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The Hailey Herald

The Hailey Herald

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Your Turn to Join Us

I've written a couple of blog posts before about the r-word (here and here).  We've dealt with it at school and on the school bus.  My boys have asked people to not say it out of respect for people with learning disabilities like their sister.  I know that some people think we are being overly sensitive about the subject.  I find it no different than terms that were used in the past as derogatory about other groups of people.  The n-word..."that's so gay"....I could add more but I think you get the point.  Maybe they were overly sensitive, but they asked for people to stop using them and for the most part, people listened.  Now why is it different when it is about people with learning disabilities?

Meriah writes about it here:  With a Little Moxie

New York Times article from Sunday

Please think about it.  If you are one of the people that still use this word, please take a stand tomorrow.  Stop using the word and encourage others to do the same.  You know the saying, "Sticks and stones my break my bones, but words can never hurt me."  We all know better.  Words do hurt!

Don't do it for it for this little girl!
Help us make the future more accepting and welcoming for her!

Please take a minute to see others take on the r-word here as part of a blog hop.

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Tuesday, April 27, 2010

And the poop hits the fan..

Or I'm up poop creek without a paddle.. Or the poop is getting deep.
What am I talking about? Well let me tell ya. So I have been studying my butt off for a test finishing delegations attending lectures, taking test, keeping the house clean, showing the house, giving baths to lilly and playing with her and well needless to say I haven't had an minute of personal quite adult time! So its wearing on me. My mom is gone to ky and megan is just as busy with me so my babysitters are few and far between right now. So tonight I hit bottom and was having a bit of a pity party for myself. I was talking with megan while giving lilly a bath. I was on the phone and telling her that I feel horrible cause I have such a great kid but I just want to get away from her right now. That I just really need a minute to relax. I feel horrible and like I'm a bad mom for needing time away from my kido. She isn't being bad just a normal two year old but I'm sick of being poked and prodded and jumped on and well you get the picture. She was assuring me that she thought I was super woman and wasn't sure how I was doing it on my own and volunteered to take lilly for a couple hours so I could go do something on my own. Her being nice made it evem worse and I was practically in tears. I think if someone was mean or telling me that I needed to deal with it I would of taken it better and stod up for myself.. Lol anyway so I was in tears and decided to just try and enjoy lilly. So she got out of the bath naked as a jaybird and I was drying her hair playing a game of chase with her.. She runs away from the hairdryer and then runs back.well she ran away for abput 5 seconds instead of 2 and so I put the dryer down and went to look for her... She had taken the biggest poop I had ever seen come out of her in the middle of our living room floor! I thought I was going to lose my mind!!! Furious instantly! I just yelled at her "lillllllllyyyyy" and she ran into the bathroom and I went in the kitchen to get the cleaning supplies. When I came back around the corner I found her with the toilet paper strung from the bathroom down the hall saying "sorry mama I clean it! " I laughed so hard I almost peed my pants and added to the mess in the floor. I love my child and I'm going to make it thru this tough time with or without help from anyone! Haha. I'm a great mom and totally normal! So this poop filled post is for all you great normal moms out there that could use a break like me!

Jenn said...

I am laughing so hard I have tears in my eyes! I think the best part is the toilet paper coming from the bathroom, especially after seeing the picture you sent me!
PS don't worry, everything will settle soon. You are on the count down to being done with school and done with the house and well just done :) Get stocked up on flip flops, you are gonna need them!

The Mason Bunch said...

I feel you're pain and trust me, I've had to pick up a lot of "sorry mommy" poopy messes. You feel like pulling your hair out. Being a mom has got to be the hardest job, but rewarding. Yeah, moms need "time out" too. I wished someone would put me in a time out every now and then. HAHA! Even if it's just for a couple of hours. It's amazing what a couple of hours will do for your sanity. I know you're a good mom. You've just got a lot on you right now and you need a "time out."

thekeyes said...

Thanks guys! Today has went much better. Not so many "poopy messes". Thanks for the sweet support. It goes a long way right now.

Anonymous said...

And you thought getting rid of Buddha would be the end of poop in the living room. Im so proud of you and your ability to make it through such a difficult time on your own. Your the man!! Love, Booty Boy

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Human Environments Avalysis Laboratory

Dr Gilliland facilitates workshop for Simcoe-Muskoka District Health Unit

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

HEAL Director Jason Gilliland was in Barrie, Ontario on April 29, 2014 to facilitate an in-service workshop for the Simcoe-Muskoka District Health Unit (SMDHU). The workshop, entitled “Starting a Conversation:  GIS Mapping as a Tool in Community Food Assessments” involved SMDHU staff from a variety of departments, including the Medical Officer of Health, Assistant Medical Officer of Health. The workshop was prepared by both Dr Gilliland and Dr Richard Sadler, a post-doctoral fellow in HEAL with extensive applied experience in GIS, community food assessments, and local food policy.


