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Category Archives: Remodeling

Weblog For Very best On the net Shop For Jewelry, Collectibles, Home DÃ©cor

Shawn Martin/ November 15, 2016/ Remodeling/ 0 comments

At Tuesday Morning it is easy to build a space that says wow with our substantial home decor collection. Lela earned a B.A. degree in Journalism from Sam Houston University in Huntsville, TX. She has been writing for the on the internet planet for years. Acquiring or constructing a new home is one of the greatest challenges and as a outcome the query of furnishing and decor is often left as an just after believed. Other on the net purchasing web sites consist of eBay, CraigsList and neighborhood shops with an world-wide-web purchasing set up. Unique consideration should be offered to buying on these internet sites.

Up-and-coming actor Austin seems to be Vanessa’s most really serious connection due to the fact she broke up with longtime boyfriend Zac Efron in December of final year. There are terrific outlets out there that present discount furniture as nicely as numerous websites on line exactly where you can obtain made use of furniture for subsequent to practically nothing. In addition, you can enjoy hassle-no cost purchasing expertise on the internet devoid of any problems.

Obtaining economical apartments in NYC is no straightforward feat, but after you snag a reasonable walk-up, it is time to spruce up your abode with a haul from these home decor stores! These retailers offer leading notch buyer service, great shipping prices and an astounding collection of furniture and decorative products to pick out from. Hence, these guidelines will take you to a lengthy way in home decorating Family members and other individuals will appreciate your work performed behind to decor home is your return.

PotteryBarn – For fantastic home décor tips and products, no other on-line store is as trustworthy and well known as Pottery Barn. According to Intelligent Income, a net internet site called is the hands down favorite for comparing purchasing internet sites for online home décor purchases. Nonetheless, lampshades can also contribute to the creation of unique infant decor. Forever 21 is an American clothes retailer that also has shops around the world.

In the world of home decor that accent table stands alone as one item that can modify the entire feeling on a area just by becoming there. With the support of these shops, you can purchase decorative platters on the web All you need to have to do is browse via the range, choose the ones you like and location the order. Be completely certain that the on line retailer protects and safeguards your credit card data.

Causes For Caring About Green Appliances

Shawn Martin/ November 14, 2016/ Remodeling/ 0 comments

There is no doubt that the expense of living for the majority of men and women is growing substantially. The precise facts of these washing machine models and Washing Machine price tag in India, you simply will need to logon On this shopping and solution comparison webportals you will get offered with a lot collection of a variety of other items beneath the name of different brands, evaluate the capabilities and cost of the merchandise and avail the positive aspects of the most effective on line bargains with discounts and quickly delivery services.

The advantages are: water province, laundry significant (5 to 20 kg), detergent dosage province, the lower put on rate on clothes, wash with warm water, quick to automate disadvantages are: washing time (40 to 60 minutes) , power consumption, low wash, complicated, noisy, high value. There are numerous brands deals in washing machine manufacturing and make you offered with the wide and exclusive collection like Samsung, LG, Whirlpool, Videocon, IFB and so on.

Regardless of whether there are heap of dirty clothing lying about no want to be concerned, as now the most promising washing machine has arrived which has wonderful all round overall performance, extended lasting constructed, classy in design and above all very affordable sufficient. A heap of dirty and stained garments is no a lot more headache for you, as now the most promising brand IFB comes with the brand new models of washing machines which are fantastic in overall overall performance, lengthy lasting in built, classy in design and above all economical enough. Becoming that washing machines are one of those pricey blue moon purchases, you’ll want to make confident you get it proper.

Be it kitchen commodities or washing machines, on-line shopping has taken over the idea of visiting the market & buying the item. There are two sorts of washing machines ‘Semi Automatic Washing Machines’ and ‘Fully Automatic Washing Machines’. A washing machine is an appliance that performs the task of cleaning laundry which includes sheets, clothes, towels and so on. As a matter of truth, we use this term for appliances or machines that use water as the principal cleaning option. The washing machines exterior physique is created from Galvanized Powder Coating, also excellent dimensions 580560880mm and as it is compact it can be placed in any corner of your property.

Each further star could save you 25% of your washing machine’s energy use on a warm cycle. The washing machine is a staple in the residence, cleaning hundreds of garments every year and dealing with grass stains, spilled coffee and all the things in between. Most household washing machines will be employed a handful of hours a day, so it is only all-natural that the parts wear out. If you will need to repair your washing machine but never know where to begin then appliance repairs teasm can fix your appliance in the residence and save lots of time and stress.

50 Favourite Bedrooms

Shawn Martin/ November 3, 2016/ Remodeling/ 0 comments

Ideal Master Bedroom Design and style is your most best method to invest your power soon after day by day action along day. Many intriguing ideas in master bedroom tips that will give you an added tips to remodel your area in accordance with the criteria you want. I want the colors to flow into my bedroom but I am not sure if it really should be a additional bluish gray or silver. The Alluring Decorate Master Bedroom Decorating Inspiration has been posted with wonderful tips and we select the greatest design and style from the world wide web to give best reference for you, so this Alluring Decorate Master Bedroom Decorating Inspiration photo will aid you to get the greatest style for your Home Design and style.

Ananias Mathe A South African Tragedy

Shawn Martin/ October 31, 2016/ Remodeling/ 0 comments

Valid 12/1/16-12/five/16 at Price Plus World Marketplace stores inside the United States and Not valid on alcoholic beverages, present cards, eGift Cards, One of a Kind Rugs, delivery surcharges, and shipping costs. Applicant contended that shoppers would perceive the mark as indicating applicant or its Hotel Adlon, and the supply of its goods and services. History doesn’t help that claim—quite the contrary—and there are excellent causes why the jobs that disappear will never be replaced. Below standard conditions, trade barriers of various sorts limit the flow of goods and capital from a single nation to one more.

The US government’s harebrained pursuit of neoconservative policies has succeeded, against the odds, in creating a sprawling Eurasian alliance with an financial and military possible substantially higher than that of the US. There have probably been worse foreign policy blunders in the history of the globe, but I can’t feel of one off hand.

The duo, wearing small extra than underwear and cherubic wings, gave Natalie and Denise the task of attempting to gather souvenirs from different housemates, such as a lock of Frankie’s hair and Michael’s cowboy hat, and secretly return them to the cherubs who had been waiting in a secret room. By applying this website, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Very first of all, the truth that cost-free trade is poor policy does not mean that each and every sort of trade barrier is fantastic policy.

Graphing changes more than time to the price of prevalent goods and use an online CPI calculator to estimate the cost of goods in other eras. Though applicant’s identification of goods does not reveal a per se violation of the CSA, extrinsic proof might be employed to show such violation. Pakistan will now have to take actions to minimize the expense of production of crops and also keep high-quality of goods to compete in the international market place. One of the fundamental targets of efficient foreign policy is to divide your possible enemies against each and every other, so that they are so busy worrying about one particular another that they never have the time or resources to bother you.

In NZ we never often get a chance to do this, as most basic contract terms allow storage coys to take direct ownership of abandoned goods or through unpaid storage costs. We went to church, went to eat buffet pizza (his fave), and then went to an additional sporting goods store to choose up a heavy dumbbell for mid-workday lifting. Home Goods and its accompanying newsletter – HGO This Week – covers the furniture, bedding, appliances, customer electronics, accessories, lamps and lighting and floor coverings solution sectors of the significant ticket home goods market place in Canada.

Architecture Design and style. SFMOMA

Shawn Martin/ October 30, 2016/ Remodeling/ 0 comments

Slovenia, which gained independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, is now economically the most progressive nation that gained independence from Europe. A technique style is described making use of a number of views that regularly involve a static view displaying the code structure of the method, a dynamic view showing the actions of the technique for the duration of execution, and a deployment view displaying how a program is placed on hardware for execution. On-line landscape design and style continues to enhance in recognition across most of the applications and the same occurred to landscape designing.

Through the 1990s there was a concerted effort to define and codify fundamental aspects of the discipline, with study function concentrating on architectural types ( patterns ), architecture description languages , and architecture documentation 23 Investigation institutions have played a prominent part in furthering computer software architecture as a discipline.

Game designing is a really competitive sector that is virtually exploding with development possible, and there are various elements that can enable you optimize your salary horizons. If not corrected, such violations can transform the architecture into a monolithic block, with adverse effects on understandability, maintainability, and evolvability. Design Reasoning and Selection Generating is the activity of evaluating style choices. Co-functioning space interior architecture design with direct involvement from Co-merge corporation. Without exception all of the integration vendors now give an SOA architecture built on the idea of an Enterprise Service Bus (ESB).

Architecture is not often defined as massive or magnificent at times it is just a dwelling. It offers a basis for analysis of software program systems’ behavior ahead of the system has been constructed. These 3d pictures are known as the architecture models of 3D. These 3d models are right like a substantial model, but those can be turned on the screen. Each the supply and target applications have to have some expertise of each and every other in order to procedure messages.

The National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB), which is the sole agency authorized to accredit U.S. skilled degree applications in architecture, recognizes three types of degrees: the Bachelor of Architecture, the Master of Architecture, and the Doctor of Architecture. Get your creating design designed by proficient team of 3D architecture rendering designers and animators to execute a couple of International rendering projects all across the globe. See three :pp.311-326 25 for a discussion of different approaches for enhancing a current style.

SPACE Architecture Design

Shawn Martin/ October 10, 2016/ Remodeling/ 0 comments

Public transportation subway and regional rail stations are a quick walk away. Provided the architecturally important needs determined by the evaluation, the existing state of the style and the benefits of any evaluation activities, the design and style is made and improved. It supports early design choices that influence a system’s development, deployment, and maintenance life. They contain expertise management and communication, style reasoning and choice creating, and documentation.

