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Mindful Online Dating Part 2: Lets be honest here…

You’re really going through with this aren’t you? Now you get the shameful experience of downloading a dating app, congratulations. Hot tip – I like to hide my app of choice in the ‘utilities folder’ of my device, so I don’t die a little inside each time I open my phone.

Selling yourself with dignity (jk)

In the last blog we talked about these apps making rejection easier to take because it’s initially not face to face. This is an advantage here, use it. The more honest and accurate you are in your profile, the less time you are going to waste with people that were drawn in by an embellished, filtered facade. Facades always crack and typically in the first five minutes. Do you really want to be that person who looked nothing like their photos? Pictures should be less than a year old, 18 months max and at least attempt to present your current hair colour and facial hair grooming situation. If you’re overweight or bald in real life and not in any of your photos you’re a piece of shit. Anyone superb enough to be reading this is clearly a catch so just be yourself *eye roll*. Keep in mind when curating this sales pitch that who you want to be, is likely not who you are in this moment. We all want growth and development, this keeps us moving forward, but perhaps presently in this incarnation the ‘gym junkie’ tag isn’t that accurate. Be wary of the types of fish you attract with certain lures. Is the person who prioritizes boobs or a six-pack the kind of person you want to date? If not, consider keeping your shirt on, no matter what glorious assets you have stashed away under there.

It’s not a game people

Giving your app to your friends after a few beverages is not kosher. There are people that take this seriously and hopefully you are one of them. That guy with the face tattoos may have thought he hit the jackpot when he matched with you, the crushing silence of your unanswered message may be enough to make him turn that hunting rifle from his profile photo on himself. Worst case scenario! Be conscious of how your actions here can impact on the receiving end. That is a real person on the other side, don’t forget that.

Don’t play nice

No pity dates. If you’re not into it and have no intention of meeting up, don’t waste each others time. Be clear and up front, and if you decide you just want to be friends and share first date horror stories make sure you are on the same page. With that volume there is no time for maybe. I personally think the system is broken, working only with someones photos, bio and messaging banter isn’t enough. Chemistry doesn’t come through on a phone so what we’re stuck with is a numbers game. Do they check basic boxes in terms of age, interests and basic physical requirements and can you exchange mild to moderately stimulating prose? If yes, you meet in person, breathe each other in and see if it adds up. The first date version of a person is likely not an authentic representation but be compassionate toward one another, try to thin out your own ego shell a little while not judging the thickness of theirs. Hair, clothes, muscles and makeup change fast, kind eyes and warm smiles tend to stick around.

TBC in part 3

Mindful Online Dating Part 1: the oxymoron of the century?

Online dating has changed everything.  Gone are the glory days of mustering up courage in your butterfly-filled stomach to ask ‘can I buy you a drink’ or ‘is your friend single’. City life has descended into row upon row of coffee shops populated by sullen people sitting alone with headphones in, taking filtered selfies and swiping, and if you aren’t online good fucking luck meeting anyone. What are your options? Talk to strangers like some kind of sociopath? How can we embrace and evolve alongside the march of technological progress without abandoning earnest attempts at self-awareness, mindfulness and compassion?

Y tho?

The first step in joining the dark side is examining your motivation. Remember the ‘right aspiration’ part of the Buddhist eightfold path? What do you hope to get out of this? A spouse and 1.5 children, a free dinner, a post-breakup ego boost, a pen pal to pass the time at your shitty desk job, or the usual 2-4 week fling that fizzles into amnesia? The majority of these are not good reasons and point to some serious self-love and self-confidence deficiencies indicating you are in no position to proceed. The goal of a healthy relationship is two whole and fulfilled people complementing and enhancing the others lives, not two broken pieces scrambling to find their ‘other half’ amongst a sea of busted up shards of damaged goods. Translation: sort your shit out first.

The Rabbit Hole

Let’s make a few things clear, drifting into a vacuous swiping trance where you consume and dispose of humans based solely on their external features is fucked up. This seemingly harmless human fidget spinner is likely cultivating destructive neural pathways and permanently changing the way we relate to our fellow earthlings. Is there a subconscious ego boost you get from rejecting others? The reality here is that those people are not necessarily even an option for you, not in real life, but on that screen in that moment they are. I’ll left swipe a guy for being prettier than me any day, but would I refuse to give him my number if we met at the local dog park? Not likely. The culture of these apps sells a sick fairytale scenario in which prince charming picks through the bevy of distressed and horny damsels glued to their screens craving the dopamine surge of a mutual ‘like’. The more thought I give this, the less confident I am it can be done ethically and consciously, the rest of this series might be short.

Breeding the Keyboard Warriors

“But going up to someone in public is too hard…” be sure to say this sentence in your head with the whiny apathetic tone you know it deserves.  This evolution in courtship has taken face-to-face rejection out of the equation. There is no more “sorry, I have a boyfriend”, “don’t touch what you can’t afford” or whatever other charming jabs these man-children were scarred by in their teenage years and have yet to get over. Yes, a higher proportion of people using online dating are single than in your average bar and ghosting online is far less traumatizing (but also easier to dish out guilt-free) than face-to-face avoidance. This safety net though has produced an ever-increasing gutless demographic in often already xenophobic cities (I’m looking at you Vancouver). Barring mutual friends or some major extenuating circumstance the keyboard warriors flat out will not approach potential partners in real life, a legitimate tragedy. What you see is not what you get with hardened online daters and they typically vanish back down the warm, cozy rabbit hole at the first sign of a challenge.

Still Keen?

So you still want to plunge into the depths of swiping hell? A lifestyle riddled with thumb cramps, blue light-induced headaches and chronic low cell battery warnings. Can you do this without degrading into an ego-centric piece of shit? I couldn’t, but if you have faith let’s proceed…

TBC in part 2

Enlightenment is Expensive

Dress your ego in deities and sacred geometry,

How many malas can you pray with at once?

Maybe your outside can convince your inside,

now you buy crystals instead of diamonds

-Opening of my 2017 publication ‘Trading Diamonds for Crystals’

Unconditional Love (Yeah, I went to see Ram Dass again…)

This is my first blog attempt since my second Ram Dass retreat in Maui wrapped last week.  Some things need time to brew, to age, to cure. Faith, attachment and love were my themes this time. There were confronting, confusing and intimidating messages for me this time around. Faith was cemented and lines were drawn, no more camping out at the edge of the diving board.

My time since the spring retreat had been dedicated to one attachment after the other. A slow crawl towards the freedom I promised myself but always keeping a tether, always a safety net, always an excuse. The formal ‘teacher on stage’ teachings were not what cracked me open this time, it was behind the scenes. The ‘big maharaji’ was there, teaching us like he used to teach them back in India. There were tests before the retreat, the passing of my grandmother the week before was not just timely coincidence, nor was the flat tire on the rental car the day I left. There was magic too, unexplainable magic and synchronicity.

  I thought we had a strong satsang going into this, but in there it exploded into an intense web of what can only be labelled love. I am unable to wrap my head around how the recipe came together, it was just one of those miracles. Collecting all those souls there at that one time, with such clear messages and treasures for those who took the time to look. So many messages in so many mirrors, like little looking ponds showing us our strengths and our flaws but most of all reflecting love.

Krishna Das talks on one of his podcasts about us seeking a certain sweetness. A sweetness that isn’t dependent on how the rest of the world is treating you. I think I’ve found it, and it wasn’t on the diving board.

Time to Let Them Go

Even the most positive changes can be scary.  Scary for you, and also scary for those you bonded with over mutual flaws. Misery loves company.  Misery wants you to come out for a cigarette and a bitchy gossip session, maybe some negative self-talk while you are at it. Misery doesn’t like being left behind in a cycle of suffering while you sail off into the sunset.

When you take the plunge, quit the job you hated, start a regular positive habit, give up binge drinking, whatever it is, you are demonstrating strength, control and capture of your own potential. Bad habits are hard to break and comfort is hard to leave, particularly if anyone is pulling you back.  Seeing real, tangible changes in you is a direct threat to the story these people tell themselves.  Suddenly their excuses are not valid.  If you can do it, they can do it and that scares the shit out of them. There is a chance the girl you spent the past two years whining about your evil boss with at the reception desk will be less than amped up about your new lease on life.  On the other hand, you might light her fire and end up in the same yoga class in Costa Rica six months later!

When is it time to pull back from someone? Any resistance to positive changes or inability to ‘be happy for you’ should be a red flag.  If your happiness causes distress, irritation, jealousy or sadness in anyone around you that can truly stunt your growth.  Wistful desire for ‘the old you’  or constant recollections from a past you are no longer proud of and no longer represents you is disabling. Anyone who dwells solely and stubbornly in your past is unlikely to contribute positively to your future.

Friendships come and go, so do romantic relationships and sometimes family bonds. You can lead by example but you cant hold hands that do not want to be held. If you let them go the right ones will always come back to you as the old saying goes. For you though, there is now potential to supercharge your life by infusing it with people who set the bar higher.  Something happens when you take control and change.  Your vibration changes, your frequency changes and you start to attract and lock in with people existing on those planes. That stagnant, toxic space and the people that are happy to stay there are no longer yours or for you.

The Emotional Rollercoaster of a Ten Day Vipassana Course Squished into a Five Minute Blog

Entry Day

“So how did you end up in here?”

The registration room sounds like a scene from Orange is the New Black, more divorces and less violent crime though.

Day 1

No mantras, no metta, no visuals, no guru, no chanting, no yoga. Just the air passing over my nostrils and upper lip, okay.

