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Ryan Clark's Force Blog

I don't know how many people run across this blog when trying to find some Fargo Force news but there may be a couple left over...just thought I would direct you to a Fargo Force blog done by the Fargo Forum beat writer, Ryan S. Clark.

Check out the site at http://slightlychilled.areavoices.com

Hope all is well with all of you folks in Fargo, ND.  Good luck in another postseason run!

New job = no more blogging

I won't be able to blog for the Force at all anymore as I have taken a job in Minneapolis, MN. I hope you all have a great hockey season following the Force and best of luck in all that you do in life. Enjoy the games! I'm sure I will be making it back to Fargo for a few games as I still have family and friends in Fargo, ND.

Have fun watching the tryouts that are upcoming and Go Force!

For all of your Fargo Force info visit http://www.fargoforce.com/

Force prospects taken in NHL Draft

Shattuck-St. Mary's product, Jimmy Mullin will be playing for the Force this year and was a 4th round selection from the Tampa Bay Lightning (118th overall).

Fargo Force prospect, Tanner Lane, from Detroit Lakes was selected in the 6th round (160th overall) by the Atlanta Thrashers.

Future Force goaltender, Zane Gothberg from Thief River Falls was also selected in the 6th round by the Boston Bruins (165th overall).

Congrats to all of the Fargo Force prospects/players drafted.

Thanks to sparky81 in the comments section of this entry, we have learned that Joe Basaraba (drafted 69th overall by the Florida Panthers) will not be coming to Fargo but rather the University of Minnesota-Duluth next season. Basaraba was a former futures pick of the Fargo Force.

Colten St. Clair to stay in Fargo

I talked to Colten St. Clair and found out this news...

Colten St. Clair has decided to stick around in Fargo for another year to avoid the logjam at the University of North Dakota.  UND returns many of their players from 2009-10 and it was expected that St. Clair would see limited ice time with the Fighting Sioux.  With that, St. Clair has decided to stick it out one more year with the Force.

This is great news for Fargo as they returned few from 2009-10.  It's also great news for Colten in some aspect as he will get ice time and a better chance in the NHL Draft by staying in Fargo for another season.  Colten is draft eligible in 2011 so sitting on the bench for UND wouldn't make much sense if he wanted a shot at being drafted.  I think this move will benefit both St. Clair and the Force for 2010-11 and the Sioux will get a more experienced player when he leaves for UND in 2011-12.

Past players and predictions for 2010-11

I haven't blogged anything in a while and we gotta get thinking about 2010-11 season soon! With two years in the franchise's existence, we have seen a few players come and go, so...

  • Which Force player will you miss the most going into 2010-11 and why?
  • Who is your all-time (all two years!) favorite Force player?
  • Which incoming draft pick or returner do you look forward to seeing develop and strive in the USHL next season?
  • Who do you expect to have an impact season in 2010-11?

It's going to be tough to predict who will be the impact players going into next season as we lost a lot of the guys that started with the franchise and had even better seasons in 2009-10. With many incoming players, it will be interesting to hear who everyone thinks will be the top players for the new season.

Who will play in 2010-11?

Here is an attempt to let all of you blog readers who may be here next year for returners and maybe even some of the players that are coming in from the drafts this year and past drafts.  We'll start with the returners.

Returning for Fargo:

Goalie -

Ryan Massa

We are pretty sure that Ryan Massa will be back in Fargo for next season.  It is getting really late in the game for Ryan to commit to a college for 2010 and although he has had some offers, he will look to get more options as he starts in Fargo in 2010-11.

Defense -

Brian Cooper
Brandon Carlson
Oleg Yevenko
? - Nick Romanick

Brian Cooper, Brandon Carlson and Oleg Yevenko are all expected to return to the Force lineup for 2010-11.  Marek Hrbas will not be back with the Force next season, he will  be further pursuing his goal of being an NHL prospect by playing in a different league.  I talked to him today and he said that he would not be back, verifying our commenter's post (see comments).  Also, that same blog poster below believes that Nick Romanick will be elsewhere to start the season next year (see comments).

Forwards -

Colten St. Clair
Nick Oliver
Garrett Allen
Joe Rehkamp
? - Chad Demers
? - John Stampohar

Nick Oliver, Garrett Allen and Joe Rehkamp are all expected to be in a Force uniform come opening night.  Chad Demers had to be re-drafted with the last pick in the USHL Entry Draft which must mean that the Force did not protect Demers.  The Force re-protected him by drafting him so that should mean he should be back with the Force for 2010-11.  Chad played very well in the playoffs playing on Joe Rehkamp and John Stampohar's line.  Stampohar is the big question mark for possible returning forwards.  He has not decided whether he will return to Fargo, go back to Medicine Hat and play with the Tigers (WHL) or play elsewhere.  John Stampohar, Chad Demers and Nick Romanick were all drafted in the NAHL making all of their returns more questionable for the 2010-11 season.

BREAKING NEWS 6/6/10 - Colten St. Clair will be back in Fargo after I talked with him today.

With only a few returners up front for Fargo, the Force will have almost three full lines to fill with new incoming players from their protected list.  Here are some names to watch out for and what I have been able to find out.

From 2008, 2009:

Zane Gothberg - G, Thief River Falls (MN-HS)
Jimmy Mullin - F, Shattuck-St. Mary's (MN-HS)
Willie Corrin - D, International Falls (MN-HS)
Troy Hesketh - D, Minnetonka (MN-HS)
Corbin McGuire - F, Taft Prep School
AJ Jarosz - F, Team Illinois
Ryan Doner - F, Kent Valley Selects
Garrett Haar - D, LA Selects
Aaron Scheppelmann - D, S2 U18
Neil Goff - D, Stillwater (MH-HS)
Joe Basaraba - F, Shattuck-St. Mary's (MN-HS)

Most of the defensemen on this list won't make the roster with all of the defensemen the Force have coming back.  The two that will likely make the roster are Troy Hesketh and Willie Corrin.  Neil Goff will probably return to high school.  I haven't gotten any info on Haar or Scheppelmann but they were listed on Fargo's affiliate list according to Kerry Collins' blog.  AJ Jarosz, Corbin McGuire and Ryan Doner will all get good looks from the coaching staff to fill the voids at forward for the Force.

From 2010:

Tanner Kero - F, Marquette (NAHL)
Jimmy Murray - F, Chicago Mission
Daniel McNamara - F, Chicago Young Americans
Austin Farley - F, Chicago Mission
Tyler Maugeri - F, LA Jr. Kings
Tanner Lane - F, Detroit Lakes (MN-HS)
Jakob Batcha - F, Milwaukee Jr. Admirals
Dan Weissenhofer - D, Bismarck (NAHL)
Justin Wade - D, Chicago Mission
? - Dajon Mingo - F, Wenatchee (NAHL)
? - Chase Souto - F, LA Jr. Kings
? - Steven Beyers - F, Orangeville (CCHL)
? - Josh Lazowski - F, Spruce Grove (AJHL)
? - Riley Simpson - F, Brooks (AJHL)

All of these players have shown interest in playing for the Force next season if they can make the roster.  There are a lot of voids to fill at forward and head coach Steve Johnson drafted a lot of forwards in 2010 to fill the spots so many of these players have a shot.  A kid that we have talked a little bit in the comments section of the blog, Tanner Lane, even said that he would forgo his senior season at DL to play in Fargo.  Chase Souto, the youngest player selected by the Force in the 2010 drafts, said that he wants to play in the WHL, but if he was not able to play for Kamloops (WHL), he might be interested in playing a season in Fargo.  Also, when I talked to Dajon Mingo he didn't sound too certain if he was going to stay in Wenatchee or come to Fargo.  He said he really trusts his coaches in Wenatchee and likes playing there.  I also put question marks by our imports from Canada as they are always hard to predict as to whether they want to go the major junior route or even stay in Canada in their pursuit of a college scholarship.  With Hrbas not coming back, it does open the door for a couple of them to come in.  The Force can only add two imports for a total of three with the grandfather rule (would be only two if Yevenko was not coming back).

Tryouts are July 25-28 so everyone will be able to make their scouting reports after they are able to see the kids play.  Can't wait for 2010-11!

Fargo's Entry Draft Results

The USHL has completed the Entry Draft and Fargo's selections are shown below.  Fargo didn't select any defensemen until after they hit 23 players on their protected roster and that is not surprising at all to me as the Force return most of their defensemen next season and have a few players already coming in that were drafted last year (Willie Corrin from International Falls and Troy Hesketh from Minnetonka to name a couple of the most notable defensemen coming in).

13. Tanner Kero - C, Marquette (NAHL) - A kid that played junior hockey in the North American Hockey League with Marquette.  He scored 32 goals and added 19 assists for 51 points in 57 games with Marquette.  Having that year experience in the NAHL will do him wonders coming into Fargo next year.  Tanner is a Michigan Tech Huskie recruit.  Western College Hockey Blog thinks that this pick for Fargo was a steal as Kero led the NAHL in goals.  They also think that he could be a sleeper pick in the NHL Draft.  Check out their blog entry on the USHL Draft.

Oh...by the way...he scores game-winners! (video below)

27. Jimmy Murray - LW, Chicago Mission (MM) (from Cedar Rapids in Campbell trade) - The Force were able to trade Cody Campbell early in 2009-10 and now they got to see what they traded him for.  Jimmy Murray is a left winger from Chicago Mission's midget major team and he put up good numbers scoring 21 goals and adding 30 assists for 51 points in 42 games.  Murray is a small forward at 5'5, 130 lbs.

28. Daniel McNamara - LW, Chicago Young Americans (MM) - McNamara scored 8 and assisted on 13 for 21 points in 48 games for the Chicago Young Americans' midget major team.  McNamara has good size at 6'1, 170 lbs.

34. Austin Farley - LW, Chicago Mission (U16) (from Chicago in Gunner trade) - Once again the Force finally got to see what the result of their trade of Cole Gunner to Chicago would be and this time they picked up a young player out of Chicago Mission's midget minor program.  He averaged a point per game with the Mission scoring 19 and assisting on 19 for 38 points in 38 games last season with the Mission.  He's 5'5, 145 lbs and a late 1993 birthdate.