Rent (Updated Each day)

Shawn Martin/ October 3, 2016/ Remodeling/ 0 comments

OTHER Characteristics: STRATEGICALLY Located, Substantial UNDERGROUND HALL FOR CLUB, Quite CLOSE TO THE NEW GOVERNMENT House. 1 of the wonderful ironies of the circumstance is that the popular timber ‘Queenslander’ homes that have been elevated on stumps or long stilts up to three-4m above the ground are disappearing from Brisbane, replaced by common houses constructed at ground level on concrete slabs. Step over the marble lintel and into a smaller shop where the owner knows the names of all his costumers, and the favored ice cream flavors of the young children. English style groups of row houses supplied landscaping, wide covered porches, steep slate roofs, Tudor half timbered stucco second stories, dormers, and varied entryways.

Homes for sell in Tanzania are most rewarding true estate investment in Arusha city. Get all of South Africa’s top Estate Agent properties for sale or to rent on your Android or Apple device. I’ve just started a weblog about my dolls homes at – inspired by your descriptions & Anna-Maria’s weblog, which I discovered by way of your internet site – funny, when we are both in Australia! Some modern homes fall apart after 30 years, cob homes will last for several generations and are easy to repair when they do need repairing.

They produced the hiccups we encountered far much less stressful through the sale of our property. The smallest homes were built on alleys with fanciful names like Satisfied Alley, Strawberry Alley, and Whiskey Alley. In the final 20 years many of these houses have becoming demolished or ‘transported’ by the thousands as renovations and land became far more pricey. This delightful tiny chalet homes the Grandparent dolls that were sold by Caroline’s Home in the 1980s.

A lot of thanks for sharing your houses with us it has been actually interesting and beautiful looking at them. However not too long ago I had come across a couple of blogs and sites that detailed the earlier Lundby houses and furniture. If the homeowner fails to remedy the default within the 20-day grace period, the lender will send a second letter by certified mail notifying the homeowner that the debt has been accelerated and that failure to pay the complete balance of the loan will outcome in the sale of the home.

These apartments for sale in Larnaca come with three spacious bedrooms, one which is a master bedroom with an en-suite shower, a modern kitchen with plenty of cupboards for storage, a big and comfy loved ones area with a dining location, a bathroom, private parking and an further storage space. A exclusive chance to obtain one particular of six new constructed homes in this complicated located just minutes fromTankhill.


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Welcome to Cascade Crest Condos

In the Heart of the Bavarian Village of Leavenworth. Brand new ground 2-bedroom luxury condos. Fully furnished and equipped for your family to experience all four seasons in this fascinating place.

Be close to everything. The park, the shops and the music and all the fun. Located across the street from the Festhalle where all bigger events are held. Two blocks to the village park. Two blocks to the Wenatchee River and park.

Whether you are participating in the year around festivities, skiing, white water rafting, fishing, wine-tasting, golfing or just a relaxing get-away, you will have everything at your doorstep.

Prepare your meals in a gourmet kitchen or take a short stroll to fine dining on Front Street. Master Suites and second bedrooms are spacious and comfortable. Flat screen TV's, gas fireplaces. Park in your private garage, the remote opener is on the kitchen counter. Covered front decks with gas BBQs.

Staying in a private vacation rental home beats a small hotel room everytime. You'll have more fun and feel more at home. We offer quality homes, in great locations and plenty of personal service. Call today to get the best selection.

Goldener Inns, Resorts & Hotels


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About Designer Mono B serves up quality fashion on a hot silver platter. Donned with the self-appointed mantra that fast fashion should never forego quality or unique simplicity, Mono B makes fashion happen fast and they make it happen well and look good while doing it.
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face value tickets
« back to trades Lookin for 2 tickets for UM at the beacon!!
   Thu 1/17/13 11:14:30am | #53346 via | Viewed: 401 times
In Search of
This Trade has been Committed to and is no longer available!

Looking for 2 or more tickets for the UM beacon show tomorrow night. can meet anywhere in NYC to exchange

bpower1224's Reviews (39)    Avg. Rating: 5.0
Fast and Smoof     - Rating: 5.0

Post: ISO 1 Ticket N3 12.30 PHISH

~ Easy, textbook transaction with quick communication. Thanks!12/22/16

What all trades should be...     - Rating: 5.0

Post: FS 1 12/30 PTMB Ticket For Phish At MSG Section 413, Row 1

~ Brendan was great to trade with...easy and great communication, paid immediately.

Thanks again for making the trade so easy.12/21/16

great buyer     - Rating: 5.0

Post: Phish - Friday 12/30/16 - Two Tickets - Section 208

~ quick and easy, paid in full immediately, perfectly pleasant to deal with. zero complaints, highly recommend him12/20/16

Second Trade, Still Great     - Rating: 5.0

Post: ISO Single Lakeview Pavillion

~ I have had nothing but excellent trades with Brendan. Hope to keep this trade train rolling.6/26/16

Great Buyer     - Rating: 5.0

Post: ISO 1 Ticket Each Night @ The Mann

~ Committed & Paid fast. 2nd time dealing with Brendan and it again went smoothly. Will seek out again in the future since I know he's top notch.6/15/16

Phriends helping phriends....     - Rating: 5.0

Post: ISO Single Cuse Pavillion

~ Thanks for a super easy first transaction. I would buy or trade with Brendan anyday. Enjoy the show in 'Cuse bud, I know that I will!4/07/16

Great Trader, Easy Transaction!!!     - Rating: 5.0

Post: ISO Single Pearl Jam 5/2

~ Very easy to work with, excellent communication. Would work with him again anytime.3/24/16

Great!!!     - Rating: 5.0

Post: FOUR MPP Night 1 Phish PTBM Lawn Tix

~ Excellent!8/28/15

Magna Satisphied     - Rating: 5.0

Post: FS: Single PTBM MANN N2 8/12

~ Brendan was easy to work with, communicated as necessary and delivered as promised. Would recommend him as a trader any day!8/03/15

Great Buyer     - Rating: 5.0

Post: Can't Go To The Mann 8/12....Hope You Cann 2 GA Lawn

~ Great to work with- good communication, prompt payment, quick to respond to messages. Would definitely do a deal with him again!7/24/15

great trader     - Rating: 5.0

Post: Phish Lawn For Mann 1, MPP1, MPP 2

~ Brendan was easy to trade with. Communicated clearly and quickly, paid instantly. Highly recommended!7/20/15

great buyer     - Rating: 5.0

Post: PTBM NYE 12/31/2014 MIAMI SEC 325 R15 S5

~ Paid before I even mailed the ticket12/29/14

TAB Beacon - Great Seller     - Rating: 5.0

Post: FS: Pair For Tonight TAB @ The Beacon 12/11

~ Great seller, very easy transaction to make. Great Night.. Thanks man A12/22/14

Great communication     - Rating: 5.0

Post: 2 Extra GA For Tonight.

~ Great communication. Easy transaction.11/29/14

Easy transaction! Embrace the Face!     - Rating: 5.0

Post: FS: 2 Pearl Jam At Pepsi Center Denver 10/22/14

~ Brendan was very easy to work with and paid for the tickets right away. I would definitely trade with him again in the future. 8/19/14

Great to deal with! Easy transaction     - Rating: 5.0

Post: FS: 1 Saturday SPAC LAWN- 7/5 - PTBM LAWN

~ Would certainly deal with again. Quick to reply, easy to deal with. thanks and have a great tour7/02/14

Quick Shipping A+     - Rating: 5.0

Post: FS: MMP 7/26 Single Lawn $35 Shipped

~ Received ticket well in advance of the show date and any question I had he answered promptly. Would trade with again. 6/27/14

Phish Trade     - Rating: 5.0

~ Overall Fabulous transaction. Will use again. 6/23/14

Honest trader w/ good vibes     - Rating: 5.0

Post: FT: MPP N1 Pav For Mann N2 Pav

~ Good communication throughout this trade. Quick responses and great turnaround. 6/20/14

Perfect Trade     - Rating: 5.0

Post: FT: 7/3 SPAC For 7/26 MPP Center Pavillion

~ Great communication, easy trade, highly recommended! Pumped for tour!!6/16/14

GOOD CONNECTION!     - Rating: 5.0

Post: JB Single-aisle

~ Brad& I got in IMMEDIATE contact w/ one another; which led to our Great Trade.
There were a couple/few "changes" to Brad& my "plans" along the way...but communication was excellent& was the Key to our perfect trade...

I would trade again w/ this cashortrade member, again--anytime!

White Plains12/18/13

Smooth Trade     - Rating: 5.0

Post: ISO Phish Hartford XL Center

~ Brendan is a very easy guy to trade with. Very good communication and a nice guy to boot.10/31/13

A+++++++++     - Rating: 5.0

Post: Pearl Jam Barclays Center Brooklyn Ny Sat 10/19

~ great communication easy to work with9/04/13

would trade again     - Rating: 5.0

Post: Want Brooklyn Pearl Jam

~ Friendly user, was helpful also, since I hadn't used the new COT system with the payment/shipping stuff, and he helped me out with the process. Would trade with again.8/27/13

2 SPAC Phish tix for 7/6     - Rating: 5.0

Post: Have 5 Phish Tickets For 7/6 @ SPAC Gen Ad Lawn

~ Brendan was super nice and stayed in touch throughout the process. Would definitely recommend him and deal with him again! Thanks!7/08/13

Second trade smooth as the first     - Rating: 5.0

Post: PHISH: 2 Tickets For Sale-Jones Beach

~ Bpower is kind and trustworthy. Great part of the community. Enjoy the show!!!7/04/13

Good Trade     - Rating: 5.0

Post: ISO Trade My Chicago Saturday For Your Sunday

~ My second trade with Brendan. Easy to deal with and quick payment.