Day 2

Why is that woman picking all the almonds out of the muesli, and what kind of sociopath washes dishes like that?!

Day 3

We haven’t even started the Vipassana part yet? Fuck.

Day 4

This isn’t meditation. Meditation is bliss and vibrations and warmth and love. This is torture and I hate everyone who encouraged me to do this.

Day 5

The giggles.

Day 6

Why was the gong going off all night and who was cooking bacon outside my window?

Day 7

This is definitely not for me… but I got this far, and you cant go home on day 7. Can you?

Day 8

Alert! There is LSD in the fruit salad, warn the others! I repeat, there is LSD in the fruit salad.

Day 9

Every flower and fruit and seed is just a lesson in impermanence… *stares at tree for 45 minutes*

Day 10

Now that noble silence is lifted and the LSD effect has worn off, get me the fuck out of here.

I am however, comforted to hear I wasn’t the only one having bacon hallucinations.

Departure Day

I wonder if I can find a massage place that will let me drink lattes through a straw in the face-hole of the massage bed…

Psychedelics- a love letter

Modern consciousness is sleeping.  It is sleeping in a dark, unfamiliar, un mapped room likely with a thick layer of dust over it. A room with no lamps, light switches or matches and plenty of things to trip up on. It has been left in there, a vestigial organ no longer required for your 9-5 life-cycle. If lucky, psychedelics show themselves to you as a little shard of light shooting through the crack under the door. Potential illumination.

For some people and with some substances that door gets blasted open in round one with blinding, shattering light and never shuts again. This happens, rarely but it happens, please tread lightly at first. Others like the light so much they keep going back repeatedly, trying to keep the room permanently illuminated. They cannot manage in the darkness anymore.

These experiences become productive when we make the most of that illumination. Flood some light in, look around, admire your surroundings internal and external and start to explore, map some of it out. Bask in these experiences, as they let you see the beauty presenting itself to us every day and going unnoticed. Take the enlightenment from these fleeting moments to help you find your way forward, even in the darkest nights.

Pre-Vipassana Terror

In four hours I am entering into my first ten day Vipassana meditation and the panic has begun!

I don’t like being uncomfortable. I hate cardio, I hate itchy sweaters and wherever I am is either too warm or too cold. I know I have plenty of work to do in the self-discipline/willpower/mental stamina department. If I have any opportunity to escape even mild inconvenience or irritance I will do so without hesitation! ‘Toughing it out’ is not my thing.
So what possessed me to sign up for ten days of silent meditation in the middle of winter in the frigid Blue Mountains of Australia? Up at four each morning, nine hours of sitting meditation per day, no reading, no writing, no technology, no eye contact and a conservative vegetarian diet. The website even refers to the quarters as ‘meditation cells’ not sure what kind of PR person approved that phrasing for the website…
Vipassana is also called ‘insight meditation’. I want to be challenged physically, mentally and forced inward to take a good, hard look at all that vile shit I have spent my entire life trying to repress and veneer. Hopefully chip away at that nice thick ego facade a little more. I am not surprised this processing has started even now, I am already questioning myself, criticising myself. Am I doing this just for my gross ‘spiritual resume’? Am I trying to avoid the reality of my new life (I should maybe mention I left my stable well-paid corporate gig last week and put all my possessions in storage yesterday, that is a whole other blog though).
I can be particularly unbearable when I haven’t had coffee or when I am hungry and cannot imagine how I will even get out of bed at 4am without the promise of a latte.
I will be cut off from every person I know for ten full days. I am spoiled to have relationships with the most beautiful people in this incarnation that anyone could ever ask for and not being able to reach out to them may be my biggest battle of all. That or the coffee…

Details for the centre I am attending can be found at

Spiritual Travel

Is it necessary to ‘eat, pray, love’ yourself around the globe?

The idea of going away to find yourself is romantic and age-old.  For me, this conjures up images of ashrams and jungles and relaxed, sun-damaged divorcee’s.  It used to make me think of gap years, Contiki tours and vomit-stained backpacks so I guess I’m getting older.  Can we really run away and find ourselves? We know that our true self lies within (and all that other bullshit people who spent 3 life-changing years in India tell us).  I cant help but feel like they want to keep us out to keep it pure, hoping the stories of violent dysentery will equate to at least one less white girl with henna waiting in line for darshan next spring.

Is my desire to go to India just my ego demanding some kind of grotesque spiritual brownie points?  Is it my desire to maintain the utmost respect and authenticity telling me to go to Peru to take Ayahuasca, or is it just pathetic hipster snobbery turning my nose up at taking it here in Australia? My theory is that spiritual travel might be like a long, drawn out psychedelic experience.  Things look different, the air smells different and things have a certain magic and that feeling of untapped potential. Travel, in general, can give you all of this and we never want to go home just like we never want to come down. Imprinting this awe into our psyche and taking home the unshakable memory of each day’s true potential might be what we need sometimes.  LSD reminds you how great clouds are and the gurus remind you what love is.  It is what you do with this knowledge that counts though, because we all need to go home and chances are there will be some abandoned baggage patiently awaiting your return.

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Groupon reportedly rejects Google’s offer, possibly looking to IPO

Groupon reportedly rejects Google’s offer, possibly looking to IPO

Well, there you go – according to the Chicago Tribune which sources two people “with direct knowledge of the situation”, Groupon’s board has rejected Google’s offer – which was reportedly as high as $6 billion – with an eye on a possible initial public offering.

Since this is the Chicago Tribune and Groupon is based in Chicago, this could be a pretty reliable report.

Of course, the rumors have been swirling for about two weeks that Google had made an offer to Groupon – first we heard for somewhere around $2.5 billion, then it went up to $5.3 billion with a $700 million buyout option. Whatever the price that Google eventually offered Groupon, the still very young startup reportedly didn’t think it was worth it.

This must have been an extremely hard decision, since no one – no one – scoffs at $6 billion. However, Groupon must have done a lot of thinking about what it could be worth on the open market, and if it keeps up anywhere near the pace that it has been, when/if it decides to go public – the Tribune says it will possibly make that decision in 2011 – it could very well end up being worth multiples of $6 billion. Or of course, someone else – possibly Google itself – could swoop in and take its crown before it ever has the chance to go public. That’s the risk Groupon just reportedly took.

However, there is certainly one thing that separates Groupon from many other hot startups out there – it is raking in cash, which was certainly the main reason that Google want it – badly. The acquisition, if it had gone through at the highest reported figure, would have been Google’s largest to date, nearly twice as much as it paid for DoubleClick and four times that of what it paid for YouTube.

Interestingly, just as this news from the Tribune broke, All Things Digital, which has been reporting on the talks since the beginning, now says that sources have told it that Groupon is actually going to bring in $2 billion this year – not the much lower, though still very impressive $500 million that many people have assumed. If that revenue is accurate, then we’re guessing the decision to not sell to Google might have been a bit easier than most believed.

Also, turning down the offer helps to explain a bit why Groupon continues to make acquisitions of its own, including these in Asia.

We will email both Google and Groupon for comment. So, what do you think? Smart move or will this come back to haunt Groupon if it’s true?

UPDATE 1: TechCrunch is saying that it has confirmed “with a source with knowledge of the deal” that Groupon has turned down Google’s offer AND that the company is looking at $2 billion run-rate, though of course it shares money with the businesses it is promoting, and we’re unsure whether how Groupon counts that. We still have not received word from either company after emailing them for comment.

UPDATE 2: Google got back to us, unsurprisingly saying, “Unfortunately, we don’t comment on rumor or speculation.”

Read next: Grooveshark launches new HTML 5 interface, still doesn't work on iPad

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Monday, May 13, 2013

People have been asking about family grocery shopping.  As we have a farm, we grow as much of our vegetables, fruit, etc. that we can.  Also, we raise cows, chickens and pigs for our meat and eggs.  I have tried to raise herbs, but I kill them, so I now get them from Jean.

On Sunday, we get the local newspaper for the news, but also for the coupons that come.  I have a box that I cut the coupons out of the paper and put them in the box. Some coupons that I don't use, I pass on someone else. I also check to see what stores have sales.

Before I go grocery shopping I figure out my menus for two weeks.  I check and see what we have in the house and what I have to purchase. I make up a grocery list that I take with me.  Also, I eat before I got to the grocery store so I don't buy things we don't need.  I try to go alone grocery shopping or take as few of my children as I can with me.  That may sound mean-but I don't have them talking me into things we really don't need.  I must hire a driver to take me to the store and I can go through the store faster alone, then I can with someone with me.

With such a large family, I buy a lot in bulk, so I don't have to go back and forth to the store.  When going, I usually go to Aldi's as that is the closest surplus store.  Sometimes if there is a big sale on something and I want to stock up, I go to Save a Lot that is a little further away.  I also will buy dented cans-make sure they aren't badly dented.  Some stores have day old breads, rolls, etc.  Even though I make my own, if the price is right, I buy some to put in the freezer in case we run out and I don't have time to make them.

In the store I buy what's on the grocery list first.  Like many people, we also have a desire for junk foods, but they come if I have enough money left from our needed grocery. Brands are brands to me in most of my items-I don't look for special names especially if something is on sale.  There are some exceptions, but most of the time it doesn't matter.  Our junk foods are soda pop, pop corn, Twinkees (they're mine), etc.  I am so glad Twinkees are coming back-they were my favorites from the English world.

When checking out I stand right there and watch the cash register.  Sometimes cash register people make mistakes when checking items out.  When I get home, I go over the sales recipt with the groceries again to make sure everything is right. I unpack the groceries.

