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Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Groping for the Platonic TV Set

It's often interesting to examine design from the point when a type of product makes its first commercial appearance until things settle down to a "best" general solution that persists with relatively minor variations until the class of product becomes obsolete or a major technological advance requires a renewed design evolution.

Designers are literally making things up as they're going on, uncertain what the ultimate general solution will be. There are trials, errors and successes (measured by market acceptance) along the way.

Today's post deals with television set design evolution in a sketchy way from the late 1930s till nearly 1960. Call it 20 years -- 15 if the "time out" for World War 2 is factored in. By "sketchy" I mean that entire classes of TV sets such as tabletop or semi-portable examples are omitted from this review. Perhaps I'll get around to dealing with them another time.

Marconi - 1937
RCA sets displayed at 1939 New York World's Fair
For some reason many of the very earliest television sets that people could actually buy had a top with a mirror underneath that could be propped open when one was about to turn it on (the controls were under that top along with the cathode ray tube - CRT). The CRT was set up so that it projected a reversed image that the mirror then righted so that the image was normal -- that is, so any text images could be read normally. Actually, the reason is pretty obvious: the console containing the television set was simply another sort of cabinet when not in use, just another piece of furniture. (See below for later examples of this design strategy.) The problem with the mirror feature was that viewers had to be positioned almost exactly opposite the set and have their eyes at the correct height to be able to view the image properly. Direct-viewing TVs were less restricted. Even so, CRTs were small in the early days, so viewers still had to huddle and stay closer to the screen than later on. Mirror-top televisions were still being sold in the late 1940s, but then disappeared from the marketplace.

Advertisement showing Dumont console - ca. 1950
For many years television sets resided in living rooms, where families tended to gather before the "family room" gained popularity in America starting, say, in the mid-1950s. Therefore the expensive TV set (and they often cost more than today's largest flat-screen TVs, adjusting for inflation) was a major item of furniture that many wives wanted to fit well with the rest of the décor. Note that the console has doors than can be closed to hide the screen when not in use.

Crosley TV with radio/record player - 1950
This Crosley is a pretty typical less-than-a-console TV with respect to price and style. (Actually, the ensemble shown is contained in a console -- but the set itself in the upper-right corner could just have well be freestanding, and probably was in most cases.) It just sits there on one side of the living room and its big "eye" stares back at you all the time. Of course, this is how most television sets were over the last 60 years, console models having gradually faded from the scene.

Zenith with round screen - 1950
For some reason Zenith built a line of sets with round screens for a few years. They seemed odd at the time, but at least a few people bought them. Why a round screen? Well, cathode ray tubes were round in those days and perhaps designers felt that a round "frame" for the image was "functional," the holy grail of purist industrial design and architecture. But source images were essentially rectangular, so the round format clipped off parts that might be of interest to the viewer.

Philco Predicta - ca.1959
This TV set was built 10 years before the moon-landing image being shown on the screen. But hey, this design was really super-dooper space-age! Actually the modular screen/innards box concept wasn't a bad one; most desktop computers until recently followed the same practice. Philco's problem was that this line of TV sets was unreliable, thus helping to kill sales. Another negative might have been that the design would clash with traditional-style living room décor; TVs tended to reside in living rooms in those days, as noted above.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Crumbling Egos

Eric Felten's De Gustibus column in the 24 September Wall Street Journal (link here) has the intriguing title "Pardon Us, But Our Museum Is Falling Apart."

He cites defect examples that include the new Modern Wing of Chicago's Art Institute and I.M. Pei's National Gallery East Building -- the latter apparently needing an extensive re-skinning.

Then there are the cost over-runs. Felten mentions an addition to the Milwaukee Art Museum that was budgeted at $35 million but came in at $125 million, nearly four times the estimate.

What is going on here?

Radically designed buildings are essentially massive inventions produced and sold without prototypes. Is it any surprise they tend to be glitchy?

There have always been building failures (you would not want to have been standing in the choir of the Beauvais Cathedral the evening of 29 Nov., 1284). But the impractical nature of much current architecture has made it a pressing modern problem.

And then there's this bit that warms the cockles of my black little modernist-distrusting heart:

"The forms of traditional buildings, such as pitched roofs and moldings, almost always contribute to proper weathering, shedding water, and protecting the structure," says Steven W. Semes, a professor of architecture and academic director of Notre Dame's Rome Studies Program. "Modern buildings often assume shapes that do the opposite, directing water into the building rather than away from it."

I've been aware of the last point by virtue of living most of my life in the drizzly Pacific Northwest: essentially flat roofs are harder to drain than peaked ones.

But the point about large, flash, ego-statement building being engineering experiments hadn't sunk into my brain even though it should have years ago. Thank you, Eric, for highlighting this.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Costumed in Carmel-by-the-Sea

It was a typical foggy morning as we lined up outside the mess-hall door waiting our turn for breakfast. A newsboy hawking San Jose papers moved along the line but got few takers, as usual.

I'm normally a news junkie, but the rigors of Basic Training seem to have killed most of my interest; the Army kept me too occupied to spare the time and effort. But I did scan the headlines if they were large enough. Not long ago there were huge ones about Russia testing a 50-megaton H-bomb.

But today was going to be special. We were more than halfway through the eight-week training cycle, it was Sunday, and this afternoon we were to get our first pass. We could do as we pleased, provided it was legal, from noon till 10 that evening.

Many guys planned to head for the Soldiers' Club, a large, wooden structure near the beach where one might order a real hamburger and down some beer. Others, me included, opted to go off-post for the afternoon. Of course we had to wear uniforms -- our green "bus-driver" style Class-A kit complete with no rank or unit indicators, we being of the lowest class of Private and too temporary to bother having a Sixth Army shoulder patch sewn on.

Where to go? Perhaps to Seaside or Marina, in those days off-post purveyors of booze and other imagined necessities for those who found Fort Ord's Soldiers' or NCO clubs too tame. But we might have been told to keep away from Seaside and Marina; I don't remember, perhaps because they didn't appeal to me in the first place. Otherwise, given that we had to take a bus, the only real possibilities were Monterey and Carmel. I went with the Carmel-bound group, which was a pretty small share of our training company: let's say six of us.

Since then, I've visited Carmel quite a few times and have a rough feel for the place. It's a former art colony that remained pretty arty. Immediately to the northwest is the famous Seventeen-Mile Drive part of the peninsula. It has a number a well-known golf courses including Pebble Beach, Spanish Bay, Spyglass and Cypress Point. Some housing near the north part of the Drive was originally modest, middle-class, but near the west and, especially, the south there are plenty of ritzy digs. To put it another way, the area in and near Carmel is crawling with money. And it probably was when our bus finally dropped us off near Ocean Avenue.

The "downtown" (business district) part of Carmel is small now and about the same size when we set off to explore it. Even the buildings are pretty much the same. Nowadays, there's a small, three-floor open mall at the top end of the Ocean Avenue commercial strip and here and there are other buildings that were added since that Sunday when the Army invaded. One thing that definitely has changed is that Fort Ord is now essentially closed. There are no more young men going through Basic and I haven't seen anyone wearing an army uniform in Carmel in years. The closest I came was when I was chatting with a retired Navy Rear Admiral at my wife's college sorority alumnae club Christmas party in a house near the number two green at Spyglass, and that's not close at all.

Anyway, since we had little money and virtually no place to store any purchases, we simply wandered around, gazing at the storefronts, Spanish-style buildings and the occasional odd Storybook Style structures that can still be found there.

Perhaps we had something to eat and maybe drank a Coke or Pepsi someplace. But after two or three hours, we'd wrung the place dry several times over and caught the bus back to Ord. Once there, we checked out the Soldiers' Club. It featured a big, smokey hall where beer was served, but I'm not sure if I bothered to wait in line to buy a glass. The next day we'd be back to training, so we hiked back to the barracks to get our gear in shape and have some sleep.

Besides the lack of money and storage places, our visit to Carmel was limited psychologically. Yes, were were on pass and off-post, but we weren't really free from the Army thanks to the pass' deadline and the possibility that Military Police might flag us down and offer some hassle (one reason I passed up seeing Monterey, a less classy place than Carmel). We were guys about 20 years old wearing "Army Green" -- not a bit like the older, much richer and better-dressed locals. We eyed them and they eyed us, quite likely gazing down their mental noses in the process.

In a nutshell, I felt out of place and distinctly uncomfortable. I had pretty much the same reactions two years later by the beach at Waikiki on a short pass while our troop ship paused in Pearl Harbor on its way to the Far East.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Watch This Designer Try Too Hard

I really should get around to writing about industrial designer Richard Arbib. But for now, I'll present a couple of his designs for wrist watches and make a few remarks about wrist watch design in general.

I referred to Arbib as an industrial designer. But his work reveals him to have been mostly an industrial decorator ... to be charitable, "industrial stylist" can do.

The period 1945-60 was an odd one in the annals of American design. A case might be made that cars sporting tail fins, Formica kitchen counter tops with squiggly, linear patterns and molded plywood chairs with spindly metal legs represent a daft era where our national characteristics shone through. Or perhaps it was a "whadda we do next?" phase following the design-purity (with lots of streamlining) public relations poses from the generation of industrial design pioneers. Whatever it might have been, Arbib contributed in spades.

A word about wrist watch design (I'll leave digital watches out of the discussion and stick to analog watches -- those with hands). Watch hands sweep in a circular motion, suggesting that the face of the watch should match this. On the other hand wrist bands, especially rugged ones preferred by men, are flat and basically squared off. A watch following that theme would therefore have a square or rectangular case. Between those extremes might be rounded-off rectangles, ovals and so forth.

Arbib, however, tried something very different in his work for the Hamilton watch company. Something very wacky 1950s.

Hamilton Flight II prototype
Hamilton Altair Electric
Arbib's designs are, well, distinctive. But totally at odds with either the hand-sweep or the watchband. He was involved with styling Hamilton watches for the better part of a decade, so presumably sales were acceptable. I think they look awful and apparently others agree because most watchmakers have avoided such styles for the past 50 years.