Would recommend to anyone wanting to trade.7/03/13

Super Easy     - Rating: 5.0

Post: For Sale: Phish SPAC PTBMs Lawns (x2) Sat 7/6 [no Fees, No Shipping]

~ Worked just like they write it up. Paypal -> mail -> tickets -> fun. Nice job, everybody.7/02/13

great trader!     - Rating: 5.0

Post: FS: Jones Beach 7/12 Sec 19 $60 Shipped!

~ immediate payment! great communication! highly recommended!6/29/13

Chill and Easy Trade!!!     - Rating: 5.0

Post: ✯FS: Phish Jones Beach (7/12) Section 12L Row MM✯

~ Brendan committed right away and made payment fast! Easy to communicate with and friendly. Super smooth transaction. Thank you.6/11/13

Great Trader!     - Rating: 5.0

~ Brendan was communicative throughout the deal. Sent the ticket right away as promised.

Would highly recommend him to anyone looking to trade.6/10/13

thanks!     - Rating: 5.0

~ thanks for the sweet trade & good communication - happy travels!5/21/13

Great Transaction     - Rating: 5.0

Post: Phish Jones Beach Pavilion Face

~ Quick on the communication, fast payment, all good! 5/08/13

Great transaction     - Rating: 5.0

Post: ISO Jones Beach Phish Tickets Have Cashe

~ Brendan was a great buyer. Good communication and paid when he said he would. Enjoy the Jones Beach shows!4/22/13

This is what it's all about!     - Rating: 5.0

Post: ISO 2+ Tickets UM At The Beacon

~ Great trade. Great people. Great show! Would definitely trade again.1/21/13

great cashortrader     - Rating: 5.0

Post: Lookin For 2 Tickets For UM At The Beacon!!

~ very good about communication. easy transaction. recommended.1/18/13

Glad to help get him in the Garden     - Rating: 5.0

Post: Still Searching For My 12/28 Have CASH

~ Was about to post my spare FS, but saw his post that he needed an extra. Traded a few messages and within an hour the ticket had been paid for. Very easy guy to work with. Thanks & have a great run!12/22/12

Couldn't be smoother     - Rating: 5.0

~ Great communication, true to his word. Hope he enjoys the show. 6/27/12

Great to trade with     - Rating: 5.0

Post: Lots Of Lawns For Saturday 7/7 SPAC

~ Brendan was on top of it with communication and i would be happy to trade with him again.6/07/12

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Cassiefairy – My Thrifty Life

Cassiefairy's thrifty lifestyle blog – Saving money every day with DIY crafts, sewing projets, low-cost recipes & shppping tips

My fun weekend at Blogstock 2014

I’ve just got home from one of the best festivals I’ve ever been to. It wasn’t a big festival, it wasn’t rowdy and – most importantly – it wasn’t muddy! But it was just right for a happy bunch of bloggers who traipsed out to Elstree this weekend where Aldenham Country Park played host the the worlds first blogging festival: Blogstock 2014.

blockstock 2014_-8

I was thrilled when Hertz invited me to camp with them and I jumped at the chance to attend this inaugural blogging event. I packed up my floral bag, bought festival food essentials (read: one Pot Noodle) and jumped in the car. Last Friday afternoon I was stood in middle of the arena, taking it all in; there was the Expedia VIP area where phone chargers and free drinks were available all day long; a PopChip stand with double-sized deck chairs and massive crisp-packet beanbags to chill out on (and all you-can-eat Pop-Chips of course!), the Fashion Galleries where most of the talks that I attended took place, a cosy tipi for informal workshops, the debate tent for lively sessions, the Lonely Planet photobooth (our late night-photos have been censored haha!) and a huge marquee hosting travel and foodie talks all weekend (and the inevitable late-night parties!). Despite being one of the first arrivals to the festival (what can I say? I’m prompt!) I knew this was going to be a great experience and when the Contiki shuttle bus arrived with 100s of happy campers, I skipped over to say hi.

It was the perfect occasion to wear my VIP-esque ‘You can’t sit with us’ t-shirt from WearAll

Here are some snaps of my home for the weekend in the #CampwithHertz village – check out the hashtag on Twitter and Instagram for everyone’s fabulous photos of our cosy glamping experience! As you all know, I love fairy lights and bunting so a big smile spread across my face when I saw the bell tents popping up perfectly decorated in festival fashion. After one-too-many wash-outs, I’m not a keen camper but walking into my bell tent completely changed my opinion of the camping experience; I had a cosy bed, embroidered cushions, a lantern, snacks, rug and it DID NOT LEAK! Even with a thunderstorm threatening to dampen our spirits on the Friday night, we all stayed cosy and dry under canvas and even snuck over to the marquee for a dance in our wellies!

Some of the noteworthy workshops that I attended were the fashion blogging talks, where I learnt about pitching ideas for magazine articles from fabulous freelance writer and editor Alison Perry and brand collaborations (thanks to Emma Hart from Push PR for all her advice!), and I had my questions answered about the blogging things I’d always wondered about but never had anyone to ask! Thankfully the gorgeous Jen Riley from the famous A Beauty Junkie in London blog was on hand during the Mode Media session to help me out with my affiliate link questions. The session discussed many ways of monetizing blogs and I found it all really helpful (Thanks Louise!) – I’ve added lots of future research to my ‘to do’ list!

fun at Blogstock 2014-5

Saturday morning brought more sunshine and an early morning session with Pinterest UK gurus Lizzie and Zoe who gave us all a delicious cooked breakfast to munch on while talking us through a whole host of Pinterest features that I’d never even heard of before! As a crazy-pin-addict, I was sooo surprised that there was even more I could be doing on Pinterest… that’s my summer gone then! Shortly afterwards, I grabbed my second breakfast of the day at the Nuffnang #blogstockbrunch – yoghurt, bananas, croissants, fruit juice, muesli – and met the creative folk behind this generous spread Jesse and Jean-Luc from Nuffnang UK. I had to scuttle off to a finance session but soon headed back to chat with them and find out more about their blog advertising community – the work they do is so interesting and I’m hoping that they will be able to give me some help and advice on some of the more technical elements of my blog that I am scared to edit in case my whole site comes crashing down!

The highlight of the weekend for me was the old-fashioned pop-up village fête that Generator Hostels hosted. Belen had invited me along to the #GenLove Generator Fair by email earlier in the week, so I was already looking forward to it, but it was even bigger and better than expected;  including a big bouncy castle (how do children jump around for hours? I was practically dying after two minutes!), coconut shy, Polaroid fancy dress, ice cream and popcorn. We had great fun whizzing around the Hertz race track trying to beat each other in lap time-trials, but my dress slowed down my attempt while I tried to keep my modesty (same problem on the bouncy castle, eek!) so I was easily lapped by the other competitors!

One of the best sessions I attended was ‘Join the Vlogosphere’ with rock-star vlogger Ceara McEvoy. I’d already watched some of her videos in the past so I knew just how fantastic she is, and I’ve never ever tried vlogging before so I was intrigued. After passing around a tray of biscuits Ceara talked us through the best equipment to use, camera settings, editing software and showed us some of her hilarious clips. I was so pleased that I went to the session, and I am definitely going to have a go at vlogging in the future – especially if Ceara is willing to give me a hand with my ambition to make cookery videos – I’d be a fool not to do it!

Personally, my top experiences of the weekend were meeting loads of fabulous bloggers and included mixing Appleton Rum cocktails with superstar blogger ReeRee Rockette from Rockalily whose blog I’ve read ever since I started writing (and who kicked butt in the end of festival debate!) and the stunning Megan from The Briar Rose Blog, one the inspirational bloggers that I re-pin the most on Pinterest and a fellow shortlister at the 2014 Cosmopolitan Blog Awards! We were all tested to the limit in the pub quiz and had fun dancing the night away while playing keepy-uppy with an inflatable globe. There are too many new friends to list here but please go and check out the blogs of Toris Tales, Cherishing the Cherry BlossomsTodds Travels, A Lady in London, Backpacks and Bunkbeds, Tigerlilly Quinn, Eat Like a Girl, Macca Sherifi to name but a few! 🙂

I’ve come away from the weekend with tons of ideas for my blog, a notebook full of tips, a whole stack of business cards from the wonderful people I met and an insatiable yearning for a bell tent of my own. I can’t wait to get started improving my blog (apparently you can teach an old dog new tricks!) and I am already counting down the days to the next Blogstock festival!

Author: Cassiefairy

Cassie is a freelance writer with a Masters degree in lifestyle promotion studies. She loves to 'get the look for less' so regularly shares thrifty fashion posts, DIY interior design ideas and low-cost recipes on her blog.

17 thoughts on “My fun weekend at Blogstock 2014

  1. Pingback: Glamping inspiration – My dream bell tent | Cassiefairy - My Thrifty Life

  2. Pingback: Nuffnang UK | The World’s Leading Blog Advertising Community » Nuffnang at Blogstock

  3. This all sounds SO amazing! I missed out this year but maybe next year I’ll go! Thanks for sharing your experience 🙂

    Yazmin xx

  4. Great round up Cassie and thanks for the mention. It was so lovely to meet you, I’m glad you omitted the photo booth pic of us all though! I had such a great weekend as well, learnt an enormous amount, not least that my fellow bloggers are some of the loveliest people and have built a fabulous community. Roll on the next one!

