of humor. :)

What is your favorite movie / drama genres?

p/s : i really like Thai's drama/ comedy. not that i understand what the say.. but the way they present it is very nice and comfortable to watch. :)

Monday, April 23, 2012

not that vogiu after all.

There's a super diva member ( Chinese ) in the gym who sometimes join my class. He always come in with branded stuff ( even his water bottle ;p ) and acted all diva like so the atas. Never social with any other members, just do whatever he needed to do and then go back ( ehh! ... sounds so like me lol ;p ).

As a friendly and caring ( ;p ) diva, i always wanted to talk to him. Saje nak check his background. So one day, i saw him in the at the changing room before the class. As a 'friendly' diva, i asked him ..
" Hi .. joing class today? "

Then dengan vogiunyerr ( tapi tak sevogiu i ;p ), he turned to me and said ..
" No larrr.. very laychee ( lazy ) la, no enerchee ( energy ) today. Just run on the mesin ( machine ) only. "

Me ..
" Okay. See you in the class next time. "

I smiled to him and walked away. Ceh!! Diva kampung rupanyerrr. ;p
( yes ! i am a shallow person ;p )

I was once commented by a member that my English have a Penang Hokkian slang / accent ( padahal i'm Klang Hakka ;p ). Do you have any special slang / accent when you speak English?

Sunday, April 22, 2012

comparing notes.

I was having lunch with my friend at Canton-I ( Mid Valley ) on Friday. I went in to get a table first, cos he was late. While waiting for him and browsing the menu, i got nothing to do ... so just pasang telinga je la. ;p

There's a table of 5 young adult behind me and they were busy comparing things like ..
" Eh.. u got this app boh? very cool one la . See? See? ... "
" How much you bought that LV ahh? Cos my friend iso have and she can get cheaper on overseas lerrr .. "

Okay .. gadgets and branded stuffs ~ not interested. Then i switched channel to the 2 chinese aunties sitting next me. And they were also comparing ..
" You not got eat medicine or not? How many type you take huh? .. "
" Your son got girlfriend or not? My son everyday go out with different girl.. haih ... "

Hmm.. health and family ~ very suitable for their discussion. But the best thing is when they comparing sick and dead people ..
" Eh.. i heard Susan's husband got cancer lerrr.. lung cancer worrr.. "
" Yalo yalo... i heard from Kim. Cos apparently my brother in law oso have. They met at the hospital. That's how i know. "
" Ehh? What happened to that old lady selling eggs in the our old pasar huh?"
" Which one? Nehh.. that very skinny one, husband always come to help one ahh.. "
" Ohh that one.. DIE LIAO LA! .. "
( Leave it to the aunties to create dramatic scene. ;p )

So, what you notes do you guys compare whenever meeting up with friends?
Salary? Branded stuffs? Lovers? Sex life? ...;p

It's going to be Monday again. Have a great week ahead everyone :)

Friday, April 20, 2012

the fat one.

Ever noticed that in those movies or dramas about the life in school/ college/ uni, normally there will be a fat ( or more heavy weight ) one in the group of friends. And he/she is normally the fun provider.

Do you have them in your gang back in your school days?
Or you are actually ... the FAT one? ;p

( Entri ini hanyalah untuk membuang masa semata-mata. Tiada niat untuk mengungkit rasa kurang sedap hati kepada mereka yang gemuk, yang pernah gemuk, yang sedang mengemuk/menyah-gemuk, yang kurus mengadu gemuk, dan yang gemuk tak mengaku gemuk. ;p )

I had a taste of a full-time instructor's daily routine ( i.e. conducting an average of 5 classes per day ) on Wednesday.
Consequences :
I don't want to get down from my bed on Thursday. I was too tired to move my body, even to go to toilet. ;p Can't wait for the weekend. Hopefully can rest.

Have a great weekend everyone. :)

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

what makes you beautiful.