Cartier Tank Solo
The "tank" design, dating from the Great War, is a popular example of design that favors integration to the band over honoring the sweep.

Movado Men's Museum Watch
Movado made its fame with ultra-purist sweep-oriented designs such as this. Actually, style trumps functionality here too; the absence of hour indicators requires the owner to guess the time -- and often be off by a minute or even more.

Swiss Army "Renegade"
Confession-time. This is the watch I've been wearing for more than 10 years. Not the same one, actually; I buy a new one every three years or so when I figure the battery is about to fail.

Advantages: It's electronic and so keeps good time. It's not very expensive, currently still selling for less than $150. The hands, hour marks and numerals glow in the dark which make it handy for checking the time while in bed at night. The face cover almost never scratches. While it isn't classy like a Rollex, it looks nice. Disadvantage: The band grooves and holes start to clog after a few months use.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Spotted: A Hyper-Fan

I don't know about the rest of you, but the older I get, the less passion I feel about sports and hobbies. I recall pacing back and forth in front of a television set at age 30, agonizing over every play of a playoff or championship football game where one of the teams was a favorite of mine.

As a teenager I went through similar agonies during Gold Cup hydroplane races held in Seattle. The deal at the time was that the winner of the race could choose the site for the following year's race. I and many other locals desperately wanted a "home" boat to win so that Seattle would continue to host the event. It boiled down to a matter of local good-guys versus evil boat owners from Detroit, the other main hub of the sport.

Life went on. I eventually spent about ten years away from the Seattle area, losing touch with hydro racing in the process. Nowadays we sometimes wander down to Lake Washington to catch a few race heats, but I have no special favored boat and don't get cranked up over who wins or loses.

The world is big and not everyone is like me, it seems. From time to time at a place where I occasionally breakfast, I spy this:

It's an old Lincoln sedan with boat wakes painted all over it. On the top is a model hydro complete with simulated "rooster tail" spray. The hood holds models of three hydros -- the pink one is of Edgar Kaiser's "Hawaii Kai" which raced in the late 1950s. Flanking models sport faux-rooster-tails, but have no livery paint-jobs.

The owner of the car is a gent of about my vintage who clearly never let go the passions of his early youth. And he has a truly understanding and supportive wife who's sometimes willing to ride with him in that car on a breakfast jaunt.

Parting thought: I wonder if this is his only car.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Where Do I Find These Artists' Works?

In a couple of weeks I'll be off to Spain, Portugal and Morocco. Of course I'll do my best to hit the Prado and other important Madrid shrines such as the Joaquin Sorolla home/museum. I'll be in Barcelona for a few days towards the end of the trip as well as in-between places such as Toledo, Lisbon, Seville, Granada, Marrakesh and Fez.

Here's a list of a miscellany of late-19th, early-20th century Spanish painters whose work I'm curious to see in person. Has anyone out there been to museums in the cities noted above and noticed any works by these artists?

  • Hermenegildo (Hermen) Anglada-Camarasa
  • Manuel Benedito Vivas
  • Ramon Casas i Carbo
  • Raimundo Madrazo y Garrata
  • Luis Muntane Muns
  • Antonio Ortiz Echague
  • Francisco Pons Arnau
  • Santiago Rusinyol
I'm particularly interested in works by Casas. Also of interest are suggestions you might have regarding other not-so-well-known painters whose work can be seen along my itinerary. Expect some reports once I return towards the end of October.

Should the Detroit Symphony Die?

Not being anything close to an expert on such swaths of art as music, drama and literature, I tend to use articles by people who know the stuff as hooks for my posts on these matters. Perhaps my favorite go-to guy is Terry Teachout, who wears many arts hats including that of theater critic for the Wall Street Journal.

In his bi-weekly non-theater "Sightings" column for the Journal's 18 September issue he discusses the plight of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra which is running an operating deficit to the tune of around $9 million this year and facing a strike by musicians unwilling to take a proposed pay cut to help the balance sheet.

He notes

The numbers tell the tale: Nearly two million people lived in Detroit in 1950. The current population is 800,000. Forty of the city's 140 square miles are vacant. Downsizing is the name of the save-Detroit game, and Mayor Dave Bing, who is looking at an $85 million budget deficit, wants to slash civic services drastically and encourage Detroit's remaining residents to cluster in the healthiest of its surviving neighborhoods.

Can a once-great city that is now the size of Austin, Texas, afford a top-rank symphony orchestra with a 52-week season? Does it even want one? The DSO, after all, is not the only one of Detroit's old-line high-culture institutions that is sweating bullets. The Detroit Institute of Arts and the Michigan Opera Theater are also in trouble...

Sorry Terry, but the numbers you're using are misleading. You are citing data for cities based on populations within city limits. But city boundaries define the political city and not the physical city which is best represented by urbanized area or metropolitan area data. For example, the 2000 census had the Detroit metro area with near four million people (Wikipedia link here) -- nothing to sneeze at. It is that population, not just the population within the city limits, which comprises the pool of potential supporters and attendees of the orchestra, art museum and so forth.

Even so, the orchestra is in serious trouble. Terry concludes

But the players' decision to respond to the orchestra's financial crisis by voting to strike is a classic symptom of the cultural-entitlement mentality—the assumption that artists ought to be paid what they "deserve" to make, even when the community in which they live and work places a significantly lower value on their services. Any economist can tell you what has happened: In Detroit, being a classical instrumentalist is no longer an upper-middle-class job.

We like to think that great symphony orchestras and museums are permanent monuments to the enduring power and significance of art, but in the 21st century, we are going to learn the hard way that this is simply not true. Great high-culture institutions reflect the fundamental character of a city. In America, most of these institutions were founded in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as manifestations of civic pride. But when a city's character undergoes profound changes, as has happened in Detroit, the institutions are bound to reflect that transformation. One way or another, they'll follow the money—and if there is no money to follow, they'll go out of business. The sad truth is that the Detroit Symphony is no more "permanent" than . . . well, your average auto company.

I am with him on this. We have to earn our keep.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Dinnerstein: Long-Haul Realist

Harvey Dinnerstein (born 1928) has been able to carve out a long, New York based painting career without ever compromising his devotion to realism (for a little background on this, click here).

Many of his subjects related to New York City, though there are exceptions. Matthew Innis discusses one, "Parade," at length here.

A 2008 book about Dinnerstein and his art can sometimes be found in bookstores and might be available here.

I respect Dinnerstein's courage and tenacity in not following the New York art market herd. However, I've yet to encounter any of his paintings directly, so will not offer commentary at this time.

After winning Portrait Society of America award - Burton Silverman at left and Dinnerstein.

Brownstone - 1958-60

The Wide Swing

Sam and Bill - 1997

Sundown, The Crossing - 1999

Underground Together - 1996

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Subtle Grille

Some automobile grilles are glorified mesh -- just a little too open to actually keep bugs off the radiator.

Others are sculptural, of a design intended to give the car identification as a specific make or model. Back in the 1950s the goal of design management for most American car companies was to have a grille that would indicate the make for a viewer half a block or more away.

Put another way, subtlety in a grille's close-up view was of almost no importance. So I was a bit surprised when I finally noticed that certain models of the Lexus RX crossover SUV series possessed grilles with features that could only be appreciated at close range.

Lexus RX330 ca.2005 - photographed in Australia

RX300 grille closeup view

Note the converging vertical bars and the small insets running up to a point about 40 percent of the height of the grille. Subtle and elegant -- fitting for an upscale car line.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Rustic Without the Mildew

I snapped the above photo at a garden shop in an nearby upscale shopping area. Outside the shop's main building was the wooden garden shed whose interior is pictured.

The intention is that this is all so rustic and charming -- a lovely touch for that half-acre back yard of yours.

As sheds go, it's nice. But it reminds me of the real sheds of my childhood it was patterned after. Those sheds were old, unheated and might have had smaller windows. Here in the soggy northwest the interiors would often develop mildew. As for those "distressed" pieces of furniture in the photo -- the real shed furniture I remember was old and genuinely beat-up.

In a nutshell, as a child I hated old, mildewed garden sheds and all that they contained. So the upscale, sanitized version at that garden shop charms me not at all.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Cliche, Refurbished

Unisphere, shown during the 1964-65 New York World's Fair

Today's Wall Street Journal has this article about the refurbished Unisphere built as the centerpiece of the 1964-65 New York World's Fair.

The article by Tomas J. Campanella, "Icon of a Fair, a Borough, the World," provides a capsule history of the Unisphere and then offers examples of criticism leveled against it when new.

The 1964-65 World's Fair never lived up to its own high expectations, drawing only a fraction of the projected visitors. To critics, the Unisphere symbolized the banal, corporate atmosphere of the event. Newsday called it "deathly dull. It looks like an ad for Western Union." ...

Architectural Forum called it "a heavy, literal version of the ancient armillary sphere, with decoration by Rand McNally." But the people loved the Unisphere from the start.

No reference supports the assertion regarding public "love." I never heard any spontaneous expressions of it in the years I lived in the striking-distance zone of the city. But then, the subject of the Unisphere never came up in any conversations that I can recall.

My opinion? I admired the Trilon and Perisphere, symbols of the 1939-40 world's fair on the same site. In comparison, I thought the Unisphere was a gross cliché, poverty of imagination in the extreme. And I still think so.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Exit Pino

Pino Dangelico (known professionally by his first name only) died 25 May. He was 70 years old, having been born 8 November 1939 in Bari, Italy.

My 2005 2Blowhards post about him can be found here (at least for a while). In it I note that biographical information about him is sketchy. For example, here is the bio page on his Web site: it doesn't say much.