As far as junk foods go, I buy a certain amount and when they are gone-they are gone until I get to the grocery store again and if there is enough money for them.  Soft drinks is the big problem especially with summer coming.  We make root beer and ginger ale, but there's nothing like a Coke or Pepsi sometimes according to the children.  At first they use to drink them all down during the first week that I bought them, but now they realize they have to make them last longer.

Money for our regular groceries comes from what we make on the dairy and farming.  The junk food comes from part of the money I make from the vegetables I sell from the garden, cakes and pies I make for people, etc.  If I don't sell anything-we don't get anything.

We make our own bread, cookies, cakes, pies, rolls, etc. although, like I said I keep a couple loaves of bread and rolls in the freezer just in case.

I hope this helps on how we save money.  Joseph has never said anything about the money I spend on groceries.  I try to not to waste the money.

Be With the Lord,

Vickie said...

Martha you sound like a very smart shopper. It is harder when you have teens in the house I have noticed. All three of my children are very slim, but they eat a LOT!

annie said...

Thank you Martha. This seems like a very sensible approach. I am continually trying to save money at the market. We live in town, and have only a small garden space, so I can't raise all the things that you mentioned. I do try and watch for sales, and make fewer trips. I try and stretch what we have. Thank you for continuing to share with all us readers. I really enjoy the posts from you, Jean, and Pierre, and Marilyn. Hoping you have a blessed day.

New York State Of Mind said...

Good Morning Vickie and Annie,
I know Martha is glad you like the posts. She really tried to make a post to help. We are going to have more savings posts on. It seems something people, including myself, are interested in.

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jcirone said...

Thank you Martha for a great post. I also love to use coupons to save money and stock up on things when they go on sale and I have a coupon also makes for a great deal. Sometimes I do not know how we could do it if we did not shop the sales and use coupons. The weather her in St. Catharines has been cold the last two days. I hope none of the farmers loose any of there plants they may already have planted. Thanks for your hard work on the blog Marilyn and I pray everyone has a great week!! God Bless Veronica

New York State Of Mind said...

Good Morning Veronica,
Thank you for the compliments. I will pass them on to Martha. I think most of us use coupons now. We have been kind of cold, but it is going to warm up again.

God Bless You and yours,

Countryside Reflections said...

I mostly buy items on sale. I use coupons when I can, but I'm really disappointed in the way coupons have changed over the years by how they make you buy two or three of their product in order to use the coupon. It turns out to be not much of a savings.

When my boys were young I only bought soda for special occasions, and they turned out to not care for soda as adults. They prefer water or juice. I'm really glad of that.

Thank you for this helpful post Martha. I'm an Aldi's shopper too.

New York State Of Mind said...

Hi Doreen,
You and Martha go to Aldi's, I have never been there. I guess I better check that out. That having to buy two or three before you can use the coupon is a pain. I've had that happen, too.

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Artist Review: Untitled Art – “Philly To Long Branch Part 2” Single

Review by: Justyn Brodsky

Energetic, fast, relentless, and a blast of versatility in the EDM wave.

I’ve never really heard anything like this. Untitled Art brings us a fast-paced and heavy presence with their powerful, grungy take on EDM with their single “Philly To Long Branch Part 2”, presenting some of the most impressive vocal executions that could be displayed with this type of in-your-face energy.

It’s melodic, versatile, unforgettable to the ear, and absolutely original. It starts out completely eye-brow raising and continues to get more insatiably dynamic, innovative, loud, and action-movie worthy.

The vocal ranges and overall mix is one of the best parts that brings out the mastered craft and artistic merit with this single, and it never outdoes itself in any way. The structures continue to stay loud, but melodic. Its formula is very fresh, but you can still hear many of yesterday and today’s musical influences that give this song extremely high likability factors. It’s definitely a song you’ll come back to time and time again, especially if you’re looking to blast something raw and original to your friends or music lovers looking for new food for the ear.

This is a brilliant single, and it definitely entices you to research more into what Untitled Art has available in their past catalogue, and future collectively. Chances are, you won’t be disappointed in the least.

Connect with Untitled Art:

© Artist Reach, LLC | ASCAP | All Rights Reserved

Artist Review: Damson Blaze – “Hush” Single

Review by: Justyn Brodsky

Female vocals? Check. Catchy chorus? Check. A guitarist with enough Flying V’s to fill an entire room? Check.

With a great combination of 80’s and 90’s Female-fronted rock with some of today’s mainstream sensibilities, Virginia quartet Damson Blaze delivers a fresh in-your-face rock anthem with their newest single “Hush”

You can definitely hear some of our favorite iconic influences from this band, including Deep Purple, Rush, and a pinch of Pearl Jam. However Damson Blaze have manifested into a sound that is recognizable, lovable, and focuses more on writing some killer rock songs to entertain the crowd rather than delving into some sort of “experimental multi-genre” spinoff that falls flat most of the time. This band is ready to be loud, fun, and always makes sure there’s room for a shredding guitar solo.

“Hush” is not designed to be your next overly-versatile daring take on rock, they just keep it real. Good riffs, fun live show, a swell Martha Davis style vocal approach, and something that easily sticks in your head. It’s not aimed to change the game, it’s aimed at making it better altogether. Because when it comes to Rock nowadays, some bands and artists tend to insult the genre by over analyzing their mixes and using far too many EDM or electronically integrated plugins for their final touch. But in my opinion Damson Blaze doesn’t have time for those kind of fratty antics. This is simply a “plug in and rock out” persona. No BS needed.

I recommend “Hush” based on the formula that has always worked with Rock. And that’s to simply keep it loud, make it catchy, and never forget to leave room for a guitar solo! “Hush” is the title track of their upcoming EP of the same name. We are itching to hear more of it. And after giving this song a listen yourself, you will be as well.

Connect with Damson Blaze:

© Artist Reach, LLC | ASCAP | All Rights Reserved

Artist Review: Shining Force

Review by: Justyn Brodsky

For those of you who yearn for heavy metal’s epic years of Iron Maiden’s Number of the Beast, the entire Judas Priest catalogue, and Metallica’s first 3 albums…we have a special treat for you.

We have another reason not to mess with Texas. These Pasadena rockers are bringing back a sound that never left in the first place. Christian/Metal band Shining Force by way of solid guitar riffs and a stampede of a rhythm section remind us that true metal is still at the heart of all metal fans alike, despite the additives to the genre over the years (i.e.: core, black, death, speed, nu, melodic, and any other word you can attach).

Starting off with their track “Rapture”, we get served up with some unstoppable energy and guitar riffs that cruise into a very melodic and in-your-face verse. The vocals sustain an impressive range and definitely have a Maiden-worthy vibrato that sets the classic tone for their take on heavy metal’s glory days. There are powerful drum films, very well-crafted dueling guitars and a heavy hitting overall dynamic.

Cruising over to the title track of their upcoming album, the energy and innovation is still ever present in “By the Blood”. A track that offers up more integrated songwriting techniques and play on tempos. The guitars are very gain-fueled, crisp, and crawl right under your skin. It’s impossible to ignore the string-attack this song has and once again, we have a vocal range that was born for this breed of metal. A breed that has manifested into endless influences for today’s modern metal, and a legacy that fuels itself through bands like Shining Force. Just like all the metal greats that sit in your collection, Shining Force fits right in, and helps push the legacy onward.

The band is embarking on a full U.S. Tour this summer in support of the upcoming anticipated album, By the Blood. An album you will be very glad you purchased when it’s released. So keep an eye out to see when Shining Force is coming to your town. Mark your calendars to make sure you know when they arrive to come make their mark! You will not be disappointed.

Connect with Shining Force:

© Artist Reach, LLC | ASCAP | All Rights Reserved

Artist Review: Mike LePond (Symphony X)

Review by: Justyn Brodsky

It blew my mind when this Artist’s management reached out to me. Because Mike LePond (best known for playing bass in the legendary Symphony X) is one of those top-of-the-line Bass Pioneers that can easily fit into the same league as Stu Hamm, Les Claypool, Justin Chancler, among many others. And I remember Symphony X being one of my first Napster discoveries alongside Linkin Park.

Lepond‘s solo LP Silent Assassins is definitely an album to please and appease all you bass-shredders out there who crave that rotund low end in epic proportions. With a sound that could be comprised alongside Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Manowar and those alike, this album just shreds, shreds again, and then shreds some more. From orchestrated and beautifully crafted and composed bass intros to soaring guitar tones and high-range in-your-face vocals to put a foreground to LePond‘s overall sound, this record is anything but a disappointment.

The musicianship factor is a mind blow to behold. LePond definitely brings out the wrath of God throughout every measure he plays and easily is placed under the God of Gods when it comes to the 4 (or 5). This album is definitely one for the musicians, and a sound engineer’s dream. The production value hones a perfected craft in showcasing a bassist’s solo album.

Mike LePond has an enormous history, so your best bet would be to research him on Wikipedia. But seriously…Silent Assassins is definitely a masterpiece for any aspiring bassist out there and LePond will definitely be added to your list of Gods of Bass if he hasn’t been yet already. So when you give Mr. LePond a listen…fasten your seat belts.

Connect with Mike LePond:

  © Artist Reach, LLC | ASCAP | All Rights Reserved

Artist Review: A Life All My Own

Review by: Justyn Brodsky & Sarah Lewis

First and foremost, having the acronym ALAMO for your band is pretty creative, and easy to remember. Add points for awesome marketing.

