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September 27, 2012

Should you work for free?

A joke tweet to @GapingVoid got me thinking seriously about the question: is it ever worth it to do work for free?

Of course, it’s never OK to ask someone to do free work for you. At the very least, offer a bottle of wine or have them over for dinner. (That’s what some friends of mine did when I recently did some freebie work to help them launch their new business.)
But if you don’t actually know someone (in real life) please don’t bother asking.

When someone does have the nerve to ask you, is saying yes ever worth it?

My take on it is – only if you’re getting something out of it that’s more valuable than money.

For example, I did I pro bono campaign with the Louisville AdFed years ago when I was trying to break into the business.

Here are my guidelines on when it might be worth your while to do work for free:

- Early in your career for experience and networking. [Warning: this only pays off if you actually do great work.]

- A favor for a friend. [Same warning: if it’s not great work either one or both of you will wind up feeling disappointed.]

- Pro bono for a cause or organization you care about.

- A really fun and awesome side project. [But only if it’s a chance to work with really fun and awesome people.]

- Crowdsourcing contests (Victor&Spoils and zoopa list some reasons to participate on their sites, but see below for the opinion I agree with.)

This Fast Company article, How to be a happy and successful creative freelancer, has some good insights on getting paid.
It also contains this quote from Justin Gignac on crowdsourcing platforms, “Creatives should get paid for the work they do and not be throwing work into the mix in hopes of ‘winning’ and getting paid.”

Have you ever done work for free? Why and was it worth it?

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A Southern Grace: never satisfied (and a giveaway)

April 27, 2014

never satisfied (and a giveaway)

I don't think I'll ever actually stop trying to improve every recipe I attempt, even if it already yields one of the most amazing and delicious creations I've ever consumed. It's just my nature to wonder if there's any way I can make it better.

I told you a few weeks ago about a dessert I had for my birthday that sat atop a macadamia nut crust. It was SO good and I haven't been able to get it out of my mind. I already have a killer coconut cream pie recipe, but apparently so does Teeny. For my Easter dessert, I decided to give Teeny's recipe a try with the additions of coconut extract and a crust made using macadamia nuts and toasted coconut.

First things first--the crust was wonderful. It wasn't really anything like what I had eaten on my birthday, but it was superbly tasty and complemented the coconut cream filling very nicely. Secondly, I ended up making this pie in a 9-inch springform pan, which isn't traditional, but worked out famously--the slices slid right out, I could cover the pie without fear of smushing it, and there was an added bonus of leading people to believe I had made a cheesecake instead of a pie. Fooled you!

The filling was excellent as well; in fact, it was extremely similar to the pie made using my favorite recipe. I added extract because I wanted the flavor of coconut to really come through, and it did. I garnished the pie with more toasted coconut and some chopped macadamia nuts and deemed it a delicious success. Things I will repeat include using a macadamia nut crust for all kinds of pies and eschewing a pie plate for the springform pan.

There's still time to win a copy of Teeny's cookbook--read about the giveaway here!

Coconut Cream Pie
From Teeny's Tour of Pie
Makes 1 9-inch pie
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 3 tablespoons packed cornstarch
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 4 large egg yolks
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut flakes
  • 5 ounces (approximately 1-1/4 cups) roasted macadamia nuts, ground
  • 1/2 cup panko
  • 1/4 cup toasted coconut, ground
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3 tablespoons butter, melted
First make the crust: In a medium mixing bowl, combine the ground nuts, panko, ground toasted coconut, sugar, flour, and salt. Add the melted butter and stir to combine.
Press the mixture into the bottom of a 9-inch cake, pie, or springform pan. Bake 8-10 minutes at 350 degrees F, or until lightly browned. Let cool completely.
Next make the filling: Combine the sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a medium saucepan and whisk together. Add the milk and egg yolks and whisk together until there are no lumps.
Place the saucepan over medium heat and cook, whisking constantly until the mixture comes to a low simmer and begins to thicken, about 7 minutes.
Continue cooking, whisking constantly and being sure to scrape the bottom of the pan to prevent scorching, until mixture beings to boil, about 2 minutes. Still whisking constantly, let it boil for a full minute, then immediately remove it from the heat.
Add the butter and vanilla, whisking until the butter has melted and the mixture is smooth. Add 3/4 cup of the coconut and stir with a spoon to fully incorporate.
Pour the coconut cream into the prebaked crust and, while still hot, cover with plastic wrap to prevent a film from forming on the top. Refrigerate until the cream has set, at least 4 hours.
Spread the remaining coconut on a rimmed baking sheet and toast at 350 degrees F, flipping halfway through with a spatula, until it is light brown, 7 to 10 minutes. Remove the coconut from the oven and let cool for a few minutes.
Remove the plastic wrap from the pie, top with whipped cream or cool whip, and sprinkle with toasted coconut. Serve cold.

*This post was also made possible thanks to some gift cards from Food Lion, one of North Carolina's best grocery stores. Again, no one can twist my arm to get me to write anything I don't mean.

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

A divine pie! So luscious looking.

Alicia Foodycat said...

Really interesting use of panko for the crust! I've never had coconut cream pie (it makes me think of Gilligan's Island!) but I think I would like this.

Angie Schneider said...

I would probably eat the entire crust it could make it to the pie. It looks fantastic, Grace.

Kate said...

I haven't a slice of Coconut Cream Pie in years....this sounds amazing.

scrambledhenfruit said...

I want a slice! (or two, please?) That crust sounds divine. :)

Anonymous said...

Oh my doodness I have many desserts to prepare for may, my 66th birthday, our 40th wedding anniversary and memorial day right by my birthday and wedding anniversary plus the beginning of sun and heat where we live, we only get about 2 months of actual sunshine and heat each year so when it comes it comes and we are so thankful..would love to win the Teeny's book, from momanddad00@clear.net and mary jane Sampson, love love and love some more your wonderful blog..happy week to you ciao!

~~louise~~ said...

Hi Grace!

I love the way you are always striving for the perfect...everything., Grace. I would imagine it puts a bit of stress on you more than a few times but just look at the results! The notion of using panko in the crust makes so much sense now that I actually see it in a recipe but, oh my, I would never dream to do such a thing, lol...

Thank you so much for sharing this amazing pie, Grace. Sure wish I could dive in!

Barbara said...

Wow! That looks amazing, Grace! The crust is to die for and I love all the coconut and nuts scattered around. Some for every mouthful.

Catherine said...

This was my father's favorite dessert.
It is a classic and looks delicious!
Blessings dear, Catherine xo

sprinklesandsauce said...

wow! a slice of this pie, a cup of coffee....repeat!

kumars kitchen said...

Grace, your delicious food clicks and posts never fail to make us hungry...this pie with all those lovely coconut,coco-cream and macadamia nuts looks divine...definitely a killer delicious dessert.....and about that learning and improvising,experimenting and making best recipes better....that is the hallmark of a natural,talented and expert cook...that is you,thanks so much for the inspiration :-)

Rosita Vargas said...

Ohh un pie maravilloso quiero un trozo,abrazos

Allen Vergakis said...

Thank you, dear. Just makes me all the more glad I'm an old Southern boy. God bless and keep the recipes coming. Allen

bellini said...

When I was a child my mom always asked me what kind of cake I would like for my birthday. I always said lemon meringue pie, but may have changed it to coconut cream with macadamia crust if I had known of it.

I Wilkerson said...

This would certainly fulfill the spirit of ooey gooey. Looks amazing!

Pam said...

Oh my! I don't think a dessert could get any better than this. Seriously drool worthy Grace. YUM!

Bianca @ Confessions of a Chocoholic said...

Grace, this looks so delicious. I love coconut cream pie but don't think I've ever tried one with a macadamia crust.

foodhoe said...

I'm craving this too now!

Pam said...

I don't even like coconut and I want this. Now.

Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella said...

As a huge coconut enthusiast, I feel like you made this for me Grace. Which of course you didn't but a girl can dream right? :)

Erica said...

Coconut cream pie is one of my favorite desserts and yours looks fantastic, Grace!

Blond Duck said...

Don't touch it! It's perfect!

Juliana said...

OMG! Every layer of this pie is just a piece of heaven...love the lemon curd and the crust with coconut, macadamia and panko just sound delicious...
I so wish for a forkful of this pie...yum!
Thanks for sharing the recipe Grace, hope you are having a great week :D

Katerina said...

This is a little masterpiece Grace! All these layers of pure pleasure just spoke to my heart!

Gloria Baker said...

Look wonderful Grace!!

lisa is cooking said...

The macadamia and coconut crust sounds delightful! I've had tropical flavors like this on my mind lately. Wish I could sample a piece of this lovely pie right now.

janice15 said...

This looks so darn good.. boy can't wait to taste it.. excited.. Happy Wednesday with love Janice


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Avoiding Blocking Issues in ASP.NET Session State Databases
page 1 of 2
Published: 05 Sep 2007
SQL Server is a commonly used repository for session state. In this article, I will describe how to improve the performance of this database by reducing one aspect of blocking and contention within it.
by Greg Low
Average Rating:
Views (Total / Last 10 Days): 36611/ 110
Article Contents:

As soon as ASP.NET systems grow to the point that more than a single web server needs to be deployed, decisions need to be taken about where the session state will be held. By default, ASP.NET session state lives in the memory of the server hosting the application. The problem with this is that a user who connects to one of our web servers will not have the same session if their next request is sent to another one of our web servers, yet this is exactly what we want to achieve to improve the robustness of our systems.