Inspired by the hit song " What makes you beautiful " by the now super popular boy group ~ One Direction ( OMG.. i am super outdated, cos i can't recognize anyone of them lol ;p )

So "what makes me beautiful"?
I have to say that it's my unusual sense of humor. I know i am bitchy and got a super big mouth. But i'll make sure that every time i laser people, i'll add in a bit of humorous in it. So that they will suffer and enjoy it at the same time. My ex colleague once told me, she likes to be lasered by me. Cos it's not as harmful as the other diva in my department. ;p

Please help me to know you guys more.
" What makes you beautiful "?
( just need to pick one quality of yourself .. tak yah nak mengada-ngada bagi sampai berlambak ;p )
( also, i'm referring to inner quality only... if u say your beautiful eyes or pretty face, i'll pour acid at you very soon ;p )

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

I went a haircut last week. The shampoo boy by the name Simon came to shampoo my hair while waiting for my stylist. Everything was ok until he ask me wether the pressure is ok. Apparently, that young shampoo boy is a girl ( tomboy ). She got a very convincing boyish look.

I got a friend who did some drag photoshoot. According to him, he looked like Kris Dayanti after all the makeups and hairdo. Tapi sampan sekarang, tak tunjuk-tunjuk gam bar lagi. ;p

Do you think you ( male / female ) will look nice if you drag ( as a female / male )?
I no need to think also know the answer.
With my square face, thick brow and big mouth, i'll be the literally 'drop dead' vogiu .. muka peach rumah, boleh mampos!!! lol ;p ...

Can you imagine a 'woman' like this called ... HEAVEN? lol ;p

( Post ini hanyalah untuk membuang masa. Tiada niat untuk menimbulkan sebarang rasa kurang senang hati pada mereka yang inigin, telah atau sedang mentransformasi. ;p )

Monday, April 16, 2012

apa pandang-pandang?

Why some people can stare at other people tanpa segan silu huh? Don't they know that it is rude to stare at others like that? I was stared, and i felt super uncomfortable, mainly becoz the starer ( got such word? ;p ) was not someone of my taste ( lol ;p ). If not, lain cerita la... pandanglah sepuas-puas nye.. i bole pose different angle lagi .. hahaha :)

Normally by the end of my dance class, i'll gatal-gatal to ask the member to turn back and dance facing the door ( where normally people from outside will stop and stare ). Saje, nak buat free show gitew ;p

And i shared with them a small tips :
Don't be afraid or shy with those people staring at you. What you have to do is just stare back at them. Trust me, they'll feel more uncomfortable than you guys. Cos at least you are moving, but they just stood they for you to stare. LOL :)

Do you agree with my 'philosophy' ?

Sunday, April 15, 2012

le package.

Me and my friend, both 35 years old.
I look like my age but i have younger mind and attitude.
He looks early 20's ( still can pass for college big look ) but thinks like an uncle.

Given a choice, which package you want ... for yourself?
I have to admit that i am shallow, cos i think younger look might be a better choice. ;p

Last week was quite tiring. Hopefully the coming one will be better.
Have a great week ahead everyone. :)

Friday, April 13, 2012

I was walking to the carpark after the class. There were 2 auntie member ( not my member ) a few steps away behind me. I heard them talking ..

A : Eh.. is that the dance instructor just now?

B : I think so la.. Danny or Kenny maa..

A : You saw how he shake the hip or not? So hiao. Beh than la..

B : Ya lorr ya lorr.. hehehehe ...

Why people like to talk behind others? Like literally behind others?
I so want to turn back and say thank you to them ;p

Just realized that it's Friday the 13th today.
Anything interesting happened to you?

Enjoy the weekend everyone. :)

Thursday, April 12, 2012

chicken OR rice?