In a nutshell, Pino was a commercial artist who did lots of romance book covers before evolving into a fine arts painter whose main subject remained beautiful women. His signature style (and most artists who rely on their painting for most or all of their income develop one or a few styles that are instantly recognizable by potential buyers) was smoothly-painted skin contrasted with bold brushwork over the rest of the painting. He tended to inject odd bits of color (often a bright red) even on parts of a face or other flesh, this perhaps to help tie the bold and rendered parts of the painting together better.

Possibly in reaction to criticism that all he painted were pretty women (and sometimes their children), he later added men as subjects -- typically older, life-worn gents.

I happen like Pino's work for the most part because of his virtuosity and skill, things I value highly all else being equal. If I had $30,000 or so to spare and collected art, I'd be tempted to buy a Pino original.

But not a Giclée -- especially not Giclées "enhanced" by the artist whereby thick strokes of oil paint are added here and there to the reproduction surface. The impression I get is that these supplemental strokes aren't as well thought out as those for the original painting; the usual effect of this added impasto is to degrade its integrity.

Moreover, I'd only buy one painting. That's because of the similarity of examples of an artist's work -- it easily becomes too much of the same sort of thing when more and more are added. I suspect that a roomful of Rembrandt portraits would become hard to live with too.

Below are some examples of Pino's paintings.

Photo of Pino in his studio

A Momentary Glance
This is a fairly typical Pino painting. He often did face-on views of pretty young women doing mundane household tasks.

Dressing Table
A very nice study. Note the contrast between the treatment of the figure and the rest of the scene.

Ditto what I noted regarding "Dressing Table."

Old Man
Here Pino diverges from the usual pretty girl subject matter. The man shown looks similar to Pino, but without a moustache. For what it's worth, one subject I can't recall him painting is mature or older women.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

An Unneeded Restoration

The photo above shows an idealized version of Restoration Hardware's new showroom look. (The company's Web site is here and the Wikipedia entry here.)

The somber, pervasive decor has attracted some negative blogger comment this past week. But the showroom makeover is more pervasive, a huge mistake in my opinion.

Yesterday I was in the University Village store looking for light switch and socket covers. Restoration Hardware used to have a nice little display of such items, but not any more. A clerk told me I could order such hardware items through a catalog. I do not want to look at a catalog; I want to see and touch the items before buying. The store was missing lots of other cute and nifty items.

It has become Just Another Home Furnishings Store -- one currently with little choice of color and decorative theme if my first impression was vadid.

What on earth was management thinking?

Monday, September 6, 2010

New Heinlein Biography

Twenty-two years after his death and nearly eight years after the death of his wife who launched the project, the first volume of a two-part official biography of Robert A. Heinlein (1907-88) has been published.

Fine print -- Learning Curve 1907-1948 ... In Dialogue with His Century. Amazon link here.

Heinlein was a major light in what has been called science fiction's golden age, when the field crawled from the pulp magazine side of the cultural tracks to mainstream "slick" publications. This transformation was marked by the appearance of a Heinlein story in the Saturday Evening Post. A lengthy summary of Heinlein's career can be found in this Wikipedia entry.

I got hooked on his "juveniles" a few years after they first appeared on the shelves of the local library. I was especially taken by "Rocket Ship Galileo" and "Red Planet." I also liked a number of his books and short story collections that appeared before the mid-1960s. (A Heinlein bibliography is here.) The later books that I tackled didn't hold my interest and I failed to finish them.

As for the new biography, I found it interesting and finished off its nearly 500 pages in short order. I agree with early Amazon reader reviews that the author gives every appearance of being fair-minded, delivering warts as well as favorable information in his coverage of Heinlein's life up to his marriage to Virginia in 1948.

I never delved deeply into Heinlein's life, so I was surprised to learn that he grew up holding prairie socialist beliefs and, during the mid-to-late 1930 was very active in the left side of Democrat politics. Apparently he never liked Communism and opposed Red efforts to hijack his faction of the party in California. He also was a world-government fan.

Author William Patterson, Jr. suggests in a footnote that Heinlein didn't change his political view all that much in life; presumably this will be dealt with in Volume II. I'm inclined to think Heinlein held on to certain core beliefs and changed his overt politics as political parties changed their stripes. (An example of stripe-changing is Democrats moving from Harry Truman's robust defense policies to today's reluctance to fight under almost any circumstance.)

One thing I would have liked to have found would be capsule synopses for each story and book mentioned in the text. No reviews, literary criticisms or that kind of thing. Just a paragraph or two outlining the plot. I needed this because I've either never read the material or read it so many years ago that I've forgotten most of the plots and characters.

Friday, September 3, 2010

Wings Over Rochester, NY

I lived in the Albany, New York area for several years and got to know the eastern half of Upstate pretty well. Because of my population forecasting job and the fact that I had a cousin living nearby, I occasionally ventured to Rochester and other parts of western New York.

Downtown Rochester, aside from the Genesee River cutting through it, always seemed standard-issue to me. Aside from one building.

That building, designed by Ralph T. Walker and completed in 1930, was originally home to the Genesee Valley Trust Company.

What distinguished it were huge, Moderne-Deco wings that capped the design.

In the top photo, those wings don't seem particularly out of proportion. But both in person and in memory they strike me as being huge. And a little odd, even though I'm a fan of Art Deco.

I find it hard to put a finger on the problem. The best explanation I can come up with is that, compared to the wings and supporting tower, the rest of the building is a little too plain. It seems to need more Deco decoration -- perhaps in the way of spandrels linking the windows vertically and more sculptural-relief elements on the part of the building below where the tower sits (not necessarily on the "back part" on the left of the top photo). In other words, transition elements are needed.

In any case, if you happen to travel to Rochester and are anywhere near downtown, take a short detour and give it a look.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Retail: To Niche or Not to Niche

A number of years ago -- in the 1990s? -- I walked into an Eddie Bauer store shopping for a windbreaker jacket. And discovered that they no longer sold winter jackets; their entire product line was now sportswear.

I staggered out in shock (slight exaggeration), long-term memories of Eddie supplying Mount Everest climbers and all sorts of other out-doorsey folks their garment needs rattling around my skull.

Rather than hitting its sales mark, Eddie Bauer eventually hit the wall. A couple of ownership changes later, the company is now returning to its outdoor togs roots with a vengeance, stressing Jim Whittaker's Bauer-clad Everest exploits to the point of adding a Whittaker product line.

Let me add that, after ignoring Eddie Bauer for several years, I'm shopping there again. Whether enough others are doing the same remains to be seen. But at least the company is distancing itself from the run-of-the-mill sportswear crowd.

I have no direct experience in retail rag-trade marketing. I rubbed elbows with marketing staffs as a data supplier, but that was about it. My perspective is that of a casual customer, so take what follows with that caveat.

In retrospect, the Eddie Bauer strategy of forsaking its outdoors roots in pursuit of a supposedly larger market segment was a mistake. Casual observer me has trouble sorting out distinctions between store chains selling sportswear. To some degree I can identify companies that strongly focus on the youth segment (Hollister, Abercrombie & Fitch, etc), but otherwise I have no strong images regarding product-line "personalities."

This is not to say that each retailer doesn't make at least some effort to be distinctive and that hard-core sportswear shoppers indeed understand and appreciate such differences. But not all shoppers are hard-core, and failure to attract enough of these can damage a balance-sheet.

Eddie Bauer's new risk is that it's facing a set of competitors that have had years to recruit loyal customers that Eddie had lost and now must peel away. Recreation-wear is a smaller niche than sportswear, and competition is equally fierce. This is why Eddie Bauer is going to great lengths to stress Mt. Everest, World War 2 aviation gear, sports fishing togs and other strong outdoors-related themes. The company may yet "auger in" as test pilots put it, but it's taking a tack that makes more sense to me than its previous efforts.

Conclusion? The thought of working in any aspect of the rag trade scares the hell out of me.


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Matt Katula

Q&A --

August 18, 2007|By EDWARD LEE

Matt Katula has been the Ravens' starting long snapper since 2005. Along with punter and holder Sam Koch, Katula helped kicker Matt Stover lead the NFL in field-goal percentage with a 93.3 conversion rate last season.

Matt Stover has said that one of the keys to his success is your ability to snap the football to Sam Koch so that the laces are always in the front when Sam catches the ball. How did you perfect that?

It's all about rotation. The ball spins a certain amount of times. We just needed to figure out how many times it spins before it gets to his hands. I just had to get comfortable with snapping at the same speed.

On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being very strong, how would you estimate the strength at which you snap?

Probably 7 or 8. It was hard, because ... in college, speed is at a premium. ... So I was always just snapping it as hard as I could. It's more about accuracy at this level.

Did you do anything fun during the offseason?

I caddied for [quarterback] Kyle Boller at the celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, the American Century Championship. My wife and I went out there and had a blast. We had never been to Tahoe, and it's the most gorgeous place I've ever been to in my life.

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YOU ARE HERE: Burbank HomeCollections

Camacho steps aside

After building a girls' basketball dynasty at Bell-Jeff, coach and athletic director leaving school to accept an assistant job at CSUN.

June 19, 2010|By Jeff Tully

BELLARMINE-JEFFERSON HIGH — There have been a lot of sleepless nights the past few weeks for Bellarmine-Jefferson High's Bryan Camacho.

Faced with a tough decision, the longtime coach and the school's athletic director agonized about a possible move.

Ultimately, the decision came down to what would be best for his future. With that in mind, Camacho said Friday that he is leaving Bell-Jeff and has accepted an assistant coaching position with the Cal State Northridge women's program.

"Being able to be the first assistant at CSUN is just a great opportunity for me," Camacho said. "It is just a different challenge and I'm fortunate to be able to have this opportunity. The timing of this and the opportunity that I have, it's just too tough to pass up."

Along with being Bell-Jeff's girls' basketball coach for a total of right years — serving two four-stints — Camacho also headed the boys' basketball program last season and served as the school's athletic director.

A 1992 Bell-Jeff graduate, Camacho said because of his close ties and the long standing relationships he has cultivated at the school, leaving was a monumentally difficult decision.