  5. So pleased you enjoyed my session – your weekend sounds awesome!

  6. Hi Cassie! Thank you for the mention in your write-up, it was lovely meeting you too 🙂 I’ll be catching up with your blog posts and social media content over the next few days and get in touch to have a chat. Blowing a kiss to you! Jesse x

  7. Blogstock sounds so cool! I’m very jealous! It sounds like you got a lot out of it, and lots of tasty treats!

  8. Great post! It was lovely to meet you there!

  9. Fab round up of the event, Cassie! It was so great to meet you, and I’m pleased you had such a great time – and, you know, we didn’t come last in the quiz so here’s to that, too!!
    (p.s. – I am in love with your uber-fun socks, hehe!).

    • Haha, thanks Tori, I think you need some Chatty Feet to take on your travels too! 😉 it was lovely to meet you and Megan, hope to catch up again soon! x

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Missouri Greece Program

Greece and Greek culture have exercised a tremendous influence on European and North American civilization. The academic program in Greece is a wonderful educational and cultural experience, offering to students the opportunity to study in Greece through a semester-long curriculum combining regular classes, field trips, and independent studies. Courses include various aspects of Greek civilization (history, art, art-history, literature, philosophy, music, theater, etc.), computer information systems, information technology, international business, accounting and finance, management, mathematics, and science. The program is open for credit to students with a minimum GPA of 2.5. Courses offered by the Missouri Greece Program may be used for credit toward graduation.

Cost of the program includes regular Missouri S&T fees plus a non-academic program fee which includes accommodation in Athens, a weekly program of cultural and social activities, and subsidized course-related excursions. Students eligible for financial assistance at Missouri S&T may be able to apply this aid to the Missouri Greece Program. For information, contact:

International and Cultural Affairs
Study Abroad
104 Norwood Hall
Rolla, MO 65409-0610

On this page


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Monday, November 17, 2003

Multi-ISBN LibraryLookup

Hickey and his associate Jeff Young put up a page to explore ways of using this one-to-many mapping in a LibraryLookup-like bookmarklet. It produces a bookmarklet that issues a query URL with multiple ISBNs.

Since my library's OPAC doesn't respond to multi-ISBN queries, though, I tried another approach: multiple individual queries. One way to handle these would be to have a server-based application parse the results and look for indications of success or failure. (Since the results are only Web pages, not well-formed XML responses, that would entail some crufty pattern recognition.) Another way, which I've implemented, is to open up a new window for each query. As an experiment, here's a version of the Build-Your-Own-Bookmarklet page that creates bookmarklets that use that method:

experimental LibraryBookmarklet builder for multi-ISBN lookup

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FREE Father's Day Party Printables from Sarah Hope Designs

by Jillian Leslie on

Yes, Father's Day is just around the corner, so I'm happy to be sharing this fun collection of free Father's Day "mustache" printables designed by Yulia at Sarah Hope Designs.

The collection includes: a welcome sign, cupcake toppers, straw/food flags, mini candy bar wrappers, mini cake bunting, cupcake wrappers, photo booth mustaches, blank tented cards, water bottle wrappers, patterned paper, and a "Happy Father's Day" banner.

Download the free Father's Day printables here!

Here's the whole collection...

Thank you, Yulia, the mustache photo props are definitely my favorite part!

To learn more about Yulia and see all of her designs, visit her at Sarah Hope Designs.

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text:
Oct 212014
The Cat Clam is created especially for cats
with their likes and personality in mind.
Your cat will enjoy the comfort and inviting
atmosphere where they can be cozy,
snuggle and snooze in their own private place.
The Cat Clam is that perfect hideaway.

Dimensions: 17″ diameter x 12″ height

Price: $49.99

Oct 212014

These are some of the testimonials and photos that we have received from our customers. Please send us your Cat Clam photos & a brief testimonial so we can share your cat experience with other cat lovers. CC_101914_HomeTesLauraM_211x120

“I purchased the Cat Clam at the cat show in Atlanta. My cat, Viggo, loves it and sleeps there almost every night!” — Laura

“Best cat toy/furniture product ever bought…my cat loves it and spends a lot of time in it” — Katherine

“Thanks for this wonderful item! Our Maine Coons have fun with this.
As this is light and soft, it was easy to bring back three of them to Japan. We are very happy with this.” — Yukari

“Thank you so much for sending the Cat Clam. My kittens are loving it! It took them no time at all to check it out and Bella is asleep in it as we speak…and the fabric is super cute too! Thanks again. It is fabulous! — Missy

“When I saw the Cat Clam the first time I knew it would be a HIT in my house. The design alone was a perfect fit for my Teacup Persian who loves forts!  It’s perfect for any size cat, its custom design has inside supports to keep its shape.  Your Cat Clam also comes in a choice of fun design patterns with solid trim accents.  From the first contact I was impressed.  Their customer service is excellent.  I gave my fabric selections one day, my clam shipped the next day.  Arrived well packaged and ready for kitties to play!  Thanks Cat Clam!” — Susan


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Contact Us

Jana Kramer Recounts Sweet Engagement Story

Jana Kramer
Jason Kempin, Getty Images

Hopeful romantics would be hard pressed to find an engagement story as perfect and picturesque as Jana Kramer and Brantley Gilbert‘s sentimental tale.

In a recent radio interview with WYCD, Kramer shares that her prospective groom popped the question in a place that perfectly symbolizes the relationship between the two rising country stars: the historic Ryman Auditorium in downtown Nashville.

“He surprised me so much,” recalls Kramer. “It was actually his birthday when he proposed.”

Elaborating on the romantic story, the ‘Whiskey’ singer spills, “He had blindfolded me — and I thought, ‘Why are you blindfolding me?’ He took me to the Ryman Auditorium. And he was like, ‘We always talk about how if it wasn’t for country music we never would have met. About 30 steps to our right is where Johnny Cash and June met.'”

“And he’s always idolized that love story,” Kramer adds.

Gilbert and Kramer’s engagement is the most recent step in their whirlwind romance, which includes a new living arrangement for the pair. Kramer has confirmed that she has ditched her former bachelorette pad for a more couple-friendly space in Nashville.

“I actually bought the house, and he is living with me, yes,” the gorgeous actress-singer says. The pair picked out their new residence together, but did not purchase the property jointly.

Kramer avoided giving a specific wedding date, but admits that the two busy singers only “had like two weekends that we were able to do it this year,” leading many to believe that she will be walking down the aisle sometime in 2013.

Next: See Jana Kramer's Engagement Ring

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text:
The Mouth as a Lethal Weapon

The Mouth as a Lethal Weapon

The Mouth as a Lethal Weapon

We have all done it–said too much or said the wrong thing and regretted it later. Too often, opening our mouths releases gossip, complaints, or destructive words. Our tongue is a concealed weapon—the most lethal. “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matt 10:28). A gun or knife can wound the body, but inflicts no damage on the soul, yet the tongue can mortally wound it.

In theory, it would seem easy to control our tongue. It’s small and even can be kept locked up simply by shutting our mouths. Yet, for something that weighs so little, it so often weighs us down in sin.

Talking is one of those things that we should quit while we are ahead. “In a multitude of words, sin is not lacking” (Proverbs 10:19). I am often guilty of this so I am not pointing fingers. I think women are especially vulnerable because we tend to be sociable and innately talk more than men—not that men can’t also wag a mean tongue.

Our tongues often seem to have a mind of their own and before we know it, we’ve blurted out too much information or something better left unsaid. Sometimes we mask gossip as concern—I’m really worried about her…. or excuse it as a need to vent or confide in someone.

And yet, in the confessional, we need to acknowledge that we have sinned. I’ve heard some people say that as long as it’s true, it’s not really gossip. Or others know about it anyways, so it’s okay to repeat. But God reads what is in our hearts. If we do not have a valid reason to let someone know about something—information that they need to know to prevent a problem—then spreading scandal or reporting on bad behavior is simply not our God-given task. For me, I use the standard that if I won’t say it in front of the person or want them to know I said it, then I should not say it at all.

The Power of Words

Here are some common ways that our words get us into trouble.

  • Detraction – repeating something true without a good reason (Sirach 21).
  • Racial jokes that encourage hatred or sexual jokes which use impurity for entertainment (Ephesians 5:3-4).
  • Calumny – talking about someone’s faults. “Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned…” (Luke 6:37).
  • Arguing – speaking nasty or using biting remarks
  • Criticizing –constant complaining and scolding to vent rather than desire to help another out of love. (Proverbs 21:9).
  • Breaking confidences – “Don’t tell anyone else, but…..” (Proverbs 11:13).
  • Listening to the words of others can be wrong. “An evildoer listens to wicked lips; a liar pays attention to a destructive tongue” (Proverbs 17:4).

God gave us the gift of speech. We use it to praise and glorify him. Our words can evangelize and lift others up in spirit. But talking can also be a waste of time, empty, frivolous, and gossipy. It can take time away from our family, prayer or tasks we should be tending to.

Instead of talking to God, we often seek comfort through venting and say things against people that should be left unspoken. And once it’s out of our mouth, even trying to take it back does not completely undo bad impressions of those we’ve spoken about and how it reflects on our own character. Through our excessive talking we are also often on the receiving end of listening to gossip and the business of others.

Like any addiction—and talking is an addiction—it’s a day-by-day, ongoing task not to overindulge. For many, the first step is to recognize the times we let words lead to sin. This might mean asking God to reveal these times and asking him to help us use our speech appropriately.

Another way to stop misusing our speech is to avoid situations that often lead to gossip. Going out for coffee, talking on the phone too long, and other socializing occasions might be the times we are most guilty of using our tongue as a weapon. Avoid these situations altogether or cut them short. If those around us begin to gossip, counteract by saying something positive or laying it on the line: “I’m really trying to stay away from gossip,” then change the subject.