There are a number of hardware-based solutions that involve concepts like "sticky sessions" where the hardware that performs the routing of requests from users remembers which server the user last spoke to and directs all requests from the same user to that same server. The downside of this is that if the server in question stops working, the user's session will also be lost.

To avoid this, it is common to move the session state off the individual web servers. Figure 1 shows one option. It involves setting up a single server as the holder of all session state. This can be done by implementing an operating system service that communicates with the web servers and which holds the session state from all the web servers in its own memory.

Figure 1: Session State Service

The downside of such a service is that it will not survive a reboot of the server holding the state; it is limited to the memory of the server and it is a single point of failure for the entire web site.

To make the session state storage more persistent, a SQL Server database can be introduced. It would address the first two issues but it is only when we then also apply fault tolerance to the database server, that we are able to address all three issues. The most common way to do this is to introduce a SQL Server cluster for storing the session state as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Clustered Session State Database

This is precisely what is provided by the ASP.NET session state database. While there is some performance impact of having to retrieve the session state from another server and more particularly from a database rather than from memory, the tradeoff is usually considered worthwhile, given the robustness of the solution.

In general I have found this works quite well. However, recently, I have been doing some consulting and performance tuning work at a busy site that was having difficulties specifically with the performance of their session state database. At this site, session state was quite large, often between 500kb and 3Mb in size. This had been working acceptably until they started to have over around 4000 concurrent sessions.

Periodically, commands that were accessing the session state database were experiencing timeouts. My first step was to use a SQL Profiler trace to find the types of commands that were timing out. This showed that the commands most commonly taking a long time were UPDATE commands. When I tested them individually, each UPDATE statement took less than a second. The command timeouts were set at the default value of thirty seconds. This then means only one of two things. Either the system is so buried in work that it just can't get to do the work in time (and that usually means disk performance) or users were being blocked by other users.

Conceptually, this troubled me as a session state database is unlike most other databases when you consider concurrency. It would be very uncommon for more than one connection to be accessing the same row in the session state database at the same time i.e., only one web server would be reading or writing a given session row at any point in time. SQL Server has implemented row level locking since version 7, and so a user updating one row should not normally be blocking another user as they would not be working with the same row.

As this was a SQL Server 2000 server, my first stop to locate the blocking was the Current Activity window in the Management node of SQL Server Enterprise Manager, as shown in figure 3. (In this example, I have created a small number of blocked processes to make the view clear.)

Figure 3: Locks per Process ID in Enterprise Manager

In this example "spid 55" is blocking "spid 56" and "spid 57". To find out what "spid 55" is doing, you can click on the Process Info node. This is also under the Current Activity node as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4: Process Info in Enterprise Manager

This then lets us see the command being executed along with details of who is executing it. In the case of the blocking at the user site, the culprit was a seemingly innocuous background task set up as part of the ASP.NET session state database setup script.

Because web users might simply walk away or browse away from your site, there is a need to clean up expired sessions in the database. However, it is possible when reading these rows to ignore any that have expired; your database could quickly become full of them. To avoid this, a background job has been set up to remove expired sessions every five minutes. The job simply executed a procedure called DeleteExpiredSessions, as shown in Listing 1.

Listing 1: Standard DeleteExpiredSessions Code

CREATE PROCEDURE DeleteExpiredSessions
  DELETE ASPState..ASPStateTempSessions
  WHERE Expires < @now

While this seems very tame, if the session state rows are large and the number of sessions is high, this command can cause substantial blocking of other commands. This is truly ironic because there is no need to ever lock more than a single row in this table while removing expired rows. SQL Server on the other hand, needs to make sure that a single DELETE statement either updates all the target rows or none at all. So, it locks them as it goes, in case it needs to undo the entire statement. With most purposes for which a DELETE is used, this makes sense, but for removing expired rows, this introduces unnecessary blocking. By replacing the statement above with the code in Listing 2, the unnecessary blocking is completely removed.

Listing 2: Replacement Expired Session Deletion Code

CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.DeleteExpiredSessions
  DECLARE @now datetime
  CREATE TABLE #ExpiredSessions
  ( SessionID nvarchar(88) NOT NULL
  INSERT #ExpiredSessions (SessionID)
  SELECT SessionID
  FROM [ASPState_2_0].dbo.ASPStateTempSessions
  WHERE Expires < @now
  DECLARE @SessionID nvarchar(88)
  OPEN SessionCursor
  FETCH NEXT FROM SessionCursor INTO @SessionID
    DELETE FROM [ASPState_2_0].dbo.ASPStateTempSessions
      WHERE SessionID = @SessionID
    FETCH NEXT FROM SessionCursor INTO @SessionID
  CLOSE SessionCursor
  DEALLOCATE SessionCursor
  DROP TABLE #ExpiredSessions

While I am not a fan of using CURSORs in typical SQL Server code, their use in this situation is ideal. The procedure works by obtaining a list of rows to be deleted and then stepping through the list, deleting them one at a time.

I then found that on the large system, this procedure could run for over three of the five minutes in its schedule. I decided to make the procedure work well if more than one copy of it was running at once. In the code in Figure 6, this is done by accessing the rows in CHECKSUM(NEWID()) order i.e., random order. This way, if more than one copy of the procedure is running at once, it is highly likely that the second copy would be deleting different rows than the first copy. If they both tried to delete the same row, no error would occur. One would manage to delete it and the other would not receive any error anyway.

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text:
Assassin's Creed Wiki

Assassin's Creed III - My Review (Xbox 360)

Ladies and gentleman, it is a glorious time in our lives; Assassin's Creed III has been unleashed upon the world for us to enjoy, and by God, will you enjoy it (at least until December 21st). Below you will find my review of the single player campaign, in all its splendour. Please be aware that this review will contain spoilers, so do not say I didn’t warn you.

So, without further ado, let us begin.

The End Days have come. December 21st, 2012, the world will end in a ball of flames, as earthquakes tear the world asunder and civilisation as we know it comes to a screeching halt; at least, that is what we’ve been told. With Desmond and company unable to access the Inner Sanctum of the Grand Temple, the group are forced to, once again, delve into history and explore the memories of his ancestor; the Native American Assassin Ratonhnhaké:ton.

With only days left till the world burns, will Desmond have enough time the find the Key and save the world?

This game has been a long time coming, development started not long after the release of its numbered predecessor (that’s three years ago!) and has slowly, but surely progressed, despite the diversions of Brotherhood and Revelations fueling the misplaced belief that the beloved Ezio Auditore da Firenze was going to fight his war against the Templars singlehandedly. With the game’s new protagonist, comes a whole heap of new weapons, animations, locations, characters and, most importantly, gameplay. Unfortunately, however, it’s not all smooth sailing for the game which shows us what the current, if aged generation of consoles can do when an experienced developer is behind the scenes.

The game starts Desmond awaking from his coma at the doors of the Grand Temple, in New York; by his side are the exuberant (and staunchly British) Shaun Hastings, the tech-savvy Rebecca Crane and everybody’s favourite omnipotent celestial being: Q William Miles (you might know him as Desmond’s father). Entering the Temple, the Assassins are greeted by the aged and decayed, but still impressive, extravagance of First Civilization architecture. Forced into the Animus once more, Desmond must view the memories of his ancestor – Haytham Kenway – to locate the Key that, ultimately, saves the world. Hold on a second! Do you say Haytham!?

Haytham Kenway

Haytham Kenway, ancestor to Desmond Miles, and a traitor to the Order.

Yes I did. Believe it or not, Ubisoft pulled a real shocker here by opening up the game, not with the dude seen brutalising Redcoats, flaunting the American flag and acting in a staunchly uncivilised way, but with his father: Haytham Kenway, who is already and aged, experienced Assassin, and a thoroughly English gentleman. It’s through him that we get to grips with the controls once more, introducing us the one of the series’ new features - the ocean – and opening up the world of Colonial America to us. Eventually however, as is inevitable, we move on from Haytham and begin to explore he memories of his son: Ratonhnhaké:ton (or Connor, by his adoptive name).

It is with Connor that this game truly shines. Native American, born and bred, the high reaching trees of the American Frontier are Connor’s playground, just like the cities of Italy were Ezio’s. Connor’s ability to smoothly, skilfully journey through the trees above his enemies and his prey is evident from the get go, and certainly one of the biggest draws of the game. Just as Ezio’s ability to swim drew awe from all who watched, Connor’s ability to travel almost the entire length of the very lengthy Frontier without ever touching the ground will keep gamers glued to the trees for days to come. Hell, we might even be calling the next game “Tarzan” at this rate. But it’s not all trees for Connor, who must eventually travel to the heart of European culture in the New World, the cities of Boston and New York.

Unlike the cities of Constantinople, Rome and Florence before them, the new cities feel much more alive. The wide streets and busy market places throng with a form of life not witnessed in a game before. Whether it be a man buying his supper, or orphans waylaying well suited gentleman, or a band of British Regulars marching along the beat of a military band, you get the sense that life in Colonial America extends further than the draw distance available to your machine. The side-missions available to you in the cities only help to accentuate that feeling. Missions vary from the simple “Boston Brawlers” (read: fight club (Can’t really talk about it though)), to protecting a farmer from encroaching soldiers, or even saving locals from the firing squad. Often time you will be rewarded with a new member to add to your roster of aspiring Assassins, although this aspect of the game is almost entirely optional and has no effect on the story per se.