"The decision was very hard on me," he said. "Just working with such great kids and with [Bell-Jeff Principal] Sister Cheryl [Milner], it was just such a special time in my life to be at Bell-Jeff.

"It has been the toughest two weeks of my life, just deciding what to do. I really thought long and hard about what I should do."

Although Milner said she is happy with Camacho's new opportunity, she is also sorry to see him go.

"With his charisma and his talent, we have no doubt that he will be successful in his new endeavor," Milner said. "But at the same time, we're sorry to see him go.

"He has meant so much to our school over the years and he has given so much back. He definitely will be missed."

Camacho built the Bell-Jeff's girls' basketball team into one of the top programs in the state. Since coming back to the school for the 2006-07 season, Camacho and the Guards have enjoyed a wealth of success.

In those four years, Bell-Jeff has captured state and Southern Section championships, advanced to division title games twice and won three straight Santa Cruz League crowns.

In the four-year stint, Camacho led the program to a 104-21 record. In his eight years with the Guards' program, Camacho accumulated a 183-50 record and had a .785 winning percentage.

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YOU ARE HERE: Burbank HomeCollectionsClients

A dog-meet-dog world

SuperShmuttle functions as a day-care center for four-legged friends.

June 23, 2010|By Michael Arvizu,

To enter Judy Rudin's home in Burbank is to enter a world of dogs.

Rudin, owner of SuperShmuttle at 854 Ford St. in Burbank, has for the last two decades dedicated her life to taking care of dogs of all shapes, sizes, ages and breeds.

SuperShmuttle might be compared to a baby-sitting service for dogs, Rudin says. Clients leave their dogs with Rudin at the beginning of the day, and she takes them to Laurel Canyon Dog Park, where they spend the entire afternoon frolicking with other dogs.

Rudin calls it "park adventures." Other services include taking the animals to the groomer or vet.

"The main part of the business is a park adventure," Rudin said. "It is not about being here [at the business]; this is only a great place as a drop-off. For some people that just can't leave their dog home alone at all, they're driving by here anyway. It makes sense."

Some of Rudin's clients include Burbank, Toluca Lake and West Hollywood residents.

"They're with other dogs; they're socialized," said five-year client Todd Thurman of Los Angeles.

Twenty-one years ago, Rudin was looking for a way to spend as much time as she could working on her music, so she spent her time looking for jobs that would give her that flexibility. Then Rudin adopted a yellow lab puppy named Jersey. Unable to leave the dog alone, she would take Jersey to parks during the day.

Then she began fielding requests from friends to take their dogs on walks, either because they were starting a new job or could not physically handle their canine pets. So Rudin began a dog-walking business, which allowed her the flexibility to work on her music and play gigs at night.

"There was no word 'dog walker,'" Rudin said. "All of a sudden people just said to me, 'You're going to the park with your dog; take mine and make a little extra money.'"

Over time, Rudin felt that she could not physically handle the number of dogs pulling on the leash, so she took her business in another direction. She founded SuperShuttle about three years ago, which instead centers on allowing the dogs to frolic in the park under Rudin's watchful eye.

"To be in the lives of the clients, you become part of their family," Rudin said. "So it's not just the dogs. I've been there through two to three generations of dogs."

SuperShmuttle has two full-size vans capable of taking multiple dogs to the park each day. Dogs can also be dropped off at Rudin's business.

Yearlong client Mark Fogel of Toluca Lake drops off his dog at Rudin's business on his way to work in downtown Los Angeles.

"It's great," said Fogel of the service. "Izzy's exhausted at the end of the day. He's never alone and always with somebody. That's the way he likes it. Whatever makes him happy."

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Alcohol Abuse Evansville IN

Alcohol Abuse in Evansville, IN. Find phone numbers, addresses and information about Alcohol Abuse in Evansville.

Volunteers of America of Indiana Inc
Hope Hall
811 East Franklin Street,
Evansville, IN47711
(812) 423-1949

Intake Phone Numbers:
(812) 423-1949x104

Services Offered: Substance abuse treatment, Halfway house

Residency: Outpatient

Payment Accepted: Self payment

Payment Assistance: Sliding fee scale (fee is based on income and other factors)

Specializing in Criminal justice clients

Volunteers of America of Indiana is a faith-based organization that provides life-changing services to enhance the physical, emotional, spiritual, and intellectual needs of individuals by providing counseling, rehabilitation, job placement, and residential services. We serve individuals transitioning from the correctional system, elderly, chronically addicted, veterans and mentally ill. - See more at: http://www.voain.org/About-Us#sthash.jVQ3NSrM.dpuf


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Ecstasy Addiction Scranton PA

Ecstasy Addiction in Scranton, PA. Find phone numbers, addresses and information about Ecstasy Addiction in Scranton.

Clem Mar House Inc
For Women
92 Church Street,
Dallas, PA18612
(570) 674-1575

Services Offered: Substance abuse treatment, Halfway house

Residency: Residential long-term treatment (more than 30 days)

Payment Accepted: Self payment, Medicaid, Medicare, State financed insurance (other than Medicaid), Private health insurance, Military insurance (e.g., VA,TRICARE)

Specializing in Women

Founded in 1994, Our mission at Clem-Mar House, Inc. is to provide a three (3) month to six (6) month residential program in which chemically dependent clients can reorganize their lives with a view toward an independent lifestyle. Our primary purpose is to help the recovering person continue the process started in their rehabilitation program while simultaneously providing direction and guidance to aid them in making a smooth transition into mainstream society.
To this end we will provide experiential groups to address living skills, job security, budgeting, and responsibility. We also refer to community based agencies and programs to assist us in fulfilling our mission. Clients will be expected to continue involvement in AA/NA to enhance their recovery experience. Clem-Mar focuses on intense counseling in an intimate setting. We believe improved self esteem, positive mental attitude training and vocational skills lead to a firm foundation of recovery from the disease of addiction. Clem-Mar will conduct an interview with each potential candidate for our program. This interview will take place in person prior to the client being accepted for admission to the facility.
After a client has been determined appropriate for the level of care, eligible for admission and has completed the initial assessment procedures, orientation to the program takes place. The nature and goals of the program, rules of conduct, hours of service, and clients' rights are explained. During treatment, periodic assessments are conducted.
The goal of assessment is for the client and the assigned counselor to discuss the client's chemical usage history to begin to prepare an individualized treatment approach specific to the client's needs. In the assessment procedure, Clem-Mar determines how well clients are gaining re-integration to society through better coping mechanisms, educational/vocational skills and life skills.
Clem-Mar House, Inc. does not deprive a client of a civil right solely by reason of treatment. The project does not discriminate in the provision of services on the basis of age, race, creed, sex, ethnicity, color, national origin, marital status, sexual orientation, handicap or religion.
Wyoming Valley
Alcohol and Drug Services Inc
437 North Main Street,
Wilkes Barre, PA18705
(570) 820-8888

Intake Phone Numbers:
(570) 655-3900

Services Offered: Substance abuse treatment

Residency: Outpatient

Payment Accepted: Self payment, Medicaid, State financed insurance (other than Medicaid), Private health insurance

Payment Assistance: Sliding fee scale (fee is based on income and other factors)

Languages: ASL or other assistance for hearing impaired

Specializing in Adolescents, DUI/DWI offenders

Our Mission

Wyoming Valley Alcohol and Drug Services, Inc. is committed to providing quality treatment, prevention/education, and outreach services to residents of Luzerne County. Services are available to all residents without discrimination, including financial status. Wyoming Valley Alcohol and Drug Services, Inc. further agrees to provide outreach services outside the agency, when because of handicaps, the individual is not able to access services at its two locations.
Our History

Wyoming Valley Alcohol and Drug Services, Inc. is a private, non-profit agency that was founded in June 1973, and its first governing body was the Alcoholism Council of Luzerne County. The original name of the agency was the Wilkes-Barre Center on Alcohol Abuse and it was located at the Wilkes-Barre General Nursing Home from June 1973 to March 1974, which is now the site of the hospital parkade.

In March 1974, our agency moved to the west side of the river to the Nesbitt Memorial Hospital Medical Arts Building. The geographic move necessitated a change in the agency name and we now became the Wyoming Valley Center on Alcohol Abuse. In June 1974, we became incorporated under our present name of Wyoming Valley Alcohol and Drug Services, Inc.

In July 1977, we moved to 601 Wyoming Avenue, Kingston and remained there until May of 1980, at which time, we relocated to 383 Wyoming Avenue, Kingston, and remained there until December 1994.

December 1994 marks a milestone in our agency’s storied and spirited growth, for this is the date we moved to our current home at 437 North Main Street, Wilkes-Barre.

Although our agency has experienced many name and geographic changes, what hasn’t changed is our mission, conviction, and commitment to responding to the needs of the public we serve.


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YOU ARE HERE: Glendale HomeCollections

St. Francis football comes on in second half to notch CIF win

Football: St. Francis creates separation in second half and notches 45-28 victory on the road in CIF Western Division first-round contest.

November 15, 2013|By Grant Gordon,
(Tim Berger Staff…)

CULVER CITY — For roughly the first 24 minutes of Friday night's CIF Southern Section Western Division opener, the St. Francis High football team looked every bit like a squad lingering from consecutive losses to end the regular season.

But, according to the Golden Knights, some adjustments and the wake-up call that was a lackluster first half, led them to flipping the switch.

PHOTOS: St. Francis vs. Culver City CIF football playoffs

Led by the all-around stellar play of quarterback Ty Gangi, the gutsy running of Joe Mudie and a reinvigorated defense in the second half, the Golden Knights ran off 24 unanswered points in the final 24 minutes to defeat host Culver City, 45-28, in the first round of the playoffs.

"I think it was a little bit of both," said St. Francis Coach Jim Bonds of whether it was adjustments or a wake-up call that led to the improved second-half play. "The last two weeks took a toll. You go 8-0 and then you lose two in a row, you lose a little a little bit of your mojo and I think it showed in the first half."