We can also pray for the gift of silence. Through confession, our sins of the tongue will be absolved and we will receive graces to avoid them in the future. If additional incentive is needed, here is thought to keep in mind: It is better to remain silent and let people think you are dumb than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.

Copyright 2013 Patti Maguire Armstrong

About Author

Patti Maguire Armstrong and her husband have ten children. She is an award-winning author and was managing editor and co-author of Ascension Press’s Amazing Grace Series. Her newest books are: Big Hearted: Inspiring Stories from Everyday Families, a collection of stories to inspire family love, and Dear God, I Don't Get It and the sequel, Dear God, You Can't Be Serious, children's fiction that feeds the soul through a fun and exciting story. Patti is a correspondent for the National Catholic Register, Our Sunday Visitor & Dakota Catholic Action. She has appeared on EWTN 4 times and Fox and Friends as well as Catholic radio stations across the country.

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text:
Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

tragedy of withholding from God so many hours which will never come back

The Liturgical Year By Prosper Guéranger, Catholic Church: "it was a fault in thee who wast called to something higher to withhold from God so many hours which he was inwardly urging thee to reserve for him alone. And who knows whither thy soul might have been led hadst thou continued longer thus to wound thy Spouse. But we whose tepidity can see nothing in thy great sins but what would be perfection in many of us have a right to appreciate as the Church does both thy life and thy writings and to pray with her on this joyful day of thy feast that we may be nourished with thy heavenly doctrine and kindled with thy love of God"

Do more good works in a day than many others in many years

Devotion to the sacred heart of Jesus. Transl By Jean Croiset: "Nor are we to suppose that recollection makes persons idle and favours negligence A man that is truly interior works more does more good and renders more service to the Church in a day than many others who are not interior can render it in many years even if they possessed greater natural abilities Not only "

By this practice, More in a Month than by any other practice in Many Years

A treatise on the true devotion to the blessed virgin, tr. by F.W. Faber By Louis Marie Grignon de Montfort, Mary: "7 By this practice faithfully observed you will give Jesus more glory in a month than by any other practice however difficult in many years and I give the following reasons for it 1 Because doing your actions by our Blessed Lady as this practice teaches you you abandon your own intentions and operations although good and known to lose yourself so to speak in the intentions of the Blessed Virgin although they are unknown Thus you enter by participation into the sublimity of her intentions which are so pure that she gives more glory to God by the least of her actions for example in twirling "

Saturday, October 11, 2008

trying to avoid the slightest distraction in prayer, but blind

A father thinks that it is quite enough to maintain good order in his house; he will not have anyone swearing or using obscene words. That is very good. But he has no scruple about allowing his boys to go to amusements, to fairs, and all sorts of pleasures like that. This same father permits work to be done on Sundays on the slightest pretext, even such as not to go against the wishes of his reapers or his threshers. However, you see him in church adoring God, even prostrate before Him: he is trying to avoid the slightest distraction. But tell me, my friends, how do you suppose God can look upon such people as that? Carry on, my poor friend, you are blind. Go and learn your duties and then you may come to offer your prayers to God. Do you not see that you are doing the work of Pontius Pilate, who recognised Jesus Christ and who yet condemned Him?

We see others, too, who are all full of pious practices, who become full of scruples at omitting some prayers they usually say. They would think themselves lost if they were not at Holy
Communion on certain days when they have the habit of receiving, but trifles make them impatient and grumblers. A mere word which they did not care for will fill them with coldness and dislike. They will have difficulty in being civil to their neighbour; they will want to have nothing to do with him; on different pretexts, they will avoid his company; they will find that someone has been behaving badly in respect of them.

Go away, you poor hypocrites, go and become converted; after that you may have recourse to the Sacraments, which, in your state, without knowing it, you are only profaning with your wrongly understood devotion.

From the Sermons of St. Jean-Marie-Baptiste Vianney

[The lessons to be learned from this is that we should not excel in only in parts of our spirituality; we must strive to know our duties well by much spiritual reading, so that we may never commit evil nor omit good in any aspect of our lives.]

Presumption of expecting help in temptation when one has voluntarily put oneself in it

The Manna of the Soul Meditations for Each Day of the Year By Paolo Segneri:

"the second temptation
was to presumption, as though God's help must always be at
hand even in a peril which was voluntarily incurred"

We can't go into a certain state of life we know to be dangerous for our salvation and expect the God's help in the difficulties of that state, which could have been avoided.

Sacred and Immaculate Hearts

Sacred and Immaculate Hearts

Our Lady of Guadalupe

Our Lady of Guadalupe

Pillar of Scourging of Our Lord JESUS

Pillar of Scourging of Our Lord JESUS

Shroud of Turin

Shroud of Turin


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Sunday, February 22, 2009

Think Well On't 22nd day

Think Well On't

THE TWENTY-SECOND DAY. Against delay of repentance.

CONSIDER, that of all the deceits of satan, by which he deludes poor sinners to their eternal ruin, there is none greater or more dangerous than the one by which he persuades them to put off their repentance and conversion from time to time, till there is no more time for them. Alas! thousands and millions of poor souls have been thus betrayed into everlasting flames, who never designed to damn themselves by dying in sin, any more than any one of us at present does. But by putting off their conversion, they have, by a just judgment of God, been surprised by death, when they least expected it; and, dying as they lived, have been justly sentenced to the second and everlasting death. Unhappy wretches! who would not believe their just Judge, who so often warns them in the gospel to watch; and declares to them that otherwise he shall come at a time when they least expect him. Ah! how dreadful and how common are these unprovided deaths!

2. Consider the great presumption of sinners, who put off their reconciliation with an offended God till another time, shutting their ears to his voice, by which he calls them at present; and refusing him entrance into their heart, where he stands and knocks. Alas! if he withdraws himself they are undone for ever: how dare they then treat him with so much contempt? Is it not infinite goodness, and inexpressible condescension in his Sovereign Majesty to call after them, when they are running from him; and so earnestly to press them, without any interest on his side, to return to him who is their only good and only happiness? What then ought they not to apprehend from his justice, if they obstinately and insolently refuse to embrace his mercy? How dare they pretend to dispose of the time to come, or promise themselves greater graces hereafter, than those which they now abuse? Do they not know that God alone is master of time and grace, and that by his just judgment those who presume to tempt him in this manner, generally speaking, die in their sins? Ah! it is too true, that he who has promised pardon to the sinner that is sincerely converted, has promised neither time nor efficacious grace to those who defer their conversion.

3. Consider the great folly of sinners, who put off their conversion to God till another time, upon pretence of doing it more easily hereafter: whereas, both reason and experience make it evident, that the longer they defer this work, the harder it is to bring it about. And how can it be otherwise, since by this delay, and by adding daily sin to sin, their sinful habits grow daily stronger; the devil's power over them increases; and God Almighty, who is daily more and more provoked, by degrees, is less liberal of his graces, so that they become less frequent and less pressing: till at length, by accustoming themselves to resist God's grace, they fall into the wretched state of blindness and hardness of heart, the very broad road to final impenitence!

4. Consider the unparalleled madness of those who defer their conversion upon the confidence of a death-bed repentance; designing to put a cheat upon God's justice, by indulging themselves in sin all their lifetime; and then making their peace with God, when they can sin no longer. Unhappy wretches! that will not consider that God is not to be mocked: that what a man soweth, the same shall he reap. Gal. vi. 7. 8. The general rule is, that as a man lives, so he dies: a rule so general, that in the whole scripture we have but one example of a person who died well after a wicked life, viz. of the good thief: an example so singular in all its circumstances, as to give no kind of encouragement to such sinners, as entertain a premeditated design of giving the slip to God's justice by a death-bed conversion. Ah! how dreadfully difficult must it be for a dying sinner, in whom the habit of sin by long custom is turned into a second nature, to attain to that thorough change of heart, that sincere sorrow and detestation of sin above all things, which he never thought of in his lifetime, and which now at least is certainly necessary. Ah! how deceitful too often are those tears, which are shed by dying sinners, (as we see in the case of king Antiochus) which, being wholly influenced by the fear of death, prevail not with the just Judge. And if there is so much danger, even when tears are plentifully shed, what must there be, when, as it commonly happens, either the dulness and stupidity caused by the sickness, or the pains and agonies of the body and mind are so great, as to hinder any serious application of the thoughts to the greatest of all our concerns; for if a little headache is enough to hinder us from being able to pray with any devotion, what must the agonies of death be? No wonder then that the saints and servants of God make so little account of these death-bed performances: especially as we see by daily experience, that those who have made the greatest show of repentance, when they were in danger of death, have no sooner escaped that danger, than they are the same men they were before. O Christians, let us not then be imposed upon by the false and flattering discourses of men, who are so free in pronouncing favourably of all those, who, after a life spent in sin, make some show of repentance at their death. Let us rather tremble at the deplorable case of such souls; and remember that God's judgments are very different from those of men.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Some Quotes

"Consider that our eternal salvation is not only the greatest, but the only business we have, to which we ought to apply ourselves entirely lest we should do it ill."

"Salvation is our great and chief business; now a man's chief business takes up all his thoughts, and hardly gives him time to think of any other; and if this succeeds he comforts himself for the miscarriage of the rest."

-- Fr. Croiset

[We shouldn't divide our interests between secular things and things of God]

"In this important matter [salvation], a sensible man is struck more strongly by the slightest doubt of the risk he runs than by the evidence of total ruin in other affairs in which the soul is not involved." - St. Leonard de Port-Maurice

St. Gregory: "As there is an infinite distance between eternity and the time of our
life, so there ought to be, according to our mode of
understanding, an infinite distance between the attention
which we should pay to the goods of eternity, which
shall be enjoyed for ever, and the care we take of the
goods of this life, which death shall soon take away
from us."