43. Tyler Maugeri - RW, Jr. Kings (MM) - 21 goals and 36 assists for Tyler Maugeri on the Jr. Kings midget major team this past season.  Maugeri is a California kid with Matt Leitner like numbers in midget majors.

44. Tanner Lane - F, Detroit Lakes (MN-HS) (from Omaha) - Tanner Lane was tied for the lead in Minnesota's point leaders with 90.  He was second to Joey Benik in goals with 49.  Detroit Lakes didn't have the toughest schedule in the world so Lane was able to light it up on a lot of weaker teams but he is a goal scorer nonetheless.  He was a junior this season with the Lakers so it would be interesting to see if he would want to make the 45 mile trek to Fargo to play in the USHL this season or stick around in Detroit Lakes for his senior season.

58. Steven Beyers - RW, Orangeville (CCHL) - Beyers had 11 goals and 12 assists in 16 games for Orangeville in the CCHL.  He is the 199th rated North American skater in this year's NHL Entry Draft.

73. Dajon Mingo - C, Wenatchee (NAHL) - Mingo has been playing in the North American Hockey League and would join the Force as an experienced junior hockey player.  He would only be eligible for the 2010-11 season as he just turned 20 years old this May.  He had 13 goals and 20 assists for 33 points in 34 games with Wenatchee.  Mingo is 5'10, 170 lbs.

88. Josh Lazowski - C, Spruce Grove (AJHL) - Josh Lazowski put up huge numbers in the Alberta Junior Hockey League this past season scoring 26 goals and assisting on 52 for 78 points in 55 games for Spruce Grove.

The Force then reached their 23-man protected roster which results in all of the passes you may see on the USHL Draft website.  Once a team gets to 23, they pass until all teams have reached 23, then they pick another 7 to fill the protected list.

223. Jakob Batcha - F, Milwaukee Jr. Admirals (NAPHL) - Batcha put up good numbers in the North American Prospects Hockey League with the Milwaukee Jr. Admirals midget major hockey team.  Batcha scored 21 and assisted on 31 for 52 points last season with the Jr. Admirals.  Batcha is a 6'1, 170 lb kid out of Fredonia, Wisconsin.

238. Garrett Schmitz - D, Red Lake Falls (MN-HS) - Schmitz led his Red Lake Falls high school team in points as a sophomore with 25 goals and 25 assists for 50 points from the blue line for RLF.  Sounds like he played on a pretty weak team and was the bright spot on the roster.

253. Chase Souto - F, Jr. Kings (U16) - Souto is the youngest player taken by the Force in the 2010 USHL Drafts (including USHL Entry and Futures drafts).  He is also a draft pick of the Kamloops Blazers of the WHL in Canada (taken in the 5th round by the Blazers in 2009).  He scored 14 and dished 6 for 20 points in 35 games for the Jr. Kings (U16).

268. Dan Weissenhofer (Bismarck, NAHL and Lincoln, USHL) - Weissenhofer played with the Bismarck Bobcats and 14 games with the Lincoln Stars this season.  He scored 1 goal and dished 6 assists in the regular season (33 games).  He also had 3 assists with the Stars in 14 games.  He was good in the NAHL playoffs as he was +11 in 11 games, scoring one goal and adding an assist.

283. Austin Rudnick - D, Breck (MN-HS) - Rudnick was a sophomore this past season for the best team in Class A Minnesota high school hockey, Breck.  Rudnick scored 8 goals and had 14 assists for 22 points in 30 games.  In three state tournament games, Rudnick had a goal and an assist.

300. Riley Simpson - LW, Brooks (AJHL) - Here is an article about Riley Simpson.

317. Chad Demers - LW, Fargo (USHL) - Who is this guy?!  The Fargo Force forward was re-drafted in the USHL Entry Draft today because the Force must not have protected him.  The Force snatched him back up with the 317th pick in the Entry Draft.  Chad played really well down the stretch on Stampohar and Rehkamp's line.

Feel free to leave info on any of these kids if you have any!

Fargo's Futures Draft Results

The United States Hockey League completed the Futures Draft today and the Force loaded up with two defensemen and three forwards in the draft.  A couple of names that might be familiar to our Minnesota Force fans would be Monticello's Gage Torrel and Lakeville North's Nate Arentz who appeared in the MN-HS state tournament this year.

Fargo Force Futures Draft Results:

1. Justin Wade - D, Chicago Mission (U16) - Justin is a big kid for his age standing at 6'1 and 197 lbs as a 16 year old.  He played for the Chicago Mission (U16) midget hockey team this past season and recorded 12 assists in 34 games.  In his career with the Chicago Mission (1994 birth year and midget combined) he recorded 6 goals and 28 assists for 34 total points.  He has gotten some college looks and according to this site he has gotten significant offers from Wisconsin but has yet to sign.

2. Gage Torrel - LW, Monticello HS - Gage was the leading scorer on a sub-par Minnesota high school team this year with Monticello/Annandale/Maple Lake.  He averaged more than a goal per game and nearly two points per game as a sophomore.  He finished the year with 26 goals and 19 assists for a total of 45 points.  His team only averaged 2.82 goals per game so you can see he was a big part of any success that they might have had.  Hey, he did score on future Force goaltender Zane Gothberg when his team took on the Prowlers of Thief River Falls. Gage will need to pack a few pounds on before coming to the Force as he is currently listed at 5'9, 158 lbs.

3. Nate Arentz - LW, Lakeville North HS - The third selection for the Force is a kid that led his team to a MN-HS state hockey tournament appearance but were beaten by the number one team in the state at the time, Minnetonka.  As a sophomore he led the team in goals with 18 and was tied for fourth in assists with 10 giving him 28 total points.  He is another kid that will need to beef up before heading a Force roster at 5'11 and 158 lbs.

4. Ben Johnson - C, Calumet HS (Michigan) - The fourth selection for the Force is an elite goal scorer for his age in Michigan high school hockey.  In 29 games with the Calumet Copper Kings, Johnson netted 29 and assisted on another 30 for 59 points as a sophomore.  That was good enough to lead his team in points and a winning record at 17-12.  He averaged over two points a game on a team that averaged 3.21 goals a game - pretty impressive for a sophomore.  Johnson stands at 5'10, 160 lbs.

5. Drew Best - RW, Victory Honda (U16) - Best stands at 5'8, 160 lbs for Victory Honda (U16).  Best scored 13 goals and dished out 21 assists for 34 points.  If you want to pay some money you can find out what some scouts think of him but other than that, there is not much info out there on this kid.

6. Wayland Williams - D, Compuware (U16) - Wayland is a tall kid for his age standing at 6'0, 165 lbs.  He scored 9 goals and added 5 assists at the blue line for Compuware (U16).  Some scouts have already reported him as a top 25 defensmen in the United States.  I'll guess we'll see when he puts on a Force uniform.

USHL Drafts start this week

Usually the USHL holds two drafts but with the addition of Dubuque and Muskegon this year, the USHL will hold three.  Dubuque and Muskegon will participate in the Expansion Draft and the entire league will participate in the Futures Draft and the Entry Draft.

The USHL Expansion Draft will start Monday, May 17 around noon central time after Muskegon and Dubuque receives a list of unprotected players currently on USHL rosters.
The USHL Futures Draft will begin Tuesday, May 18 at 10:00am CST.
The USHL Entry Draft will begin Wednesday, May 19 at 10:00am CST.

The Futures Draft is a five or six round process in which USHL teams will pick five players, usually for the future (although one or two players may make the roster this year), from the 1994 draft class.

The Entry Draft is the main draft in which USHL teams form their roster.

For more information on the USHL drafts, see the links above and visit the USHL website.

FOR LIVE DRAFT COVERAGE: Check out the SBNation coverage of the USHL Draft helped out by our friend at Unofficial USHL Prospects Blog.

UPDATE:  Fargo Force did not lose anyone to the USHL Expansion Draft today.  Fargo, Omaha and Sioux Falls were lucky enough to hang on to their guys.  Thanks to Tri-City radio announcer, Skip Berry for the information.

In-Forum: Fargo Force articles

An article will be featured in the Fargo Forum in the morning about the Fargo Force's "wild ride" to the Clark Cup Finals and also a "Fargo Force by the numbers" section to look out for.  You can check them out in the links below:

Pretty good article done by Kerry Collins of the Fargo Forum.  Only thing is that 8,487 isn't the largest crowd to see a USHL game, Indiana had a "Pack the House" night in which they had 11,092 fans pack Conseco Fieldhouse in Indiana.  However, the attendance of 8,487 is the biggest crowd to ever see a Clark Cup Finals game.  Enjoy!

USHL scouts eyeing area players

The USHL has their eye on a number of area hockey players in the youth/high school hockey ranks and here is the players to look out for from North Dakota and some Minnesotans that might even end up on a Fargo Force roster.  We will be watching for the Force to get some of the talent from North Dakota and the surrounding area in Minnesota.

First of all, there are a couple of links from the USHL that are highlighting these players:
USHL Prospects on display at USHL Combine (1992-93s)
USHL Future on display at USHL Combine (1994s)

There are many other North Dakota and Minnesota players that will be drafted into the USHL, I am just highlighting the players that were invited to the USHL Combine.  No doubt there are others that are deserving of being listed and once they are drafted, I will write another blurb about the area kids being drafted.  This is just who was on the USHL Combine lists and deserving of a preview going into the USHL Drafts next week.

Michael Bond (D) Fargo South 1993 - Bond played in 24 games as a sophomore for the Fargo South Bruins (HS) logging two assists.  Bond has the right size for this league at 6'2, 183 lbs and being a Fargo kid will give him some exposure to the Fargo Force.

Jace Kusler (F) Bismarck Century 1993 - Kusler finished the North Dakota state high school hockey season third in points as a junior with 25 goals and 27 assists for the Bismarck Century Patriots (HS).  Kusler is 5'11 and 155 lbs.  Associate coach Byron Pool has probably seen his share of Kusler in his two years as head coach of the Bismarck Bobcats and may make a push for the Force to draft the North Dakota boy.  (Photo of Jace Kusler on right: Tom Stromme, Bismarck Tribune)

Jeremy O'Keefe (D) Grand Forks Central 1992 - Steve Johnson played for Grand Forks Central (HS) and O'Keefe played with Steve Johnson's kid, Luke Johnson, so this is a kid that Johnson should be familiar with. O'Keefe logged 8 goals and 12 assists on the blue line for the Knights and may be a North Dakota player drafted in the USHL.  O'Keefe was a junior this past year with GFC.