Following losses to Gardena Serra and Chaminade to end Mission League play, St. Francis (9-2), which will now host fourth-seeded Camarillo in the quarterfinals next week, struggled in falling behind, 21-7, against Culver City (6-5), the Ocean League champion which had won five in a row.

But a 13-yard Gangi-to-Brodie Felkel touchdown with 25 seconds remaining in the first half cut the score to 28-21 and began what would be a 31-0 run to end the game for St. Francis.

"The first half was not St. Francis football. We knew we could play better," said Gangi, who was 22 of 32 for 245 yards, a touchdown and an interception. "I'm just proud of my team because they kept fighting."

Gangi added 75 yards and three touchdown runs on 16 carries, highlighted by a 30-yard touchdown run in which he weaved past two Centaurs defensive backs to break the game open at 42-28 with 7:59 remaining.

"To me, it just really looks like the game has slowed down for him," Bonds said. "He's just so calm and cool and poised under pressure. He's been outstanding this year."

It was Mudie who scored the game-winning touchdown, though. After missing much of the second quarter with a bum hamstring, he returned in the third and busted a 60-yard touchdown run with 4:36 to play that put St. Francis up for the first time at 35-28. Mudie would finish with 117 yards in 13 carries and the touchdown.

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YOU ARE HERE: LAT HomeCollections

Los Angeles

Housing Project Site's History of Oil Storage Still Haunts City

L.A. sues firm to offset the cleanup costs for tainted land a predecessor owned.

May 31, 2003|Jocelyn Y. Stewart | Times Staff Writer

A century ago this land near downtown Los Angeles was ruled by oil: Thousands of barrels' worth sat stored above ground; thousands more flowed underneath, all feeding a growing metropolis.

Once the oil boom dried up, the land served another need: In the 1940s hundreds of families moved into new apartments, a city housing project known as William Mead Homes. Children played baseball on dirt fields, families planted vegetables on slivers of earth, and nobody thought much about the history of the land.

Now, the land's past, and its transformation from oil concern to city housing project, are the subject of a string of lawsuits.

The Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles filed the latest suit last month. The action against ChevronTexaco Corp. seeks to recover more than $4 million spent in the cleanup of contaminated soil at the site.

The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, accuses a predecessor of ChevronTexaco of causing the contamination by failing to properly maintain control and manage the land, which is near the Twin Towers Correctional Facility, about a mile from City Hall.

A ChevronTexaco spokesman said he was unaware of the lawsuit and would have to research the issue before commenting. Housing Authority officials said company attorneys know about the problem at William Mead. The housing project has 415 units and is home to 1,500 people.

"Over the last couple of years we've had constant communication with ChevronTexaco, and for a long time we thought we could come to an amicable agreement," said Assistant City Atty. Dov Lesel.

The deadline for the city to file a suit against ChevronTexaco was approaching, and, when company representatives did not sign an agreement that would have extended the statute of limitations or enter settlement negotiations, "that left us no choice but to actually file and serve the action," he said.

The lawsuit centers on the early 20th century use of the land by a company known as Amalgamated. The firm used a portion of the property as a storage facility for crude oil: Four 35,000-barrel tanks sat there, according to the city's lawsuit.

On land next to the storage facility was a Southern Refining Co. operation, said Bill Davis, a Housing Authority administrator.

By 1926 the storage facility had stopped operations. Amalgamated eventually became ChevronTexaco, and Southern Refining disappeared from all records, Davis said.

"This was during the heyday of the oil boom in L.A.," Davis said. "Everybody in town was in the oil business. A lot of the deals were done in the back room of the bar in Main Street, and there are no corporate records."

In 1939 or 1940 the Housing Authority acquired the land that had been owned by Amalgamated, and its oil history eventually faded from institutional memory. In 1942 construction was completed and the development was named for William Mead, a real estate developer and early advocate of affordable housing in Los Angeles.

Decades later, in 1994, a World War II veteran who as a child had been a resident of William Mead, wrote a letter to the Housing Authority. The former resident, who is now in his 70s and lives in Ohio, shared his memories about the land's past use and told of a high rate of cancer among relatives and friends. Those who were stricken had all played together on the baseball field at William Mead.

That letter sparked an inquiry, and in 1995 the Housing Authority conducted an investigation that revealed the presence of potentially carcinogenic and hazardous substances throughout the site, the lawsuit alleges. The authority argues that the substances date back to the land's earlier use by Amalgamated and possibly two other companies.

"There is other contamination at the William Mead site that might not be attributable to them, and we recognize that," Lesel said.

The state Department of Toxic Substances Control, which oversees remediation efforts, reviewed the plans to clean up the land south of Cardinal Street, said Ryan Kinsella, hazardous substances scientist and project manager. Department representatives monitored the site as workers removed nearly 46,000 tons of soil and replaced it with clean dirt.

Officials also warned residents not to grow fruit and vegetables on the land and supplied planter boxes. A play area was fenced off. In 2000 and 2001, the Housing Authority relocated families in 114 units up to three months as work proceeded.

According to the California Department of Health Services, Environmental Health Investigations Branch, "residents who lived in William Mead Housing before 1996 and who did not eat food grown on site would not be expected to have any significant increase in cancer risk (less than 0.005%) from exposure to PAHs from the soil."

PAHs are a group of chemicals created when gas, coal, oil, wood and other organic materials are burned.

Los Angeles Times Articles


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The Nation

Federal Turkeys Wing It This Year

Why will the national fowl cross the country? To be grand marshals at the Disneyland Thanksgiving parade. But what's behind it all?

November 22, 2005|Johanna Neuman | Times Staff Writer

WASHINGTON — Every November, the president of the United States is presented with the National Thanksgiving Turkey -- and promptly issues it a formal pardon.

But unlike the turkeys granted reprieves from the chopping block over the last 15 years, this year's bird will not be sent to Frying Pan Park, an animal farm in the Washington suburbs, to gobble to its heart's content for the rest of its days. This afternoon, minutes after being spared, the 35-pound presidential turkey -- along with a back-up bird -- is going to Disneyland. On United Flight 197. First class.

With a contentious Congress in recess, some might speculate that the turkeys are benefiting from the benevolence of a capital in seasonal good cheer. But the travel plans may have more to do with a letter-writing campaign sponsored by People for the Ethical Treatment for Animals, along with some reports in the media, decrying the fate that befell the pardoned birds in the past."We sent a letter to President Bush early last week, as we have for the last five years in a row, asking him to send the birds to a better environment than Frying Pan Park, where they shiver in a 10-by-10 shed with no mental or physical stimulation and tend to die within six months," said Bruce Friedrich, director of vegan campaigns for PETA. "Really, the pardon for the last 15 years has been more like a death sentence."

The park, an animal sanctuary in Herndon, Va., that re-creates a 1930s farm for visiting schoolchildren, denies that it has mistreated the turkeys, which it considers honored guests.

"The claims of poor or inhumane treatment were a little painful for our staff, because they take pride in the care of the animals," said spokeswoman Judy Pedersen. "Many of these turkeys are bred for the table. They don't tend to have a long retirement."

For its part, Disney said that it scored the presidential turkey with a request to the National Turkey Federation, a Washington-based advocacy group that has provided a Thanksgiving bird to the commander-in-chief since 1947.

But this being Washington, conspiracy theories have popped up about the real motive behind the destination change. With the White House referring all questions to the federation and the federation not returning calls, PETA is sure the president wants to fend off any more negative publicity. "He's dodging Turkeygate," Friedrich said.

Frying Pan Park thinks the federation recognized all the good ink it could get by sending the turkey to media-rich California. And Disneyland is sure it won the bird to help the park celebrate its 50th anniversary.

"It's very exciting," said Disneyland's Valarie Sukovaty.

All sides seem to agree that Disneyland is a wonderful grazing ground for turkeys that might otherwise have landed as breast meat on Thanksgiving.

"We wish them all well," said Pedersen. "They've been with us for 15 years, a rich tradition at Frying Pan Park. And if they're ever looking for a place near the White House, the presidential suite doors remain open."

PETA, which put in calls to the White House and to Disneyland to make sure "the turkey is not shoved into the cargo hold of an airplane, where thousands of animals die every year," expressed a certain Happiest Place on Earth sentiment. "It's hard to imagine a nicer place for anyone than Disneyland," Friedrich said.

The presidential pardon is scheduled for 1:05 p.m. today. Then, like a Super Bowl MVP who declares that he's going to Disneyland, the National Thanksgiving Turkey and its companion will be whisked away in a motorcade -- at Disney's expense -- to a 2:40 p.m. flight from Washington Dulles International Airport to LAX.

On Thursday, they will be honored as grand marshals of Disneyland's Thanksgiving Day Parade, sitting on a float.

Raised on a farm in Henning, Minn., the birds will live out their days at Santa's reindeer ranch in Frontierland -- and have something to be thankful for.

Los Angeles Times Articles


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Art Gallery of Ontario

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Art Matters Blog

What to see and do at Art Toronto 2012’s Opening Night Preview

October 10th, 2012

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A selection of the work you can see at Art Toronto 2012

Art Toronto — the Toronto International Art Fair — is Canada’s only international art fair, bringing together artists, collectors, curators and galleries from far and wide. In 2012, Art Toronto is focusing on Asia’s incredible contemporary art scene and, as in previous years, its Opening Night Preview on Oct. 25 will raise funds for the Art Gallery of Ontario. Last year’s preview raised over $265,000 (net); funds raised at the event help support the AGO’s exhibition and education programs, with a portion of the proceeds going to purchase works of art at the Fair. For example, the Gallery acquired these three works at the fair in 2007. In 2010, we added 10 new works from the Fair to our collection.