When he’s not visiting the cities of the European colonists, Connor helps to develop the Davenport Homestead from a lonely Manor in a field to a fledgling town in its own right. Bringing people from all backgrounds and professions, Connor is able to, through a dedicated set of side missions, improve his town’s infrastructure and, resultantly, the quality of goods he is able to trade throughout the American North East and Caribbean Sea. Early on in these missions, Connor is introduced to another of the game’s more important characters.

Robert Faulkner is First Mate of the Protagonists own warship, the Aquila introduces us to what is, undoubtedly, the biggest and most well thought-out addition to the series to date: naval warfare. A game all in itself (seriously, a standalone game using this engine and gameplay would own!), the extraordinary power afforded to game by its AnvilNext engine allows for a truly immersive seafaring voyage; and whilst you won’t be fighting undead skeletons or journeying to World’s End (pun not intended) anytime soon, battling the Royal Navy on the high seas, protecting against tidal wave and cannon fire is an exhilarating affair and one you will undoubtedly be wanting to replay time and time again.

AC3 storm naval warfare

The Aquila in combat, during one of the game's new Naval combat missions.

Unfortunately, it’s not all rosy for gamers over in the New World. Along with a slew of new features, this game re-introduces a few that were lost to the ether early on. Remember those cutscene glitches from Assassin’s Creed, well they’re back. But unlike the originals, which changed our view and allowed us to see things from a different perspective, this games glitches lets us see men pirouetting above the stalls, or a horse and cart melded into the side of a wood cabin down the way. At one point, an unfortunate Patriot soldier fell to the ground after being hacked to death by my tomahawk, and twisted in such a way that he undoubtedly broke every single bone in his body. To call my laughter a little twisted at this sight is, indeed, quite fitting. Other glitches, like disappearing NPCs or custom markers deactivating are also prevalent. Whether these bugs comes as a result of the AnvilNext engine struggling against the confines of the Xbox 360’s dated hardware, or sloppy bug-hunting on Ubisoft’s behalf is unknown, but one would hope such things will be fixed in future.

Other faults in the game lay with its lacklustre and often confusing story. Several times in the playthrough I found myself wondering just how exactly certain characters had got into that particular situation. A good example being the introduction of Lafayette: we are never introduced to him, yet as soon as Connor and he meet, the two are sharing their life stories (and their true allegiances) to no end. It’s not just Lafayette either, but I’ll admit that my confusion my may stem as much from my rather spotty knowledge of Patriot characters in history, as to the story itself.

That said, the lack of any real gravitas to the story, whether it be Connor’s or Desmond’s modern-day sequences, is evident throughout, and gives the impression that story took a back-seat to gameplay in the eyes of the developers.

One thing of particular note, and something that should be subject to serious praise, is the portrayal of the father-son relationships between Desmond and William, and Connor and Haytham. Both relationships were fractured at an early age (Desmond’s by his fleeing the Order, Connor’s by his father’s true allegiance), but in the end it becomes clear that, despite their differences in opinions and believes, each is proud of the father/son’s achievements and commitments to their cause.

All in all, Assassin's Creed III is a worthy end to the story of Desmond Miles; offering fans of the series a satisfying, if not entirely awe-inspiring conclusion. The game does stumble at times, with the story falling flat throughout and that ever nagging feeling of “the British Imperium” being so closely entwined with the Templar Order that, pears or apples, they’re both fruits, but it makes up for it in terms of gameplay, character and sheer stunning beauty.

Assassin's Creed III is, without a doubt, a game that must be played, and soon. Some may be happy that Desmond’s story has come to an end, others not so much, but whatever your preference, you cannot deny that his story has been an exhilarating one to follow and an honour to be a part of. The End Days are coming. All of this has happened before, and it will happen again. Won’t it?

*Final score:

Top moment

Not so much a moment, as a feature; developing the Homestead into a strong and thriving village. This new feature really gives a sense of changing the world that refurbishing the shops of Rome and Constantinople never gave.

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text:
Press Release - Assemblyman Felix W. Ortiz
District Office

404 55th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11220
(718) 492-6334

The Assembly

Room 542
Legislative Office Bldg.
Albany, NY 12248
(518) 455-3821

June 23, 2005
Task Force on Food, Farm and Nutrition Policy
(518) 455-5203

Corporate Restaurants Fight Children’s Health Initiative
Legislation Would Require Calorie, Fat, Sugar and Sodium Content for Chain Restaurants

(Albany, NY) - Last night Assemblyman Felix Ortiz, (Brooklyn), Chair of the Task Force on Food, Farm and Nutrition Policy fought to pass his bill (A.5664/S.4551) that requires fast food and other foodservice chains to list calorie, fat, carbohydrate and sodium levels for items on their menu boards or regular menus. Unfortunately, the lobbyists for the chain restaurants and food establishments worked overtime to prevent passage of the bill this session although it will be back for another day.

The NYC Health Department found that nearly half of elementary-aged children are overweight. According to the NYS WIC Association over 32% of the children age 2-5 who are participating in NYS are overweight or at risk of being overweight. It is estimated that $3.5 billion of New York’s Medicaid spending is due to obesity, by far the highest level of any State. This year the State budget includes $1.5 million for the State Childhood Obesity Prevention Program sponsored by Ortiz.

Ortiz said, "Some people believe this generation of kids will be the first in history to have a shorter life expectancy than their parents. Everyone needs to be part of the solution or we will all pay the consequences.

My bill does not mandate what restaurants serve or how they cook it. I don’t believe it will overburden the large corporations affected and it might just benefit their customer’s waistlines as well as restaurant bottom-lines.

Consumers already get nutrition labeling at the supermarket. However, they are now getting more food from restaurants than years ago and they can’t tell that a sweetened coffee drink at one chain may have as many fat and calories as a cheeseburger with fries at another. Food industry critics of government efforts to fight the obesity problem claim that it is up to parents to choose healthier foods to eat. Restaurant nutrition information could empower parents, and children, to do a better job," said Ortiz.

In 1970, Americans spent just 26% of their food dollars on foods prepared outside their homes but today spend almost half of food dollars eating out. The average American consumes about one third of their calories from foods from restaurants and other food-service establishments. Portion sizes have been increasing and studies show that people tend to eat greater quantities of food when they are served more. Children eat almost twice as many calories when they eat out compared to home. It is not uncommon for a restaurant entree to provide half of a day’s recommended calories, saturated and trans fat, and sodium.

Nutrition labeling is required on most packaged foods found in supermarkets under federal law. Ortiz’ bill would apply to fast food and other restaurant chains, convenience chains, donut and cookie chains and similar foodservice operations with 10 or more outlets, nationally and 5 or more in New York State. If the chain only has menu boards and no menus to hand out, only calorie information is required. The bill does not apply to small, family -run restaurants, it does not apply to special orders, and the chains only have to label items as they appear on the menu and as typically prepared and offered for sale.

"As Task Force Chair I have learned about the dramatic rise in obesity among our children and how corporations target their advertising to this vulnerable population. While fast food meals are not the only contributors to obesity they are commonly eaten by children and the chains target children with advertising and toy giveaways. The businesses affected are worried about the impact on their profits but they should be worried about the thousands of children in this State who need to change their diets to avoid record levels of obesity and diabetes. They should worry about the billions of dollars of Medicaid costs this bill can help prevent. They should be worried about the lawsuits this bill may prevent because disclosing information helps protect the restaurant too. I will continue to work to pass this bill. I am not going away. I choose the children and families of this State, not a few billion-dollar corporations who supposedly can’t afford to help educate our citizens."

New York State Assembly
[ Welcome Page ] [ Task Force Updates ]


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Kerala Village Fair

Kerala Village Fair, kerala village  fair festival, Kerala Village Fair in Kovalam.

Kerala Village Fair –Popular Festival in Kovalam

Kerala  Village fair falls in the mid January around Kovalam every year. It is one of the colorful cultural event celebrated with great enthusiasm. It is ten long day celebration of tradition and culture of Kerala. Local people of Kerala call this festival as Garamam fair as well. The main objective of this fair is to replicate and re-create an entire gramam or village in the cultural and traditional colors of Kerala.

The Kerala Village Festival is celebrated in the Kovalam region of Kerala. This place has attracted millions of tourists from all over the world. Apart from the exotic beaches, Kovalam is also popular for its vibrant and elegant cultural activities. Tourists are attracted to this place for ethnic wears, snacks, handicrafts and all types of traditional foods available in the local market.

Features of Kerala Gramam Festival

This fair is set up near the Kovalam beach and Ernakulam’s Marine beach. This fair commemorates the typical traditional view of Kerala villages created with thatched houses called as “Naluketta”. This house is traditional upper-class homesteads with a central open courtyard, massive pillars, long and airy corridors and dormer windows. This house is also decorated with antiques that includes ancient paintings, ethnic jewelry, swords and shields. You can also expect real sandalwood items displayed inside the thatched houses. Tourists are offered some of the most traditional foods and drinks such as Puttu, Meen and Kappa. The most exquisite features of this fair are the enclave or Kamalagramam of the artisans. Here, you can find beautiful works of jewelry and handicrafts of Kerala.

Tourists just love priceless furniture in Sandalwood, Teak and Mahagony. One can even find elegant and traditional spices bowls at the fair. You will remind of a bygone era by seeing excellent collections of musical instrument, majestic wooden beds, palymra fans and household utensils.