If you’re familiar with bands from Vans Warped Tour, The All Stars Tour, The Summer Slaughter Tour; and labels like Fearless, Tragic Hero, Razor and Tie, Rise, and those alike, will absolutely fall head over heals for A Life All My Own

If any reps from any of the tours or labels mentioned above read this (we’ll throw in Alternative Press too), here’s your next band that should be on your “must sign now” list.

This Melodic Metalcore act comes with all the perfect ingredients that makes their genre as popular as it is today. And can easily become your next favorite band of this genre. First track on their Soundcloud, “Adamantium” is a perfect demonstration of not only the band, but the genre as well, if unfamiliar with it.

It has those beautifully energetic guitar breakdowns with dynamic rhythm arrangements that allows this opening chorus to let the vocalist shine with brilliant lyrical content and the perfect melody to entice you immediately into the rest of the song.

The screams are right where they need to be, and is never outdone. The production quality couldn’t be better, and you can hear the individual members’ craft and display of talent that’s brought to the ALAMO table. Trust me when I say it seems like Emo/Screamo/Metalcore is being pursued by bands just trying to be trendy and fit in. This is not the case with ALAMO. You can hear a diversifying aura with this band, and has success written all over them.

Diversifying their beautifully dark sound with a beautiful piano/vocal intro in their track “The Killer Inside (You Better Run)” also showcases the broad range of different influences ALAMO has with their songwriting. Making sure that if they tackle this genre, they’re doing it with their own signature sound. They display an iconic blend of all your favorite bands of their genre. And one thing that constantly comes to mind while listening to these tracks is how ridiculously intense their live show has to be. No band can write these tracks, record them flawlessly, and have a bad live show. So if you get tickets to see this band play, prepare for an epic live show experience. And don’t be surprised if this band is on the next Warped Tour lineup. They have our vote!

A Life All My Own definitely have a gift, talent, and sound all their own!
Connect with ALAMO:

  • Twitter: @alifeallmyown

Listen to ALAMO:

© Artist Reach, LLC | ASCAP | All Rights Reserved


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Tag Archives: Museo de chocolate

7 years of waiting

After 7 years of waiting the day   finally arrived yesterday…. and what a fantastic surprise for me. They said on numerous occasion that they would come and visit but then I started to think it would never happen. I … Continue reading

Posted in Local News/Happenings/interest, Uxmal | Tagged , , | 20 Comments

Uxmal and Chocolate

http://www.mexicoonmymind.com A great read about Uxmal and the chocolate museum and of course my place!! Also has lots of info about coming to live in Mexico you may find it interesting.

Posted in Uxmal | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments


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daily rant – 00051 – fly as a fruit, son!

FACT!  Fruit flies only live 8-10 days……….FACT!….Female fruit flies can lay up to 500 eggs in your rotting fruit.  That’s gross on so many levels.  And this concludes the educational portion of the rant.

I hate fruit flies…and I think they recently discovered this, since they won’t leave me the hell alone.  We’ve been experiencing a little fruit fly outbreak at home as of late, not anything extreme, but annoying enough to have one fly by your face every 30 minutes.  It sucks because you start second guessing yourself like, ‘did I just see a fruit fly?  Or was it just that little squiggly line in my eye?’  Much like spiders, the fruit fly also has a special ability…they can time travel.  Surprise!  That’s right, they’re like the DeLorean’s of the insect world.  You could see one fly by your face, then when you turn your head, they’re on the wall all the way on the other side of the room.

[88 mph

Another ability they have, is the power to make you look like a complete idiot in front of your friends.  Picture yourself having a conversation with friends, then out of nowhere you quickly grab at the air with a blank expression on your face, then act like nothing happened.  After trying to explain to what you were doing, your friends don’t believe you because the fly already time traveled to the other side of the house.  Every once in a while, you eventually catch one, and it’s pretty much mandatory to show everyone around you that you have ninja like reflexes and can grab fruit flies out of the air like Mr. Miyagi…only to have people say ‘ew gross!!’ as they slowly inch away from you.

[bug on….bug…still on

Seriously, what’s the point of these things?  They don’t contribute to society, we don’t benefit from them and who knows where they land on the food chain?  Do you think spiders chose not to eat them because they’re a healthier alternative to regular house flies?  And what does that mean for the Potato Bug?

[fruit flies

Once again, I would like to thank the Art-Bot, AKA Nay Tay Tay, AKA Natasha for her wonderful illustrations.  You can see more of her work HERE…and nowhere else because she’s too lazy to create an online portfolio.  As always, don’t steal the pictures, they are protected under the copyright code of 2011.

Rant, over!

Nov 18/2011

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Living a Selfless Life

That’s what it’s all really about, living a selfless life.  All the posts I write about being submissive, being a mother, being a housewife, the common theme is that you put your families needs before your own.  You may think to yourself “Well, I do that all the time!  I’m always doing things for them!”  But when it comes down to it, are you really?  Are you doing things without asking for or expecting anything in return?  Are you truly living selflessly?

My husbands needs, wants, etc. are met before anyone else’s.  There’s no question about it. He knows it.  I know it.  The children know it.  He is the head of the household, and he is cared for first.  Please don’t take that to the extreme, it’s a general statement.  If a child is injured, sick, crying, etc. obviously they have to be tended to first at that moment.  We are reasonable, logical, caring people, but there is definite order within our household.  I’ve used this analogy before, but I believe it is so accurate.  A Fortune 500 company doesn’t have two CEO’s or two Presidents, they have one.  One person that is in charge and has the final say.  It doesn’t mean that the rest of the employees or board members aren’t heard or aren’t important, but there is one person that makes the final decision about things.  That is what makes these companies run smoothly and successfully.  The same works for a family.  Think of your husband as the CEO or President, you can be the VP.  You are still very important with a role that is essential to the company being successful and running smoothly.  The company couldn’t run with just the President, he needs the VP there too.

By being able to step down and let your husband take the role that comes naturally to him, you are truly doing your family a favor.  You are benefiting everyone, including yourself.  A wife and mother have endless responsibilities as it is tending to the house and children, let your husband be in charge and make the tough decisions for you… let him alleviate some of that stress for you!  Not only does it benefit you, but it benefits him.  Taking this role is what is natural to him, and you will see him become more loving and comfortable in his role, you will see him succeed because this is what he was born to do.  Your children will benefit because they see a strong leader and a loving relationship between their parents, and it will really influence them in a positive way by setting good standards and morals.  The family was meant to function a certain way, and doing so will make it successful.  So why have we strayed so far from a method that works?

In my opinion, it’s about personal wants and needs.  To say it bluntly, selfishness.  A mother, instead of spending time with her young child and raising them herself, brings them to a nanny or daycare so she can take on a career in an office setting.  Who is this benefiting?  Definitely not the child(ren).  The child(ren) wants to be with their mother.  But the mother chooses a career instead of motherhood.  This is most definitely not living selflessly.  And many times mothers that are working are not able to take on the wifely role at home either.  This is not good for a marriage as the husband is now forced to take on many “wifely duties” in order to help out.  It is unnatural, and will likely cause strain within a marriage.  The wife is upset because she feels the husband should help out more, and the husband is upset because he feels the wife needs to be responsible for her duties as a wife.

Did you know only 29% of women choose to be stay at home mothers?  I understand of course that some women don’t have a choice, they may be single mothers or the family cannot afford for her to not work.  That is a different situation.  But when a woman has the choice, why would she choose to spend time in an office instead of with her children?  This is something I will never truly understand.

So I urge you all, take a step back and look at your family dynamics.  Are you allowing your husband and yourself to take on your natural roles?  If not, make a change, it’s never too late.  You will see such improvement and happiness in your lives!

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The Rum Howler Blog

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Jose Cuervo Especial Plata (Silver)

Review: Jose Cuervo Especial Plata (Silver)  82.5/100
a review by Chip Dykstra (Aka Arctiuc Wolf)
Published November 04, 2012
(Revisited and Re-scored May 2015)

According to the Jose Cuervo website, it all began in 1795, when Jose María Guadalupe de Cuervo was producing his Mexcal wine spirit commercially having obtained an official permit for this purpose from the King of Spain. By 1812, he had established La Rojena, the distillery which to this day produces Jose Cuervo Tequila. By 1844, Jose Cuervo Tequila was being distributed within Mexico, and in 1873 the earliest known documented export of the Tequila outside of Mexico apparently occurred when 3 bottles of Jose Cuervo were transported across the United States border by donkey. As you know, those exports have continued (although no longer by donkey), and now the Jose Cuervo brand is the best-selling tequila in the entire world.

The Jose Cuervo Especial is available as both a Gold or ‘joven’ tequila and as a Silver or ‘plata’ tequila. These tequila spirits are not made from 100 % blue agave which means that they are referred to in the industry as “Mixto“. A Mixto tequila must have at least 51 % of its volume made from blue agave distillate, but the other 49 % can be distilled from other non agave sugars (usually sugar cane). Mixto is also subject to less stringent regulation with respect to additives such as sugar syrup and caramel.

(In July of 2013, Proximo Spirits acquired the distribution rights for the Jose Cuervo brand in supplanting Diageo, who had managed the brand since 1997.)