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China’s Problematic Education System

Since the mid-1990s, China has gone through major reforms in its education system. New campuses were built on a large scale, and many colleges were upgraded and merged with universities. College enrollments expanded dramatically. In 2009, about 23 million students were enrolled in China’s colleges and universities, compared to merely 6.4 million in 1998.

However, the quality of the education has deteriorated. Many professors spent the bulk of their time making money – charging steep consulting fees to businesses or for private tutoring. Lian Fang, a professor at Zhejiang Art Institute, told me that he charged 100,000 yuan ($15,000) to design packages and advertisements for a company that sold cookies and fruit juice products. Professor Lian’s salary was about 7,000 yuan ($1,030) a month. His wife, a music teacher, also made a handsome income by giving private piano lessons. As Harvard mathematician Yau Shing-tung noted, despite the increased levels of funding and much-improved facilities in China’s higher education institutions, the standards of research and quality of education in China have continued to deteriorate. Continue reading


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Sunday, July 20, 2014

Panathinaikos in talks with Josh Akognon

Another guard for Panathinaikos?

Once again David Pick has the inside info and according to that Josh Akognon(1.80-PG) is in talks with Panathinaikos. Akognon has travelled the globe as player, playing in Eurobe for BC Kalev, played in China for Dongguan, Liaoning and Qingdao and in the middle of all that he chilled at the D-League. He also managed to play 3 games in the NBA for Dallas.

What sets Akognon apart from other players at his height is his freakish wingspan which reaches almost 2 meters. That allows Akognon to defend even the SG position with a certain degree of efficiency and also enhances his offense as his long arms allow him to reach past defenders who are not so well equipped. He also has a mean stroke from the 3 point line. He averaged 15.6 points 3.3 rebounds and 4.2 assists in 15 games in the D-League with Delaware.

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 On Wormholes
Back  •   Locations  •   Index
On Wormholes

Wormholes were initially discovered not by some deep-space telescope but as an odd solution to Einstein's theory of general relativity. It wasn't until the 2050s that Japanese scientist Hirasaki Masuyo isolated one as it bubbled up from the quantum foam on Phobos. It was infinitesimally small, and it didn't lead anywhere exotic: Its two mouths were a mere Planck length apart.

But Hirasaki developed techniques to grab each mouth and keep them from winking out of existence. He learned how to incorporate mass and energy into the wormhole, widening it. Separating the mouths allowed him to connect two points as if they were right next to each other.

Japan's then-monopoly on solar power stations, asteroid mining and antimatter manufacturing allowed it to finance the grandest project of all: sending a wormhole mouth to Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to Earth. The first men and women transited the wormhole a little more than a decade after Hirasaki's discovery.

To open up new stars, nations employed big breeder ships to detect and capture wormholes before they evaporated. Once secured, tiny robotic wormhole transports called "Valkyries" relied on direct antimatter annihilation to achieve relativistic speeds. The antimatter fuel – far more than conventional ships used to spark their fusion drives – made them terribly expensive, but they could reach a star five light-years away in just under six years for the people waiting back home.

Once the distant Valkyrie entered orbit around the destination star, engineers at the origin would widen both mouths to the standard Jumpmax diameter of 40 meters and change; any larger required prohibitive amounts of energy. They would construct a solar array at both mouths, to provide the energy to maintain the opening, and a new star system was free for exploration.

It wasn't easy or cheap: Typically, about a quarter of Valkyries didn't survive the trip, lost to high-speed collisions with interstellar dust. And no nation had managed to build a Valkyrie that didn't break down after nine or ten light-years' travel, so reaching distant stars required accessing a series of lily pads, usually dim red dwarf systems without hope of habitable worlds.

Hirasaki and his successors also learned that wormholes were funny, fragile things, and they came with rules. It was as if the universe only grudgingly allowed them, and took every opportunity to attempt to make them go away. To prevent wormholes from collapsing, nations were forced to keep their wormholes in space and distant from one another.