The floral decoration also called as “Pookalam” in the courtyard looks enchanting on the Naluketta. At the 'Chayakada', the village tea shop, relish the taste of the tender coconut, the refreshing tea (Chaya) or the tangy lime juice.

The evenings of the Kerala Village fair is must watch. At the fair, you can enjoy elegant classical dances Mohiniyattom, Kathakali and traditional folks dances such as Oppana, folk arts such as bhajans, Thullal, Panchavadyam, Kakkarisi Natakam, Pavakkoothu, Vilupattu, and Theyyam. So plan for this fair right away to experience the beauty of Kerala Village fair celebrated every year at Kovalam in the month of mid January.

All the information given above are of general nature only, collected and reproduced for the general information only. However, if you want some specific, exclusive and deep information, you may avail our specially designed services, for satisfying your thirst of knowledge.

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Other highlights of the standard:

-An organization shall have a written quality plan "for determining whether cleaning service requirements are met and for identifying improvement opportunities.

-An organization shall measure and document its performance through surveys, inspections, customer evaluations and examination of complaints received.

-An industry-accepted methodology needs to be established for determining the number of labor hours needed to accomplish work requirements. A system should be put in place to estimate job costs; cost controls should be used to ensure that work is completed within workloading, budgeting and costing parameters.

-Staffing levels shall be based on workloading and one or more of the following—budgeting; costing data; customer requests; and industry benchmarks.

-Individual cleaning assignments should be set forth in written plans; standardized task procedures should be used across the organization and should be documented.

-An organization should use similar equipment and supplies in similar facility types, and should use inventory management and supply control systems. Equipment maintenance and repair should occur as the result of a planned process.


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Software For Youngsters

Counterpoint Software has added three titles to its "Early Games" series, and has produced a quiz game designed for family play. The programs are: Early Games Piece of Cake, Early Games Fraction Factory, Early Games Matchmaker, and Quizagon.

In Piece of Cake, children learn basic arithmetic by keeping track of cakes and pastries in a magic bakery. Should a child encounter difficulty, the bakers help explain what to do.

Fraction Factory teaches elementary and junior high students to understand and work with fractions. Concepts covered include finding equal values, adding fractions, subtracting fractions, and multiplying whole numbers by fractions.

Matchmaker is a reading-readiness program for pre-schoolers. The six games included in the program involve matching colors, shapes, sizes, lines and directions, facial expressions, and reversible letters. The game is designed to be played by children two years old and up.

Each of the three above programs is available for $29.95. Disk versions are available for Apple IIe, Atari, IBM, and Commodore 64. Tape versions are available for Atari, Commodore 64, and Texas Instruments.

Quizagon is a computer quiz game for all ages. It includes more than 6,000 questions covering science, geography, sports, entertainment, history, and words. The game, which sells for $39.95, is available on disk for Apple IIe, Commodore 64, and IBM PC.

Counterpoint Software, Inc.
4005 West 65th St.
Minneapolis, MN 55435


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Tuesday, 19 October 2010

Roll up, roll up the poshest and most mind blowing shop (seems wrong to call Harrods a shop but you know what I mean) in the world will be hosting a personal appearance with Elizabeth Hurley, spokesmodel for Estee Lauder and The Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign at 1pm at the Estee Lauder counter today. You will be able to meet Ms Hurley herself as she will be signing purchases from the exclusive Estee Lauder Pink Ribbon Collection 2010 in support of The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, www.bcrfcure.org. I don't know anyone who hasn't been touched or affected by breast cancer in some way and this is really a fantastic way to give back and support the fight against breast cancer. In the evening there will also be a stunning 3D landmark illumination you will not want to miss!

As a beauty journalist I have been very lucky over the years to be invited to Estee Lauder Breast Cancer Awareness events in October and can tell you that Elizabeth Hurley is truly passionate and dedicated towards the cause. While I have been snugly wrapped up in boots and my cashmere scarf in the cold, I have seen Elizabeth Hurley each year in jaw droppingly beautiful and tiny pink dresses speaking with vigour and commitment and putting on a good glamourous show to help raise awareness without a shiver or complaint and I take my hat off to her and think to myself that sort of spirit wins wars and hopefully the war on breast cancer- good on you love. Get yourselves down there!

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Dale McGowan's Blog – September 2009 Archive (1)

Big Brothers (1 of 2)

big4309 "Dad Dad, come here, you've got to see this."

I followed Connor (14) into the kitchen, where our dog Gowser, a 65 lb. Rhodesian ridgeback mix, was eating contentedly.

Connor got down on all fours and began nuzzling his face toward the food bowl, making slurping noises. Suddenly from deep in Gowser's throat came a sound I had never heard her make – a deep, angry growl.

"Connor, stop now!" I yelled. "Back… Continue

Added by Dale McGowan on September 9, 2009 at 1:53pm — No Comments

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The Morning Sports News: ‘Four Remain’

The Final Four is now set as North Carolina and South Carolina punched their respective tickets Sunday to take the final two spots in Phoenix, joining Oregon and Gonzaga.

The Hawks have now lost seven straight as they were beaten by the Nets Sunday. The Hawks played without some key players, including another game without Paul Millsap. Hugh said: “Regardless of who is out there you still have to go play, and execute. So that’s not an excuse.”

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"Mr. Jim Clark was my point of contact with Champion; he was courteous, professional and extremely helpful. It was a pleasure doing business with him. The members of all of the crews, water removal/drying, carpet layers and packers were courteous, professional, arrived on time, and completed work in a timely manner. In addition, they were friendly. We are very pleased with Champion's response and work and I will gladly recommend Champion to others. I will express my satisfaction with Champion to USAA." - Water Damage in Fayetteville, GA

"I have never been as impressed with a great group of young men. Very professional, efficient and knowledgeable of their line of work. Considering the age of my crew; they out-performed the middle and older aged men I have worked with in similar job requests. Thank you!!! Big kudos to Colby...loved this kid!!!" - Water Damage in Ellenwood, GA

"The crew was super courteous and professional. They also showed a level of compassion that was an unexpected surprise. They also took the extra step to explain every step." - Water Damage in Jonesboro, GA

"If I hadn't seen the damage beforehand, afterwards I wouldn't have know it had occurred. Great group of people both repairing and managing the crews." - Water Damage in Peachtree City, GA

“Champion has done a super job in getting the house squared away. All of their employees and subcontractors have been professional, courteous and helpful in answering our many questions and keeping us informed of schedules and other matters.” - Fire Damage in Peachtree City, GA

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We are committed to communicating with you what is happening, at the time it happens. We work with insurance representatives, such as adjusters and agents, to ensure that repairs are completed correctly - the first time - and on schedule.

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Ethics @ Work
Our commitment to superior standards and integrity

Our district is moving in the right direction, ensuring that all students receive a quality education that prepares them for success in college and life. A critical element of delivering on our promise to educate students is maintaining integrity and principled, ethical behavior.

During the 2011-2012 school year, we implemented an online ethics training class that all employees were required to complete. We enhanced our ethics program for the 2012-13 school year to ensure that all employees continued to adhere to our organizational values and ethical standards.
Preserving our good name requires a commitment to hard work, honesty and trust. Understanding what is appropriate and doing what is right are critical to maintaining a reputation of excellence, and we all must do our part. When there is misconduct in the workplace, we all have a responsibility to report it. We all have a responsibility to exercise firm, ethical behavior at work as well. When trust has been violated, it hurts us all, and we jeopardize everything we’ve worked so hard to achieve. Our district is moving in a positive direction. By demonstrating our commitment to superior standards and integrity, we prove to our stakeholders, our community and ourselves that we are worthy of our stellar reputation.
Do The Right Thing
Reporting unethical behavior is the right thing to do. Corruption, workplace bullying, employee theft, falsifying documents and lying should never be ignored. So when you see these, or any other forms of misconduct, don’t succumb to peer pressure. If you are uncomfortable speaking to the perpetrator directly, do the right thing—report it.
Workplace ethics don’t just apply to everyone else. They apply to you too. If you are unsure whether or not your actions violate company policy, ask yourself the following questions:
• Is it legal?
• Is it in sync with APS’s core goals and values?
• Will I be comfortable and guilt-free if I do it?
• Would I do it if others were watching?
• Would I feel okay if someone did it to me?
Hesitating before answering, or answering “no” to any of these questions, could mean that the behavior is unethical. If you remain unsure, talk with your principal or supervisor.


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donderdag 28 januari 2016

Warm Tomatoes and Cold feet

Above a picture of our Nature Table. It's getting busy with rootchildren, bulbs and snowdrops. We have been really warm weather and in our garden here at Pale Rose cottage they are in full bloom. What a cheerful sight :)

donderdag 21 januari 2016

Quark Cakes and Hair

I tried a new recipe, mini quark pancakes. I have never made them before and was interested to see how they would turn out. So I made a plate full of them and we had them for lunch. The pancakes were lovely, then I quickly had a shower, washed my hair and blowdried it. And now I'm ready...

donderdag 14 januari 2016

Oh lala Polenta

Hello again, I spend a rainy day in our cottage kitchen. Well not the whole day, but for breakfast I made a rice pudding. Which was so lovely I completely forgot to take a picture of it. So sadly I cannot show it to you.

donderdag 7 januari 2016

An unexpectate Visitor

This week we had a special visitor in our cottage garden. Charlotte our lovely cat spotted the visitor first & it's unexpected arrival made her flap her tail vigorously from left to right and back again. At first we did not notice what caused her to be so excited, but then...

vrijdag 1 januari 2016

A Happy New year

A year has past since my last post and so much has happened. We have all added a year to our age, been sick and got better. Spend loads of time together and had so much fun at the cottage.
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Holiday Greetings: Happy New Beginnings

Christmas candles

Have a Happy, Merry, Peaceful, Fulfilling –whatever it is you are celebrating.

from A Traveler’s Library and

Ancestors in Aprons.