In the Bottle  4/5

Jose Cuervo is the top-selling brand of Tequila in the world in part because of its attractive price. Its packaging reflects this economy with a no-frills approach. The medium tall, square bottle is apparently designed to allow the company to ship bottles more efficiently by packing a greater volume of tequila into the rectangular shipping case. As well as being economic, the bottle is also functional. It is designed to fit easily on the bartender’s shelf, and to be easy to hold, and to be easy for that aforementioned bartender to pour making the brand very accessible to the bar trade. The pressed on metallic cap also suits the purpose of economy being very cheap to produce, and since these caps are also very easy to open, again the bartenders who want to pour drinks fast and furiously are kept happy.

Personally I dislike pressed on metallic caps, they are flimsy, they warp easily and they often lose their ability to seal a spirit as the threads have a tendency to strip. Nothing says ‘bottom shelf spirit’ louder than a pressed on metallic cap. As well, on my bar shelf, this particular bottle blends into the background of the other spirits easily, making it less attractive to present to my friends when I want to grab a tequila to mix some cocktails.

(I suspect, that for most people, price and functionality are more important than aesthetic; however, I am quite happy that I am not most people.)

In the Glass  8/10

The Jose Cuervo Especial Plata, being a blanco spirit, is of course clear in my glass and shows no trace of colour. The initial nose from the glass carries a mixture of light honey, mild white pepper and a somewhat muted herbaceous agave (the smell of which resembles boiled squash). As I let the glass sit, the light honey tones begin to remind me of sugar cane syrup, and the breezes above the glass reveal a light impression of lemon zest within the white pepper.

The overall aroma is light and unassertive. The earthy agave never deepens, and the white pepper never becomes aggressive, which is I suspect, exactly what the producers were aiming for.

In the Mouth 50/60

The entry into the mouth is smooth and unobtrusive with an obvious sweetness which again reminds me of cane syrup. The fruity agave is not aggressive; and there is only a mild white pepper spice heating the palate. Some lemon and lime accents are present; but the overall effect of the fruit and spice is rather mild compared to other tequila brands I have tasted. Of course, this is not meant to be a connoisseur’s Tequila. It is meant for the mass market, constructed to have a wide appeal, and to be easy to drink.

In this regard, the spirit succeeds, as it is so easy-going that I can throw ounce down my throat without any discomfort. I can also slide a large dollop into my Margarita cocktail on a lazy Sunday afternoon, and barely feel its bite. In fact, in my recent 2015 Rum Howler Margarita Challenge, the Jose Cuervo Especial Plata outperformed many much more expensive blanco 100% agave tequila. Two of my four judges ranked this spirit well into the top five. The laid back approach of the Jose Cuervo Plata ensures its success as a mixing spirit.

In the Throat  12.5/15

The exit is sweet, with only hints of earthy agave leaving a diminishing glow of white pepper on my tonsils. Complexity is not this spirit’s strong suit, but smoothness is. The impression of cane lingers.

The Afterburn 8/10

The Jose Cuervo Especial Plata lacks the “in your face” earthy herbaceousness and the spicy heat of a typical Blanco Tequila. It is instead, smooth and easy to drink; and carries a cane-like sweetness forward which will appeal to many people. Although the spirit lacks the character of a true 100 % Agave tequila; it does very well as a cocktail spirit. Its smooth non-demanding style also makes it a good choice for ritual of the Tequila-shot.

You may read some of my other Tequila Reviews (click the link) if you wish to have some comparative reviews.

Suggested Recipes

Cuervo Margarita

Cuervo Margarita

Alfred Cointreau Margarita

2 oz Blanco Tequila
7/8 oz Cointreau
1/8 oz sugar syrup (1:1)
1 oz Fresh Lime Juice
Lime wheel

Combine all ingredients in a large metal shaker and add ice
Shake until the sides of the shaker frost
Shake and strain into a chilled martini glass
Garnish with salt and a lime wheel.

Please enjoy this indulgence responsibly!

With the ever-increasing price of limes due to recent shortages in production, I find myself mixing with lemons more and more these days. Here is another great recipe (based upon the Picador) which uses Lemon juice instead of Lime juice in the Margarita style. I usually add a drop of food colouring to achieve the brilliant yellow colour in the final cocktail. (Interestingly the Picador predates the Margarita by a couple of decades.)

The Dreadful Lemon Sky

2 Oz Jose Cuervo Especial Plata
1 Oz Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice
1/2 Oz Sugar Syrup
3/8 Oz Triple Sec
crushed Ice
ice cubes

Lemon Slice

Place a lemon slice in a cocktail glass
Place the first four ingredients in a metal shaker with equal parts of crushed ice and ice cubes
Shake vigorously until the sides of the shaker frost
Strain over the Lemon slice in the cocktail glass

This cocktail is part my ongoing series of Tequila cocktails named after the Travis McGee novels of American author John D. MacDonald. I have always like the Travis McGee novels, and the titles of these novels just seem to me to be particularly well suited to be also the names of great Tequila cocktails.

Note: If  you are interested in more of my original cocktail recipes, please click this link (Cocktails and Recipes) for more of my mixed drink recipes!

You may (loosely) interpret the scores as follows.

0-25     A spirit with a rating this low would actually kill you.
26-49   Depending upon your fortitude you might actually survive this.
50 -59  You are safe to drink this…but you shouldn’t.
60-69   Substandard swill which you may offer to people you do not want to see again.
70-74    Now we have a fair mixing Tequila.  Accept this but make sure it is mixed into a cocktail.
75-79    You may begin to serve this to friends, (we are probably still cocktail in territory).
80-84    We begin to enjoy this spirit neat or on the rocks. (I will still primarily mix cocktails)
85-89    Excellent for sipping or for mixing delicious cocktails!
90-94    Definitely a primary sipping spirit, in fact you may want to hoard this for yourself.
95-97.5 The Cream of the Crop
98+       I haven’t met this bottle yet…but I want to.

Very loosely we may put my scores into terms that you may be familiar with on a Gold, Silver, and  Bronze medal  scale as follows:

70 – 79.5    Bronze Medal (Recommended only as a mixer)
80 – 89.5     Silver Medal (Recommended for sipping and or a high quality mixer)
90 – 95         Gold Medal (Highly recommended for sipping and for sublime cocktails.)
95.5+            Platinum Award (Highest Recommendation)

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November 30, 2014

One More Ride: The Hoffman's Playland Story

For 62 years, it's where we brought our children to play and celebrate birthdays for generations. While the 2014 season was its final one, take 'one more ride' to celebrate the history, nostalgia, and memories of Hoffman's Playland. Stories will come to life through original videography, home movies, behind-the-scenes video, and emotional interviews.
Watch the preview...

Missing Ohio State football player found dead

By Dana Ford, CNN
updated 6:12 PM EST, Sun November 30, 2014
(CNN) -- A missing Ohio State University football player has been found dead, authorities said Sunday. Kosta Karageorge, a fifth-year senior, had missed practice Wednesday and hadn't been seen since. Sgt. Richard Weiner, with Columbus police, said that Karageorge died from what appears to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
His body was found inside a Dumpster and identified at the scene through tattoos, Weiner said. A handgun was also recovered at the scene.

QIII launches tablet pilot program

Questar III student Virgil Wellington is using an iPad to complete
an assignment at Sackett Educational Center.
More and more you’ll see it. Doctors, mechanics, pilots and others are switching from the old pad and paper to a more sophisticated tool: the tablet computer. Not only is the tablet computer useful for software and applications specific to those professions, it is proving to be useful in an academic environment as well.
This year Questar III BOCES, along with Schodack CSD, Coxsackie-Athens CSD and Open Room, a division of Classbook, a Schodack-based company that provides advisory services nationwide to help K-12 schools in building lasting digital ecosystems, has implemented a tablet pilot program with select student populations to test this theory in a classroom setting. Teachers are already reporting increased student engagement and organization, and students are excited to come to school.

November 29, 2014

Tanker roll-over closes Thruway eastbound near Schodack

Detours expected until mid-afternoon

Updated 12:09 pm, Saturday, November 29, 2014

A tanker truck roll-over has shut down part of the eastbound New York Thruway Saturday morning near the B-1 exit on I-90, according to New York State Police.
The truck, which rolled over shortly before 9 a.m., has shut down both eastbound lanes of the I-90 New York Thruway Berkshire Connector from exit 21A on I-87 to Exit B2, according to Thruway Spokesman Dan Weiller. The section is expected to remain closed until mid-afternoon.

November 21, 2014

Body found by Hudson River is missing Saint Rose student

Updated: 11/20/2014 5:21 PM Created: 11/20/2014 3:01 PM By: WNYT Staff
The official cause of death is blunt force trauma to the legs pelvis and left arm.  The autopsy also shows that Connor [Trapatsos died the same day he went missing from the College of Saint Rose on Oct. 15.

Schodack Schools, moving forward!

The Capital Project was approved today by a vote of 291 to 153. “We would like to thank everyone in our community who came out to vote,” said Superintendent Bob Horan. “This project will help us prepare out students even better for college and careers by providing modern classrooms that encourage collaboration while making us more efficient so we can put more money into programs instead of buildings.”

November 17, 2014

Schodak's Capital Project Focused on Improving Academics

On Thursday, Nov. 20 from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., the Schodack CSD community will vote on a Capital Project that would renovate Maple Hill High School to provide a separate learning community for Gr. 7-8 and more modern, flexible classrooms for Gr. 7-12.

November 16, 2014

Small Business Saturday!

VALATIE NY, November, 29, 2014 – Today the Village of Valatie announced its participation in the fifth annual Small Business Saturday on November 29th.

Falling between Black Friday and Cyber MondaySmall BusinessSaturday celebrates our independent local businesses, who enrich our unique culture, and are essential to the preservation of our local economy.