For example, they could collapse if you only used them in one direction. Mass must be conserved on both sides, so a 10,000-ton freighter going from Sol to Sirius would eventually need to be balanced by an equal mass going in the other direction. Outside each mouth of a wormhole was a robot tug that pushed ballast – usually rocks mined from a nearby asteroid – into the guidance rings, which formed a weak electromagnetic catapult to propel it through. Typically, a single ship won't destabilize a balanced wormhole; however, a fleet in a hurry might if it doesn't stop for the tugs to take load-balancing measures. Occasionally, newer wormholes would temporarily prohibit transit while waiting for a delivery of new ballast mass on the far side. This was one reason to keep wormholes out in space: On a planetary surface, differences in air pressure, gravity and other factors at each mouth will draw stray matter from one side to the other, and, over time, crash it.

Many of the remaining restrictions on wormhole travel extend from what most believe is a universal law: "Thou shalt not travel back in time!" But that isn't quite accurate. The real law is more particular: "Thou shalt not be able to travel back in time to interfere with your own past."

Thanks to the time dilation effects of traveling at high velocities, a robot Valkyrie could conceivably reach a five-light-year-distant destination star in just three years in its own time frame, potentially opening up a new colony two years early! The wormhole-crossing colonists would leave their origin in 2105, but arrive in 2103. Wormhole theory said this should be fine, as long as they were unable to pass stock tips from the future to everyone else in 2103. Going back through the original wormhole would put them in 2105 again, so they would need a loop of other early-arriving wormholes to attempt to pass people or information to influence their own past.

However, the moment anyone tried to build such a loop, some or all of the wormholes collapsed, just as wormhole theory predicted. But what didn't mesh with the theory was the fact that every Valkyrie that had tried to take advantage of time dilation had lost its wormhole anyway, even when no offending loop was created! After the loss of several early Valkyries, everyone took care to set up a wormhole link using a synchrotron that kept the stay-at-home wormhole mouth at the same speed as its counterpart on the Valkyrie. They stayed in synch, neither ahead nor behind each other in time. But physicists struggled to explain why any and all out-of-synch wormholes still collapsed. Their chief theory involved infinitesimally small, primordial wormholes arrayed around the galaxy, which interfered with the manufactured wormholes. But no one had found any.

The mystery deepened in the 2120s when a malfunctioning Japanese Valkyrie deposited its wormhole at the red dwarf AT Microscopii B three months before its counterpart at the origin had fully decelerated. The wormhole pair should have crashed, and it ultimately did, but only a month later, after the Japanese breeder ship entered the system and tried launching another wormhole toward a nearby star with an existing European wormhole. It was several years until AT Microscopii B was reopened, this time with in-synch wormholes. The breeder ship was quickly located, as were the bodies of the crew. They had starved to death.

Mouths from different wormhole pairs were also territorial: They could destabilize if they passed within several million kilometers of each other, as even small differences in the velocities of close wormholes could create an out-of-synch loop and thus a time machine. This effect prevented you from sending a wormhole through a wormhole or mounting a wormhole on a regular ship. Earth's stellar nations kept their wormholes distant from one another, often at Lagrange and Trojan points where they could anchor mass for ballast.

All text on this site is Copyright (c) 2009-2013 by John J. Lumpkin. All images on this site are Copyright (c) 2009-2013 by John J. Lumpkin and/or Winchell Chung. All rights reserved. No part of this site may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, reposting, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without express written permission of the author.


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The Pop History of America’s National Anthem

Nate and Charlie of Switched on Pop takes us through the song's musical, lyrical, and cultural history

Switched on Pop has become one of my favorite podcasts recently because of how deeply they explore small individual aspects of pop music, be it the musical and lyrical parallels between current hits, the evolution of a single artist (check out their masterful “The Oeuvre of Taylor Swift” episode), or the history of some lesser appreciated elements (e.g. sax).

In this episode Nate Sloan and Charlie Harding explore the origins of The Star Spangled Banner, where it came from (a British drinking song!) and how it’s evolved through avant-garde performances of it throughout the years.


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I hope to meet Iran in final: US wrestler Jordan Burroughs

Tasnim– USA Wrestler Jordan Burroughs hoped that they would face host Iran in the 2017 Freestyle World Cup championship match.

USA has been drawn in Pool A with Russia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.

Pool B consists of Iran, Turkey, India and Mongolia.

“We are ready for the group action. I hope that USA will advance to final and meet Iran in the championship match,” Burroughs said.

The participating teams will wrestle all three rounds of group action on Thursday to determine pool placements.

On Friday, the teams will cross over to face their counterpart from the opposite pool in a placement match.

The championship match will also be held on Friday.