St. John of the Cross: "If anyone affirms that one can reach perfection without practicing exterior mortification, do not believe him; and even though he confirm this assertion by working miracles, know that his contentions are nothing but illusions."

Bp. Baraga:

The fourth mark of the true love of God is, that we love Him with our whole strength. The true love of God is the greatest happiness and the most precious privilege of a Christian. It is that splendid wedding-garment in which he will be admitted to the happiness and eternal joy of the "Lamb's nuptials." Nothing in the world can be obtained without endeavors and labor; and the more precious the object and the greater the fortune aimed at, the more serious the efforts to obtain it. As the true love of God is decidedly the most precious treasure of a Christian, so also our efforts to obtain and possess it ought to be extreme. But when we consider Christians as they commonly are, we will see how earnestly and perseveringly they endeavor to obtain riches and honors and pleasures, and all the comforts of this perishable life. And the love of God? This is commonly crowded out entirely, or, sought after as a by-thing, not as the "One Thing Necessary." Dearly beloved in Christ Jesus! With all the eagerness and solicitude of a loving father's heart I entreat you, in the name of God, whose Holy Providence has now committed you to my spiritual care, be faithful in the fulfilling of these principal and most essential duties towards God our heavenly Father. Especially endeavor to have the true love of God, which is the very foundation of all Christianity, and the glorious mark of a happy predestination. If you love God sincerely and above all, you will easily fulfill all other duties towards Him. Nothing is difficult, nothing tedious, to a loving heart."

THE TWENTY-FIRST DAY. On doing penance for our sins.

THE TWENTY-FIRST DAY. On doing penance for our sins.

CONSIDER these words of Christ: Luke xiii. 3. 5. Except you do penance, you shall all perish. Behold here a general rule; nor does our Lord make any exception. Penance then is necessary, first, for all those whose conscience accuses them of mortal sin: alas! such as these must either do penance for their sins, or burn for them for all eternity. Poor sinners! their state is most deplorable! they are playing upon the brink of hell, and every moment one or another of them is tumbling down into that bottomless pit; and is it possible they should be so unconcerned under so great and evident a danger? Why then do they not lay hold of the grace of penance, the only plank that can save them after shipwreck; the only means left for the salvation of their souls. Secondly, penance is necessary for all those, who though their conscience accuses them not at present, yet have in their past life been guilty of such mortal offences. Ah! Christians, any one mortal sin is enough for us to do penance for all our life. And how can we do less, if we consider what mortal sin is; what it is to have been the enemies of God; what it is to have been under the sentence of eternal damnation; and never certainly to know whether this sentence has been cancelled? Is not this sufficient to oblige us to a penitential life? Can we otherwise pretend to be secure? Even those, (and God knows best how few they are) who are not conscious to themselves of having committed any such sin in their whole life, must not therefore think themselves exempt from the obligation of doing penance, as well because of their hidden sins, as those which they may have occasioned in others; for no man knows whether he be worthy of love or hatred; Eccl. ix. 1. as also because a penitential life is the best security against sin, which will insensibly prevail over us, if not curbed by self-denial, mortification and penance.

2. Consider, that as to the method of penance, different rules must be prescribed to different persons. Those who have the misfortune to be actually in the state of mortal sin, or, what is still more deplorable, are plunged into the depth of a habit of one or more kinds of mortal sin, as soon as their eyes are opened to discover the hellish monster, which they carry about with them, must, like the prodigal child, arise without delay to return to their Father. A sacrifice of a contrite and humbled heart is what God above all things calls for at their hands; this ought to be the foundation of all their penance: without this, corporal austerities will be of small account. Such sinners ought to give themselves no rest, till they have made their peace with their God: their sins ought to be always before their eyes. Their first thoughts in the morning ought to be upon their misfortune, in being at so great a distance from their God, enslaved to the devil and liable to be his companions in eternal misery: the like ought to be their last thoughts at night; when, like the penitent David, they ought to wash their beds with their tears. As often as they appear before their God in prayer, it ought to be in the spirit of the humble publican, looking upon themselves as unworthy to lift up their eyes to heaven, or towards the altar of God; and with him, striking their breasts, with a: Lord be merciful to me a sinner. Thus will they certainly obtain mercy from him, who is the father of mercy.

3. Consider, that after the sinner has done his endeavours to seek a reconciliation with his offended God, by a sincere repentance and confession of his sins, he must not think himself exempt from any further penance, as if he had now no just debt to discharge to the justice of God, no obligation of making satisfaction for his sins by penitential works, and of bringing forth fruits worthy of penance. This would be a great and dangerous error. Nor must he content himself with barely acquitting himself of the penance enjoined by his confessor, which, it is to be feared, seldom is sufficient to satisfy fully the justice of God. Alas! if sinners were truly sensible of the enormous injury done to God by mortal sin, as true penitents must be, they would certainly do penance in another manner than too many do; they would be more in earnest in chastising their own sinful flesh by penitential works, thus making a more proportionable satisfaction for their past treasons.

4. Consider, that the true manner of doing penance for our sins, is better learnt from the holy fathers and doctors of the church, than from the loose maxims of worldlings, or the practice of too many penitents in this degenerate age. Let us give ear then to those lights of the church, and follow their directions on this important subject. "God himself has taught us," says St. Cyprian, (Z. de Lapsis) "in what manner we are to crave mercy of him; he himself says: return to me with your whole heart, in fasting, and weeping, and mourning. Joel ii. Let us then return to the Lord with our whole heart; let us appease his wrath by fasting, weeping and mourning, as he admonishes us. Let the greatness of our grief equal the heinousness of our sins. We must pray earnestly; we must pass the day in mourning, and the night in watching and weeping, spending all our time in penitential tears. Our lodging should be on the floor strewed with ashes; our covering hair-cloth &c. After having cast off the garment of Christ, we should not now seek any worldly clothing. We must employ ourselves now in good works, by which our sins may be purged away. We must give frequent alms, by which our souls may be delivered from death." So far St. Cyprian. With whom agrees St. Pacian, in his Exhortation to Penance. If any one call you to the bath, you must renounce all such delights. If any one invite you to a banquet, you must say: such invitations are for those that have not had the misfortune to lose their God. I have sinned against the Lord, and am in danger of perishing eternally. What have I to do with feasts, who have offended my God? You must make your court to the poor; you must beg the prayers of widows; you must cast yourself at the feet of the priests; you must implore the intercession of the church: you must try all means which may prevent your perishing everlastingly." And St. Ambrose: 2. B. of Penance, c. X. *' Can any one imagine that he is doing penance, whilst he is indulging his ambition in the pursuit of honours, whilst he is following wine &c. The true penitent must renounce the world, must abridge even the necessary time of sleep, must interrupt it with his sighs, and cut it short with his prayers." And St. Caesarius of Aries. Hom. viii. ** As often as we visit the sick, or those that are in prison, or reconcile together those that are at variance one with another; as often as we fast on days commanded by the church; give alms to the poor that pass by our door, &c. — by these, and such like works, our small sins are daily redeemed. But this alone is not enough for capital crimes; we must add tears and lamentations, and long fasts; and give large alms to the utmost of our power." Thus, as the same saint tells us: Hom. i.. '^ By present mortification will be prevented the future sentence of eternal death; thus by humbling the guilty will the guilt be consumed: and by this voluntary severity, the wrath of a dreadful judge will be appeased. These short penitential labours will pay off those vast debts, which otherwise everlasting burning will never be able to discharge." Christians, let us follow in practice these excellent guides.

Think Well On't

Friday, February 20, 2009

About Lent season

Some notable passages taken from the explanation about Lent Season from the book, "The Liturgical Year" by Gueranger

From: ... iQGMi6WnCg

During the two thousand and more years, which
preceded the Deluge, men had no other food than the
fruits of the earth, and these were only got by the
toil of hard labour. But when God, as we have
already observed, mercifully shortened man's life, (
that so he might have less time and power for sin,) —
he permitted him to eat the flesh of animals, as
an additional nourishment in that state of deteriorated
strength. It was then, also, that Noah, guided
by a divine inspiration, extracted the juice of the
grape, which thus formed a second stay for human
Fasting, then, is the abstaining from such nourishments
as these, which were permitted for the support
of bodily strength. And firstly, it consisted
in abstinence from flesh-meat, because it is a food
that was given to man by God, out of condescension
to his weakness, and not as one absolutely essential
for the maintenance of life. Its privation, greater
or less according to the regulations of the Church, is
essential to the very notion of Fasting.
Thus, whilst
in many countries, the use of eggs, milk-meats, and
even of dripping and lard, is tolerated,—the abstaining
from flesh-meat is everywhere maintained, as
being essential to Fasting. For many centuries,
eggs and milk-meats were not allowed, because they
come under the class of animal food : even to this
day, they are forbidden in the Eastern Churches,
and are only allowed in the Latin Church by virtue
of an annual dispensation. The precept of abstaining
from flesh-meat is so essential to Lent, that even on
Sundays, when the Fasting is interrupted, Abstinence
is an obligation, binding even on those who are
dispensed from the fasts of the week, unless there
be a special dispensation granted for eating meat on
the Sundays.
...For several centuries,
abstinence from flesh-meat included likewise the
prohibition of every article of food that belonged to
what is called the animal kingdom, with the single
exception of Fish, which, on account of its cold nature,
as also for several mystical reasons, founded on the
Sacred Scriptures, was always permitted to be taken
by those who fasted. Every sort of milk-meat was
forbidden ; and, in Rome, even to this day, butter and
cheese are not permitted during Lent, except on those
days whereon permission to eat meat is granted.