In addition to supporting the AGO, Opening Night Preview attendees also get to experience a special night that celebrates art with live performances and installations. This year’s event will feature:

  • A 635 CSi BMW Art Car designed by Pop Art star Robert Rauschenberg (7:30 pm). Created in 1986, this is the first time the car will be exhibited in Canada;
  • Gamelatron, a project by A Taylor Kuffner and The League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots that draws on the millennium-old sonic tradition of Indonesia, gamelan, as well as robotics, to construct “the world’s first and only fully robotic gamelan orchestra“; and
  • A brand new performance at 7 and 8:30 p.m. by Tibi Tibi Neuspiel and Geoffrey Pugen called Hurdles — watch the video below for a sneak peek. The pair have created many memorable performance pieces, including The Tie Break, in which the pair re-created shot-by-shot the 1980 Wimbledon final match between Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe for Nuit Blanche 2011 crowds.

What can I do at the Opening Night Preview?
Guests get exclusive access to view and purchase works at the Fair before it opens to the public. (See the above slideshow for a taste of the amazing art available at Art Toronto this year.) Of course, it’s a party! So you will also have the opportunity to socialize with artists, collectors and art enthusiasts and enjoy cocktails and hors d’oeuvres.

The Art Toronto 2012 Opening Night Preview takes place from 6:30 to 10 p.m. on Oct. 25, 2012, at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. To book tickets click here.

For more information about Art Toronto 2011 please visit

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Welcome to Artron BioResearch Inc.

Bringing Innovative Ideas to the Rapid Diagnostic Test Industry

Antibody against Troponin I

Availability: In stock

cTnI mAb1-Labeling: Antibody against Troponin I
Catalogue # Immunogen Source Host Clone Applications
A60-Ab1     Mouse Monoclonal ELISA, Lateral flow immunoassay

Grade Ion-exchange purified >95%
Storage & Stability Store at 2-8°C. The product is stable in the unopened vial until the expiry date given. For long-term storage, freeze at -20°C. Avoid repetitive freezing and thawing.
Specificity Recognizes cardiac Troponin I.
Isotype IgG1
Affinity Constant
Hazards Intended for laboratory and manufacturing use only. Not for drug, food or household use. Standard laboratory practices should be followed when handling.
Download: MSDS


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Darrel Manson

The Clock

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While at LACMA yesterday, I wandered into one of the temporary installations, The Clock. It is thousands of film clips that are edited together based on their time. It's synchronized to local time so at 4:58 pm, you see pieces of various films that are also at 4:58 pm. I watched about 20 minutes and it's great fun noting the various films that you get little glimpses of. (4:58, by the way is the time Bogie is waiting at the Paris train station in Casablanca - among other clips that show the same time.)

It's there through the end of July for those in the area.

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Monday, December 3, 2012

Long time coming.....

Today is finally the day......

I haven't blogged in over a year now. It's crazy to think about how much has happened since I wrote my last post:

-Graduated from college finally
-Began (and now halfway through) my deployment to Afghanistan

Sure, it may not seem like much, but in all reality a lot has changed for me.

Right now, I'm sitting in my RLB listening to some music with headphones on cause my roommate is asleep. RLB is code for "really little bedroom" in my opinion. However, I've made my side my own. I have a wall filled with pictures of friends and family that remind me of why I'm here. I miss my family more everyday, but I try and remember how amazing it will be when I see them in the spring time. One main thing I've learned since being here is how important quality time is with those you love. I will not be taking that for granted when I get home, of this I'm sure.

One wall has my lovely calendar for a countdown that Renee made from the family before I left. I flipped it to December a couple days ago which brought a huge smile to my face. One more month down. My friend Jarrod sent a red stocking with an "A" on it thats hanging up. My parents are amazing and will be sending me a little tree too to decorate.

Ok, I've probably said too much about my RLB :P

The unfortunate thing is, I can't really explain or describe anything I'm doing here for security purposes.

Either way, I decided to write because I know my mom will appreciate this. She has been amazing since I've been here. She sends packages, letters and I get to skype with her every now and then. I love you more and miss you so much mom.

My whole family has been a great support system since I left. I will be overjoyed when I get to see them all again. It brings a smile to my face when I think about all the great conversations and family games that will happen when I get home.

I'm going to wrap things up for now. Things are going well here. I will continue to try and better myself and I hope to come home a better person after experiencing this.

Gorgeous Sunrise over the mountains

I took this in July when the flag was at half mass in honor of the marine that was killed.

All geeked out in my gear :)

my attempt to protest the new burn pit near by that I breathe in everyday :P

Awesome blanket made and sent by the one and only, Katie Warden

Everyone back home says my hair is super long......I still want it to be longer :P

just chilling in my room

Snuggled up with my favorite stuffed german sheppard, Ranger

Merry Christmas!


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Saturday, December 5, 2009

Christmas Countdown

I decided to make another chalkboard piece today. I am still in love with everything chalk board. (you will also see something else involving chalkboard paint sometime after tomorrow.

I started with a frame (that I broke the glass out of by accident)  and painted the back with chalkboard paint
I glued on some pinecones
and voila.

A cute Christmas countdown frame.

I'm going to link this up at

  1. So cute! Perfect size for a countdown. You know me chalkboard=love so I am so in love with this piece!

  2. CUTE! I love chalkboards!! :) Thanks for sharing!


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Creative Time

So, after a little trip to Scrapalicious and lots of money spent on the new Studio Calico and October Afternoon, I was feeling quite inspired. I actually was able to have some Creative Time! It has been a long time since I was free to create anything I wanted. Here's a peek at the two things that I did tonite!

It was so nice to see my studio a mess from the creating frenzy!

After creating I did a little bit of wrapping and now, I am off to do some reading. Ahh i just love nights like this. I can't wait until tomorrow. My friends and I have our White Trash Christmas Bash and I have the best outfit to wear. It is sure to be a blast. Oh yeah, check out the old scale I purchased from the Flea Market. I just love finds like this....well, good nite all! Keep the praises going up to heaven!

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ASI “Shooter Logbook” in Development

IR003 Alley Madness
Initial art for “Alley Madness” — featuring a retreat to a barricade, and a mandatory reload

ASI recently started compiling its various stage designs, rules, and other instructional content into a “Shooter Logbook” for members. Every member will receive a copy of the logbook when it’s complete, giving them a way to plan, to practice — and to track their improving skills.

ASI’s Robin Taylor told us “We have a long way to go, but we’re hoping to have something so show in the first part of 2015.”

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The Contracts & Project Management MBA

The Contracts & Project Management MBA

Date & Location: (19-23/Mar) Singapore – ( 22-26/Oct) Istanbul – ( 17-21/Dec) Jakarta

Register Now

Course Overview

This training course is designed to provide knowledge in:

  • Preparing and administration of both the project plan and the contract
  • Critical contractor selection & contractor negotiations
  • Identifying and analyzing project and contract risk
  • Selecting and leading project and contract teams
  • Setting and Measuring Project and Contractor Performance goals

Program Objectives:

  • Knowing your outcomes before you start a project
  • Dealing with volatile materials pricing
  • Discussing the importance of planning and how to manage the Planning Process
  • Learning about contract types and how they transfer risk
  • Defining and how to take massive action
  • Exploring the various pricing models used in preparing proposals
  • Methods of how to keep the team focused on the delivery goal
  • Developing negotiation skill sets to gain the organisation’s objectives
  • How to set up and operate disciplines required to monitor and control projects
  • Understanding important aspects of contractor price and cost analysis

Who Should Attend?

This course will mainly benefit to purchasing managers, senior buyers, project managers, civil engineers, construction managers, contractors, sub-contractors, site engineers, senior management, and government agencies, architects, construction professionals, and anyone responsible for purchasing at a senior level who seeks to enhance their skills further.

Program Outline:

Introduction to Projects

  • What is a project?
  • Benefits of project management
  • Why some projects fail?
  • The 5 principles of project management
  • Using a project management ‘approach’
  • The business case – it’s importance and relevance
  • Roles in project management
  • Building the project management team

Scoping and Laying the Foundations

  • Developing a clear project scope and objectives
  • Leadership in projects – what does it mean to you?
  • Project paperwork – is it really necessary?
  • Stakeholder management – the first stage of risk assessment
  • Risk management – ensuring you practice prevention
  • Developing your project plan using a robust planning process Stage I

Organising for Success and Gaining & Maintaining Commitment

  • Developing your project plan using a robust planning process Stage II
  • Personal attitudes and human behaviours
  • The keys to effective influence and persuasion
  • Understanding interpersonal project team dynamics
  • Empowerment
  • Effective delegation

Monitoring and Controlling Projects

  • Tracking you are still delivering the project – data information
  • Managing the tensions
  • Further developing your people (soft) skills
  • Lessons learned and creating learning culture
  • Knowledge transfer
  • The Project Support Office

Staying Focused, Delivering and Closing Your Project

  • Decision making for success
  • An introduction to creative thinking
  • Personal time management – the impact on projects
  • Meeting skills
  • Formally closing the project
  • Celebrating success


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Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Review: The Adventures of Joe-Joe Nut & Biscuit Bill (Case #3 The Secret of the Missing Arch)

About the Book:
The elementary school at Acorn Valley holds an art fundraiser to help local animals whose homes were lost due to natural disasters. Four famous local artists--Claude Monet Mongoose, Georgia O'Giraffe, Vincent Van Goat and Pablo Picasso Peacock--have generously donated their weather-themed paintings for a charity auction. But a monkey wrench is thrown into the proceedings when distinguished Gila monster Dr. Ced E. Meant discovers, in a presentation at the Metropolitan Museum before the event, that his invaluable research has been stolen! His findings are so important that they cannot be leaked to the world at large! Meanwhile, more mysterious and fishy things are going on at the art auction, which Detectives Nut and Bill are determined to unravel. Geared for older children (and appealing enough for adults), this third entry in the series once again paints a delightful world of animal protagonists--teachers, scientists, etc.--using colorful illustrations with the lively black-and-white cartoons of Karwoski. Each of the animals--garbed like humans--has personality to spare, and they make amusing references to bills, hooves and tails. A genuinely crafty, complex mystery (including secret panels, art theft and characters who aren't as they appear) combines seamlessly with info about weather and art.
 Image of Renee Hand
About the Author:
Renee Hand writes because it is a passion in her heart. She likes to create books that educate and inspire the children of today. She was born in Michigan and still lives there with her husband and two children. She has a degree in Zoology with a minor in Chemistry. Renee is the author of the amazing mystery series known as the Crypto-Capers Series that encourages children to read by incorporating several topics of interest. The reader participates into the story by solving cryptograms and puzzles to solve the case. She is also the author of the Joe-Joe Nut and Biscuit Bill Adventure Series, which focuses on animal detectives. This series is a great way to teach children about animals in a fun and interesting way that captures the reader's attention and yet fills them with knowledge they will be learning about in school. All books are great to use in a classroom setting to supplement various topics or to just enjoy. Renee is an award-winning author, receiving awards such as a Best Book Award, a National Literary Award, Seal of Excellence Award and two Preferred Choice Awards for her children's series and adult books. Visit the author's website at www.reneeahand.com to learn about cryptograms and how to solve the ones that are in the books.