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Thursday, June 12, 2008

My Crush Has Been... Crushed

So I kind of had the hots (nuh-huh! it is 1984 and I can say "the hots") for the deck manager at Pete's swimming lesson. He's cute in a snuggly, soccer-player-build kind of way, and he's got dark, wavy hair and dark eyes and I'm married, not blind so why can't I have a little crush. I guarantee I'm not the only soccer-mom-type person who goes there with their kid and looks forward to the announcements. But last night he ruined it with a big, minute-long, old-lady-esque SHUSH. "SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH," he said. Ew?!

1 comment:

Dana said...

I rarely see guys that turn my head for some reason. Either I'm really picky or there's a huge shortage of hot men out there. But for the last couple of weeks, I keep seeing men that make me swoon. Hell-o random hottie walking by at the zoo. Hell-o cashier-guy in the grocery store. Hell-o Aaron Eckhart on No Reservations!

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Why Athletes Should Get Jacked

  1. Muscle mass is correlated to both strength and sprinting performance
  2. Strength is limited by muscle size
  3. Training for muscle size can enhance gains in power (phase potentiation)

Disclaimer: This article is for power (explosive) athletes – not endurance athletes.  With these power-athletes, they should only train muscles to get jacked if they later need them to be strong and explosive (e.g. glutes in sprinting, and quadriceps in jumping).

The Misconception of Bodybuilding

Jacked. adjective: (of a person) having very well-developed muscles.

People hate bodybuilding.  They hate it because they know nothing about it.

Train for a couple years, put on 20 pounds of muscle, and everyone loses their minds.

You eat too much protein, you’re trashing your muscles, you’re hurting your kidneys and liver.

Let’s say you take those same couple of years, let yourself go, and gain 20 pounds of fat.  No one would bat an eye!

You could go run half marathons and everyone would be at peace.

But decide to get jacked and everyone gets offended.

This is how the general public is towards gaining muscle – confused.  And because they’re confused, they’re scared.

I have the same experience with athletes who seek gains in explosiveness (e.g. jumping, sprinting, throwing, hitting, and changing direction). They don’t understand size, so they fear it.

When training these athletes, a primary goal is to increase power output. If I can get them displaying more force in a shorter time (more power) – all things being equal – they will be a better athlete.

We work the strength side of power by training heavy – they understand the need for this.

We work the speed side of power by training fast – they understand the need for this as well.

But if we work to increase muscle size, everyone freaks out!

I don’t want to get too big, more size will slow me down, training to get big is useless.

So what’s the deal?  Are athletes actually right to avoid size gains?  Or can it actually benefit them?

First of all, there is some correlation evidence that size helps both strength and power:

Strength: More muscular Powerlifters are more successful than less muscular counterparts [2, 14, 32].

Takeaway: Power = Strength x Speed.  More muscle may help with the Strength component of Power.

Power: Shorter distance sprinters generally have significantly more muscle mass than longer distance runners [30].  Leg muscle volume is significantly correlated with maximal running velocity [4].  The main factor for differences in gender in peak and mean power output during a Wingate cycling test (which is correlated with short-distance sprinting [18, 21]) is the muscle mass of the lower extremities [22].

Takeaway: Muscle mass correlates to the high power activity of sprinting, perhaps because sprinting requires high amounts of force [31].  And since sprinting is related to change of direction ability [3, 6, 23, 28], muscle may also help to increase performance in that regard.

So again, what’s the deal?  Why does more muscle mass correlate to strength and power?

Why Size Benefits Strength

There are factors of strength:
Individual differences
Central nervous system factors and
Muscular factors [1, 8, 12, 20, 34]

The muscular factor of focus here is hypertrophy.  Hypertrophy is defined as an increase in the size of muscle fibers.  On the whole, this causes an increase in cross-sectional area (CSA) of the muscle.  Generate a lot of hypertrophy (increase CSA) and this gives the look of being jacked.

Muscle strength and cross-sectional area are significantly positively correlated [17].  CSA strongly predicts strength in the forearm [29], upper arm [9, 24], knee extensors [16, 24, 29], and distinguishes strength differences among trained and untrained individuals [15].

So here’s the deal: Size limits strength. There are many ways to get stronger, but to see long-term gains, you simply must grow. Getting your muscles bigger serves to increase you potential for strength. And in the quest for maximal power – jumping high, sprinting fast, and being explosive – strength is imperative to develop.

Get Jacked First

People much smarter than me have established a system that optimizes power development.

Gregory Haff et al. recommends the concept of phase potentiation.  This is where the adaptations from one phase of training serve as the foundation for the next phase.  They are:

1) Increase muscle cross-sectional area 2) Increase muscular strength and 3) Maximize power development [10].