November 12, 2014

Holy Shit We Landed a Spacecraft on a Comet

Humankind made history this morning when the Rosetta mission made the first-ever landing on a comet.

Big Bang Theory's Mrs Wolowitz dies at the age of 62

The actress best known for playing the unseen role of Howard Wolowitz's mother on The Big Bang Theory has died.  Carol Ann Susi died in Los Angeles on Tuesday from cancer at the age of 62.  Stars of the show have paid tribute to Susi, calling her a "beloved" member of the cast.

November 11, 2014

Saratoga sergeant suspended after video surfaces

Updated: 11/09/2014 11:50 AM Created: 11/08/2014 2:43 PM By: Dan Bazile

HALFMOON - A Saratoga County sheriff's sergeant has been suspended without pay. It comes after a video posted on the internet appears to show him slapping a man.


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How One Author’s Bankruptcy Changed the History of the English Novel Forever

In the teens of the 19th century, Walter Scott was enjoying a wave of financial success as a novel-writer that was perhaps unprecedented in the history of literature.  His series of historical novels, published under the pseudonym “The Author of Waverley”, were selling in huge numbers, and his fans were legion, including – among others – the Prince Regent.  His poetry wasn’t doing too badly either, although he would later claim that despite the extraordinary success of such epic poems as Rokeby (which sold 10,000 copies in three months), he was forced out of the market by Lord Byron’s even bigger successes in verse.

the revival of english poetry - lord byron
My versifying brings all the pre-Raphaelites to the yard

But Scott’s novels, at least, were flying out the door as fast as booksellers could get them in:  Waverley (1814), Guy Mannering (1815), The Antiquary (1816), and Rob Roy (1818) were all runaway successes, selling out ever larger print runs in a matter of days upon their publication, and continuing to sell well into the early 1820s*.

Despite this success, or perhaps in part because of it, Walter Scott was heading for a truly enormous crash.

He was a partner in the publishing firm of Scott & Ballantyne; partnership law (unlike limited liability, a later standard) put all business and personal assets at risk… In 1826, a bad year for the economy, Scott and Ballantyne went bankrupt, leaving Scott himself personally or (in his opinion) morally liable for (at least) £126,000.

A hundred and twenty thousand pounds was a stupendous sum of money at the time.  To put this in perspective, just over a decade previously, another individual who was also working for the publishing machine – Jane Austen – had received less than one thousandth of this amount, £110, for the manuscript of Pride and Prejudice, and felt “very rich” at having done so.  Scott was in deep water indeed.

Unlike many a bankrupt businessman of his own (or indeed, our) time period, Scott felt obliged to repay the sum in question.  Even more unusually, he actually had the wherewithal to do so, and although it took him the rest of his life, he did eventually succeed in liquidating this massive debt.  Income from his subsequent novels was applied towards the hundred thousand pounds, but the biggest contribution came from a new kind of publishing project which was developed by Scott and Richard Cadell, another survivor of bankruptcy brought on by the crash: the 1829 Cadell or “Magnum Opus” collected edition of the Waverley novels.  This collection included new material (introductions, notes and illustrations) and a corrected text, and was published in small, attractive, and (comparatively) cheap volumes, one per month, starting in 1829.

The bibliographical scholar Richard D. Altick reports that over the next few years, at least 40,000 copies of Guy Mannering and Rob Roy were sold in this edition.  The Magnum Opus collection was so popular and so common that examples of these editions are still widely available almost two centuries after their first publication.  Here’s an Ebay listing for a complete set, which is a steal at just under £200 sterling!

contents of the waverley novels - ebay
I really feel like someone should buy this

In 1833, the year after Scott’s death, his creditors were finally paid off. Later commentators would criticise Scott for flooding the market with his already-popular works; in 1839 Thomas Carlyle would write (perhaps unfairly) that

…. in this nineteenth century, our highest literary man, who immeasurably beyond all others commanded the world’s ear, had, as it were, no message whatever to deliver to the world … except simply pay him for the books he kept writing.

Yet his relentless writing and publishing had undeniably had results.  A line may have been drawn under Scott’s debt, but his new phenomenon in publishing was about to take on a life of its own.

Another publishing house, Colburn and Bentley, had noted the Victorian public’s appetite for inexpensive volume collections, and decided to release their own authoritative collection of previously-published works.  The publication of Bentley’s Standard Novels began in 1831, reissuing many titles (mostly from the previous generation) that are now considered classics, by authors such as James Fenimore Cooper (whose works were a bit of a show piece for the set), Jane Austen, Frederick Marryat, William Godwin, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, and Theodore Hook, among others.

While this series again served to make works of fiction more affordable for the public, and provided an alternative to the circulating libraries for at least some readers, scholar Richard Maxwell has argued that in the long term, the Standard Novels may, counterintuitively, have suppressed the circulation of many of the novels it featured – particularly works from Scott’s contemporaries, writing in the Romantic period.

…St Clair notes that whereas the price of the Waverley novels kept dropping in the decades after 1830, Bentley seems to have been much more reluctant to broaden his audience still further by narrowing profit margins on individual volumes.  The result was that, if Scott’s fiction had dominated the market during his lifetime, it dominated it even more after his death.  Bentley sat on the rights he had bought (and which he kept, in many cases, for a generation)…

Frankenstein is one novel that may have been a (temporary) casualty of this circumstance.  Although Mary Shelley had welcomed the opportunity to bring her book to a wider audience through the Standard Novels series, the terms of copyright meant that it would not be published again in England until the 1860s.

 …[M]eanwhile, the Waverley novels circulated through the anglophone world in every imaginable form (as though the tormented ghost of their author were still doing everything it could to pay off debts).

the dairy of the farm - complete edition of scott
Here’s one example: an edition of Scott’s works in 5-inch tall volumes, being advertised in the back pages of an 1885 American manual on dairy farrming.

The ubiquity of Walter Scott’s works, compared to others from the period, can be summed up by the fact that a single work from the Bentley collection – the 1833 edition of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility – is on sale on, at the time of writing this blog post, for more than $500.  That’s almost twice the cost of the entire Magnum Opus edition of Scott!

The results of this, for both Scott’s legacy and that of Romantic-era fiction in general, have been dramatic.  As Maxwell states, “It is a slight overstatement to say that prose fiction in the Romantic period became the novels of Walter Scott.  But there were noticeable tendencies in that direction.”  Meanwhile, many popular authors whose works were published  in Bentley’s Standard Novels – including Captain Marryat, who was represented by 11 novels – have never entirely recovered their popularity.

The moral of the story?  Well, not all novels – even those we consider some of the world’s greatest classics – are created equal.  Historical contingencies, and circumstances in the publishing industry, play a major role in a novel’s path through history.  While the Waverley novels absolutely deserve their reputation as both groundbreaking and fun to read, it’s worth remembering that their continued fame has a lot to do with the ebbs and flows of the 19th century economy… as well as the personal circumstances of their author, and his bank account.

In other news: many happy returns to Sir Walter Scott, on his 245th birthday!

walter scott with party hat copy

*Waverley sold 1000 copies in 5 weeks, but subsequent works went much faster. Guy Mannering sold its entire print run of 2000 on its first day, while The Antiquary – which brought in the very respectable sum of about £1682 from the first edition – sold 6000 copies in six days, and Rob Roy sold 10,000 copies in two weeks.
All of these figures are cited in Altick’s articles (below).

Relevant works:

This post owes a lot to Richard Maxwell’s excellent article from The Cambridge Companion to Fiction in the Romantic Period, 2008.  The entry on Walter Scott in the Dictionary of National Bibliography, by David Hewitt, was also extremely helpful.

Here is a great blog post on Richard Bentley and his Standard Novels.

Richard D. Altick (lots of Richards in this post!) and his meticulously gathered data on sales of 19th fiction were again extremely helpful.  (I’ve written more on this topic here.)  Here are the specific sources:
Altick, Richard D., ‘Nineteenth-Century English Bestsellers: A Further List’, Studies in Bibliography, 22 (1969), 197–205
———, ‘Nineteenth-Century English Bestsellers: A Third List’, Studies in Bibliography, 39 (1986), 235–41
———, The English Common Reader: A Social History of the Mass Reading Public, 1800-1900 (Chicago, Illinois, USA: University Of Chicago Press, 1957)

Robert Hume’s fascinating article provided the quote about Jane Austen’s finances:

Hume, Robert D., ‘Money in Jane Austen’, Review of English Studies, 64 (2013), 289
Finally, Thomas Carlyle’s rather surly quote on Walter Scott’s heroic efforts to pay off his debts comes from his Critical and Miscellaneous Essays, London: Chapman and Hall, 1869.

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We Have Sound.

Photo: Me

My two favourite times of year to be in Sydney are January – fun weather, fun parties, fun festivals – and now, during Vivid.

I’m going to try to grab you some photos, but a major part of Vivid is the beautiful lightshows cast onto building fronts, the Sydney Opera House included.

Last night though, we ran past the lit up facades and tripped our way on the cobblestones to see this guy. Tom Vek.

A little Vivid warning: if someone offers you a ghetto martini, proceed with caution. Great caution.

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A Caltech Library Service

Robustness, complexity, validation and risk

Liu, Xin (2007) Robustness, complexity, validation and risk. Dissertation (Ph.D.), California Institute of Technology.

A robust design process starts with modeling of the physical system and the uncertainty it faces. Robust design tools are then applied to achieve specified performance criteria. Verification of system properties is crucial as improvements on the modeling and design practices can be made based on results of such verification. In this thesis, we discuss three aspects of this closed-loop process.