Quin Buckellew (F) Moorhead 1992 - Buckellew was the leader in goals with 15 last year with the Moorhead Spuds (HS) hockey team across the river from the Fargo Force.  Buckellew is only 5'10 but has some size at 210 lbs.  He could be a local kid that may interest the Force coaching staff.  (Quin Buckellew, shown on right)

Ryan Crosson (D) Thief River Falls 1992 - Crosson may be tempted to join his high school teammate and goaltender Zane Gothberg in the USHL next season and Crosson appears to be a kid that might be ready for the jump.  Crosson was third in points on the Thief River Falls Prowlers (HS) hockey team as a junior defenseman.  Crosson stands at 5'10, 170 lbs.  Thanks to an anonymous poster in the comments, Crosson appears to be headed for the BCHL and this article confirms that.  A USHL team could still take a chance on trying to get him in the USHL with a late draft pick.

Alex Phelps (F) Detroit Lakes 1992 - Phelps is only a short 45 mile drive away from Fargo in Detroit Lakes and was second on the Detroit Lakes Lakers (HS) in scoring with 21 goals and 36 assists in 24 games.  Phelps graduates from high school this year and the USHL would be a good option to continue his hockey career.

Garrett Brossart (F) Fargo South 1994 - Brossart was the only freshman to crack the Fargo South Bruins (HS) lineup.  He is another Fargo boy that may be enticed to stay in his hometown.  He netted one goal and added 4 assists as the Bruins' youngest player on the roster.  Brossart is 5'11, 145 lbs.  (Garrett Brossart, shown on right)

Luke Johnson (F) Grand Forks Central 1994 - The son of Fargo Force coach Steve Johnson and Lincoln Stars' draftee would be an intriguing option for Fargo if the Stars have not protected the Grand Forks Central (HS) sniper.  Johnson started as an 8th grader on the Grand Forks Red River (HS) squad and transferred to Central, where his dad played high school hockey, this year.  He won a state championship with both teams and had 17 goals and 29 assists as a freshman with GFC this season.  He tried out for the USNTDP U-17 team but I'm not sure if he made the team or not.  One way or another, he will likely be playing in this league (either for the Force, the Stars, or the USNTDP) sometime in his career.  (Luke Johnson, shown on right)

Zach Doerring (F) Blake School 1994 - Doerring may be a familiar name with Fargo Force fans as Zach's brother Blake started the season with the Force but was later traded to the Des Moines Buccaneers.  His younger brother Zach played forward and scored 5 goals and 4 assists as a sophomore with the Blake School Bears (HS).

Force hire new associate coach

According to the Fargo Hockey Examiner, the Fargo Force have made a move in the coaching ranks by going out and replacing Chad Johnson, who is leaving Fargo for the head coaching job in Lincoln, with Byron Pool.  Pool was the head coach for the Bismarck Bobcats the past two years and took the Bobcats to the Robertson Cup in both years including a championship this year (2010).

Check out Tim How's article for all the news on the hiring.

Sounds like the Force have hired another guy to keep the winning tradition going and a likeable coach to play for.  Massa and Rendle gave Pool high praises in the Examiner article so he sounds like a good pick up for the Force.

Check out this article from the Bismarck Tribune on the coaching changes.


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A native New Yorker, Farissa relocated to Chicago in 2007 and founded RLM Media in 2008. RLM Media is a boutique advertising agency that specializes in media planning and buying and is headquartered in Chicago, IL. RLM additionally uniquely services and works closely with other advertising agencies that do not have media buying capabilities in house by working as an extension of their client agency teams in order to bring the advertiser’s message to market in an efficient and total market approach.  Farissa has grown RLM Media to gross billings of over $15 million in 9 years by providing excellent customer service, complete solutions, and a team approach for her clients. Through Farissa’s leadership, RLM Media has developed strong relationships with their clients, which has positioned the company for great growth and expansion in the upcoming years.

Additionally, Farissa founded WhatRUWearing in 2012. WRUW is a digital forum that produces daily editorial, a weekly podcast called Fast Fashion and the original reality web series, PRGirl. WhatRUWearing is content driven and over the next year, will become an even larger player in the original content game with it’s target demographic being women 18-34.

Before Farissa was in business for herself, she worked in advertising sales. Farissa began her career in local radio sales at Cox Radio in Richmond, Virginia for the Classic Rock radio station WKLR-FM where she was able to learn the foundation of some of the same skills she uses today in her own companies. From there, Farissa went on to do national radio sales for Interep in New York and Chicago which, at the time, represented over 2000 radio stations across the country. Farissa lives in Chicago’s Lake View neighborhood with her husband and two daughters.

Farissa received her B.A. in Communications from Christopher Newport University in Newport News, VA in 2003.

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585 869-5120

Your Personal Energy Conservation System

Chiropractic Care and Energy Resources

Chiropractic care plays a role in almost all aspects of health and well-being. In terms of your body's internal energy conservation system, chiropractic care is important to help ensure that all the various mechanisms are functioning smoothly. Your body is made up of systems, organs, tissues, and cells, and the proper functioning of every aspect of these structures depends on receiving timely information from the master system, i.e., the nerve system.

At the deepest level, cells need appropriate instructions as to when to perform certain tasks, how much to do, or how much to produce. The nerve system transfers messages from the brain to orchestrate all of these activities. By making sure a person's spine is aligned, chiropractic care helps smooth out the pathways on which these nerve signals travel. Chiropractic care helps all of your body's systems to do the job they were designed to do.

The world's supply of fossil fuels has been dwindling for a long time. It's been easy to pretend this wasn't happening because there seemed to be an endless quantity of oil and gas reserves. How could we ever run out? All we had to do was drill another well or lay down another pipeline. But now it seems that ineffective public policies and naive consumer practices have amplified the effects of two critical factors: an exploding global population and surging demands of thriving new economies in formerly developing nations.

Energy conservation has become an important topic around the globe, in communities, nations, and confederations such as the European Union. Energy conservation is not only critically important for global stability. It also serves as an important metaphor for the health and well-being of individuals.

Physiologically, humans have their own energy conservation systems. For example, your heart rate is tightly regulated. If your heart beats too fast for too long, owing to ongoing stress or anxiety, it may ultimately break down. Other problems may develop. A racing heart requires a lot of oxygen to supply the energy for heart muscle cells. This precious fuel is always needed elsewhere, and symptoms may develop in the gastrointestinal or hormonal systems.

Human internal energy conservation also involves the use of glucose, your body's primary energy currency. Glucose is used by every cell in the body as an energy resource to power normal physiological processes. For example, your brain is the number one consumer of glucose. In a fasting adult model, up to 80% of the glucose manufactured from stored complex carbohydrates is used for brain metabolism.1,2 If your glucose storage and supply mechanisms are not optimized, many systems, including your mental functioning, will suffer significant drop-offs.

Importantly, regular vigorous physical exercise, particularly strength-training, ensures your body's optimal use of energy resources. Strength=training causes your body to build lean muscle mass, which burns energy even when you're resting. One long-term result is that both your blood glucose levels and your blood insulin levels tend to flatten out.3 The result is a body that knows how to optimally burn glucose for energy, rather than a body that is out of synch and storing glucose as fat. The glucose you consume as complex carbohydrates gets used efficiently, and your body works much more effectively.

You don't need to lift heavy weights to get these long-term health-promoting benefits. Lifting weights that are heavy enough to provide a modest challenge is all that's needed. The simple rule of thumb is this - if you can easily do three sets of eight repetitions with the weight you're using, it's too light. Increase the weight slightly so that attempting to do three sets of eight repetitions is a little challenging. That will be the right weight for you for that particular exercise.

Energy conservation is not only needed in the world today. The practice of energy conservation is also key for our internal health and well-being. Regular vigorous exercise helps us conserve the energy we need to live.

1Tintinalli JE, et al: Emergency Medicine. A Comprehensive Study Guide, 6th ed. New York, McGraw-Hill, 2010, p 826
2McCormack SE, et al: Skeletal muscle mitochondrial function is associated with longitudinal growth velocity in children and adolescents. J Clin Endocrinol Metab Epub August 10, 2011
3Ryan AS: Exercise in aging: its important role in mortality, obesity and insulin resistance. Aging Health 6(5):551-563, 2010
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Apple new iPod Nano

Apple  iPod Nano

The nano itself is still roughly the same size as previous versions, about nine centimeters tall, less than four cm wide and half a centimeter thick – roughly the size of a middle and ring finger that have flattened with a hammer. It comes in Apple's usual array of uplifting colors and has a shiny, light-bending finish when you take it out of the box, though about 30 seconds later it will smudged beyond recognition with fingerprints. The 8-gigabyte model will run you $170. The 16-gigabyte costs $200.

Video camera:

The new built-in video camera is ready for anything. Yet iPod nano is the same ultraportable size — perfect for spontaneously shooting video.

Voice Over. It a speaks volumes

VoiceOver speaks the names of songs and artists. So you can navigate your music without looking at the screen.

Stunning design:

A brilliant polished anodized aluminum finish comes in nine electrifying colors. And the 2.2-inch color display is larger for your viewing pleasure.

Genius Mixes:

This new feature acts as your personal DJ, searching your iTunes library to find songs that go great together and making new mixes automatically.

FM radio with Live Pause:

Rock out with a built-in FM tuner and two innovative new features — Live Pause and iTunes Tagging.

ipod With:
  • iPod nano.
  • Earphones.
  • USB 2.0 cable.
  • Dock adapter.
  • Quick Start guide.

Mac requirements:

  • Mac computer with USB 2.0 port.
  • Mac OS X v10.4.11 or later.
  • iTunes 9 or later.
  • iPhoto 6.0.6 or later recommended for use with Mac OS X Tiger.
  • iPhoto 09 recommended for use with Mac OS X Leopard or Snow Leopard.