How do you define a good chicken rice? By how fragrance is the rice or how juicy is the chicken? For me ..
#3 .. chicken ( i only take roasted chicken, don't like steamed ones )
#2 .. rice ( i think this is quite important )
#1 .. the chili sauce

Yes, to me , the chili sauce is the main element for a good chicken rice. I can eat the whole plate of rice just with the chili, with or without chicken. :)

Same thing for nasi lemak. I don't care how creamy your rice is, or how good is your rendang or curry, but if you sambal is not up to my taste, the .. FAIL!

So, chicken or rice for you?

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

i'm really really sorry :(

I came back from the class and saw a lady ( who usually feeds the cats at the parking area ) playing with the cats next to my parking lot. She smiled to me and said ...

Her : You park kat sini kan? Tadi bila you keluar you terlanggar seekor anak kucing. I dah bersihkan and tanam kat luar.

Me : Huh!!!??? ( i was so shocked and speechless and start sweating... )

I think she saw my reaction and tried to console me.
Her : Takpe. You bukan sengaja kan? You pun tak tau...

And right after that, she turned to the cat and said :
" Takpe la sayang. Anak sudah tak de. "

Now i am not sure if she's trying to make me feel better or worse.
On top of that, the mommy cat was looking and meowing at me.
I feel so sorry for her . :(

RIP kitty.

p/s : down with the flu. :(

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

demanding & high maintenance.

1 more week...
3 more days...

That's me, counting down the days for the next hair cut. Yay. :)

I have a very demanding and difficult to maintain, and i'm obsessed with short hair. Once my hair at the side touches my ears, i'll start to feel uncomfortable until the day they got trimmed. And my hairstylist is used to see me ... every 3 ( max. 4 weeks ).

How often do you cut your hair?

Going to cut my hair tomorrow or Thursday. Can't wait!

Monday, April 9, 2012

fast n slow.

Why some people ( me ) always walk very fast, with or without them knowing it?
- i got short legs, so every step is smaller and i have to make it up to those who take bigger step while walking... frequent asked question : You are in a hurry .. meh?

Why some people can only walk in super slow motion?
- they normally tend drag their shoes and take their own sweet time when walking ... frequent asked question : Tsk.. can walk faster or not?

Why some slow walker tend to fall when they try to walk faster?
- i just don't understand why they can lose balance or concentration when try to walk faster.

Are you a fast or slow walker .. in general?

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Jolyn : The Big Mouth !?

I was doing replacement class for Jolyn the other day. So, before the class, i announced to the class ..

" Hi everyone. welcome to MTV dance. I'm Danny. I'm replacing Jolyn for today. "

Then out of sudden, a makcik ( i think she's a first timer ) said ..

" Huh!? Kat schedule tulis Jolyn. You bukan Jolyn ke? "

I looked at her and said ..

" Haha, no. Jolyn is a girl. I'm Danny "
( in my heart : akak ni biar betul? ada ke muka vogiu cam i ni bernama Jolyn? ;p )

You know, my sister ( Lady Gaga, just in case you are new here or still dunno about it.  lol ;p ) have a name for her alter ego - Jo Calderone. I also want to give a name to my own alter ego, maybe something more latinish or eastern European ... sound more sexy and grrrr. lol ;p

Any suggestions for me huh?
Ana Guilliana?
Eva Czecholslovakia?
Coco Beechee-mania? ;p

What will you name your alter ego then?
Share-share a bit :)

Happy Saturday !

Friday, April 6, 2012

hari ini dalam sejarah.

While the Christians celebrate Good Friday today, i celebrated my MALUest day.

I danced for 5 hours today. After the class, i was so tired and thirsty. So i went to Chatime to get a drink. I was standing at the counter looking at the menu ...

" Tiba-tiba, tanpa disedari, setitik air liuhku meleleh keluar dari bibirku yang tebal lagi juicy itu dan menitis di atas menu. OH TIDAK!!!!! " I was literally ' drooling' at the menu!

Not sure if the young boy at counter saw it or not, but i was trying so hard to control myself from blushing. If this is the early sign of me getting old and nyanyuk, what's next? Terkencing dalam seluar, while dancing? Ish... takutnyerrr....