First and the most important aspect is the possibility of the feedback from verification to system modeling and design. When verification is hard, what does it tell us about our system? When the system is robust, would it be easy to verify so? We study the relation between robustness of a system property posed as a decision problem and the proof complexity of verifying such property. We examine this relation in two classes of problems: percolation lattices and linear programming problems, and show complexity is upper-bounded by the reciprocal of robustness, i.e. fragility.

The second aspect we study is model validation. More precisely, when given a candidate model and experiment data, how do we rigorously refute the model or gain information about the consistent parameter set? Different methods for model invalidation and parameter inference are demonstrated with the G-protein signaling system in yeast to show the advantages and hurdles in their applications.

While quantification of robustness requirements has been well-studied in engineering, it is just emerging in the field of finance. Robustness specification in finance is closely related to the availability of proper risk measures. We study the estimation of a coherent risk measure, Expected Shortfall (ES). A consistent and asymptotically normal estimator for ES based on empirical likelihood is proposed. Although empirical likelihood based estimators usually involve numerically solving optimization problems that are not necessarily convex, computation of our estimator can be carried out in a sequential manner, avoiding solving non-convex optimization problems.

Item Type:Thesis (Dissertation (Ph.D.))
Subject Keywords:Expected Shortfall; maximum empirical likelihood estimation; model validation; percolation lattice; proof complexity; risk assessment; robust parameter inference; robustness
Degree Grantor:California Institute of Technology
Division:Engineering and Applied Science
Major Option:Control and Dynamical Systems
Thesis Availability:Public (worldwide access)
Research Advisor(s):
  • Doyle, John Comstock
Thesis Committee:
  • Doyle, John Comstock (chair)
  • Chandy, K. Mani
  • Murray, Richard M.
  • Yi, Tau-Mu
Defense Date:15 February 2007
Record Number:CaltechETD:etd-05272007-214755
Persistent URL:
Default Usage Policy:No commercial reproduction, distribution, display or performance rights in this work are provided.
ID Code:2166
Deposited By: Imported from ETD-db
Deposited On:30 May 2007
Last Modified:26 Dec 2012 02:47

Thesis Files

PDF (XinThesis.pdf) - Final Version
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Art Buzzzzz….what’s happening now

6/9/10: Working on the new site. Yes!

8/14/09: Built on Respect is now a cause on the social networking site, SocialVibe. This site helps different causes raise money through social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace.  Get the scoop at SocialVibe.

The SOLO Foundation has acquired a thangka from master artist, Tashi Dhargya and will be donating it to the Tibet House for their auction with Christie’s in November. Read more details at Shambhalasun.

10/31/09: Heidiminx continues to find artists in Dharamsala, India.  Read her two-part interview with Tamding, a young artist from Amdo creating unique art for a cause.


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Roku 2 XS Streaming Player 1080

The flagship Roku 2 XS delivers 1080p HD streaming to your TV, plus fun casual games for an extra dose of great entertainment. Enjoy more than 300 channels featuring the best movies, TV shows, live sports, music, games, and more, including Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant Video, Crackle, Pandora, and much more. It also includes built-in wireless, a full version of Angry Birds and works with virtually any TV. This is an Amazon’s product review. Checkout more details bellow.

Technical Details

  • 300+ channels with movies, TV shows, music, sports & more
  • High-definition streaming up to 1080p HD
  • Works with virtually any TV
  • Enhanced remote with motion control for playing games
  • Built-in wireless (Wi-Fi b/g/n) and wired Internet connectivity

Features and Benefits of Roku 2

A Large and Growing Entertainment Base

Roku 2 delivers more than just movies and TV shows from the biggest names in instant entertainment. You also get access to over 300 channels and counting: from the latest news to your favorite music to the craziest cat videos from around the world. Plus, new channels are added all the time, so you’ll always find something new to watch, hear and enjoy.

Live Sports Channels

Any time you want it. Roku streams the action as soon as you say go with a large selection of live sports packages, including NHL, NBA, UFC, MLB and MLS.

Streaming Music Stations

With Roku 2, you can play any music, any time. Let unlimited music from Pandora or MOG take you in new directions or to the exact tune you’re looking for. From Sirius XM to your iTunes library, Roku can stream whatever music genre you are searching for.

Access Casual Games

With the enhanced remote the new Roku 2 XS offers a built-in accelerometer and gyro so you can play games with just a flick of your wrist. Every Roku 2 XS that ships includes a free full version of the Angry Birds game.

A Small Surface-Footprint

Barely larger than a coaster, Roku 2 slips neatly alongside any TV or entertainment center, and uses less power than a nightlight. That’s over 80 times less than your average game console.

A Simple, Easy, and Inexpensive Internet TV Alternative

From its simple remote to its easy-to-use interface, Roku 2 was designed connect you to internet television options without the investment in an internet-ready TV. All you need to get started is a high-speed Internet connection, and a TV. The built-in wireless and guided setup mean you can be up and running in minutes.

3 Easy steps

Included with the Roku XS Streaming Player
  • Enhanced remote with motion control for games
  • Angry Birds game
  • Two AA batteries
  • HDMI video output (for high-definition)
  • Composite A/V combo output (for standard-definition; works with included A/V cable)
  • Wireless (Wi-Fi b/g/n)
  • Ethernet port
  • USB port or playing videos, music, and photos**
  • A/V cable (red/white/yellow)
  • Power adapter
  • Get Started guide
  • 90-day manufacturer warranty

What you need

  • A TV
  • High-speed Internet connection with a speed of at least 1.2 Mbps (such as mid-level DSL). For HD video, 5 Mbps is recommended (if you’re not sure what your speed is, go to and run the simple test)

Hands-down the best experience in 1080p HD streaming to your TV-plus motion-based gaming for an extra dose of great entertainment. Enjoy 300+ channels featuring the best movies, TV shows, live sports, music, games, and more, including Netflix, Hulu Plus, and Amazon Instant Video.

That’s all about Roku 2 XS. This 1080p HD streaming Player is available in You can directly order or Buy from here.
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Fall Sunday Stats #7: I Am Such a Wuss.

Today, izzums wuzzums me has a wittle cold, so I decided to be a complete baby and not run at all.  I had a difficult week, between travel and office work, so I was looking forward to my long run today.  Instead, I started to come down with a cold yesterday afternoon, and this morning I woke up with a full blown … stuffy nose, and a little scratchiness right at the back of my mouth, above my throat, if you know what I mean.  Ordinarily, I would ignore a little head cold and go for my run anyway — I read once that if your symptoms are all above the neck, you can run — but we’ve got plans for Thanksgiving, and I would prefer not to be miserably sick for the holiday, so I wimped out of my ten-mile run outside.  I could have had a run on my treadmill, but wasn’t in the mood, which probably says more about how I’m feeling than anything.  I’m a wimp.

What did I do all morning instead?  Let’s go to the stats.

How’s the running going? Ha.  Very funny.

What was playing on the iPod? Nothing this morning, and not much this week, since I didn’t run.  I did listen to EscapePod #181 (“Resistance”) and #183 (“Beans and Marbles”) and Adventures in SciFi Publishing #68 (Sally Malcolm).  The two EscapePod stories were very good; as a wannabe writer, I particularly liked “Beans and Marbles,” which is an excellent example of the unreliable narrator point of view.

What about the writing? I’m so glad you asked.  I started a new short story — I’ll call it “Jimmies,” for now — on the train Monday morning and this afternoon, after an 2,000-word binge, I finished it, at 5,678 words.  In some ways, I think this may be the best story I’ve ever written.  I haven’t re-read it, so I don’t know if it’s the best writing I’ve ever done, which is a completely different question.  It feels right, though.  We’ll see how the revisions go.

It’s been a pretty good week for my fledging avocation as a writer:  one acceptance, one rejection (and that story turned around and sent back out), and the first draft of “Jimmies” started and finished, with time left to revise it and “Babel” (the story I finished last week) before my self-imposed December 1 deadline to start the revisions on Meet the Larssons.

My plans for blogging didn’t work out too well.  I’ll try to get the post about the puppy, at least, up before the holiday.

Finally, I want to wish all of you Wrimos out there good luck with the final week of NaNoWriMo.  Keep those word counts up!

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Miss Bliss Pantry

Anyone partial to the hearty and healthy fare at West End’s Miss Bliss Whole Foods Kitchen would do well to pencil in a brunch date at James Street to check out the cafe’s smaller sibling. Miss Bliss owner Jacqui Toumbas has decided to bring a dose of nourishing fare to the inner-north with Miss Bliss Pantry. Nestled snugly on James Street in a cute shipping container space at The Box on James, Miss Bliss Pantry offers healthy grab-and-go options for local movers and shakers seeking an easy pit stop. Anyone familiar with Miss Bliss knows that healthy wholefoods are a specialty, with an impressive range of vegan and gluten and dairy-free bites available daily. Breakfast pots, pastries, wraps (for herbivores and carnivores), gluten-free banana bread, soups, and poke bowls are on offer – made fresh at the Miss Bliss kitchen every morning. Miss Bliss Pantry pour Veneziano coffes’s Bond Street blend and also serves turmeric lattes, bottled juices and teas.