PC requirements:

  • PC with USB 2.0 port.
  • Windows Vista or Windows XP Home or Professional with Service Pack 3 or later.
  • iTunes 9 or later.

Monitor continues to update the latest from This blog directly in your email!

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Home   Gaming   How To Hack MSP Coins And Diamonds

How To Hack MSP Coins And Diamonds

There are different types of games available in the market, which make a significant place in the children’s heart. Here I am going to tell you about a game which makes teenagers addicted itself, especially girls love to play this game its name is Movie Star Planet. This game is available for the age of 8 to 15 years; they can play it in the mobile phone or table. When you start playing this game, then you need to enter the username in the account and make you the player in starting. In this game, players need to earn the coins which are the very hard task, let me tell you the easiest way to hack the MSP coins and diamond in upcoming paragraphs.

You can easily hack the coins and diamonds from the internet, this task is too easy if you take help from the internet.  Let me start from the apex, the user can easily search and any online generator in the search engine then after visiting the website of the online tool. Users need to put the username in the given box. Due to the user name the tool will get the direct connection of you MSP account, so it will automatically send the coins and diamonds in your account. Moving further; users also need to select the platform (device) in which they play this fantastic game after that click on the “connect”.  There will also an option of the Starcoins amount in which you can select the amount of the coins. On the other hand, select a number of the Diamonds for your account.

In the process of the MSP Hack user need to clear the human verification in the website. In the human verification they will ask to do some task and in the end, the coins and Diamonds will generate into the user’s account.

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Facebook emoticons - While many individuals think Facebook emoticons as one of the most powerful and fantastic ways to express emotions when online or communicating over Facebook, you may be thinking why is it so! And the easiest answer to that is because it depicts your exact intention and demonstrates what is there in your mind while making a particular statement. But then again a question may popup like, is there a right time to use Facebook emoticons? There isn’t any, because whenever you communicate using Facebook emoticons, you bring an edge in your interaction and therefore, you never have to wait for a right time to include these cute little cue balls in your texting or emailing.

Facebook emoticons - Consider a situation in which you are tied up in a business meeting and a well-planned great evening & dinner at shopping mall with your family looks like a remote possibility. As the work exigency prevents you to come out of the boardroom, you know having a word with your wife will create a frustrating situation for you as well as others. With Facebook emoticons available on your mobile, you can smartly use them & convey her about this change in plan. This is when something like a “it’s about time” followed by “I am mad as hell” emoticon saves the day for you and not let a last minute ‘surprise’ leave her panic. I am no different to have faced such an incidence in real life & therefore, can’t stop emphasizing how Facebook emoticons worked for me at a crucial juncture.

Facebook emoticons - This is only one example which I often illustrate, but there are plenty of other situations as well when Facebook emoticons help handling tricky situations in everyday life. No wonder the youth is nowadays exploring it up to the maximum extent. A group of youth enjoying a movie in theatre, obviously after bunking the classes, immediately informs back their studious friends who opted to attend classes instead. Typing and reading long messages is certainly not feasible for either party. And they are glad to have Facebook emoticons as “hello soldier”, “evil laugh” or “booing”, which can be done conveniently and instantly.  Again, there can be another situation when a person trapped in a traffic jam can convey his or her situation with minimum efforts. Whether you are trapped in a traffic jam, standing underneath a shelter till the heavy rains subside or are anxiously in a doctor’s queue, use something like “blah-blah” or “bored” & convey your emotions instantly, crisply and intelligently using Facebook emoticons!

Now do you still say Facebook emoticons are useful only when you are chatting?


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Listen to Pastor Sally’s First Sermon

FCCSR Events Calendar (beta)

Here’s where you can stay in touch with all that’s happening at FCCSR. Mouse over any event for more information.

(Note: We’re trying out a new calendar format. Please be patient while we work out a few bugs)

Movie Night March 2 “Spotlight”
Mar 2 @ 7:00 pm

(Note: This is the slightly-delayed “February” Movie Night. Our regular March movie night will be Friday March 30.) The newsrooms big city newspapers have always provided a stage for great drama, and perhaps the endangered status of newspapers in the age of the internet explains the upsurge of terrific newspaper movies in recent years.

Arguably the best of the recent newsroom dramas is “Spotlight” which won the Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay Oscars for 2015. (It was also recently in the news again, when one of its central characters, Cardinal Bernard Law, disgraced ex-Archbishop of Boston, died in Rome in December.)

“Spotlight” tells the story of an investigative unit at The Boston Globe that set out to report on what they thought was a single rogue priest whose history of child abuse was being covered-up by the church. They persisted in their investigation despite efforts by most of Boston’s establishment to shut them down. By the time they published, a year later, they had lifted the lid on a self-inflicted wound to Catholicism that is still not fully resolved.

Interestingly, “Spotlight” was written and directed by Tom McCarthy, who was previously known for small, thoughtful dramas like “The Station Agent” and “the Visitor” (both of which we’ve seen on Movie Night) and who is Catholic and a graduate of Boston College.

The movie celebrates a specific professional accomplishment and beautifully captures the ethos of journalism. It is also a defense of professionalism in a culture that increasingly holds it in contempt. Everything in this movie works, which is only fitting, since its vision of heroism involves showing up in the morning and — whether inspired by bosses or in spite of them — doing the job.” A.O. Scott, The New York Times

Mar 11 @ 11:30 am

CROP Hunger Walks are community-wide events where folks from different faiths, cultures, and school groups work together to help address the horrors of hunger in our world – even for those battling hunger in our own city of San Rafael. We are hoping for our usual 10-15 walkers who will seek donations from neighbors, family, and friends. Then on the afternoon of Sunday, March 11, all who sign up to walk the 3K route in downtown San Rafael will be carrying banners and hoping to gather additional support from merchants along the way. The steps we take, and the funds we raise, will make a real difference! Step Up! We need you. Fundraising is easier if you use the Marin CROP Hunger Walk Website: See Sue Spofford after worship for more details.

REST Dinners for Homeless Women in December (The R.E.S.T. Program)
Mar 12 @ 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm
REST Dinners for Homeless Women in December (The R.E.S.T. Program) @ Marin Health & Wellness Campius | San Rafael | California | United States

The First Congregational Church of San Rafael – Mission Board is happy to provide dinners for homeless Marin County women during this year’s 2017-2018 Winter REST Program.
FCCSR Team will be feeding 20 homeless women with their Staff, at the Marin Health and Wellness Campus Lobby, 3240 Kerner Blvd in San Rafael. The FCCSR Team we will prepare food and bring everything needed for a hot, nutritional and tasty meal for the homeless women guests.  We also will eat and chat together with our guests before we clean up. It all begins with set up at 5:30pm of the tables, chairs, place settings and buffet table.  The women guests will be at the center and ready to be served by 6:00pm, we eat with them and then we clean up the dishes.  We are usually done by 7:30 PM. Our REST Dinner dates are on the following Monday nights.
Monday Mar 12
Monday April 9
We can use your help with table set up, food dishes (we can also pick up any dish/item you make/donate prior to 5:30, if needed), food serving, and clean up.  Any donation of food, help or time you can offer is appreciated.
If you can help be part of our REST FCCSR Meal Makers, please contact the church office 415 479-2747 with dates you are available to help and in what way (set up, main dish, salad or side dish, desert, or goodie bags etc.).  If you have a certain dish you would like to make please include that info in your message.   Jackie Derma can also answer any questions and help pick up any donations.

Irish Music to Benefit EDFK
Mar 18 @ 2:00 pm

Join us for a fun concert of traditional and contemporary Irish music by vocalist Shannon Warto and Violinist Catherine John.

All proceeds will benefit Every Dollar Feeds Kids, Which has been feeding, educating and empowering the poorest of the poor in Morales, Mexico since 1999.  Suggested donation $20.

CLICK HERE to download a printable,  post-able PDF poster/handout that you can use to help publicize the important fund-raiser


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Showing posts from 2012

Practice Notes Fiddle 1

Checking tuning: G D A E

Bow twice across each string, back and forth

Scales: Gmaj, Dmaj, Amaj
Bow twice on each note, up and down the scale, repeat. "Mississippi groundhog," up and down the scale, repeat."Grasshopper," up and down the scale, repeat.Straight scale, up and down, repeat three times. Songs
"Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star": Dmaj, Gmaj, Amaj, three times each."Shortenin' Bread": Dmaj, Gmaj, Amaj, three times each."Shortenin' Bread" with "Grasshopper" beat: Dmaj, three times."Frère Jacques": Dmaj, three times. TOTAL PRACTICE TIME: 25 minutes a day (after practicing for 8 weeks, starting with 10 minutes a day and adding 5 minutes every other week or so, as your arms and hands gain strength)

Things to think about
Breathe and relax into the bowing.Don't rush. Play each song slowly first, until the notes sing out clearly.Start with a down bow, but don't pick up the bow again until you stop play…

Our Lady of Light

After the Queen's Speech

Photo by JP BrownPosted with Blogsy

Christmas Joy

God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen

I confess, I was really worried it wasn't going to work this year. You know, the magic. Somehow, no matter what, every year there comes a moment before Christmas when suddenly my heart lifts and, yes, the joy is there. The hope, the faith, the peace at the thought of the coming of Our Lord. Maybe just for a moment, before it is lost once again in the anxieties of the day-to-day, but always, it has been there, if only for a moment. Until this year. Nothing. Part of the reason that I have been using the past week or so to post Sister Mary of Agreda's description of the novena during which Mary was prepared to become Mother of the LORD is that I was afraid of letting myself write anything else.*

"Bah, humbug," I wanted to write. "I am sick of our secularized society in which we are forced, out of politeness, to wish people 'Happy Holidays,' lest we offend. I want to buy presents, but thanks to all of the decluttering that I've done, all I can s…