Have a great weekend everyone! ( while i try to recover from my embarrassment ;p )

Thursday, April 5, 2012

the longest week.

I'm going to break my own record this week. My average sweating hours ( time in the studio ) as of last week is 9 hours per week. And for this week, with all the 'doors' ( which i absolutely grateful for ), replacements and trainings, i am going to spend 15 hours in the studio. 15!!!

I am so exhausted when i reach home every night. And when i thought that i will fall asleep immediately, BOOMZZZ ... insomnia happened. Imagine a tired body with a restless mind. Maybe my body and mind is still adjusting to the new routine.

I'm not complaining, i'm just tired. ;p

What is your average working out/ exercise/ sweating hours per week?

p/s : i'm having running nose as i'm writing this post. :(
       hopefully will be fine tomorrow.

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

run Big Mouth, run.

I was working at 1U yesterday. Since i finished my work early, and i still have a couple of hours to kill before my class, i went for a movie ~ The Hunger Games.

Half way watching the movie, my handphone slipped out from my pocket and dropped on the floor. OMG! It was so dark and i can hardly see anything on the floor. Luckily nobody sitting next to me. So i started to molest the carpeted floor by raba-ing every inch of it. Can't find. Then i widen the raba zone and found it under s few seats to my left. Thank God.

After the movie, went down to get something to munch before going for the class. Then only i realized that my wallet was not in my pocket. Immediately i ran like nobody's business from lower ground to 4th floor. And i think i accidentally her-pushed a couple standing side by side on the escalator ( or maybe they memang patut dipushed? ;p )

I went to the entrance and told the guy .. " My .. my.. my wallet ... in .. inside.. "
He nodded and let me in. I rushed to the hall and saw the cleaner was vacuuming the floor. I told him about my wallet and went to my seat. SHIT! It's not there. We kept searching up and down but can't find it. Then this "angel from Bangladesh" said something that i never thought i would be so happy to hear it  .. " sini ada "
There, my wallet, stuck in between the seat! I was so happy and relieved. I thanked him and tipped him for his help and honesty ( cos he can just pretend can't see anything and take it after i'm gone ).
Syukur alhamdullilah.

When was the last time you ran so fast as if you were running for the Olympics?

Monday, April 2, 2012

good bye.

It's the 2nd day of 2nd quarter of 2012. I am starting to believe that everything is going to be better from now on.

I bid farewell to one of my class due to some reasons / excuses (:P).  It was kinda sad at the beginning, cos that was one of my earliest class since i became an instructor and it's been more than 4 years with the members. But the sadness didn't last long cos guess what? Right after i told he management on my decision to drop the class, i received calls .. and were offer 4 NEW CLASSES somewhere else ( at a much better rate and nearer to my place too!! syukur alhamdullilah )

All the while, i believe that ..
" Sometimes, letting go not necessarily is a bad/sad things to do. ( work, relation, etc. ) "
And i'm happy, i'm kinda right again. :)

Anyone starting a new journey this month?

Sunday, April 1, 2012

15 years

Received a sms from a friend who is currently teaching in a college.

Her : Oooi.. i found a guy who looks exactly like you la. He is 20 years old. He likes to dance. His fashion style is same as you and he is also got a very laser mouth. Just like you. ;p

Me : Really? Send me his pic please. Let me see.

( 5 mins later, i received her mms of that guys pic )

Me : Damnnnnnn!!!! I have to say, i totally agree with you la. He does look like me.. i mean the young me. Scary.....

You know, it's quite normal when people told you that you look like somebody. But when you yourself admitted that, it's a big deal...

Then i thought of this crazy idea/ prank. What if i ask her to go to that guy, show him my picture and say :

" Hey, you really look like one of my friend. Here's his pic. Just wanted to give you a preview on how you'll look like .. in 15 years. Enjoy. ;p " LOL. Giller kan? ;p

What will you do if someone came to you and said the same thing?