  And may you catch Santa coming down the chimney before you fall asleep.

Christmas Picture

Waiting for Santa

Still shopping? See Ten Perfect Gifts for Travelers Who Read.

Still baking? See a month of Christmas cookie recipes at Ancestors in Aprons.

We’ll be back in 2014 with a whole lot of BRAND NEW STUFF and a GIVEAWAY. See you then.

Vera Marie Badertscher

Travel and lifestyle writer, wife, mother and grandmother. Publisher of A Traveler’s Library and Ancestors in Aprons>. Also co-authored a biography of Navajo artist Quincy Tahoma.

Vera Marie Badertscher – who has written posts on A Traveler's Library.


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The elderly victim of the horrific Facebook Live murder has been identified

News broke Easter Sunday afternoon that Cleveland Police were searching for Steve Stephens, who shot and killed an elderly man on Facebook Live.

It was a horrific crime, one we won’t show here.

The victim has since been identified as Robert Godwin Sr.

He was 74.

Shanice Dunning, a reporter with Cleveland 19 News, spoke with Godwin Sr.’s  son and daughter earlier in the day, and they were distraught.

They said Godwin Sr. was “a good guy” who would “give you the shirt off his back.”

“This man right here was a good man,” his son, Robert Godwin Jr., said. “It’s not real.”

“I feel like my heart is going to stop,” the grieving woman said.

His family said he spent Easter morning fishing.

Pictures of Godwin Sr. have since been circulated on social media.

According to, Godwin Sr. was a retired foundry worker, and is survived by nine children, 14 grandchildren and many great grandchildren.

Godwin Jr. said he last saw his dad Sunday morning when he came by to pick up basketball equipment for one of his other sons.

“He hugged my wife and me and said ‘I’ll see you guys next time,’” Godwin Jr. said. “I said ‘OK, enjoy your Easter.’”

Godwin Sr.’s killer is still on the loose.

Police have put out the following information on Stephens.

Facebook has given its response to the horrific murder, which was not only streamed live but remained on Facebook for three hours.

“This is a horrific crime and we do not allow this kind of content on Facebook,” a Facebook said in a statement. “We work hard to keep a safe environment on Facebook, and are in touch with law enforcement in emergencies when there are direct threats to physical safety.”

The streamed murder comes after a long line of horrifying live streamed incidents on Facebook, including but not limited to: kidnap and torture, accidental shooting deaths, fatal police shootings, and youth suicides.

Although Stephens claimed to have killed other people, police have not, to this point, found evidence of that.

Credits: rare


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Destiny Scarf Stripe

Unisex Destiny Scarf Stripe

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As warm and comforting as a cup of tea, the Destiny Scarf Stripe fends off the chill on cold winter days. Made from an incredibly soft merino-wool blend, the Destiny combines classic scarf versatility with the undeniable comfort of merino.

Fabric and Care

  • Fabric: 50% Merino wool, 50% acrylic
  • Product Weight: One Size = 171 g / 6.03 oz
Style: #102734
Care: Machine wash. Dries fast in the shade, but do not tumble dry. Exact instructions on the care label.

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Cloud Expo on Google News
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Smarter Business Solutions Through Dynamic Infrastructure
Smarter Insights: How the CIO Becomes a Hero Again
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Maximizing the Business Value of Virtualization in Enterprise and Cloud Computing Environments
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Box Sees 70 Percent Growth in Legal Services Cloud Adoption
New Integrations Improve Productivity and Visibility for Law Firms

LOS ALTOS, CA -- (Marketwire) -- 01/24/13 -- Box today announced new integrations with IntApp and Clio to make it easier for the company's growing legal customer base to securely manage and collaborate on content in the cloud. Box's momentum in the legal industry accelerated in 2012 as law firm sales increased by 70 percent driven by the growing need to access and share information across devices. Box also unveiled its preferred Box OneCloud apps for legal customers focused on improving productivity for lawyers.

"Legal IT leaders are using cloud technologies to centralize client information, making it readily available to attorneys and easily sharable with clients," said Whitney Bouck, GM of enterprise at Box. "By integrating Box's cloud content platform with leading legal services software, we're providing the best way for legal customers to securely and intuitively share information between people and applications."

In a recent report from Gartner, "Cloud Providers Have a Promising Future in Legal Industry," the firm states, "Today, how well a legal IT department supports its lawyers is a critical indicator of the firm's competitiveness. Recognizing technology as an integral and critical part in legal practice, law firm leadership and management place IT investment and modernization as a top priority." The report also goes on to say, "In the past 24 months, the attention of the legal industry has been turning to the opportunities of cloud computing." This increasing interest in cloud technologies is driven by the fact that many of the key challenges that law firms face may be directly addressed in the cloud.

In the past year, Box experienced a major uptick in adoption from the legal services industry, as leading organizations such as, Perkins Coie, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, Gunderson Dettmer, LLP, Choate Law Firm, Hempel and Boyd and Henderson Legal Services joined more than 140,000 businesses and individuals at 92 percent of the Fortune 500 using Box to share, manage and collaborate on content in the cloud.

"Law firms are conservative by nature and it often takes them time to embrace new technologies," said Gavin Gray, Chief Information Officer for Perkins Coie. "Box has done an outstanding job of listening to our needs and concerns and then making enhancements to their products to meet -- and in many cases exceed -- our expectations. Just as our clients expect our lawyers to deliver innovative legal services, we value our technology partners when, like Box, they work closely with us to develop creative solutions to our ever-evolving technology needs."

Box and IntApp integration
Box is announcing a new relationship with IntApp, the leading provider of information security software for law firms, to offer compliance and control over documents shared via Box. Together, Box and IntApp will provide an integration that enables firms to proactively monitor lawyer and staff access to sensitive documents and notifies risk stakeholders about abnormal activity. Using the Box API, IntApp's Activity Tracker enables firms to set access thresholds on sensitive documents in Box and monitor excessive downloading of firm intellectual property, especially relevant to manage risk affiliated with impending lateral departures.

"At IntApp, we are committed to continuously adapting our information security software to meet the evolving work habits and preferences of lawyers," said Thad Jampol, Chief Technology Officer at IntApp, Inc. "We're pleased to partner with Box to deliver a joint solution that enables lawyers to benefit from the collaboration tools that work best for them, while providing firm risk and IT stakeholders with the visibility and control necessary to address professional, client and regulatory compliance requirements."

Box and Clio Integration
Box is also announcing an integration with Clio, a web-based tool suite offering practice management, time and billing and client collaboration platform for small-to-mid-sized law firms. Through the Box and Clio integration, law firms can now directly link documents they have in Box to the related case and client matter within the Clio web-based application, supporting an attorney's typical workflow and enabling mobile access to content.

Box OneCloud apps for the Legal Industry
Box legal customers are making good use of Box OneCloud, the first mobile cloud for the enterprise, and leveraged a number of mobile productivity app partners to easily create and share content on Android and iOS devices. The three Box OneCloud apps used the most by legal firms, include:

  • Notability: enables attorneys to digitalize their legal pad, and create and edit notes directly from the Box mobile app.
  • iAnnotate: helps lawyers access, search, and annotate hundreds of PDF files on mobile devices.
  • Breezy: allows lawyers and legal staff to print files stored on mobile devices from anywhere, to anywhere.

The IntApp integration is available to customers today. To find out on how to start using Box with IntApp, please contact an IntApp representative. The Box and Clio integration is also available today and can be downloaded here. The preferred OneCloud apps for legal are accessible via the Box Apps Marketplace. For more information on today's announcement, please visit the Box blog.

To learn more about Box for Legal, please visit and register for the Box legal webinar on February 21st.

About Box
Founded in 2005, Box provides a secure content sharing platform that both users and IT love and adopt. Content on Box can be shared internally and externally, accessed through iPad, iPhone, Android and Windows Phone applications, among others, and extended to partner applications such as Google Apps, NetSuite and Salesforce. Headquartered in Los Altos, CA, Box is a privately held company and is backed by venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer Venture Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Emergence Capital Partners, General Atlantic, Meritech Capital Partners, NEA, Scale Venture Partners, and U.S. Venture Partners, and strategic investors and SAP. To learn more about Box, visit

About Marketwired .
Copyright © 2009 Marketwired. All rights reserved. All the news releases provided by Marketwired are copyrighted. Any forms of copying other than an individual user's personal reference without express written permission is prohibited. Further distribution of these materials is strictly forbidden, including but not limited to, posting, emailing, faxing, archiving in a public database, redistributing via a computer network or in a printed form.