The Ninth Day of Mary's Preparation to Be Mother of the LORD

"On the last day of the novena of immediate preparation of the tabernacle (Psalm 45:5), which He was to sanctify by his coming, the Most High resolved to renew his wonders and multiply his tokens of love, repeating the favors and benefits which up to this day He had conferred upon the Princess Mary. But the Almighty chose to work in such a way, that in drawing forth from his infinite treasures his gifts of old, He always added thereto such as were new. All of these different kinds of wonders were appropriate to the end He had in view: lowering his Divinity to the human nature and raising a woman to the dignity of Mother of God. In descending to the lowliness of man's estate, God neither could, nor needed to change his essence: for, remaining immutable in Himself, He could unite his Person to our nature; but an earthly woman, in ascending to such an excellence that God should unite with Her and become man of her substance, apparently must traverse an infinite space and be …

The Eighth Day of Mary's Preparation to Be Mother of the LORD

"The heavenly Princess, most holy Mary, had now attained such fullness of grace and beauty and the heart of God was so wounded by her tender affections and desires (Song of Songs 4:9), that He was so to say irresistibly drawn to begin his flight from the bosom of the eternal Father to the bridal-chamber of her virginal womb and end the long delay of more than five thousand years. Nevertheless, since this new wonder was to be executed in the plenitude of his wisdom and equity, the Lord arranged this event in such a way, that the Princess of the heavens Herself, being the worthy Mother of the incarnate Word, should at the same time be also the most powerful Mediatrix of his coming and the Redeemer of his people much more than Esther was of Israel (Esther 7-8). In the heart of most holy Mary burned the flame, which God himself had enkindled, and without intermission She prayed for the salvation of the human race. However, as yet the most humble Lady restrained Herself in modesty…

The Seventh Day of Mary's Preparation to Be Mother of the LORD

"Great are the works of the Most High, for all of them were and are executed with the plenitude of knowledge and goodness, ordained in equity and number (Wisdom 11:21). None of them is faulty, useless or ineffectual, superfluous or vain; all are exquisite and magnificent, finished and executed according to the full measure of his holy will. Such He desired them to be, in order that He might be known and magnified in them. But in comparison to the mystery of the Incarnation, all the works of God ad extra, although they are in themselves great, stupendous and marvelous, more to be admired than comprehended, are only a small spark, issuing from the unfathomable abyss of the Divinity. This great sacrament of vesting Himself in a passible and mortal nature is pre-eminently the great work of his infinite power and wisdom and the one which immeasurably excels all the other works and wonders of his powerful arm. For in this mystery, not merely a spark of the Divinity, but that whol…

The Sixth Day of Mary's Preparation to Be Mother of the LORD

"While the Most High continued the proximate preparation of our heavenly Princess for the reception of the eternal Word in her virginal womb, She, on her part, persevered without intermission in her fervent sighs and prayers to hasten his coming into the world. When the night of the sixth of these days, which I have begun to describe, had arrived, and when She had previously been elevated by still more profound illuminations, She was again called and invited in spirit to the abstractive vision of the Divinity. Although this happened in the same manner as at other times, yet it was accompanied by more heavenly effects and by a more profound insight into the attributes of the Most High. She remained nine hours in this trance and issued from it at the third hour. Yet, although the high vision of the essence of God ceased at that hour, the most holy Mary continued to enjoy another kind of vision and prayer....

"Having seen God in this vision She was immediately shown the work…

The Fifth Day of Mary's Preparation to Be Mother of the LORD

"The fifth day of the novena, which the most blessed Trinity celebrated in the temple of most holy Mary, in order that the eternal Word might assume human shape in Her, had arrived.  Just as in the preceding days She was elevated to an abstractive vision of the Divinity, and, as the veil fell more and more from the secrets of the infinite wisdom, She discovered new mysteries also during this day.  For the preparations and enlightenments emitted ever stronger rays of light and divine graces, which flashed into her most holy soul and emptied the treasures of infinity into her faculties, assimilating and transforming the heavenly Lady more and more to a likeness of her God in order to make Her worthy of being his Mother....

"It is impossible to describe the hidden secrets, which most holy Mary then saw in the Lord; for She perceived in Him all the creatures of the past, present and the future, and the position of each one in creation, the good and bad actions and the final endi…

The Fourth Day of Mary's Preparation to Be Mother of the LORD

"Still the favors and most exalted mysteries of the Most High toward our Queen and Lady in preparing Her for [the] approaching dignity of Motherhood continued.  The fourth day of this preparation had arrived and at the same hour She was again raised to the abstractive vision of the Divinity.  But this vision was accompanied by new effects of exalted enlightenments in this most pure Soul.  The divine power and wisdom has no bounds or limits; to his operations only our will, or the limitation of our created nature, offers resistance.  But in the will of most holy Mary the divine power found no hindrance, for all her works were executed with plenitude of holiness and entirely according to the pleasure of the Lord, drawing Him on, as He himself said, and wounding his heart with love (Song of Songs 4:9).  Only in so far as most holy Mary was a mere creature was the power of the divine arm limited; but within these limits it could act without bound or restriction, and without measure, …

The Third Day of Mary's Preparation to Be Mother of the LORD

"The right arm of the Most High, which threw open the doors of the Divinity to most holy Mary, continued to enrich and adorn at the expense of his infinite attributes this most pure spirit and virginal body which He had chosen as his tabernacle, as his temple, and as the holy city of his habitation.  And the heavenly Lady, engulfed in this vastness of the Divinity, winged her flight day by day farther away from earthly things, and transformed Herself more and more into a heavenly being, discovering ever new sacraments in the Most High.  For as He is the infinite Object of desire, although the appetite is satiated with that which is received, always more remains to be desired and understood.  Not all the hierarchies of the angels, nor all men together, have attained such preferment in blessings, mysteries and sacraments as this Princess attained, especially as regards those due to Her as Mother of the Creator.

"On the third day of preparation at which I have now arrived, havi…

The Second Day of Mary's Preparation to Be Mother of the LORD

"On the second day, at the same hour of midnight, the Virgin Mary was visited in the same way as described in the last chapter.  The divine power raised Her up by the same elevations and illuminings to prepare Her for the visions of the Divinity.  He manifested Himself again in an abstractive manner as on the first day, and She was shown the works performed on the second day of the creation.  She learnt how and when God divided the waters (Genesis 1:6), some above and others below, establishing the firmament, and above it the crystal, known also as the watery heaven.  Her insight penetrated into the greatness, order, conditions, movements and all the other qualities and conditions of the heavens.

"And in the most prudent Virgin this knowledge did not lay idle, nor remain sterile; for immediately the most clear light of the Divinity overflowed in Her, and inflamed and emblazoned Her with admiration, praise and love of the goodness and power of God.  Being transformed as it we…

The First Day of Mary's Preparation to Be Mother of the LORD

"[In] order to put his desires into execution [the LORD] sought first to prepare the tabernacle or temple, whither He was to descend from the bosom of the eternal Father.  He resolved to furnish his beloved and chosen Mother with a clear knowledge of all his works ad extra, just as his Omnipotence had made them.  On the first day therefore [by an abstractive vision] He manifested to Her all that He had made on the first day of the creation of the world, as it is recorded in Genesis, and She perceived all with greater clearness and comprehension, than if She had been an eye-witness; for She knew them first as they are in God, and then as they are in themselves.

"She perceived and understood, how the LORD in the beginning (Genesis 1:1, 5), created heaven and earth; in how far and in what way it was void, and how the darkness was over the face of the abyss; how the spirit of the LORD hovered over the waters and how, at the divine command, light was made, and what was its nature…

Our Lady Tree

The Lady praises herself:
I came out of the mouth of the most High, the firstborn before all creatures:
I made that in the heavens there should rise light that never faileth, and as a cloud I covered all the earth:
I dwelt in the highest places, and my throne is in a pillar of a cloud.
I alone have compassed the circuit of heaven, and have penetrated into the bottom of the deep, and have walked in the waves of the sea,
And have stood in all the earth: and in every people,
And in every nation I have had the chief rule:
And by my power I have trodden under my feet the hearts of all the high and low: and in all these I sought rest, and I shall abide in the inheritance of the LORD. Then the creator of all things commanded, and said to me: and he that made me, rested in my tabernacle,
And he said to me: Let thy dwelling be in Jacob, and thy inheritance in Israel, and take root in my elect.
From the beginning, and before the world, was I created, and unto the world to come I shall not cea…

The LORD Prepares His Mother for His Incarnation

"In order to proceed with a dignity befitting Himself, God prepared most holy Mary in a singular manner during the nine days immediately preceding this mystery, and allowed the river of his Divinity to rush impetuously forth (Psalm 45:5) to inundate this City of God with its floods.  He communicated such great graces and gifts and favors, that I am struck dumb by the perception of what has been made known to me concerning this miracle, and my lowliness is filled with dread at even the mention of what I understood.  For the tongue, the pen, and all the faculties of a creature fall far below any possibility of revealing such incomprehensible sacraments.  Therefore I wish it to be understood, that all I say here is only an insignificant shadow of the smallest part of these wonders and ineffable prodigies, which are not at all to be encompassed by our limited words, but only by the power divine, which I do not possess."

--Mary of Agreda, The Mystical City of God: The Incarnation

A Teachable Moment

A curious thing happens when you announce to the world that you are learning to play a new musical instrument.

Nobody (or almost nobody) asks the more practical questions: "Where are you taking lessons? Private or group? Did you have to buy your own instrument, or were you able to rent? What was the first thing you had to learn?  What is it like?  How is it different from other instruments you already play?  Do you have to read music?  What inspired you to want to learn to play?"

Rather, almost immediately, family, friends, and acquaintances begin to regale you with one of three things:
Tales of their own experience learning (or not learning) to play your musical instrument;Lists of expert musicians who play the instrument you are just starting to learn;Lists of other people whom they know who play the same instrument and whom they expect that you would like to meet. Well-meant as they are, am I the only one who finds these kinds of things hard to hear?*  No. 1 is easier: I s…

Day Three, Event Three, Headache Three

This is not #$%&ing fair.

I didn't drink last night. I didn't hang out late with my friends. I didn't stay up watching television. I was a good girl. I even went to sleep while my roommates were still talking. AND I STILL WOKE UP WITH A #$%&ING HEADACHE.