Evidence to support this come from DeWeese et al. who reviewed the literature and mathematical modeling of Minetti et al. [19] and Zamparo et al. [33].  They propose the same type of training plan:

1) Increase cross-sectional area (CSA) – or hypertrophy 2) Increase in central effects of force production and 3) Develop additional nervous system effects through power training [7].

Both of these recommendations tell us this:  First, get jacked.  Then get strong.  Then get powerful.

With the concept of phase potentiation, we can say this: Size is potential Strength and Strength is potential Power.

Increase size and you have more raw material (muscle) to turn into strength.

Increase strength and you are able to use heavier loads with power training (which is typically done at 30-60% load [5, 11].

Phase potentiation – This is why I train athletes to increase muscle mass.  So that they can be more powerful than ever possible had they not added size.

How to Get Jacked

Muscle hypertrophy results from the interplay between mechanical tension and metabolic stress [25].  Lifting extremely heavy (1-5 rep max) causes high mechanical tension, but low metabolic stress.  Lifting very light (20+ rep max) causes high metabolic stress but little mechanical tension.  Although you can get jacked using only heavy weight [27], you’ll get more high quality work done in less time training in the 6-12 rep range (where mechanical tension and metabolic stress are balanced).  Also, the high volume required to induce significant hypertrophy [13] will be too taxing to get from only heavy work.  To get the most gains, you must keep quality of effort high, which may mean longer rest periods [26].

My general recommendation is this: Give yourself enough time.  It can take months to get significant size gains.  Therefore, get jacked in the early off-season (gaining 1-2 lbs. per week) so it can be transferred to strength and power later.  And if you want to train muscle size more often, do it when it won’t interfere with more demanding strength or power work (at the end of the week or workout).

Size is not the enemy for power-athletes.  Done properly and in a timely fashion, getting jacked can take your strength and explosiveness to new levels.  Not to mention it makes you look like a beast.

Caveat: This article addressed size in relation to power.  Size in relation to endurance deserves its own article.  There are detriments to adding size without maintaining your conditioning.  Play and practice your sport throughout a mass phase and you will negate many of the negative effects.

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[showhide type=”links” more_text=”REFERENCES” less_text=”REFERENCES”]

[1] Bompa, T. & Haff, G. G. (2009). Periodization: Theory and Methodology of Training (3rd Ed.). Human Kinetics.

[2] Brechue, W. F. & Abe, T. (2002). The role of FFM accumulation and skeletal muscle architecture in powerlifting performance. European Journal of Applied Science, 86(4), 327-36.

[3] Brooks, K. A., Clark, S. L., & Dawes, J. J. (2013). Isokinetic Strength and Performance in Collegiate Women’s Soccer. Journal of Novel Physiotherapies, Suppl 3, 001–. http://doi.org/10.4172/2165-7025.S3-001.

[4] Chelly, S. M. & Denis, C. (2001) Leg power and hopping stiffness: relationship with sprint running performance. Medicine and Science in Sports and Science, 33(2), 326-33.

[5] Cormie, P., McCaulley, G. O., Triplett, N. T., & McBrdige, J. M. (2007). Optimal loading for maximal power output during lower-body resistance exercises. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 39(2), 340-9.

[6] Delaney, J. A., Scott, T. J., Ballard, D. A., Duthie, G. M., Hickmans, J. A., Lockie, R. G., & Dascombe, B. J. (2015). Contributing factors to change-of-direction ability in professional rugby league players. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 29(10), 2688-96.

[7] DeWeese, B. H., Hornsby, G., Stone, M., & Stone, M. H. (2015). The training process: Planning for strength-power training in track and field. Part 2: Practical and applied aspects. Journal of Sport and Health Science, 4(4), 318-24.

[8] Ema, R., Akagi, R., Wakahara, T., & Kawakami, Y. (2016). Training-induced changes in architecture of human skeletal muscles: Current evidence and unresolved issues. The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness, 5(1), 37-46.

[9] Erskine, R. M., Fletcher, G., & Folland, J. P. (2014). The contribution of muscle hypertrophy to strength changes following resistance training. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 114(6), 1239-49.

[10] Haff, G. G. & Nimphius, S. (2012). Training principles for power. Strength and Conditioning Journal, 34(6), 2-12.

[11] Jandacka, D. & Uchytil, J. (2011). Optimal load maximizes the mean mechanical power output during upper extremity exercise in highly trained soccer players. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 25(10), 2764-72.

[12] Jansson, E., Esbjörnsson, M., Holm, I., & Jacobs, I. (1990). Increase in the proportion of fast-twitch muscle fibres by sprint training in males. Acta Physiologica Scandinavica, 140(3), 359-63.