Latest Cloud Developer Stories
The 20th International Cloud Expo has announced that its Call for Papers is open. Cloud Expo, to be held June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, brings together Cloud Computing, Big Data, Internet of Things, DevOps, Containers, Microservices and WebRTC to one locat...
Keeping pace with advancements in software delivery processes and tooling is taxing even for the most proficient organizations. Point tools, platforms, open source and the increasing adoption of private and public cloud services requires strong engineering rigor – all in the face...
“DevOps is really about the business. The business is under pressure today, competitively in the marketplace to respond to the expectations of the customer. The business is driving IT and the problem is that IT isn't responding fast enough," explained Mark Levy, Senior Product M...
SYS-CON Events announced today that CollabNet, a global leader in enterprise software development, release automation and DevOps solutions, will be a Bronze Sponsor of SYS-CON's 20th International Cloud Expo®, taking place from June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York Cit...
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So, the good news is I AM DONE WITH MY CLASSES...the bad news...I still have to get hours in until we go over my folder tomorrow to make for sure that I can be done! and I am SO GLAD!!! I could have been done SO much sooner, but I was too flippin' lazy to get it done...I'm now way mad about it, but there's nothing I can do about it. I was just stupid and didn't get it done! But, I am DONE! But yeah, I'm still at school getting hours in, so I decided to blog...

State is this week for us. We go in ranked 2nd in our region, behind Morgan...We play Cedar in the first round at 3:00 on Thursday in the McKay Center (I think that's right? the UVU one?) Anyway. I don't know really anything about all the Utah teams, so we'll see how it goes. I'm excited for it to be over, though! lol, I love the girls, and I will miss the seniors, but I'm ready for it to be done. Hopefully we go out on a good note!

Mmkay, well that's about it on my boring life. Here is what I have been working on here at school. The good thing about it is they have all the Adobe products, so I can edit my pictures while I'm just sitting here surfing the net. Once again, though, photobucket is blocked, so this is going to be a small picture, but enjoy anyway!!

PS...so, I learned on this shoot that Ashley and I most likely played against each other in volleyball. She is from Morgan (what? A volleyball player from Morgan? I know!!!) and graduated in '03...Small world, eh?

Happy Birthday Sister!!!

So, 27 (i think) years ago today, my oldest sister Shari was born. Though I remember nothing of that special day, I'm sure it was wonderful. I just wanted to wish her a Happy Birthday and tell her that although I didn't call...I didn't forget...You'll just have to wait until you get your card. But I still love you, and hope you had a happy day, and I hope Ben and Lilli spoiled you rotten. You deserve it!! Love you lots sister!!

My take...

So, are you ready for this? I didn't want to get into it, but here is my take on politics and voting. I can't believe another 4 years has gone by and we're about to elect another president. As people have discussed their opinions about who they are going to vote for, and getting an almost sick feeling in my gut when I hear people say certain things (from both sides mind you!) I just wanted to share this. I'm sure you have all heard it, but there are some things I wanted to point out..

As citizens we have the privilege and duty of electing office holders and influencing public policy. Participation in the political process affects our communities and nation today and in the future.

Latter-day Saints as citizens are to seek out and then uphold leaders who will act with integrity and are wise, good, and honest. Principles compatible with the gospel may be found in various political parties.

Therefore, in this election year, we urge you to register to vote, to study the issues and candidates carefully and prayerfully, and then to vote for and actively support those you believe will most nearly carry out your ideas of good government.

The Church affirms its neutrality regarding political parties, platforms, and candidates. The Church also affirms its constitutional right of expression on political and social issues.

Sincerely yours,

Thomas S. Monson
Henry B. Eyring
Dieter F. Uchtdorf
The First Presidency

Alright, so the first thing that stuck out was in the second paragraph. I know it's politics and it's somewhat difficult to find someone who is HONEST, etc. (HA!) Also, someone who has principles compatible with the gospel. (in my opinion someone who doesn't support abortion, gay marriage, to name a few) In selecting the candidate, I also love how it said to study it out carefully and PRAYERFULLY! How many people do you think actually pray about who they are supposed to vote for? I know they've said it before, but have we actually thought to do so. Or are we following what WE think is best. We may think that one candidate speaks better, has better ideas, etc, but are those your own thoughts, or did you actually pray about who you needed to vote for. Put your own selfish thoughts and feeling aside and listen to what the Lord would have you do. I really think this is an important election, and if we don't consider our options carefully and PRAYERFULLY, things may turn out for the worse...

Now, I'm not saying to vote for one or the other. One thing that has really bugged me is that people believe everything they hear. Whether it's about Obama or McCain, they'll believe anything. For example. I have gotten about 500 emails about all these terrible things about Obama. I know you have all gotten them too, but whether they are true or not, why would you believe it? You can't base your judgement off of some stupid email. I mean, I got an email a while ago about a talk that Boyd K. Packer had written, then recently got another email saying that he didn't really say that stuff. That's about a church leader, which makes me think, really, how can you believe it. I'm not saying it's not true, I'm just saying you can't base your judgements off of that. And I'm sure the same is true about McCain too. I just use Obama as an example because they're the only emails I've actually gotten.

and don't think I'm sticking up for Obama, because I'm definitely not. I personally get a sick feeling in my gut when I think about him being our president...(lol, but the same is true about McCain! ;) But...everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and that's whats great about living in America. You have the right to vote for whoever you want, but I just wanted to share that and ask that before you vote you PRAY about who you should vote for. Don't just follow what YOU think is best, because let's be honest...who knows better, you or the Lord?! Right! (**EDITED TO ADD** and that doesn't mean if you get Obama as your answer you have to keep praying until you get a different answer!!! :) (TINA!))

OKay, well...sorry this is so long, I hope I didn't offend anyone. That's not the purpose of this. I don't care who you vote for..(well, kinda, but you know what I"m saying!) It's not like I"m gonna like you less for voting one way or the other....But...yeah...alright..Love you all! HAPPY VOTING!!

I just thought that I would point out also (thanks Tina) that "the Church affirms its neutrality regarding political parties, platforms, and candidates," and as Tina brought to my attention, I feel it is also important to say that you can be a liberal democrat and still be a good mormon. Just because you vote one way or another doesn't mean that you are less of a person, or not a good member of the church. So yeah...

okay, I'm really hoping that I am not offending ANYONE!!! haha...this is my personal opinion. and I appreciate all of your comments! :) I will love you all the same, no matter who you vote for! (and Tina, I am just mentioning your name because you gave me crap and freaked me out, so I'm just giving it back!!!)

....coming soon....

plus, some more engagements...maybe...to see a whole bunch go <---HERE--->....Enjoy...let me know what you think!

Let's pretend....

....that you were having a baby boy (or two). You are looking for a color pallet for some birth announcements. Which one out of the ones shown below would you choose?
#3-10. (Trying to decide on a blue(s)/brown combo)

So....please let me know because I am trying to come up with a boy line of birth announcements, and I can't tell which ones I like best. Plus, SISTER, I don't know which "blue" matches whatever you are thinking best! :) So, let me know!! Mix and match are welcome!

Me personally, I like #2 combo, and #3&4, and #7&9...But, I'm up for anything....

So, these pics are all a little overexposed, but I still thought they were super cute, and I thought I would share. ENJOY!

Dedicated to Smiling....

Alright, since I haven't posted many of these two smiling, I thought I would dedicate this post to smiling! GOSH I post a lot of pictures...SORRY!! I'm trying to keep the ones for their announcements secret....so it will be a surprise...But yeah..alright. I too love the ones of them smiling, so here are a few more!! ENJOY!!!

Just one...right now....

So, after an observant Aubrey commenting this, I realized that I didn't have any pictures posted of Austin smiling, when, in fact there are quite a few. I must admit I used to really dislike all the serious pictures, but Austin and Violet have such great serious faces, I just fell in love with all of them! But, while editing some pics while I'm supposed to be at school...(WHOOPS! :) I found this wonderful one of him smiling! ENJOY!

I also found these awesome new actions...They make my life so much easier!! Thanks to Jess for sharing your wonderful talent. (I hate being at school because any blogs that have pictures from photobucket, so I'm sure she had a lot more actions for sale, but I can't see.. any photobucket pics are blocked... :( SAD!!! That's why this picture is small too, because I can't upload it to photobucket...)

Anywho..ENJOY! Let me know what you think...

And more...

Sorry, I wish I could just site down and edit ALL of them in one sitting. I still haven't really looked through the Bridals yet, but I know there are some gorgeous ones! But volleyball is almost over, so I will have more time then. Plus, I have the next THREE weekends off!! YAY!!! So...Enjoy a few at a time and let me know what you think...

yes...I used a different texture on this one...it had some blue/purple in it, and I think it goes well with the pic

I wanted to try some different things, and this one is different, but I still really like it. Makes me feel like she is in the jungle with all those green leaves behind her...lol...Your Gorgeous Vi!!

1-10 of 100 things about Bre

So, Linds tagged me to do 6 random things..But...since I have always wanted to do 100 things about Bre, I decided I would split it up into 10 different sections of 10, so you don't get totally bored with me. (Besides, 100 things is a LOT, and I always get sick of reading after about 20...) So here are 100 things about bre, #1-10...

#1: I LOVE the smell of melted butter. I hate when I'm melting it because I want to just dip my finger in it, but I know I would burn my finger, so I don't...

#2: Instead of attacking other peoples blogs, I should clarify what I mean. I LOVE looking at EVERYONE's blogs, but my computer is retarded. Whenever I look at a blog that has music, big pictures, tons of elements, when I click the button to close out, Safari (my web browser) kicks me out entirely, so I have to open up Safari again...and it takes FOREVER. It' just one of thoes frustrating things that I hate but can't control...and for some reason it usually happens on blogs with all those things. I do have blogging pet peeves, but I won't share those. Linds, I love looking at your blog. Hope I didn't offend you!