It's not fair, it really isn't. I was feeling so good--SO GOOD--on Thursday as I was driving up from Chicago for the tournament this weekend. Even strangers were noticing. I was glowing, I was so happy about finally getting started working on my book again. I had pages written! I had an outline for the rest of the chapter I'm working on! For the first time in over three years, I could see how I was actually going to finish writing this book! I had hope! I had a plan! I had confidence in myself and my work!

I was such an idiot. It never lasts. Eeyore, that's who I am. Give me one good day, one really good day when I feel confident, strong, capable, and--BAM!--I come down with the flu…

My Notebook and Me

So, that went well--NOT!

Sigh. It is supposed to be a good thing to keep a fencing notebook. You know. To keep a record of all of the pools and DEs that you've fenced. To make notes on the opponents you've had, what you've learned about how they fence. I know fencers who keep beautiful notebooks, with carefully, calmly written notes about every bout they've ever fenced, thoughts about things to work on, strategies to try the next time they come up against a particular fencer. I've tried to keep a fencing notebook, I really have. But when I come off the strip after learning NOTHING, it's the first thing to go.

I have no idea how many fencing notebooks I've gone through. They never survive very long, maybe a year or two. I will dutifully keep track of all of the bouts that I fence in a pool, make notes about things that I noticed in this or that bout, write myself encouraging notes about what to work on...and then there will come a day like today wh…

Checking In

Okay, so maybe that martini last night was a bit of a mistake. It woke me up bright and early at 5:30am with such a headache, my head is still fuzzy even after the Tylenols and a couple hours of trying to get back to sleep. Not exactly the best start to the day, especially when I have to compete this afternoon. But I sure enjoyed it at the time.

History Bear and I are here in Milwaukee for the annual December NAC. Have I ever explained the North American Cups? They are national level tournaments held more or less the same weekends every year. Each year we have two at which we can fence Veteran events, one in December and one in March, plus Summer Nationals in late June/early July. So this is one of my three big tournaments every year. And my head is full of fuzz thanks to the martini last night.

I am trying not to worry about it. Because, see, I am a mature fencing bear now, all of 9 1/2 years old. Gosh, that's old. I was only 5 when I started this blog just before Summer…

Hey Diddle Diddle

I'm learning the fiddle!  I know, I know, what is it with me and things that you do with pointy sticks?  What can I say?  It's an aesthetic.

But, seriously, I have always wanted to learn to play the fiddle--or, as they introduced it to us in fourth grade, the violin.  I don't remember the details terrifically well, but I know that there was some kind of assembly or such in which the kids in the orchestra played each of the instruments and the teachers invited us to choose one that we would like to learn to play.  I know I asked my mother if I might try violin, but she was already fed up with me for not practicing my piano (or words to that effect), so that was that.  It was piano or nothing.

And so I stuck with the piano--through the tears and frustration and teasing and embarrassment.  Through the scales and the new teachers and always feeling like I really couldn't play.  Despite the fact that I could read music, quite well, in fact.  Despite the fact that I practice…

That DOES It

I am turning off the option to be able to comment on my blog anonymously.  I am sick to death of being chastised by readers too chicken to tell me who they are (you can do that anonymously, too, by sending me an email, you know).  Yes, I know it's petty--but so is making personal comments on someone's personal blog without introducing yourself properly.

I will be happy to reconsider if I get floods of emails from readers who don't have an Open ID or Google account by which they can log in.  But, seriously, folks!  I'm baring my soul here.  The least you can do is tell me who you are before you lay into me for my faults.

Why I am not a cat person

The f*cking cat did it again.

A few years ago, I can't remember quite when, but it was sometime in the autumn, probably October, I had the clever idea that it might be possible to keep the dog from eating the cat poop by buying one of those top entry cat boxes that keep dogs out and yet let cats in to do their business.

Almost immediately, the cat stopped pooping.  Then peeing.  Or so it seemed.

What really had happened was that the cat started peeing in the corner of the back room in our apartment, well away from the traffic, so it was days before I could figure out what was going on.  The cat seemed fine, even though (to judge from her litter box) she wasn't peeing, so I didn't take her to the vet.  I just kept waiting to see whether she would a) seem sick, or b) start using her litter box again.

She never did.  When I finally found where she had been peeing, the rug in the back room was soaked.  I tried cleaning it with all of the various pet odor removers we had--and t…

Why Christmas Trees Have Lights

"You will recall the belief that in the time of the Messiah five things would be restored to the temple: the fire, the ark, the Spirit, the cherubim and the menorah.  Since the asherah was remembered as a stylized tree, the older translations of the Bible, made before the discoveries at Ugarit revealed the existence of the goddess Athirat, translated asherah as 'grove,' following the Greek.  It was forbidden to plant a grove of trees near any altar of the LORD (Deut. 16.21, AV); Jezebel had 400 prophets of the groves (1 Kings 18.19, AV).  The asherah removed by Josiah would have been a stylized tree, and the only stylized tree associated with the temple was the menorah, the tree of fire which was the tree of life, and therefore a symbol of the Lady who was being removed.  This menorah was remembered as the true menorah.  There was a seven branched lamp in the second temple--it is depicted on the arch of Titus among the loot from the temple which was taken to Rome--yet peo…

Cognitive Training BCE

"The subject of discussion then is whether reason is absolute master of the passions.  But we have to define what reason is and what passion is, how many forms of passion there are, and whether reason is lord over them all.  Reason, I suggest, is the mind making a deliberate choice of the life of wisdom.  Wisdom, I submit, is knowledge of things divine and human, and of their causes.  And this wisdom, I assume, is the culture we acquire from the Law, through which we learn the things of God reverently and the things of men to our worldly advantage.

"The forms of wisdom consist of prudence, justice, courage, and temperance.  Of these prudence is the most authoritative, for it is through it that reason controls the passions.  Of the passions, the two all-embracing kinds are pleasure and pain, and each of these inheres in the body as well as the soul.  A large retinue of passions attends upon both pleasure and pain.  Before pleasure comes desire, and after pleasure comes joy.  …


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Friday, August 29, 2008

Gabe Suarez’s article on Argentina

Argentina. It is probably one of the most dangerous countries on earth, and like Colombia and South Africa, very beautiful.

I landed there after a grueling 10 hour flight complete with snoring passengers and shrieking babies, to be met by my host Jorge Baigorria.

Jorge picked me up and with one look announced that I needed some sleep. A mind reader as well as one of Argentina's best shooters...competitively and otherwise.

I slept most of the afternoon at my digs in Buenos Aires, and awoke just in time to go to dinner. There is one thing about B.A., there is no shortage of any quantity. Same goes for the beer.

We got right to work. The course was The Ultimate Combat Skills and it was populated by tough men from all over the region. We had military guys whose eyes spoke of plenty of nasty encounters, and bodyguards whose lives are as cheap as a dinner in any town in the USA.

We had civilians. Quite a few. Unlike the so-called free states of New York and California, citizens in Argentina can carry guns.

We had cops too. Cops in B.A. are killed weekly. While I was there at least four were murdered on the job. An environment like that makes for motivated learners.

There are men here whose personal scores of dead bad guys make the likes of Jim Cirillo look pedestrian. I am humbled that they wanted to listen to what I had to say, and that they invited me back.

We crammed the entire CRG program into one whirlwind day and shot so much ammo you could not walk from one end to the other without walking on brass.

The next day we worked on fighting with knives. Not the defensive stuff so popuylar here in the US in some circles, but material borrowed from my knife instructor Tom Sotis.

Here in Argentina, you don't get one to three attackers like in the USA. Here you get twenty thugs! They call them "Barra Brava".

So the fight may begin or end with a knife. Surrender and they will likely stomp you to death, throw you under a train, or worse. You dare not let them take you alive. Everyone fights here.

Next came Force On Force. Hard force on force as we did not have the liability issues we face in the USA.

If someone broke their hand, or lost a tooth, we had a doctor nearby to fix them up and bring them back to class. Seriousness with a latin sense of humor.

We workewd on long range shooting as well and the majority of the class shot out to 90 yards. The last day we discussed integration of weapons with the pistol as well as the ever popular Vehicle Gunfighting program.

In Argentina, a carjack means they kill you and take your car. They wait for you to arrive at home and situations where wives and kids have seen their fathers bleed to death from wounds inflicted by the carjackers are common. Noone is immune so everyone takes this very seriously.

As an interesting note an anti-gun politician whose famous quote of "Insecurity is only a sensation" was shot in the head by criminals while I was there.

He is presently in a coma. Perhaps the bullet lodged in his skull is also just a sensation. Who knows?

(Edited by FerFAL to add: I remember that! It was pathetic the way his wife, even with her husband brain dead, insisted that BA isn’t dangerous. Pathetic and ironic all at once)

After the training we spent some days sight seeing. One of the places I went to was perhaps one of the worst places on earth, the Puerta Yerro area, a makeshift shanty town reminiscent of what we saw in South Africa.

There only the thugs rule and everyone is armed. Life is as cheap as a cigarette, and you'd better make sure you kill your adversary and anyone who appears to be with him.

This may be hard for law abiding american CCW folk to swallow, but if you have to shoot or stab an attacker here, you run like hell before their friends, or the police arrive.

It is just that kind of place. I was told that not long before I arrived a 12 year old girl was raped to death there, shot in the head and partially eaten by rats before the police found her. The bad guys were dealt the books. Things are different here.

I left all my knives, holsterts, and weapons with the guys in B.A. I can get more, and they may need what I left tonight. Places like this really make you appreciate where we live and how we live. Let us never forget that, and specially not next November.

I took a couple classes with Jorge Baigorria and respect the man a lot. He’s a terrific instructor, has a lot of street gunfighting experience, and “EL Negro” is just the funniest guy you’ll ever encounter.

One small correction thought. Generally speaking, people here can’t carry firearms. You have to: A) Own a millionaire company, that moves a lot of cash B) Have important political or police connections C) Be rich enough to make up a company that justifies you owning a gun. Yes, THAT rich.

Other than that citizens here can’t carry weapons.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Some Q&A

Ferfal - thanks again for this great blog. As inflation is a major problem in Argentina, I was wondering how do people buy big-ticket things these days? Like a car or a house? Or even a new refrigerator? Is there still credit now (as you knew it) before you currency blew-up?