[13] Krieger, J. W. (2010). Single vs. multiple sets of resistance exercise for muscle hypertrophy: a meta-analysis. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 24(4), 1150-9.

[14] Lovera, M. & Keogh, J. (2015). Anthropometric profile of powerlifters: differences as a function of bodyweight class and competitive success. The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness, 55(5), 478-87.

[15] Maughan, R. J., Watson, J. S., & Weir, J. (1983). Muscle strength and cross-sectional area in man: a comparison of strength-trained and untrained subjects. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 18(3), 149-157.

[16] Maughan, R. J., Watson, J. S., & Weir, J. (1983). Relationship between the muscle strength and muscle cross-sectional area in male sprinters and endurance runners. European Journal of Applied Physiology and Occupational Physiology, 50(3), 309-18.

[17] Maughan, R. J., Watson, J. S., & Weir, J. (1983). Strength and cross-sectional area of human skeletal muscle. The Journal of Physiology, 338, 37-49.

[18] Meckel, Y., Atterbom, H., Grodjinovsky, A., Ben-Sira, D., & Rotstein, A. (1995). Physiological characteristics of female 100 metre sprinters of different performance levels. The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness, 35(3), 169-75.

[19] Minetti, A. E. (2002). On the mechanical power of joint extensions as affected by the change in muscle force (or cross-sectional area), ceteris paribus. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 86(4), 363-9.

[20] Moritani, T. & deVries, H. A. (1979). Neural factors versus hypertrophy in the time course of muscle strength gains. American Journal of Physical Medicine, 58(3), 115-30.

[21] Nesser, T. W., Latin, R. W., Berg, K., & Prentice, E. (1996) Physiological determinants of 40-meter sprint performance in young male athletes. The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 10(4), 263-7.

[22] Perez-Gomez, J., Rodriguez, G. V., Ignacio, A., Olmedillas, H., Chavarren, J., González-Henriquez, J. J., Dorado, C., & Calbet, J. A. (2008). Role of muscle mass on sprint performance: gender differences? European Journal of Applied Physiology, 102(6), 685-94.

[23] Peterson, M. D., Alvar, B. A., & Rhea, M. R. (2006). The contribution of maximal force production to explosive movement among young collegiate athletes. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 20(4), 867-73.

[24] Schnatz, P., Randall-Fox, E., Hutchison, W., Tydén, A., & Astrand, P. O. (1983). Muscle fibre type distribution, muscle cross-sectional area and maximal voluntary strength in humans. Acta Physiologica Scandinavica, 117(2), 219-26.

[25] Schoenfeld, B. J. (2010). The mechanisms of muscle hypertrophy and their application to resistance training. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 24(10), 2857-72.

[26] Schoenfeld, B. J., Pope, Z. K., Benik, F. M., Hester, G. M., Sellers, J., Nooner, J. L., Schnaiter, J. A., Bond-Williams, K. E., Carter, A. S., Ross, C. L., Just, B. L., Henselmans, M., & Krieger, J. W. (2015). Longer inter-set rest periods enhance muscle strength and hypertrophy in resistance-trained men. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 20.

[27] Schoenfeld, B. J., Ratamess, N. A., Peterson, M. D., Contreras, B. Sonmez, G. T., & Alvar, B. A. (2014). Effects of different volume-equated resistance training loading strategies on muscular adaptations in well-trained men. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 28(10), 2909-18.

[28] Spiteri, T., Newton, R. U., Binetti, M., Hart, N. H., Sheppard, J. M., & Nimphius, S. (2015). Mechanical determinants of faster change of direction and agility performance in female basketball athletes. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 29(8), 2205-14.

[29] Weeks, B. K., Gerrits, T. A., Horan, S. A., & Beck, B. R. (2016). Muscle size not density predicts variance in muscle strength and neuromuscular performance in healthy adult men and women. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 30(6), 1577-84.

[30] Weyand, P. G. & Davis J. A. (2005). Running performance has a structural basis. The Journal of Experimental Biology, 208(14), 2625-31.

[31] Weyand, P. G., Sternlight, D. B., Bellizzi, M. J., & Wright S. (2000). Faster top running speeds are achieved with greater ground forces not more rapid leg movements. The Journal of Applied Physiology, 89(5), 1991-9.

[32] Ye, X., Loenneke, J. P., Fahs, C. A., Rossow, L. M., Thiebaud, R. S., Kim, D., Bemben, M. G., & Abe, T. (2013). Relationship between lifting performance and skeletal muscle mass in elite powerlifters. The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness, 53(4), 409-14.