It's officially the beginning of the 2nd quarter of the year! Are things going accordingly to your annual plan so far?


text:
Thursday, May 27, 2010

they call it Urban Terraforming

Don’t Call it Gardening, The Wired Guide to Domestic Terraforming is the title of a fun article by Dominique Browning with illustrations by Oksana Badrak in the June issue of Wired. Yeah, I know that Wired is the slightly irreverent voice of the hip geek crowd. Alright, I also never thought that irreverent, geek and hip would ever be used in the same sentence, but I just did it. You may ask what they are doing talking about gardening? Shouldn’t they be writing about computers or something? In case no one told you, gardening is made for geeks. I never thought of myself as a geek. I am not a digital native. I do have a couple of slide rules floating around and there is a book of random numbers next to a book of sines, cosines and tangents from a distant past on a bookshelf, but I don’t have tape on my glasses. Then again, the Hanson brothers have tape on their glasses and no one would ever accuse them of being geeks. I do however fit the definition posited by Wired. Heck, we all do.

Gardening requires all who partake to learn another language. I hesitate to say new because Latin is hardly new. Without gardeners, Latin may have been destined to obscure legal works and religious writings. As much as I hate to admit it, common names are not exact and can be confusing. Gardeners can take great pride in keeping the language of the Caesars alive. That doesn’t include myself yet because I still can’t pronounce the name of my blog correctly. The world of gardening also requires a genteel mode of behavior. A certain politeness is derigueur in all communications. All who followed Jean's discussion at Jeans Garden on the whos and whys of blogging witnessed an animated discussion on the matter.

The article waits till the end to talk about digging in the “soil.” I always thought the word was dirt, but the article corrects my misunderstanding. I feel better already. There are also some cool diagrams about laying out different size gardens. Boy, where were these aids when I was descending into gardening chaos by just planting and letting the “force” guide me?

Here are some pics of our latest terra forming effort. Pat and I created planting areas in the pachysandra to add some height and diffuse the monoculture of the plant. Pachysandra is a wonderful ground cover for shaded areas. It is slow growing and needs no tending. It is, however, persistent. It overwhelms everything in its path. I never thought anything could choke out hosta, but pachysandra can. Our side yard planting areas did not get the care they needed last year. We needed to push the pach back. It may look like we have a bazillion pachysandra plants in the yard, but we don’t. I think it is just one large plant. The rhizomes are 2, 3, 4, 5 feet long and I think they reach down to the center of the earth. And to think that garden centers sell pachysandra right next to that other spawn of the devil, ivy. I’ll give both away to anyone who wants them, or to unsuspecting new gardeners. Oh, that was me a couple years ago.
Before terraforming

After Terraforming

The hose is from one of our rain barrels, so I guess we can add enviromentally friendly to geeky.

FlowerLady said...

What a fun post. I love your rich dark earth that your gardens are growing in. Everything looks really lush.

Enjoy and have a great weekend.

Kyna said...

Haha, I can't say the name of your blog correctly either. Bit it's eye-catching! I just think of it as 'Jim's Hosta Blog' :D

We're all geeks in one way or another, you're right about that. I think just having a passion about any subject can be synonymous with 'geek'.

Is the Wiz said...

Gardeners, terraformers or horticulturists (my boss's favourite), I like the term for the legendary Chinese masters, geomancers. And dirt or soil, both have unpleasant connotations here, we call it earth. Btw, my old tutor used to say, pronounce Latin however you like, no-one's alive who can contradict you!

Kathryn said...

I just read that article last night in Wired and thought of you when I did.

your garden looks great!

JCharlier said...

I read that article this past week too. It was well-written and illustrated. I studied the diagrams to see if there's more I can do in my garden to push production. I've held onto the magazine so i can refer back to it.

jeansgarden said...

Terra forming is an interesting concept. I can never figure out whether I'm forming the terra or it's forming me! (Probably both) -Jean

Floridagirl said...