It’s very hard. Credit is back now but we spent several years without credit of any kind after 2001, and still in some places ( like gas stations) no kind of plastic is accepted, cash only.

It’s not uncommon to see commercials on TV about loans and credit for buying a camera or a TV.

The TV add shows a really old couple watching TV, and then the same couple in a much younger version “Don’t wait until you are too old! Buy your tv/camera/Jacuzzi now!”
Things that aren’t really that expensive in most places, are a big deal here, and something you think carefully about because you’ll be paying it for years.

Something as simple as an average car repair is something that sets you back considerably. The parts alone are very expensive.

Something like a fridge or TV?
There’s still credit yes, but the price/salary ratio will be hard on most medium class people, maybe spending an entire year to pay for the credit on the fridge. Poor people can’t even afford it.

A car? IF you get credit, (big if) most people here spend years paying for an old car that costs just one average 1st world monthly salary.
The same car that costs maybe 2 or 3 months worth of average salary in USA or Europe, costs anyway from 2 to 5 years worth of average salary here.

A home? Forget it, average people can’t afford to buy one these days.
No credit for normal people for that kind of expenses.
You slowly save money for years before you dream of walking into a bank and asking for a loan.

Most people I know of either rent or live in places owned by friends or family.

Almost no one has what it takes to buy a house here these days.

The market is slow, its normal for a house to spend several years on the market, unless it’s really cheap, a real steal.

Ferfal, I also have a question for you: Do you think a safe deposit box is a safe place to store valuables like most of your "gold fund" jewellry or golden coins? What happened to the contents of safe deposit boxes during the conomic collapse and the time the banks were closed? Were the contents still safe? I figure in normal times a safe deposit box is one of the safest places to put valuables because bank robbers seldom try to open them and almost never succeed in opening them, but I'm pretty sure the bank manager could open them if he wanted to.

Not as safe as you’d think.

In some cases, orders have been given by judges or officials to open private safety boxes to see if there’s cash or gold (screw our Constitution and the right to intimacy and private property)
It’s also a common target for bank robbers, knowing that there’s where the money really is.

Some years ago a spectacular robbery took place, involved a tunnel, and inflatable raft going through the sewers below the bank and the city for miles, and finally escaping through the river in jet sky.

Many times bank employees are involved in the robbery of the safes.

It’s safer than a bank account in my experience, safer than a vault in your home probably, but don’t think that your stuff is 100% safe or out of the hands of the gov. crooks.
It isn’t.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Bad guys and soft targets

This was brought up in THR forums and it turned into an interesting thread.
There was one point thought that I very much disagree with. Sometimes I see similar ideas or notions by other people, that the person that doesn’t fear to be killed is better off some way or another.

(10) Lose your fear of dying! There are no guarantees in this life, and, end the end, we're all dead anyway. [Those] Who look for "fairness" in the way the world is ordered, do so in [vain]!

Definitely no, Do NOT lose your fear to die, or kid yourself into believing that or behaving as if you do.
Not only is it BS ( no one sane wants to die) but it’s also a bad decision that will get you to make stupid mistakes.

There’s a BIG difference between not letting fear control you ( agree 100% there, fear freezes you up when you need to act quickly) and not fearing death.

Good for you if you don’t fear death. I do. I’m afraid I’ll die and leave my wife and kids without a husband and a father to look after them, and I’m not ashamed to admit it. It is for this reason that I do what I do to make sure I come back home everyday.

I don’t let fear control me but heck I wanna live.

It’s ok to be scared as long as you don’t let the fear control you, specially freeze you when you need your brain to act 1000mph and come up with the best course of action in 1/10 of a second.
Want to know a little secret?
After living in fear for some time you get used to it, it becomes something you finally accept without even realizing it and that makes you more prepared for when bad things happen. It doesn’t catch you off guard, because you’ve already expected that or something very similar to happen a thousand times.

As time goes by fear gets replaced by acceptance. You accept that that bad thing you used to fear will eventually happen, and when that happens you do what you have to do.
Once you get used to living with fear, you could say that the fear pretty much disappears.

About being a soft target

Sometimes there’s nothing you can do. All my 85 year old grandma can do is grab her purse tight with both hands, turn away when she sees suspicious looking people, be VERY cautious of the places she goes to and at what times of the day she does what she needs to do.
She will usually go to the grocery store in the morning when the streets are full of people, and there’s some police presence, and she will only go to known places just a couple of blocks away.
Not perfect but it has worked for her so far, my dear grandma is one cautious old lady. :)

Of course that if you are not 80 there are things you can do so as not to get targeted.

Looking like one of those dumb Emo freaks sure is an invitation to get pushed around.
Hell, I’m a nice guy and even I feel like kicking their asses myself when I see them! A person that is outspokenly proud of its weakens, and makes it clear for everyone to see will certainly invite aggression in a violent society.

There are other more subtle things bad guys see, maybe even without realizing it themselves clearly. The way a person walks, the way he carries himself. The clothes he wears, if he looks shy or weak in any way.
Clothes that looks a bit more “feminine”, things like hippie-like sandal or bags, or pastel colored clothes, and thing that can be read by these predators as a sign of possible weakness is working against you.

I can tell you without a doubt, any person that cares to observe will see a difference between the way people dress in, high end neighborhoods and the rest where middle and poor class live.
Around the Bs. As. suburbs where I live, they’d eat those so called metrosexual guys up.

Even things like glasses are seen as signs of weakness. I only used glasses for a while when I was younger and quickly changed to contact lenses because of this, and finally got LASIK surgery done.

Awareness is by far the most important thing. Wont give you much to brag about with the guys but the confrontation you avoid is always better than the one you win.
Humans must the only creature that managed to suppress it’s instinct.
Don’t be ashamed of turning if you feel someone behind you, or turning 180 º the other way and leaving if something looks like an ambush. Hear, smell and see your environment. You should always know what’s going on at least half a block in front and behind you.

Not much to do if you are too old, but for a young person looking strong and fit does make you look like a harder target. And it’s not just looks, you probably ARE a harder target if you are strong and fit.

It’s also about the way you carry yourself, the way you walk, the way you keep your head high, looking confident.
I don’t go around staring people, but I don’t avoid eye contact either, it’s a sign of weakness.
Just look into the person’s eye long enough to let them know you acknowledge him and go on.

Being armed, at all times, makes a huge difference if things turn to worst. Don’t hesitate to use them. Someone asked me if I brought out my gun to threaten people.
I said, no, just a logical step before shooting him!
It’s not about playing dare or bluffing. Never bluff with a weapon. If you bring it out, be ready to use it. If the person turns and leaves when he sees you are armed, of course, it’s no longer self defense, and shooting someone in the back never looks good, specially in court.

Also, and this may be a bit more difficult, train yourself mentally to react violently when surprised. This is so important.
It’s similar in some ways to gun safety rules, when one fails, if the other one is kept in mind you generally are still safe, or at least you have a plan to fall back to.
Same here. You should be aware and avoid being surprised by criminals, but if this fails your reaction must be instant and violent.

Think of the last time someone surprised you, or grabbed you, pushed or touched you in the subway or some other crowded area.
Most people react by sheepishly moving away quickly from what surprised them. You should mentally prepare yourself to react pushing the threat away from you, ready to punch, kick and shoot as necessary.

This isn’t easy but you can change that with proper mindset. Just like your awareness level, it’s always there in pilot more, ready for reaction.

As long as no one is trying to stop me, surround me or stand in my way, big mouth and smartass remarks mean nothing to me. If a person feels more manly by insulting others or shouting challenges to me on the street, that’s fine. Got better things to do than getting into fights with losers, and I’m sure you do to.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

A succession of violent events

These last few days, crime and violence was the main topic on the news.

Not that people didn’t get killed almost on daily basis here in Buenos Aires city before, but the amount and more noticeably, the needless violence involved in these robberies is something to worry about.

The mayor of the city of Buenos Aires, Mauricio Marci, publicly admitted that there’s no safe place in Bs. As. City.

Some of the incidents aren’t well covered by the media, and I don’t want to go into every single detail, don’t have the time right now for that, but some of the things we can learn from them:

1) Anyone is a potential victim. A noticeable higher economical level makes you even more desirable in the eyes of the bad guys, but don’t think for one second that you will be spared because you aren’t rich, or just because you are poor. Poor people are getting robbed and killed for whatever can be found in their pockets.

2) There’s no “safe” time of the day. You can get killed at 12 AM, 6 AM or 9PM just the same. Nights are a bit worse because some bad guys prefer to operate in the dark, but the worst kind, the most brutal ones don’t care at all.

3) Surrendering does not ensure that you wont get killed. One of the persons killed these last few days cooperated with the bad guys when they robbed his small library, and when they were leaving one of them turned and shot him three times in the chest and one in the head with a .32 S&W long.

4) Meanwhile, a man fought back when he saw his wife and son being attacked in front of his house.
One of the bad guys had a gun to the teenage son’s head, while the other two hit the mother in the face with their guns and kicked her on the ground.
The husband acted out of desperation and started shooting with a 22LR, fatally wounding one of the criminals in the chest with a single shot.
The 3 bad guys managed to get into the car but the corpse of the one that got shot in the chest was dropped later in front of a hospital.

One guy armed with a 22LR vs. three armed criminals that already have the drop on you are not chances I’d like to take, but sometimes an aggressive reaction like this one sends vicious criminals running, tough you should never count on that happening, and even thought the 22LR killed the BG in question, you should really arm yourself with something better.

The woman’s face was disfigured because of the beating and she’s in the hospital, but the son and husband weren’t harmed.

5) Many of the persons killed these last few days got killed inside their cars.
Cars offer NO protection of any kind against any caliber. You’d do well to remember that.
If you ever end up using your car as a weapon, better go as low as you can in your seat, trying to use the engine a protection, since car doors and windows offer none, even against 22LR.

6)22LR, 32 S&W Long aren’t much to brag about but they can still kill you very much dead. Still, you should go for something more respectable for self defense in case they shoot back instead of running.

6) Most of these cases occurred when the person was either entering or exiting the house. This is, by far, the most dangerous moment, when you are more vulnerable.