[33] Zamparo, P., Minetti, A. E., & di Prampero, P. E. (2002). Interplay among the changes of muscle strength, cross-sectional area and maximal explosive power: theory and facts. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 88(3), 193-202.

[34] Zatsiorsky, V. M. & Kraemer, W. J. (2006). Science and Practice of Strength Training (2nd Ed.). Human Kinetics.


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09 February 2007

Running down the Royals' '07 position PECOTAs

The venerable numbers crunchers and baseball fiends at Baseball Prospectus have run out their PECOTA numbers for the Royals for 2007. For people unfamiliar with PECOTA (it stands for Player Empirical Comparison and Optimization Test Algorithm), it is a BP-created statistical prediction system that uses a player's statistical similarity to other players over baseball's history as a way to weigh out the player's performance for the coming year and future years. Long story short, here's the Wikipedia page that explains PECOTA somewhat more in-depth. For Royals fans, there is some sentimentality attached to the system as, of course, utility player extraordinaire Bill Pecota was part of the Royals in the somewhat dog days of the late '80s and '90s and the system reflects his last name.

I figured I'd take the time here to run through the short version of the PECOTA predictions for significant Royals players and make a short comment on each. I'm using the weighted mean version of each player's predicted stats, as PECOTA gives a prediction for the 10th to 90th percentile for each player with the 10th being a kind of worst-case scenario and the 90th being a breakout-type best-case scenario season. The mean is the middle of the spectrum, the best guess average of the system. I'm confusing myself at this point, so on to the rundown:

John Buck, predicted line of .253 BA/.311 OBP/.419 SLG, 9 HR, 37 RBI in only 286 plate appearances. The system predicts a below-average offensive output for Buck over the next 5 seasons. I can't really see Buck doing much better than this. That's better than '06 by about an inch in his averages but down in other totals. Basically the Royals have mediocrity at the catcher position and will live with that for the time being, I guess.

Jason LaRue, predicted .233/.313/.367, 5 HR, 23 RBI in 217 PA. The numbers point to LaRue being brought in more for defense than offense. Hopefully that was the case, anyway. PECOTA predicts he's out of baseball by 2011. I figure he's an upgrade from Bako and hope that stays the case.

Predictions were also given for Mat Tupman and Paul Phillips but, needless to say, weren't pretty.

Ryan Shealy, predicted .271/.334/.475, 20 HR, 72 RBI in 486 PA. I can see Shealy exceeding these power numbers with a slugging percentage more in the .500 range. The only problem I see with PECOTA is that its five-year forecasts keep all the numbers pretty consistent, when in reality, don't they fluctuate a little more than just by 3 percentage points? Anyway, if Shealy can provide those numbers or better and play somewhat adequate defense at 1B, I'll take it.

Ross Gload, predicted .306/.353/.456, 6 HR, 33 RBI in 245 PA. Crap, if we can get that out of Ross Gload I don't think I'll have any problem that KC gave up on Andy Sisco to get him. Gload may be a productive bench/part-time guy this season. I hope these numbers hold true.

They also did a PECOTA for Mighty Mike Stodolka (as the Pipeline likes to call him) that projected an OBP over .300 but he isn't getting to the majors in '07. Good luck in Wichita (hopefully), tho. They also did one for Justin Huber at 1B but I think that position is in the past for Huber, so I'm listing him under corner OF.

Mark Grudzielanek, predicted .286/.329/.396, 4 HR, 39 RBI in 388 PA. Grudz is projected in decline, being that he's 37 and all. I can definitely see that happening. I'm so glad KC inked him to that extension late last season. Sarcasm, there.

Esteban German, predicted .287/.360/.387, 4 HR, 31 RBI in 391 PA. BP has him listed at third but I think if Grudz is in decline, German should get more of a shot at 2B. Lord knows, though, that my brain and Buddy Bell's aren't wired the same. I think German can do better than those numbers, more toward his 75th percentile projection of .306/.381/.418, but then again I'm biased in his favor. His '06 numbers exceed the 90th percentile prediction for him in PECOTA for '07. I'll go out on a limb here and predict German proves these numbers wrong in a good way.

For some reason, Donnie Murphy and Jeff Keppinger are still listed under the Royals on BP. Those guys should be filed under the A's and Reds, respectively.

Mark Teahen, predicted .283/.357/.475, 17 HR, 69 RBI in 528 PA. Wow, I really figured PECOTA would be more favorable to Teahen after '06 but, then again, I didn't know what to expect because I didn't expect to see Teahen doing what he did in '06 after getting sent to Omaha early in the season. The other question is, does he put these numbers up at third or in LF? This may be a make-or-break year for Teahen with KC. Going by PECOTA's comparables, he could be an up-and-coming Larry Walker or J.D. Drew or could be an Eric Hinske on the brink of mediocrity. I guess 2007 will help tell.