LOL! Don't want to beat the proverbial dead horse here, but I call your blog "Jim Groble"; it's just easier that way. Sounds like you are indeed a geek with such books lying around. I'm embarrassed to admit my glasses were taped for several weeks a few years ago until I found time to get a new pair. Anyway, your terraforming project has gone well. Not familiar with pachysandra, but it sounds like a nightmare. Don't let it eat those precious hosta!

debsgarden said...

I love all the shades of green of your hostas! Your terraforming efforts have paid off; it all looks lovely! By the way, tis nothing wrong with geeks - Members of my family qualify under any definition. I long ago told my son not to worry, geeks make the world go round, as well as other gadgets.

PatioPatch said...

a gardener with a wry sense of humour - very refreshing to read and to view your lush and lovely shades of green


text:
Important Prayer Request

If you are looking for today's Thankful Thursday, please go here.  I have never posted twice in one day before, it's just not 'for me.' But this can't wait until tomorrow...

I received a message from my friend, Cody, this morning. He has been in Philadelphia discerning entering the Order of St. Augustine. Last night, he learned his application would not be accepted.

Cody is one of the kindest, gentlest, unselfish people I have had the privelage of meeting. The look of sorrow in his eyes when I told him of our struggle with IF was tangible proof of what an awesome servant of God's people that he is. My heart is breaking for Cody. He has asked for prayers, and he has asked for the prayers of my friends.  Well, friends, prayer warriors, will you please pray? Will you please cover Cody in the prayers that you have covered me with so many many times? If they give him even 1/10th of the peace they have given me, his heart will calm and his anxiety will decrease.

Specifically, please pray for:
~a peaceful, grace-filled heart
~clarity in decision making that remains open to God's will
~that fears of the now unknown future will remain quiet
~for strength

Dear friends, I thank-you in advance for your prayers. So many of you (and I) have walked a path in which we feel called to something (motherhood for most of us, the priesthood for Cody), but instead of reaching that something we are gifted with a cross. While our reasons for our hurts are different, we share the knowledge of the weight of the cross of uncertainty; of wondering why; of the unknown

I will close with Cody's words:
Ultimately, I have faith that all will be well. I have faith that since I undertook this risk in obedience to God's will for me, that God's will has been done and will continue to be done because I have done what He has asked of me. I only hope that one day it might make more sense.
I ask you to pray for me, and to ask your friends to pray for me as well. I am going to be in need of them.

  1. Aw, that's heartbreaking. I will keep him close in prayer.

  2. I am praying. It must be incredibly hard for him, but with prayer he will know what God`s plans for him are.

  3. I will be praying for your friend!

  4. OH, I am praying!! Have him comfort himself by knowing that both of St. Therese's parents had their hearts set on religious life, and both were rejected and completely heartbroken. Today, they are both up for canonization, and their daughter is considered the greatest saint of modern times and a Doctor of the Church!

    Praying that God's will will be made known to him soon, be it another order, the diocesan priesthood, single life, or matrimony.

  5. Oh wow, I will pray! This is so tough! I think so often it's easy to take for granted or assume that those desiring religious life have it "easy." They "just" have to join this order or go to that seminary and surely with our shortage these days, no soul will be turned away. But no, they can be rejected too, and often do get rejected. I like Leila's example of St. Therese's parents (and Therese also faced roadblocks in her own vocation as did her sister, Celine).

  6. I will be praying! What an unfortunate situation. So heartbreaking. :(

  7. Disappointment is such a heavy load to bear. I'm sorry for the pain of your friend. Praying peace.

  8. Cody I've got your back! Praying 2 Corinthians 4: 8-12 over you right now.

  9. I love what Leila said about St. Therese's parents - so true! And as Sarah said St. Therese didn't have the easiest time joining Carmel either. Prayers coming for your friend Cody!

  10. I'm behind on all this, but I'll be praying. LOVE his quote!

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