#3: I HATE Utah drivers. I am scared for my husband and I's lives anytime we are out driving. Do you want me to pinpoint the stupid drivers? Middle-aged WOMEN, and more specifically, middle-aged women driving SUV's!!! UGH! (Haha...I am sounding like such a snob in this post, huh? I'm really not...I promise!! LOL!)

#4: I love the smell of onions, and I love cutting them. I even lick my fingers after I touch them...but its really gross, so I have to use a lot of self-control not to.

#5: I hate baseball. I think it's the most boring sport in the world to watch!

#6: I used to hate hockey, until Greg and I bought NHL for the Xbox and played it all last hockey season. I must admit, I LOVED watching the NHL playoffs last season, and I'm excited for this season!!

#7: If it were possible, I would spend all day on my computer designing or editing pictures, or out taking pictures.

#8: I absolutely HATE clipping my fingernails. I hate when they get too long, but even more I hate clipping them, because I never do a good job, so they always snag on things.

#9: I think I visit my own blog(s) more than anyone else does...Sad, I know!

#10: I visit a million photography sites a day.....and I hate it when the photographers take more than a day to post new pics. It's like they're busy or something.... :)

Welp, there's my first 10..Stay tuned for the next 90!

PS...I tag everyone out there to do at least the 6 random facts!

What time is it, you ask?

Well...alright, so...I made a post earlier, and my sister commented to the post then at the end asked, "By the way, what time is it?" Totally confused I post on her blog, "It's 6:49." She then comments right back, of course thinking I'm retarded...something about how she was wondering about my last post. Still not getting it, and thinking she STILL meant what time I posted my last post, I say, "I just barely posted it..." Then after the post with Vi and Austin, and actually reading the post she was talking about...I finally understood...

What time is it?

Alright, so honestly, I think Halloween is a stupid holiday, but...we jump at any opportunity to decorate the house. At first I thought all the decorations were a little weird, since I hated the holiday, but after 3 years, and getting more and more decorations...I've actually kinda looked forward to decorating with Greg. We go ALL OUT. Lol...I will post more of the lights when I take some, but here are a few of our fun "family night" putting up decorations. He loves doing it, and I love helping him anyway I can..

Here's Greg putting up the lights...lol, I just love him!
...He seemed to think this was safe...
Thanks Shaina for helping us with our lights! You know you had fun!!! :)
The first one was an accident...but since it's Halloween, it can be all weird and creepy...

Alright, so here is an update on our garden...Our tomatos are turning red...YAHOO...and best yet, there are a bunch more growing that we didn't realize. And the best news yet....We have a squash growing! Now, don't laugh...it's still growing..lol, I think it's about the size of my thumb...lol..okay, not that small, but still! I think it's cute, so I took pics!

Alright, so another answer to the "what time is it" question is this...It's time for our house to fall apart..After a few weeks of no big problems on our house or car, I was talking to Greg one night on the phone when i was at a volleyball tourney, and he told me our window is leaking. When I asked if it would be hard to fix...he said probably...I got home and this is what I found. I don't know if you can really tell, but the the top of the window is totally caved in...Ahhh...the joys of being a home-owner...better yet...a MOBILE home owner...There's almost always something we need to fix either on our cars or our house...Usually I'd be a little upset...but really, what's the point? This house provides us with great shelter, and best of all, I get to live in it with the greatest man in the world. Why be upset over something so silly, right? Instead I will laugh and post pictures of it on my blog!!
I could update you on my volleyball team, but I don't really want to. HA! We did have a tourney last week, but I REALLY don't want to talk about it...It was just really long, and...i lost/someone stole my iPod, and I'm TOTALLY bummed about it! It makes me sick to think about... :( lol, oh well, I guess...But...my team is ranked 2nd in our Region behind Morgan. We play them tomorrow. Pray it will be a good game! :) lol...

Oh, in case you were wondering. All those tubs in that other post are the tubs that hold our lights...Yeah, they're ALL FULL!

Just a few...

So, I know some people have wanted to see more pictures...so...here are just a few...I will do more soon, but here are just a couple more...ENJOY!

I don't know if I mentioned that my mom came with us and did a fabulous job herself!! And since she NEVER posts any of her shoots, I will do it for her!

Broccoli-Cheese Soup

I just typed this post and it didn't work..UGH! I Hate that...anyway..

I'm just wondering if anyone has a REALLY YUMMY, QUICK and EASY recipe for broccoli-cheese soup, or any other yummy type of soup. Greg has been sick, so soup is the easiest thing for him to swallow, so I thought I would try something new instead of clam chowder...(Though I crave it ALL THE TIME!!)

So, if anyone has a good recipe, especially a broccoli-cheese recipe, please let me know. Either email me at bre11414@hotmail.com or leave it in the comments!

Thanks, Love you all!

Guess what time it is...

....yup, it's that time of year again...muah hahah...now that I have you all on the edge of your seat....I am going to bed! I will post more later...ENJOY...
Maira Gall


text:
HTVN 702: Vaccine Candidate

Step Forward
Vaccine candidates like HTVN 702 are needed to build momentum
by Jeannie Wraight

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]f current HIV diagnoses rates persist, about 1 in 2 black men who have sex with men (MSM) and 1 in 4 Latino MSM in the United States will be diagnosed with HIV during their lifetime,” stated a February 23, 2016, CDC press release about the agency’s new analysis by researchers.

A second quote reads, “As alarming as these lifetime risk estimates are, they are not a foregone conclusion. They are a call to action,” said Jonathan Mermin, M.D., director of CDC’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and Tuberculosis Prevention.

We recently marked the thirty-fifth anniversary of the first reported case of HIV. In the past three and a half decades we have made a great deal of progress in HIV therapies and decreasing new HIV transmissions. However, to read statistics such as these, we have to question whether we’re progressing fast enough in the right direction. Comfortingly the recent announcement of HVTN 702, a large preventative vaccine trial, has us moving a step forward in vaccine research, a field where tangible results have been slow to materialize in recent years.

As highlighted in Destination: Cure’s last column, “Orphaned Vaccines,” a vaccine should optimally be both a preventative and a therapeutic vaccine that can be utilized globally. Unfortunately, in the HVTN 702 trial, the regimen being studied is neither a therapeutic vaccine nor a vaccine that, in its current form, could be used against any clade other than Clade C. Clade C is the predominant clade seen in sub-Saharan Africa. Although not ideal, HTVN 702 may help achieve some degree of protection in a region such as South Africa where 16.6 percent of the adult population aged fifteen to forty-nine are living with HIV/AIDS.

HTVN 702 stems from the controversial 2009 RV144 study, which showed a 31.2 percent protection rate against HIV. This Phase III study raised eyebrows and voices from its inception—predominantly due to the amount of money spent on the singular trial that, even if found wholly effective, would still have needed further studies to determine the individual effects of its components (particularly ALVAC, as the other component, AIDSVAX, had already been shown to be ineffective as a singular component).

RV144 did show the greatest protection benefit thus far. Further research concluded that the rate of protection reached sixty percent during the first year of the study. A research initiative called the Pox-Protein Public-Private Partnership (P5) was formed to build on the success of the RV144 study. P5 is a collaboration of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), The Gates Foundation, the U.S. Military HIV Research Program, Sanofi Pasteur, the HIV Vaccine Research Network (HVTN) and Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics. P5 initiated several further studies based on the RV144 study: RV305 and RV306, where additional boosting of ALVAC, AIDSVAX or a combination was given; and RV328, where AIDSVAX was studied alone for intense immunologic assessment.

The P5 also launched HVTN 100, a two-year study of the components of the RV144 regimen initiated in February 2015. HVTN 702 is a direct follow-up to this study. Both studies will evaluate a vaccine regimen modified from the RV144 vaccines to work specifically against Clade C where, according to the NIH, “the composition and schedule of the RV144 vaccine regimen have been adjusted to try to increase the magnitude and duration of vaccine-elicited immune responses, and to extend the higher level of protection seen at one year in RV144 throughout the entire three-year follow-up period of HVTN 702.”

The vaccine regimen will consist of a canary pox-based vaccine called ALVAC-HIV and a bivalent gp120 protein subunit vaccine with an adjuvant that enhances the body’s immune response to the vaccine and is combined with an adjuvant called MF59 to potentially generate greater robust immune response. The vaccine regimen will include booster shots at the one-year mark in an effort to prolong the early protective effect observed in RV144.

HVTN 702 will test the safety, tolerability, and efficacy of the vaccine regimen and will enroll 5,400 at-risk HIV-negative men and women. To ensure that women are adequately represented, a minimum of forty percent of participants will be women. In all, fifteen sites in South Africa will participate in the NIAID-sponsored study. Participants will be randomized to either the vaccine regimen or placebo and given five injections over a one-year period of time. They will then be followed for one or two years.

A therapeutic and preventative vaccine that can be used against all clades for a widespread protective benefit is essential in preventing new infections and controlling existing immune responses in people already living with HIV. HVTN 702 may help us move towards these goals. Its results, predicted to be released in 2020, are much anticipated.

Jeannie Wraight is the former editor-in-chief and co-founder of HIV and HCV Haven ( and a blogger and writer for She is a member of the Board of Directors of Health People, a community-based organization in the South Bronx and an advisor to TRW (Teach me to Read and Write), a community-based organization in Kampala, Uganda. She lives with her husband in New York City.


text:
Students & ULI

Student membership with the Urban Land Institute will help prepare you for your career after college.   Student members may be undergraduate or graduate students at any accredited college or university.  Students receive a 75% discount on the cost of a membership, and subsequent discounts on all events hosted by ULI Austin.