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3 Jun

So, we’ve been doing some recording in the past few months, and hope to continue with that trend.  We decided to give you guys a little sneak peek at one of the tracks we were working on: Shoeshine.  It’s a track that was written last late fall/early winter, which is surprising considering its nice summer chug.  It’s a quick song, clocking in at under 2 1/2 minutes, a trend that is following our recently written material.  We seem to be focusing on tightly constructed songs that focus on a particular rhythm and don’t meander too far so as to leave the listener in the dust, checking some other song out before finishing the task at hand.  Kind of reminds me of Twain’s quote: Sorry for the long letter, I didn’t have time to write you a short one.

Anyways, the point I’m trying to make, is that we’re working on some new recorded material.  Planning on releasing a second EP after HiveSongs.

Reminder: we play June 15th at the Brillobox – hope to see you there.

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Posts Tagged With: justice

Outrage to action

I have been astonished by the reaction to my last couple of blogs: Legal Alien described how my son, Alfie had been prevented from having a part in his Y6 leaving assembly, and about how the secondary school he was meant to be going to had a habit of lining non-mobile pupils up in neat rows at playtime, with no interaction. Recollections was about how Alfie came home from his last day at primary school with a virtually empty leavers book. No memories, no future.

I feel these 2 blogs have really touched a nerve, and I think one of the reasons so many have commented and shared is that it’s something everyone can relate to; not just parents of kids with SEND. Teachers, parents and grandparents of kids without SEND, those who don’t have kids have been equally outraged about a disabled boy who has been ignored. About disabled kids who can’t speak or move, who have been left at playtime doing nothing. It’s easy to picture, and those who have an ounce of kindness would struggle not to feel sad doing so.

The thing is though, if I’d blogged about how I’d been stitched up at tribunal by an Educational Psychologist and a Physiotherapist, or how the LA didn’t follow directions from the judge, or how the LA have just removed the amount of 1:1 my son needs at school from his EHCP, not many people would be interested. Less would be outraged. Not because they don’t care, but because not many people know how the SEND system works, what the jargon means or that there is a ‘system’ in which parents have to jump through hoops to even enter sometimes. Through no fault of their own, they think children and young people with SEND go to a school of their parents’ choice, get the support they need, and it’s that simple. But it’s not!

What I hate about the SEND Minefield by Debs Asplands beautifully describes the issues parents of children with SEND face, and if you add these stresses on to the feelings parents have when their child is completely ignored at the end of their primary school years, the reality is pretty grim.

Local Authorities and schools have a legal duty to make sure what a child needs in order to learn and grow into a valued member of society is provided, but too often this doesn’t happen and some of the reasons are too complicated to explain. They are often too complicated for parents to challenge, and when a cash strapped LA pays for very expensive solicitors and barristers to make sure a parent has no chance of successfully challenging the injustice, the child suffers. The family suffers. Parents break up, brothers and sisters feel neglected, debts pile up to pay for legal help, mental health is affected, and the list goes on.  (Katherine Runswick-Cole talks here about the horrendous experiences parents have faced at tribunals.)

I’m currently in a position where I can access legal help to challenge injustice for Alfie’s education. I’ve not always been able to, and the last 2 tribunals broke us as a family. It’s so unfair that local authorities use tax payers money to fund (often disreputable solicitors and barristers just to ‘win’ against parents, with no regard for the child at the centre, and I believe LAs should also fund (using the same tax payers money) solicitors or barristers instructed by parents, to represent parents, to level the playing field.

I know this idea sounds unrealistic, and it is, because tribunals shouldn’t be like criminal courts, where barristers and judges talk about cross examination and examination in chief. [And a lot of the time, none of the tribunal panel or legal representatives will have even met the child being dissected!] There shouldn’t be solicitors and barristers in the tribunal room, but LAs will fight to the end and often the 11th hour just to deny the child his or her right to an education that will create opportunities for them to reach their potential. Not even exceed it. Just to not be forgotten and ignored.

I think everyone should be asking local authorities why they shell out so much on solicitors and barristers instead of investing the money in education, and if my petition reaches 10,000 signatures before December, the government will hopefully respond to my idea of making LAs fund the parents’ legal fees as well. Let’s face it, no one is going to agree to making LAs spend even more money they allegedly don’t have, but what the petition could do, is make people talk about the failings our children with SEND are having to deal with and hopefully do something about it instead of constantly sticking their heads in the sand, and waiting for things to bed in.

Please sign, and ask others to sign as well. You don’t have to be a parent of a child with SEND. Anyone with an ounce of kindness can sign.

Make Local Authorities fund legal representation for kids with special educational needs and disabilities to get a decent education.

Thank you.

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Tag Archives: Catskills

Fleishmann and Pine Bush

Bartender’s Skills with a Manhatten returns with more lovely wrecks from the US. BSWAM says, “Today we’ll be visiting the neighboring communities of Fleischmann and Pine Bush, old resort towns in the high county of the Catskills, which border the … Continue reading

Posted in *Worst of The World, worst house, worst of perth | Tagged , , , , , | 7 Comments


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#Freedom of Expression, #Privacy, Cybercrime, #IntellectualProperty Right — Site Title @thewritealice

What is freedom of speech and expression? Freedom of speech is the right to communicate one’s opinions and ideas without fear of government retaliation or censorship. The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used. Is the freedom […]

via Freedom of Expression, Privacy, Cybercrime, Intellectual Property Right — Site Title

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Consummatus - Ablivatus Scriba - Ablivatus Maximum Sacerdos A few of titles I've manifested into being out of the Power(s) of Imagination, Higher Laws of Consciousness, and Knowledge - The Power of 3 as one "Infinity". No, I'm not stuck up but I am stuck on finding whole truths for others that make life simple, happy, and joyous. My work is featured all over the world and no doubt you've seen the results of reading my power blogs! There are more to be found at www.thewritealice.com. Have fun reading and by all means make yourself *at home* at using the information to improve your #selflove #selfjourneys. Sending you Love, Light, and All the peace heart can hold - thewritealice www.thewritealice.com

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Archive for April 23, 2008

When plates fly

I’d like to debunk a couple of myths circulating out there in Mommyland. Myth Number One: if you raise kids on so-called grown-up foods, they won’t complain. They’ll always eat what you put in front of them. They’ll dig in with gusto.

Myth Number Two: If you let kids cook with you, if they’re involved in making what they’re going to be served, they will eat it gladly.

Yeah, right, I huff, I, the mother of Quinn, who has perfected the sport of pushing plates of unwanted dinners across the table. She’s working on besting her own record, the speed with which her plate reaches the other end of the table and goes crashing to the floor, untouched food and all. There we have it: in-my-face evidence that the myths are just that.

Take any given night, and you’ll find me bemused, at best, trying to shake it off, to refuse to be offended by my five-year-old. The other day, in fact, she was five-for-five, five nights in a row of absolutely refusing to try even a bite of the dinner I’d made for her, dinners that she contributed to making.

I believe she may have grasped her fork at one point, but I’m fairly positive its willing prongs never came within stabbing proximity of any of the dishes presented this past week, including soba noodles with carrots, chicken with couscous and corn, and tonight’s offering of lentils with more carrots, mint and goat cheese. Not exactly chicken nuggets posing suspiciously as T-Rexes, but then my kid’s never so much as gazed upon such an undesirable feat of processed protein (do they even make those anymore?).

It’s not that she’s been starving herself. If bread is part of the meal, she will reach hungrily for a portion. And she did in fact eat a slice of ham off her panino from two nights ago, a panino she insisted on making herself and to her exacting specifications, which meant dismissing its turn in the panini press. Which rendered it more plain ham and cheese on a par-baked roll. But perhaps she meant the bread and the cheddar to act as aromatics, imparting a few moist crumbs and a bit of salty agey-ness to the ham slice in the few moments the three were joined together before she whisked the floppy piece of meat from its nesting place. What remained was a cold, dry and rejected sandwich alone on her plastic flower-shaped plate.

At any rate, I’m contemplating tonight’s pasta plan, and wondering why I, of all parents, have a picky eater. They say that if you give children so-called grown-up food from the get-go, that will set their palates accordingly. I’ve duly followed that doctrine. I don’t dumb down food for my kids. So if Quinn’s been eating this way her whole life, what is behind this sudden rash of dinnertime revolts?

I suppose it’s typical of motherhood that my efforts to ply my children with flavor and variety would fall flat in certain stages. Maybe it’s a call to humility, a reproof from the Spirits of the United Motherhood. Because last month I cast a mental rolling of the eyes in the direction of a certain mom at gymnastics when I overheard her give dinner instructions to her husband regarding their toddler- and preschool-aged girls. “I don’t know what they want yet. I might call you to put something in the oven,” she said. As it was nearing 6 p.m. and her two had just exhausted themselves with an hour of somersaults and trampoline jumping, her “something in the oven” could only mean something frozen and shrink wrapped.

And I almost felt my eyebrows visibly arch in disapproval when a couple of weeks later another fellow gymnastics mom told her husband that “we have snacks, didja get my message? We’re not gonna have a full-fledged dinner but you have plenty of fro-yo and whatever else if ya feel like it.” I had planned ahead and had all the trappings of a full-fledged dinner waiting to be pieced together when we got home from gymnastics and yes, I felt smug about it.

So while I suppose Quinn is just acting her age in exerting picky-ness at her pleasure, her decidedly non-diplomatic way of pushing plates across the table has brought me back to earth a little – to an earth populated by busy kids driving their moms to look for easy meal solutions. To an earth where little ones handily refuse to eat a food for reasons that seem completely random, despite our best efforts to school their delicate taste buds from infancy.

But I’m not caving. Weary gymnastics moms and their frozen stashes, Quinn and her untouched fork and flying plates be darned. Around here, there’s no such thing as “kid food.”

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