7) Personal note here.

Guns are what you end up using when you fucked up and failed in your awareness.
I’ve been coming back home late at night again everyday at the same time.
Yesterday some guys tried to cut me off but when they saw that I was a) armed and b) not slowing down, but rather accelerating, they moved away fast enough.
Today I took a different route, and I’ll be using different ways back home so as to avoid being ambushed like that.
These things happen often, and being armed and not stopping or the combination of both always got me trough. But when they target you they may use other resources like setting traps like stones on the street or throwing bricks at your windshield to force you to stop.

Better to avoid these things and make sure they can’t figure out your route and schedule.

It may seem that for a blog intended on urban survival, I concentrate a lot on self defense.
Believe me, there’s a reason for it.
If things in USA keep on going down hill, expect crime to get worse even in small town America, and be ready to change your everyday habits

Thursday, August 7, 2008

More on gold and other concerns

Hi FerFal,

I'm posting this here, although it should go under the "gold and jewellry" discussion. I just wasn't sure if you can see the posts on the older topics and reply to them...

I'm just looking to buy some gold on my savings (given that the price of gold is skyrocketing anyway). You suggested buying a bag of golden rings formerly, but also said that a necklace is easier to be split up if needed. I shopped around a little and compared the prices of jewellry to the global gold price. I found that the price of golden jewellry can cost even 5-6 times more, than the price of its gold content. Obviously it depends on the specific product. Simple rings, like wedding rings are cheaper, as are the jewellry made from bigger chunks of gold like bracelets. Necklaces seem to be quite expensive, however - taking only the gold content into account. Buying these toys and selling them later at the price of scrap gold is not the greatest idea. I also looked at buying scrap gold on the first place: I cheched out a refining/casting company to see how much they ask for jewellry gold. It is available in even 9 carat wires, which I think would be the most appropriate for this purpose (them come in any profile you want; you can have them in a thin enough diameter to make it possible to be rolled up, and later cut off the promptly required amount with simple pliers). 9 ct gold is the purity used most commonly here in New Zealand for manufacturing jewellry, so it would be just the thing I'm after. On the phone they quoted a quite reasonable price for the gold wire (less than a 20 percent cost for refinement). However when I went to buy some, it turned out that it is GST exclusive (Goods and Services Tax, or VAT in Britain; I don't know what it's called in Argentina; you know the shit...) Adding the GST on top of it makes it a much less nice offer: it comes to about a 36 percent of extra cost altogether - we have a 12.5% GST rate.

A guy at the refinery company suggested buying internationally recognised gold coins instead (I just told him I'm after some form of investment); the coins are pure gold and they are not GST taxable; also everybody knows what they are. This takes us back to the original problem you already talked about: good quality coins are hard to sell (?) at their actual value after the SHTF (well; even in peaceful times...), and you can't chop them up as you like.

What do you think about all this? (I have some savings to devote some money to secure it, but paying 36% is too painful for me; I'm not a rich guy).

However, I'm also convinced that in the not too distant future the world will be facing a global economic crash. I know you said you wouldn't worry too much about peak oil, because your country has enough crude. Even then, I don't think ANYONE is able to measure the consequences of it (don't be sure your country will be the one enjoying the remainder of its oil...). I'm sure Argentina is a tough place to live in, but what you guys have been experiencing for the last couple of years is just the beginning... Even though I live in a well-off country like New Zealand, I wasn't born here: I'm from a country going through a breath-takingly similar curve to that of Argentina (first being the richest country of the region, then free trade came along, the devastation of local enonomy, diminishing mid-class, unemployment, deepening poverty, famine). Thus I know what hard times are like, and try not to underestimate the End Of The WHOLE WORLD.

So. I know the 36 percent is nothing if we consider a potential 500-600% inflation rate, but still it feels painful to cough up when everything seems so peaceful... What do you think?

Btw. I'm a big fan of you; this blog is really invaluable. I especially respect you for putting peace and freedom above the cheap work due to the misery of others (I'm referring to your post about your aunt... :)
I wish you all the best! Sorry about my verbal diarrhea... ;)

August 7, 2008 12:40 AM

Hey Joe, thanks for the compliments.
Hope it’s ok I posted this here in case others have a similar doubts.

I understand New Zealand is a beautiful place. I have a friend living there, works as a “consierge”(?spelling) at a Hyatt hotel.

He says he fit well there ( he’s a very nice, outgoing kind of guy) and he says he gets greats tips for his ability to get things done. (also acquires tickets, reservations, “good company”, he’s the guy) It’s a nice skill to have, I guess.:)

Joe, nothing I say should be taken as written on stone, it’s mostly advice, things I do myself, but also things that work given the right context. You still have to come up with your own conclusions.

In places such as your country, of course, jewelry will have an added cost because of the craftsmanship involved.

Over here it’s pretty different. The “art” involved adds little cost to jewelry, unless you are talking about a real intricate item with n undeniable artistic value, because artisans make little money and have to charge little for their work, at least in most cases.

Things like chains and weeding rings ( mostly 18 k here) are bought and sold calculating its gold content plus a relatively small premium.
That’s why I said that I’d get a small amount of wedding bands if I could go back in time to pre 2001 times.

In shanty towns and improvised markets, people often buy and sell, (mostly sell) this kind of jewelry. People pulling a gold ring from their finger and selling it is something common around here, specially right after the crisis, and even now several years later.
You’ll rarely ever see a gold coin among the more common folk.

I understand that in America you can sometimes find wedding bands in pawn shops for little money, but, if this isn’t your case, then definitely DO NOT pay for jewelry gold when you have to pay so much for it’s artistic value.

The smaller gold coin or bar (there are some 1g peaces, very small) or better yet silver, would be more appropriate.

One other thing. Don’t confuse buying gold for a form of investment. It really isn’t. It’s more of a form of protecting your savings, which still is a good thing.

An investment generates money for you. May it be a small investment pool or portfolio, an apartment you rent, a cab you bought and hire someone else to drive it, or a 25% share in a small drug store down the street. It makes money for you.

About peak oil and the end of the world, I try not to worry much about it.
Other than having food stocked, having investments that generate money for you, having a home and plan B in some other country, I’m not going to run up the hills and set camp there waiting for the end of the world. :)

Mostly I’d worry about adapting appropriately to the changes on our current world.

Even among survivalists and prepers, I often find people that got robbed because they left their car, even their house! with unlocked doors.

Today, you get robbed.

Tomorrow, you make that same mistake and you’ll pay it with your life.
Sucks to sound all melodramatic but it’s the true. A mistake like that in a place like Argentina has cost the life of more than a few.

It’s not about being paranoid or anything, it’s about being cautious, and doing what we as a specie are designed to do:

Adapt to the new reality our world has become.
Everything is more expensive?
You need to make more money, find a way to get that done.
Things aren’t that safe any more?
You need to move somewhere else safer and have means to defend yourself and so on.

You can still enjoy the heck out of life and do these things at the same time.:)


text:
Saturday, August 30, 2008

Well, no real surprise. I have a feeling I will be a full-of-symptoms kind of gal, and I've had none, other than AF not showing when I expected. I'm going to e-mail my doctor for the RE referral, and also check out another fertility clinic & start committing myself to that process. Don't worry -no tears here, just resignation.

PS. Is it odd that I don't tell my dh when I'm testing? He gets so anxious (the one time I did) with lots of nail biting, and it's just easier on me when I tell him later (if at all). He figures it out when AF shows.

Mommy Moreno said...

no - not odd at all ... i did the same thing several times.

Ariella said...

I am sorry it was negative. ((((((BIG HUG)))))) It seems like time to move on to an RE to me. If you are looking at RSC and have any questions let me know: kittylove516 at yahoo dot com I highly recommended their "meet the Dr" night.

I didn't like telling my hubby when I was testing either. It was more heartbreaking to have his hopes mashed than mine.


text:
Festival Map
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Anxiety Club

Fri, 29th Dec

8.30pm - 9.30pm

Hatchery Lawn

Wet Weather Venue

The Mayfair
69 Devon Street West

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If Ryan Adams wrestled Smashing Pumpkins in a late 90s pinball rumble, it would sound like Anxiety Club.  Wellington four-piece Anxiety Club bring their acclaimed brand of grungetinged alt country to the stage for what promises to be a sublime local offering.

We thank the following organisations for generously investing in this iconic community event.

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text:
Language and Cognition Department, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics
 by Penelope Brown

Volume — 2008 (9 entries)

Focal Colours

In this task we aim to find what the best exemplars or “focal colours” of each basic colour term is in our field languages. This is an important part ofMore →

Constructions in ‘Language and Perception’

This field guide is for eliciting information about grammatical resources used in describing perceptual events and perception-based properties and states. A list of leading questions outlines an underlying semantic spaceMore →

Ethnography of the Senses

This entry provides some orientation and task suggestions on how to explore the perceptual world of your field site and the interaction between the cultural world and the sensory lexiconMore →

Language of Perception: Views From Anthropology

The senses are not only physiological phenomena, but they are also linguistic, cultural, and social. The goal of this task is to explore and describe sociocultural patterns relating language of perception, ideologies of perception, and perceptual practice in our speech communities.

Synaesthesia: A Cross-Cultural Pilot (v. 1)

Synaesthesia is a condition in which stimulation of one sensory modality (e.g. hearing) causes additional experiences in a second, unstimulated modality (e.g. seeing colours). The goal of this task isMore →

Time and Space Questionnaire

This entry contains: 1. An invitation to think about to what extent the grammar of space and time share lexical and morphosyntactic resources − the suggestions here are only prompts,More →

Time in Space

How do different languages and cultures conceptualise time? This question is part of a broader set of questions about how humans come to represent and reason about abstract entities –More →

Metalanguage for Speech Acts

People of all cultures have some degree of concern with categorizing types of communicative social action. All languages have words with meanings like speak, say, talk, complain, curse, promise, accuse,More →

Social Action Formulation – A ’10-Minutes’ Task

Human actions in the social world – like greeting, requesting, complaining, accusing, asking, confirming, etc. – are recognised through the interpretation of signs. Language is where much of the actionMore →