My Review:
If you are on the lookout for a chapter, for your not so new to it reader, then I have got one for you. The chapters evenly laid out. So your child should have absolutely no trouble reading all about Joe Joe Nut and Biscuit Bill. The beginning of the story begins with Dr. Ced, a Gila Monster giving a speech about his new discovery . He has been doing research for many years on erosion. His research has led to some top secret discoveries and the information that he held to be top secret apparently someone wanted because his files on these secrets comes up missing.

Come along with the author as she takes you and your child along for the ride to see just what this mystery is all about.

**Disclosure** This book was provided to me free of charge by the author for my honest review.


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Tuesday, May 31, 2016

RELEASE BLITZ of Stepping Over The Line by Laura Marie Altom

Title: Stepping Over the Line
Author: Laura Marie Altom
Publisher: Loveswept
Genre: NA Contemporary Romance
Release Date: May 31, 2016

If you love the stepbrother romances of Sabrina Paige, Caitlin Daire, and Krista Lakes, you’ll fall hard for Laura Marie Altom’s tale of forbidden love—a red-hot novel in her Shamed series featuring two tortured souls with an unbreakable bond.

As the chief legal counsel for dot-com billionaire Liam Stone, Garrett Marsden has grown accustomed to being universally loathed. In fact, he welcomes it. Because the bigger the fight, the easier it is to run from his desire for someone he can never have: his stepsister. But when Garrett flies back to Julep, Mississippi, for Savannah’s med school graduation, a steamy encounter makes all his wildest dreams come true—and leads to his undoing. Because that’s when he meets Savannah’s boyfriend. . . .

Five years later, Savannah Boudreaux couldn’t be happier as a small-town Southern doctor and single mom to a young son. There’s only one thing missing. Her stepbrother, Garrett, has just been released from prison, and although he may be a free man, he’s become a bitter shadow of the kind and caring man who once came to her rescue. Now Savannah will cross the line to save Garrett from himself: to prove that he can live his life, love whoever he wants . . . and be a wonderful father to their son.

Purchase Links

Author Bio

Laura Marie Altom is the author of more than forty books in three different genres. Now that her kids are in college, Altom spends her days writing and chasing after a menagerie of pets: a mini long-haired dachshund named Cocoa, a Yorkie named Chewie, a mutt named Sweet Pea, a giant kitty named Foxy, and Domino—a black-and-white stealth cat she rarely sees. She’s happily married to her college sweetheart (go Hogs!), and when night falls, she steals a few romantic moments for herself with her own hunky cover stud.

Author Links

Girls On Fire by Robin Wasserman

About Girls on Fire

Girls on Fire cover• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Harper (May 17, 2016)

Three girls went into the woods; two came out. It sounds like a joke, or a riddle. But it was only, would ever after be, the rest of our life. Shortly after Halloween, 1991, the local high-school basketball star is found in the woods near Battle Creek, Pennsylvania, with a bullet in his head and a gun in his hand—a discovery that sends tremors through this conservative community, already unnerved by growing rumors of satanic worship in the region. In the wake of this incident, bright but lonely Hannah Dexter is befriended by Lacey Champlain, a dark-eyed, Cobain-worshipping bad influence. Lacey forges a fast, intimate bond with the impressionable Dex, making her over in her own image—and unleashing a fierce defiance with unexpected and harrowing consequences. By turns a shocking story of love and violence and an addictive portrait of the intoxication of female friendship, Girls on Fire is an incendiary and unforgettable snapshot of girlhood: girls lost and found, girls weak and strong, girls who burn bright and brighter—and girls who flicker away.

My Thoughts…

Girls on Fire is unique.   I truly picked up the book with no idea what to expect.    I read the synopsis’ but I do not read other reviews until I finish writing my own so I can make my own opinions.     This is a story about a good girl being lead by a bad girl.   This is also a story about how lives can change when friends come into your life and the influences that friend can have for you.

I wanted to be invested in the story.   I tried.  Yet, through the book I kept thinking where are the adults?  The teachers, parents, police officers, or anyone else.    These girls are running the town, staying out all night, causing trouble, and looking for trouble yet no adults seem to notice.   I understood what was happening with Lacey.   Her mom just didn’t care.   But what about Hannah’s parents?      Maybe I could not get past this because I have a teenager and a college student and I would notice if they were acting out as Hannah and Lacey were.

This may sound like I don’t like the book.  I did.   Girls on Fire is not a quick and easy read.   It is slow and dark.     I enjoyed the story, needed to keep reading, and had to finish.     I am sure many will love this book, some will like it, and some will not like it.    This is certainly not a book for everyone.     I would recommend you pick up and form your own opinions.    I certainly did.

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Purchase Links

Robin Wasserman APAbout Robin Wasserman

Robin Wasserman is a graduate of Harvard University and the author of several successful novels for young adults. A recent recipient of a MacDowell fellowship, she lives in Brooklyn, New York. Girls on Fire is her first novel for adults. Find out more about Robin at her website and connect with her on Twitter.

Monday, May 30, 2016

Sweet Agony by Jessie Lane RELEASE BLITZ

Title: Sweet Recovery
Series: Sweet #2/Ex Ops #4
Author: Jessie Lane
Genre: Romance
Release Date: May 30, 2016
He broke her heart… now he has to pick up the pieces.
Lucas Young met the woman meant for him when they were just children. He spent years pushing the sweet, innocent Ginny away for one reason or another instead of claiming what was his, breaking her heart in the process.
Five years later, he runs into Ginny, only he no longer recognizes the person she has become. The good-hearted, free-spirited girl he loved is now a shell of who she used to be, living the sort of life she never wanted. And Lucas is driven to find out why.
However, uncovering Ginny’s secrets will prove to be dangerous for them both.
Will he be able to piece back the broken woman who used to love him with every fiber of her being? Or did he push her away for good?

Warning: This is the second book (50,000+ word novel) in a three-part serial spin-off from the Ex Ops Series. Each of the three books will feature a piece of Lucas & Ginny's story and leads directly into the next installment. IN OTHER WORDS, THIS STORY ENDS ON A CLIFFHANGER. Also, be forewarned this story will make you laugh, cry, and possibly throw your e-reader at the wall... AGAIN. <- You've been warned.

As I crossed the dark, smoky room, I still couldn’t believe my luck. The chances that the very woman I had been looking for over the last five years being here at the same time I was were probably astronomical. Yet, there she was, dancing on top of a table with her eyes closed and her head tipped back as she swayed to the music, looking like sex and sin.
I was nothing but dirty, jagged pieces left raw from years at war, both on the inside and the out. And the only person who could glue me back together was less than ten feet away from me, giving the light of her smile to someone else. I had never wanted to murder someone so badly in my life.
Perhaps it was foolish to jump so blindly back in love with a man who had shredded me into almost non-existence before, but I couldn’t help myself, not when it came to Lucas Young. On one hand, he was my kryptonite. On the other, he was my Holy Grail. The last thing I should want, yet the very thing I needed. The literal, breathing contradiction of my life. The only person who could destroy me with a word and build me back up with no words at all.
Jessie Lane is a best-selling author of Paranormal and Contemporary Romance, as well as, Upper YA Paranormal Romance/Fantasy.
She lives in Kentucky with her two little Rock Chicks in-the-making and her over protective alpha husband that she’s pretty sure is a latent grizzly bear shifter. She has a passionate love for reading and writing naughty romance, cliff hanging suspense, and out-of-this-world characters that demand your attention, or threaten to slap you around until you do pay attention to them.

Ex Ops Series: Secret Maneuvers #1 - Available Now Stripping Her Defenses #2 - Available Now Mission Delivery #2.5 - Available Now Sweet Series (Lucas Young): Sweet Agony #1/Ex Ops #3 - Available Now Sweet Recovery #2/Ex Ops #4 - Available Now Sweet Eternity #3/Ex Ops #5 - COMING SOON (July 2016)

Who Do You Love by Jennifer Weiner

Who Do You Love by Jennifer Weiner  is part of the SheReads Fall book selections.     SheReads is a community of bloggers that as a group help promote specific books.   We share reviews, thoughts, and our feelings after reading books suggested to us by the wonderful people who run the SheReadsOrganization.

Hardcover, 388 pages
Published August 11th 2015 by Atria Books

Rachel Blum and Andy Landis are eight years old when they meet late one night in an ER waiting room. Born with a congenital heart defect, Rachel is a veteran of hospitals, and she's intrigued by the boy who shows up all alone with a broken arm. He tells her his name. She tells him a story. After Andy's taken back to the emergency room and Rachel's sent back to her bed, they think they'll never see each other again.

Rachel, the beloved, popular, and protected daughter of two doting parents, grows up wanting for nothing in a fancy Florida suburb. Andy grows up poor in Philadelphia with a single mom and a rare talent that will let him become one of the best runners of his generation.