Dating from the 9th century, the custom of eating milk-meats during Lent began to be prevalent in Western Europe, more especially in Germany and the northern countries. The Council of Kedlimburg, held in the 11th century, made an effort to put a stop to the practice as an abuse; but without effect. These Churches maintained, that they were in the right, and defended their custom by the dispensations, (though, in reality, only temporary ones,) granted them by several Sovereign Pontiffs: the dispute ended by their being left peaceably to enjoy what they claimed. The Churches of France resisted this innovation up to the 16th century; but in the 17th, they too yielded, and milk-meats were taken during Lent, throughout the whole Kingdom. As some reparation for this breach of ancient discipline, the City of Paris instituted a solemn rite, whereby she wished to signify her regret at being obliged to such a relaxation. On Quinquagesima Sunday, all the different Parishes went in procession to the Church of Notre Dame. The Dominicans, Franciscans, Carmelites, and Augustinians, took part in the procession. The Metropolitan Chapter, and the four Parishes that were subject to it, held, on the same day, a Station in the court-yard of the Palace, and sang an Anthem before the Relic of the True Cross, which was exposed in the Sainte Chapelle. These pious usages, which were intended to remind the people of the difference between the past and the present observance of Lent, continued to be practised till the Revolution.

But this grant for the eating milk-meats during Lent, did not include eggs. Here, the ancient discipline was maintained, at least this far,—that eggs were not allowed, save by a dispensation, which had to be renewed each year. In Rome, they are only allowed on days when Flesh-meat may be taken. In other places, they are allowed on some days, and on others, especially during Holy Week, are forbidden. Invariably do we find the Church, seeking, out of anxiety for the spiritual advantage of her Children, to maintain all she can of those penitential observances, whereby they may satisfy Divine Justice. It was with this intention, that Pope Benedict the Fourteenth, alarmed at the excessive facility wherewith dispensations were then obtained, renewed, by a solemn Constitution, (dated June 10, 1745,) the prohibition of eating fish and meat, at the same meal, on fasting days.

The same Pope, whose spirit of moderation has never been called in question, had no sooner ascended the Papal Throne, than he addressed an Encyclical Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic world, expressing his heartfelt grief at seeing the great relaxation that was introduced among the Faithful by indiscreet and unnecessary dispensations. The Letter is dated May 30th, 1741. We extract from it the following passage : "The observance of Lent is the very badge of the Christian warfare. By it, we prove ourselves not to be enemies of the Cross of Christ. By it, we avert the scourges of divine justice. By it we gain strength against the princes of darkness, for it shields us with heavenly help. Should mankind grow remiss in their observance of Lent, it would be a detriment to God's glory, a disgrace to the Catholic religion, and a danger to Christian souls. Neither can it be doubted, but that such negligence would become the source of misery to the world, of public calamity, and of private woe."

More than a hundred years have elapsed since this solemn warning of the Vicar of Christ was given to the world; and during that time, the relaxation, he inveighed against, has gone on gradually increasing. How few Christians do we meet, who are strict observers of Lent, even in its present mild form! The long list of general Dispensations granted, each year, by the Bishops to their flocks, would lead us to suppose that the immense majority of the Faithful would be scrupulously exact in the fulfilment of the Fasting and Abstinence still remaining; but is such the case? And, must there not result from this ever-growing spirit of immortification, a general effeminacy of character, which will lead, at last, to frightful social disorders ? The sad predictions of Pope Benedict the Fourteenth are but too truly verified. Those nations, among whose people the spirit and practice of penance are extinct, are heaping against themselves the wrath of God, and provoking his justice to destroy them by one or other of these scourges,— civil discord, or conquest.

All amusements and theatrical performances are not allowed in Lent: ... iwHZyeWwCg

...Hunting, too, was for many ages considered as
forbidden during Lent;—the spirit of the holy season
was too sacred to admit such exciting and noisy sport.

The means that the saints took in order to not see the vanities of the world

The means that the saints took in order to not see the vanities of the world

The stratagem which she practised in order to avoid appearing at assemblies, or accompanying her mother in the visits she paid to her friends and relations, was not less surprising; for she rubbed her eyelids with pimento, which is a very sharp burning sort of Indian pepper: by this means she escaped going into company, for it made her eyes red as fire, and so painful, that she could not bear the light. Her mother having found out this artifice, reprimanded her for it, and mentioned the example of Ferdinand Perez, who had lost his sight by a similar act of indiscretion; Rose answered modestly, "It would be much better for me, my dear mother, to be blind all the rest of my life, than to be obliged to see the vanities and follies of the world."

St. J-M-B Vianney:
We may refrain from warming ourselves; if we are sitting uncomfortably, we need not try to place ourselves better; if we are walking in our garden, we may deprive ourselves of some fruit that we should like; in preparing the food, we need not eat the little bits that offer themselves; we may deprive ourselves of seeing something pretty, which attracts our eyes, especially in the streets of great towns. There is a gentleman who sometimes comes here. He wears two pairs of spectacles, that he may see nothing. . . . But some heads are always in motion, some eyes are always looking about. . . . When we are going along the streets, let us fix our eyes on Our Lord carrying His Cross before us; on the Blessed Virgin, who is looking at us; on our guardian angel, who is by our side. How beautiful is this interior life! It unites us with the good God. . . . Therefore, when the devil sees a soul that is seeking to attain to it, he tries to turn him aside from it by filling his imagination with a thousand fancies. A good Christian does not listen to that; he goes always forward in perfection, like a fish plunging into the depths of the sea. . . . As for us, Alas! we drag ourselves along like a leech in the mud.

A more safe way: wear a baseball cap or a brim hat that covers the eyes somewhat.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

necessity of avoiding occasion of sin

St. Basil says that God assists the
man who is engaged in the contest against his own will;
but he who voluntarily places himself in the battle, does
not deserve compassion, and is therefore abandoned by
God. And, before him, Ecclesiasticus said: He that loveth
danger, shall perish in it? He that loves danger, and goes
in search of it, shall perish in it: nor is it of any use to
hope for aid from God; to trust in God, and to expose
one s self voluntarily to the occasion of sin, is not a holy
but a rash confidence, which merits chastisement.

True Spouse of Jesus Christ

Monday, February 9, 2009

St. Alphonsus poem on Nativity

From starry skies descending,
Thou comest, glorious King,
A manger low Thy bed,
In winter's icy sting;
O my dearest Child most holy,
Shudd'ring, trembling in the cold!
Great God, Thou lovest me!
What suff'ring Thou didst bear,
That I near Thee might be!
Thou art the world's Creator,
God's own and true Word,
Yet here no robe, no fire
For Thee, Divine Lord.
Dearest, fairest, sweetest Infant,
Dire this state of poverty.
The more I care for Thee,
Since Thou, o Love Divine,
Will'st now so poor to be.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

how to obey worldly commands

St. Rose of S. Mary

One day having put on a pair of scented gloves in order to oblige her mother, she had no sooner begun to wear them than her hands became cold and benumbed, and soon after she felt in them so violent a heat, that notwithstanding the love of our Saint for sufferings, she was obliged to take off the gloves which caused this torture; and God, to show the blessed Rose that the little breath of vanity which had induced her, under the specious pretext of obedience, to wear these gloves, had inflamed the zeal of her Divine Spouse, showed her the same gloves in the night, surrounded by flames. From that time she never obeyed her mother in anything that was agreeable to the world or to nature, without joining some act of mortification to her obedience. Her mother having absolutely commanded her to remove the pieces of wood which she had secretly put into her pillow, she did so; but she put in their place so great a quantity of wool, and stuffed it in such a manner, that her pillow might have been taken for a log of wood covered with linen, from its hardness.

The stratagem which she practised in order to avoid appearing at assemblies, or accompanying her mother in the visits she paid to her friends and relations, was not less surprising; for she rubbed her eyelids with pimento, which is a very sharp burning sort of Indian pepper: by this means she escaped going into company, for it made her eyes red as fire, and so painful, that she could not bear the light. Her mother having found out this artifice, reprimanded her for it, and mentioned the example of Ferdinand Perez, who had lost his sight by a similar act of indiscretion; Rose answered modestly, "It would be much better for me, my dear mother, to be blind all the rest of my life, than to be obliged to see the vanities and follies of the world."

After this answer, her mother, seeing clearly that it was a repugnance for these visits, and for the dress she was compelled to wear on these occasions, which caused her to inflict this pain on herself, no longer urged her to accompany her, and allowed her to dress as she liked, in a poor stuff' dress, which she wore with great satisfaction; for she sought nothing but contempt and abjection. In all indifferent things S. Rose obeyed willingly, and never received a command from her mother which she did not cheerfully fulfil. Her mother wishing one day to try her obedience, ordered her to embroider some flowers in the wrong way, Rose obeyed blindly, and spoiled her work, and her mother, feigning to be angry, reproved her for it. This truly obedient daughter answered, that she had perceived that her work was good for nothing, but had not dared to disobey the order given her; that it was of no consequence to her in what manner she traced a flower, but that she could not fail in obedience to her mother's orders. For this reason she never began her work without asking her mother's leave, and told one of her friends, who seemed astonished at it, that she did it expressly to join to her work the merit of obedience.

disgust rather than please men

The Life of Saint Rose of Lima By Jean Baptiste Feuillet, Leonhard Hansen, Antonio González de Acuña, Frederick William Faber: "As soon as she had made this vow she cut off her hair unknown to her mother in order to manifest to the Spouse she had chosen that by thus disfiguring herself she intended rather to disgust than to please men and that she absolutely renounced the world with which she never wished to have any intercourse From the testimony of her confessors she began to have ihe "

abstained from all sorts of fruits

might proceed She arrived at an astonishing degree of abstinence by the same means which S Catherine of Sienna employed From her infancy she abstained from all sorts of fruits which are delicious in Peru At six years of age she began to fast three days a week on bread and water At fifteen she made a vow never to eat meat unless she were obliged by those who had authority over her and whom she thought she could not disobey without sin When her mother took