In addition, The University of Texas at Austin: Real Estate Finance & Investment Center subsidizes ULI student membership for UT students participating in the Undergraduate and Graduate Real Estate Societies.  For more information, please contact:

Rachel Allen
Program Director
Real Estate Finance & Investment Center
McCombs School of Business

Student Member Benefits

Networking & Professional Development

  • Member-only events and discounts on all local District Council events. From programs on Emerging Trends to breakfast networking meetings, ULI Austin events offer the opportunity to meet a variety of real estate professionals in the greater Austin area and to work together to improve your community.
  • Member discount on the Annual ULI Fall and Spring meetings. These national meeting brings together professionals from throughout the world, and from all sectors of the real estate industry to share experiences and learn new strategies.
  • Membership will follow you to any other city with a ULI District Council, should you move upon graduation.

Objective Information

  • Access to members-only information online. Get information on capital markets, business strategies, case studies, and trends through the members only portal of ULI’s web site.
  • Complimentary Urban Land magazine. Members receive Urban Land magazine, offering practical, timely information on a variety of land use and development opportunities and solutions.
  • Complimentary Reports. Your membership includes a variety of complimentary reports on topics such as Emerging Trends in Real Estate, workforce housing, sustainability/climate change, and more.
  • Personal Research Assistance. ULI has an extensive research library on land use and development with information you can’t get anywhere else. As a member, you receive a discount on custom searches.
  • Book Discounts. From best practices to the latest trends, leadership titles to textbooks, ULI members enjoy discounts of 20 to 60 percent on all ULI books.
  • ULI Career Center. Receive exclusive access to ULI’s SelectLeaders Real Estate Job Network, where ULI members can post and search top real estate jobs from more than 5,000 of the industry’s premier employers.


text:
Hayes Gordon
Study Guide
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full interview
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Copyright & Legal
Australian Biography


text:
Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Turnbull claws back a little bit of ground.

Malcolm Turnbull has clawed back a little bit of public support in the past 2 weeks according to the latest Newspoll conducted for The Australian. The bad news for Mr Turnbull is he trails both Peter Costello and Joe Hockey as preferred Liberal leader. Costello got 36% of the vote with Abbot on 20%, Turnbull on 16% and Tony Abbot on 10%.

The Coalition has jumped 2% on primary votes to trail Labour 43%(steady)-39%. The 2PP has stayed at 55%-45%, a swing of 2.3% to Labor on the 2007 election. If this result was repeated on election day Labor would pick up around 14 extra seats (assuming a universal swing)

Been away for a while.

Will try to post again starting now. Also I'm now on twitter - www.twitter.com/australiavotes
All content that comes from Wikipedia is used under license. Terms available here


text:
Saturday, 1 August 2015

Man wielding his mighty plunger

You know, we all get bunged up now and again. No, I’m not talking about constipation, I leave that to cringe-making TV ads. However I might be using plumbing metaphors, partly, ok, largely so I can write about men with enormous tools (yes I know there are female plumbers, and small tools, but those are for other blogs, other times).
Man with enormous tool. Just because I like writing that.

There have been many discussions of Writers’ Block online, and responses are reminiscent of those about sea- or morning-sickness, or gluten or dairy intolerance, in that those who’ve never had it (YET), often seem to assume it’s imagined or just other writers being over-precious weedy wets chiz chiz. Just apply bum to chair, fingers to keyboard, and keep going, they bark like Sergeant Majors. Those of us with livings to earn can’t afford to have WB! Well those who lay bricks can’t afford to have bad backs, and yet they do. Others, at all levels of fame and success, however measured, are haunted by the condition to varying degrees.

It could be you’ve run out of ideas. It could be you’ve exhausted your resources, and need to live a bit, get out and ‘fill the well’ with experiences before writing some more – those contracted to write more books/poems/plays than their brains want to may be in this position. I don’t tend to run out of ideas, in fact I sometimes have too many. I work in many genres, and at times, masses of creative ideas for art installations, plays, blogs, poems, crime fiction, comedy, one-woman shows, flood in, and the result is a standstill as they get wedged in the revolving door of my available time and attention. Snatches of dialogue, brilliant plot points, beautiful images, stories aching to be told, pester me like a brood of demanding toddlers, each jealously stopping me from giving my time to the others.
Ever get this?
But sometimes, it’s good to stop and let things flow for a bit. Whatever your reason for being blocked, bunged, bewildered or even bored by writing, one possible tool for clearing the drain is a book detailing twelve weeks of activities to aid the creative in anyone, not just writers. THE ARTIST’S WAY by Julia Cameron has been around a good while, and I’ve begun to realise how many people on facebook have done it. Not a self-help book fan normally,  I’ve done it twice, once some years ago at a traumatic time and once again just recently.
Available in paperback or on Kindle.
There are some potentially off-putting things about it, but it can have some powerful effects if you just get on and do it. The main tool is the three pages a day free writing or ‘morning pages’. There are also ‘affirmations’ where you are allowed to say nice things about yourself (in private of course as is only decent) and spot the ‘blurts’ as your nasty inner voice starts trying to cut you down to size. There are tasks to choose from, and ‘Artists’ dates’ – much of the book is about carving out space for yourself in a life often given to our roles in others’ lives – and lots of inspirational quotes.

A warning: the tone of Julia Cameron’s narration is New Age-y, hipster and quasi-religious. Though she makes it clear that what she calls ‘God’ is the creative principle at the heart of the universe, and you don’t have to subscribe to it as a deity to do the course. It’s not about believing anything, just doing it and seeing what comes up. If you can let that side of it pass, it can bring out not only lots of new creative ideas and useful insights into how you think about yourself and your work/play and how you allow yourself to be a writer/musician/potter: but also, it can be a way to bring out latent memories, quite surprising some of them, issues you never resolved and have almost forgotten, but which are still slowing you down and nibbling away at your self-esteem. The words of a spiteful bully, or ex-lover, or teacher. Connecting with your ‘inner child’, who is the creative person inside you with all a child’s needs, irrationality, joy and fragility, is a large part of it.
Oops, found my inner child...
A lot of it is fun. The tasks will suggest you try new things – I went and did a Chinese flower painting course, I bought adults’ colouring books (very fashionable these) and basically got away from doing things I felt I had to be ‘good’ at or finish or do ‘well’ at. This time round, a few new insights came up. And it’s left me with even more creative ideas written in my months of morning pages, but it has also cleared the way for new ways of thinking, the possibility of change and reinvention, not just in the writing arena. I've started working on several new directions for my poetry and am not panicking, quite so much, about all the other ideas lined up. I’d say The Artist's Way is worth a go.

Another source of inspiration if your well has temporarily run dry or you'd like a kick start in a new direction, Marie Lightman who runs Writers' Cafe in Newcastle upon Tyne, has taken on the challenge of blogging a new writing prompt every day for  a year, so pop in here any time

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Catherine Czerkawska said...

How fascinating. I'm off to find the book. I know all too well the block that comes with having just too many ideas, too many bits and pieces going on, a sort of mental log jam so you find yourself doing the hoovering instead. Also there's the log jam that comes when you've done a whole lot of research for a piece of historical fiction and then you realise you have to start writing the novel. But you don't. You do just one more bit of research... Over that one now, but boy, did it go on for a few months. Many thanks for a great post!

Chris Longmuir said...

Ah! Now I know why my characters aren't speaking to me and have gone off in the huff. It's related to the recent loss of my mother. We weren't close (there's a lot of history involved) so the grieving process is not likely to kick in. But, I reckon a lot of the issues between us must be bubbling below the surface and affecting my productivity. My half-brother did say I should write a book about it all, which of course I can't do, but maybe he had a point. Maybe I need to bring all those memories to the surface instead of pushing them down and convincing myself they're not important. Maybe I have to face up to the fact that it's not a God given that you have to be close to your mother. Notice how I haven't included 'like' or 'love' in this unburdening of myself. On the other hand maybe I need therapy!!!!

Elizabeth Kay said...

Sometimes it can be a sudden loss of confidence. There doesn't even have to be an obvious reason, and it can last for years. And sometimes all it takes is one positive response to something for a whole backlog of ideas to come flooding back.

Reb MacRath said...

Fine post. I'll keep the Cameron book in mind. So far, I've been blessed though with a mighty tool that rears and bucks with constant new ideas. :)

julia jones said...

especially like the analogy of a bricklayer with a bad back & a writer who is blocked. Thanks Valerie

Umberto Tosi said...

Gee, and I thought it was just me! You write about writer's block in such an engaging way, no small feat. Thanks, Valerie. I a big fan of Julia Cameron too. Her first book - The Artist's Way -- is her best. I did her exercises - the morning pages, dates with myself, affirmations - back when it first came out. I even took a workshop she gave in San Francisco back in the late 80s. Her techniques do help oil the machinery of writing, but her insights have stayed with me and helped even more. She's authentic. She truly understands the creative process - from the artist point of view. She sweeps aside the societal cliches, materialistic attitudes and false assumptions that we creative types have too often internalized and helps us recognize them as the stoppers that they are.

madwippitt said...

Spot on.

Dennis Hamley said...

Block? At the moment I'm in it.

Lydia Bennet said...

Thanks, all, I've been away so unable to comment before, pleased to know Umberto that you endorse the book and its author! I hope it helps those of you who've yet to try it - you don't have to be blocked, or a writer, to find it useful, it's good for any turning point in a person's life.

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