Over the course of three decades, through high school and college, marriages and divorces, from the pinnacles of victory and the heartbreak of defeat, Andy and Rachel will find each other again and again, until they are finally given a chance to decide whether love can surmount difference and distance and if they've been running toward each other all along.

With honesty, wit, and clear-eyed observations about men and women, love and fate, and the truth about happy endings, Jennifer Weiner delivers two of her most memorable characters, and a love story you'll never forget.

My Thoughts…

Wonderful characters, heart tugging emotions, and a love story are exactly what Jennifer Weiner gives her readers in Who Do You Love.  Rachel and Andy meet when they are too young to understand that bond between them.   Their lives change, their paths continue to cross, yet the timing is never quite right for them to become the couple they deserve and want.     The obstacles between them sometimes seem insurmountable.    The love they feel is bigger than anything else in their lives.

I enjoyed how the story is told from both Rachel and Andy’s points of view.   The chapters alternate and the stories are sometimes similar and sometimes very different.    By writing in this format Jennifer gives the reader an unique man/boy’s view of love, friendship, and life.   I really enjoyed Andy’s side of the story.    Rachel’s side of the story was what I felt was typical for a teenage girl heading towards womanhood.     As she grew up she stayed typical to what a woman would feel or how they would react to the events going on around them.

I am a Jennifer Weiner fan.   Who Do You Love is another shining example of why I am a fan.    I recommend checking out this book.

Book Links


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A Spoonful of Salt

A Spoonful of Salt
Please take everything you read with a grain of salt. But for this blog, please take it with a spoonful.

Friday, May 9, 2008

Good News- Its Day 9!

..and other good news- I am keeping the Versa! It all worked out with the dealership and I didnt have to yell at them anymore :) The bad news- when I had my insurance guy check into rates for my new car, he discovered (and to my surprise!) I have been driving around with a suspended license for about 3 years now...One has to wonder how she was never notified by the Texas Department of Transportation. Apparently, what happened was that I had a no insurance ticket waaaaaaay before I even had my Dodge Neon that I didnt pay and they suspended my license for that. So, after about $1,500 and alot more headache, I should be able to get my license back before I leave next Friday for Florida. WHAT A NIGHTMARE!
I digress.....
Day 9 is going well as far as fasting...but looking forward to day 30! :)

  1. Yeouch! That's a bummer! That's a scary discovery. Good luck with that.

    Congrats on the new car! That's always fun.

    Hope you have a fab weekend! Happy juicing!

  2. Whaa..? Can't they let you take defensive driving for that?

  3. Hello Rebeka, This is Jerus from the youthalive blog. Interesting site, thanks for the comment you posted.

    Jerus - youthalivewired.com


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Wednesday, 27 January 2016

Anything Goes & Fiona Loves Flowers - Simon Says Stamp DT

Hello lovely peeps!
Apologies for my sudden absence from blogland, my world has sadly once again been turned upside down!

On New Years Eve my lovely step-dad Tony collapsed and spent a week in intensive care in Southmead Hospital in Bristol, & sadly he lost his fight to stay with us. My sisters & I can't believe we have lost Tony less than eight months after losing our beautiful mum. Tony has been our rock these past few months, especially as we lost our dad almost 21 years ago & we are absolutely heartbroken having now lost all our parents.

On a brighter note I have packed this post with two cards as I am rejoining my fabulous friends at Simon Says Stamp this week & I also have a commissioned card to share which I created a couple of months ago & hadn't got around to blogging!

& this week our challenge is
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog
Don't forget you can enter our challenge 5 times and there is no limit to how many challenges you combine your entry with.
Do you use Instagram ?  If so, please add #ssswchallenge to your challenge entry uploads so we can see them on there too.

 This week my lovely teamies and I are featuring some gorgeous
 own brand goodies. You don't have to use them to enter our challenge but we'd love to see them if you do.
This is the first card I have created since before Christmas so thought I'd ease myself back in gently with a nice simple card!
The cute images are from Simon's Winter Warmth stamp set & I've used some of my favourite Simon dies, Bundle Of Stitched Shapes, Merry Christmas & the Stitched Snowflakes.
I've used the snowflakes to create some faux embossing on my white card and the patterned paper is from Kaiser's pretty Silver Bells paper pad.

The copic colours I've used on this card are -
B24, B21,B000 / C3. C1. C00
I'm entering my card in the following challenges -
A Snowflakes Promise - Winter, Christmas At Sweet Stampin' - bows, Crafting For All Seasons - ribbons & pearls, Creative Moments - anything goes (let it snow), Fab "n" Funky - Christmas, Stampavie & More - Winter

As always our lovely Heidi is sponsoring our challenge with a $50 voucher for the fabulous

Simon Says Stamp

My second card today is a commissioned card & my customer wanted a lilac / purple, feminine 21st Birthday card for her daughter so I decided to use the pretty Fiona Loves Flowers image from Stamping Bella.
The clay frame & fancy corner were created with Martha Stewart's Crafters Clay, The flowers are a mix of Prima, Magnolia & Wild Orchid, & the sentiments are computer generated.
The copic colours I've used are -
skin -E11, E00, E000, R12, hair - E44, E43, E41, dress - C3, C1, C00, bird - E43, E41, E40, flowers - RV95, RV93, RV91 / R85, R83, R81 / YR23, Y15, Y11, leaves - YG93, G43, G40
I'm entering my card in the following challenges -
Crafty Sentiments - anything goes, Creative Card Crew - anything goes, Digi Choosday - in bloom, Fan-Tastic Tuesday - anything goes with flowers, Lemon Shortbread - anything goes, Through The Craft Room Door - anything goes, Crafty Cardmakers - punches / dies, Little Red Wagon - birthday

That's me finished for today peeps, I will be back at the weekend with some blog candy to share :)
Thanks for stopping by

My Etsy Goodies

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Friday, September 26, 2008

Best Friend

A few months ago, one of my best friends, who lives far away, sent me a picture of a ski cap she saw somewhere and asked if I could make something similar. Having learned (and fallen in love with) crocheted ribbing from Celeste's fabulous City Girl Cap pattern, I got really excited about designing something for a friend. And thus, the Best Friend Beanie was born.

A few weeks ago (still blazing summer weather in DC) my best guy friend and I did a photo shoot with all of the beanies I had made for my etsy store for Fall:

One nice thing about having Jared model is that, of course, he is a beautiful boy. He's just astoundingly photogenic. Which is almost a shame because inevitably 80% of the photos I take have me in the middle of talking or sneezing or sneering or looking dubious or are otherwise unusable, so I ruined a whole lot of good Jared pictures :)

Another nice thing is that Jared's head was made to wear beanies. I've never seen a beanie that didn't love Jared. He was actually known to some of my acquaintances as "your friend who always wears the hat." They're kind of his thing.
A few years ago I was living in St. Petersburg. I was cold and miserable and homesick as hell. I went to check my e-mail and there was a link to a video. On the video was Jared's face. "Hey Allison," he said, smiling his perma-smile, "guess what time it is?" He reached off camera, made an "are you ready??" face, and pulled on one of his ubiquitous beanies. He pointed at his head and did a dance and sang "beanieweathertimebeanieweathertime!" and laughed like he does.
That was how I knew that it was Fall back home, and also how I was reminded, yet again, how much I love my best friends.

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Emily's Magic Words - Cindy P. Senning & Peggy Post

Emily's Magic Words

By Cindy P. Senning & Peggy Post

  • Release Date: 2011-11-15
  • Genre: Social Issues

It takes only a few magic words to have good manners. Let please, thank you, and excuse me act as your magic wand. Just by waving around these simple phrases, you can open doors, bring smiles to faces, and make friends.

Try it and see! Thanks to the magical touch of Emily Post, the most trusted name in etiquette, learning good manners has never been more easy and fun.

Free Download OR Reading Online


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Friday, August 15, 2014

Draenor Diaries Friday August 15 2014

Friday August 15 2014

Reagent Bank Tab!

I went to put some things in the bank and there was a new tab :   Reagent Bank “Additional storage for raw profession materials”

For 100 Gold you get one hundred slots!

Better yet, there is a button “Deposit All Reagents.”

When I clicked it all of the Herbs and Sumptuous Fur in my bank and in my inventory slid right on over.

Wow, this in addition to the new stacks of two hundred items (Not crafted goods). Man oh man.

I asked in General Chat if anyone with a Guild there could say if the Guild Bank had a Reagent Tab, but as often happens no answer.

I was eligible to go in all of the dungeons (need an item level of 500) so I checked off everything but Skyreach which I’ve been in several times with two different classes of character.

A huge outdoor dungeon that is like the Gorgrond area of the world.

The first group I dropped into was really your dungeon PUG nightmare of bad behavior.  They kept saying how good they were and how bad WOW players are. Yet…they were dead every couple of seconds.

Going in again with another group things went pretty well till we got to Winterbark.  He’s a huge tree who silenced me for the whole fight somehow every time.  In addition to that, snowy looking balls (actually water is probably what they were) started coming out and they did “party wide damage”.   I popped a few in the few moments I wasn’t silenced.   That all ended badly, but there was a guy who had a “Repair Mammoth” one of the those huge expeditionary mammoths like something out of a movie.  Too cool.

Bloodmaul Slag Mine

I just came in at the end.  It was an underground cave/fiery looking place with huge ogres and orcs.  Good smooth group.

Was interested in seeing more types so rolled in again and I got

The Grimrail!

Coolest dungeon ever.  It starts out in the Grimrail Depot then you fight your way to a spot where you grab a chain and you’re smoking along on the train.

Fights advance through the rail cars. You can see the scenery pass by between cars (but don’t spend too much time looking or dead dead dead).

There were lots of deaths but really super group and we just kept going along.

I’m in  Gorgrond now, an area I like, lots of jungle, interesting quests, quite a variety of terrain in this area.

Once again I chose the Logging Camp over the Sparring Arena for my Outpost.

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