St. Rose of Lima disciplined herself seven times

prodigious quantity from her veins She disciplined herself in this manner seven times first for her own sins secondly for souls engaged in sin thirdly for the pressing necessities of the Church fourthly when Peru or Lima were threatened with some great misfortune fifthly for the souls in purgatory sixthly for those in their agony seventhly in reparation of the outrages offered to God

Blessed Virgin the Morning Star

The Life of Saint Rose of Lima By Jean Baptiste Feuillet, Leonhard Hansen, Antonio González de Acuña, Frederick William Faber: "rising she had the greatest difficulty in waking In this necessity she had recourse to the Blessed Virgin whom the church calls the Morning Star and earnestly entreated her to have the goodness to wake her at the appointed hour Our Lady had the goodness to grant her this favour she appeared to her every morning and after awaking her she animated her to rise by these tender words Rose my child arise it is time to prepare yourself for prayer She was once she "
"It is a good practice to enter into details in humiliating things when prudence allows them to be publicly declared, on account of the profit we derive from overcoming ourselves in the repugnance we feel in disclosing and making known what we would keep secret. St. Augustine published the secret sins of his youth, composing a book on them, that thus the entire earth might learn the extravagance of his errors and the excess of his licentiousness. And that vessel of election, St. Paul, that great apostle who was ravished to the third heaven, has he not avowed that he persecuted the Church? He has even left it in writing, so that it may be known to the consummation of ages that he was a persecutor. Indeed, if we be not watchful over ourselves and do not do some violence to ourselves in declaring our misery and our failings, we will soon confine ourselves to what may occasion esteem, and we will conceal what will give confusion. We inherit this from our first father, Adam, who, after having offended God, went and hid himself. --St. Vincent de Paul

Aristotle didn't know humility

Virtues and Spiritual Doctrine of St. Vincent de Paul By Michel Ulysse Maynard, Abbe Maynard, Louise de Marillac: "were the prophets or some saint we might say they were hke ourselves only disciples If it were philosophers alas they know not this virtue And Aristotle himself he who has spoken so nobly of all the other moral virtues does not even mention humility "

Saturday, February 7, 2009

God for love of us was buffeted, scourged, crowned with thorns, ...yet can we not love him?

The way of salvation, meditations for every day of the year, tr. by J. Jones By Alfonso Maria de' Liguori: "I ST BONAVENTURE says that the wounds of Jesus wound the hardest hearts and inflame the coldest souls And in truth how can we believe that God permitted himself to be buffeted scourged crowned with thorns and finally put to death for the love of us and yet not love him St Francis of Assisium frequently bewailed the ingratitude of men as he passed along the country saying Love is not loved love is not loved Behold O my Jesus I am one of those who are thus ungrateful who have been so many years in the world and have not loved thee And shall I my Redeemer remain for ever such No 1 will love thee until death "

Posts of 2008

Sacred and Immaculate Hearts

Sacred and Immaculate Hearts

Our Lady of Guadalupe

Our Lady of Guadalupe

Pillar of Scourging of Our Lord JESUS

Pillar of Scourging of Our Lord JESUS

Shroud of Turin

Shroud of Turin


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Saturday, December 10, 2011

New Ham Progress: Working Toward a Working Station

It's been 3 weeks since I got my CSCE for my amateur radio license, two and a half weeks since my license appeared in the FCC database. Each day I've been working to make material progress to set up a station and start operating. So far I'm not fully "on the air", though I've made a lot of progress.

my certificate of successful completion of exam for all three amateur radio tests
I passed the tests! Now what?

Getting a station up and running could happen quickly through purchasing a "shack in a box" transceiver with antenna, feedline, and accessories and setting them up. The set-up of the antenna, feedline feed-through, and learning to operate the transceiver and the aavailable ba would be no small feat in and of itself. But I'm taking a bit slower path.

As I progress, I'm learning a bit more about what I've got to work with--hopefully leading to better decisions when it does come time to lay out for equipment.

Starting Point
While I had a ham license before, I did very little with it. I had a mobile 2m rig in my car that I used on the local repeater. I helped at a local long-disstance charity run. I hoped for more, but that's all I did. I never really built up a station or even learned the routine on simplex operations.

Since then I had a friend give me a Kenwood TS-700A all-mode 2m rig. I can't locate my old IC-230 mobile rig, it's around somewhere, but I haven't found it yet. No matter, it's not much use to me in the present day. The 700A is a decent rig, but the receiver is pretty insensitive. Even if I just use it for SSB and CW it'll need a preamp and probably a power amp. Because of my location.

I've moved since my last time around with ham radio. I used to live in a fine location, now I live in a place where I'm poorly situated and surrounded by thick VHF-eating trees.

I also turned up about 60 feet of RG-8, a couple of awful little straight keys, and some other odds and ends.

Moving Forward
VHF will be important to staying in touch with local hams, but I need some tools that can deal with my location. For less than the price of a preamp/amp combo for the Kenwood TS-700A I can get a mid power, more flexible, more sensitive current-production 2m or multiband VHF/UHF rig. I still expect to have fun with the TS-700A down the road, but for normal workaday comms, a new 50-75W 2m rig would make more sense.

I did buy a little Yaesu FT-250R handheld, but it can't hit the local repeaters even with an external ground plane antenna mounted about 40' above grade. I built a simple yagi for testing, too, but I'm between repeaters so I'd like to use an omnidirectional antenna for general FM. The yagi was built to see if I could manage any SSB here. So far no luck but this is still work in progress.

More Site Assessment
To get a better idea of what might work here, I picked up a Grundig G3 shortwave receiver last night. I've been tuning around through the ham bands to see what comes in. MF/HF is definitely more promising here than VHF. It seems (so far) that 160m and 80m will be good here at night, with 20m being a decent daytime band. The jury is still out on the other HF bands. I need to put in an external antenna for the G3, so far I've just used the little whip on top.

Build or Buy
While I expect to build equipment in the future, I'm also expecting to establish the station with solid purchased equipment. Whether new or old I'm not sure yet, I have to spend more time with other local hams to find out my options. But prebuilt equipment will allow me to operate while I'm building other rigs--QRP rigs or whatever--plus it'll act as test and calibration tooling for my scratchbuilds.

From what I can see so far, I think I'd be just as happy at this point with solid equipment from any time in the past 25 years or so as I would with new stuff. For example, something like the late-80s Kenwood TS-440S or Icom IC-765 look like they'd still do fine today for my present needs. Maybe--I'm still guessing at this point. So I need to learn more and get some idea of price differentials and all that. ground rod is in, I'm clearing an area for my station that'll get its own AC/heater unit and antenna cable feed-through. I'm experimenting with antennas and mast mounting positions and otherwise trying to make it so that when I do have equipment, I'm prepared to do something at least somewhat effective with it.

1 comment:

  1. Congrats on the Extra Ticket! Stay active and hope to catch you on the HF airwaves!

    73, DE NT1K, JEFF

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Monday, June 15, 2009

Defiance: Return to the Forest

Wow, what a movie!

On Friday my husband said that our latest Netflix movie had come in. I asked what it was and if he thought I would like it. He responded that it would be violent, but that it was based on a true story, and specifically mentioned it taking place in Belarus. I decided to watch it and I’m very glad that I did.

It is by far one of the most intense, well made movies I’ve ever seen. I’m sure more fascinating because I have lived in Belarus. I had goose bumps watching the winter scenes in the movie, remembering how bitterly cold the harsh, Belarusian winters are.

From the Netflix website:
“Daniel Craig stars as Tuvia Bielski, one of four Jewish brothers who escape from Poland into the forests of Belarus during World War II to lead a band of resistance fighters and create a safe haven for Jewish refugees. The real-life sanctuary established by the Bielski brothers saved more than 1,000 Jews from persecution and death. Edward Zwick directs this moving historical drama that also stars Liev Schreiber, Jamie Bell and George MacKay.”

What a phenomenal story of courage; this movie should not be missed. I also recommend watching all of the extras on the DVD. The interviews with the actors, director, and family members are very moving.

I can’t wait to read the book!

1 comment:

  1. oh that's on my netflix que. Glad to hear its good.


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Friday, February 12, 2010

Friday, Guinness update

We took the boy back to the university hospital this morning. The veterinarian in charge of Guinness’ case came right out to meet with us. We discussed the plan for the day and his upcoming MRI. I am concerned about the anesthesia (for the MRI), particularly since he is medically fragile and we don’t know what’s wrong yet. They are using meds that I’m familiar with and he will have much of the same monitoring equipment that people have during surgery. I feel so much better knowing that.

This afternoon the vet called me to let me know that Guinness was ready to come home. As I mentioned yesterday, they wanted to take blood before and after an episode. The blood work came back and there was no significant difference between the two tests. His potassium level also came back much higher than it was yesterday, not normal, but much better. In addition, all of his infectious disease tests have also come back negative. We are still waiting on the report from the neuro specialist in New Zealand.

Guinness seemed very pleased to see us, and even more pleased to be home. He’s had some food, rested by the fire, and is now curled up under the covers on our bed. Hopefully he will have a relaxing weekend before going back to the hospital on Monday.

Thank you all for your kind words of support.

  1. Poor baby! I'm glad he's home relaxing away!

  2. Awww, glad he's happy to be home. Hope his week-end is calm and uneventful!

  3. Welcome home baby, so glad you are there.

  4. So nice he's home for the weekend, I'm really confident he's in great hands, much love and cuddles, Fran