Alex Gordon, predicted .282/.364/.511, 26 HR, 89 RBI in 618 PA. Might as well move Teahen, because if these numbers hold true the Royals have their next 3B. Lock him in.

PECOTA also did a projection for 3B Mike Aviles, whose defense and consistency problems are holding him back. If Gordon pans out, Aviles is trade fodder. Actually, either way he probably is.

Angel Berroa, predicted .255/.290/.362, 7 HR, 38 RBI in 419 PA. I'm still hoping Berroa is gone by opening day, but if he's not I don't expect more than this. If Berroa was going to learn to take a walk and play good defense, he woulda done it by now. Please, Dayton, get rid of him now.

Alex S. Gonzalez, predicted .234/.289/.351, 2 HR, 11 RBI in 107 PA. Pure bench filler, one millimeter up on the defensive scale from Berroa. If he's a more productive member of the '07 Royals, I'll have some kind of seizure.

Andres Blanco, predicted .251/.297/.320, 3 HR, 33 RBI in 435 PA. Blanco is Mark Belanger defensively compared to Berroa and Gonzalez, so why not give him a shot, even if he does hit like Belanger, too? If he can improve on this a little and play solid D up the middle, so be it. Of course, Belanger didn't play in the days of guys at short like Jeter or Ripken, etc. Let him (Blanco, not Belanger) play.

BP also did a PECOTA for Angel Sanchez that had him with an OBP over .300 with all right D. I don't see the second Angel making it to KC this season, unless the first Angel is long gone and it's September.

corner OF
Emil Brown, predicted .281/.348/.441, 14 HR, 66 RBI in 526 PA. PECOTA predicts a decline for Emil with another subpar defensive season. Big surprise there. Brown or Reggie Sanders could also be somebody that is elsewhere by opening day, if that sentence makes any sense. I can see a decline in the cards for Brown, but he's not a huge problem with the team. This is a see-how-it-plays-out situation.

Reggie Sanders, predicted .259/.323/.466, 10 HR, 35 RBI in only 258 PA. A little bit of a rebound is projected for Reggie, but in limited playing time. It's the basic aging OF story. I'd like to see him plying his trade elsewhere but wouldn't be surprised if he's in KC in April. If he's putting up these numbers coming off the bench, that would be much better.

Shane Costa, predicted .288/.331/.449, 12 HR, 54 RBI in 435 PA. The system predicts a Mark Kotsay-like season for Costa, which I would definitely take. If he can deliver these numbers I say start him.

Billy Butler, predicted .295/.347/.455, 16 HR, 78 RBI in 585 PA. I don't think Butler's getting this many PAs for KC this season, more for his defense and the presence of Mike Sweeney than anything but time will tell on this, too. Those are nice numbers but he's only 21. We can wait another year, right Royals fans? The Pipeline would like to see Butler rake in Omaha and visit KC in September. If his numbers call for more sooner, more power to him.

Justin Huber, predicted .272/.349/.454, 16 HR, 66 RBI in 483 PA with subpar D at first. I figure he's gonna stay in the outfield as he played there the second half of last season. If they (meaning the KC powers that be) move him back to first, they're jerking him around more than they already have. I don't know why they're handling the situation this way, but they are. It would be interesting to see what Huber could do in the majors if given a decent shot. Maybe that happens in 2007. If he puts up these numbers, I'm OK with that.

BP also predicted a plus-.300 OBP and plus-.400 SLG for Chris Lubanski with bad defense but I don't expect to see him in KC this season.

David DeJesus, predicted .291/.358/.425, 10 HR, 59 RBI in 587 PA. I'd like to hope DeJesus can get on base better than that but he'll have to prove me right. He also gets the PECOTA comparison to a stable Mark Kotsay. I just hope he stays healthy so Buddy doesn't trot German out there in CF this season.

Joey Gathright, predicted .275/.340/.353, 3 HR, 27 RBI in 419 PA. Another subpar offensive and defensive projection for Joey. Let's hope his speed pays dividends. If all else fails, can't we go the Charlie O. route and use him as a full-time designated runner a la Ron Washington?

PECOTA projects a .701 OPS for Mitch Maier with decent defense in 582 PA so he's a fringe guy this season. He could stick all season in Omaha or see some time in the show. I wouldn't mind seeing him get his shot.

Mike Sweeney, predicted .273/.341/.462, 14 HR, 56 RBI in 374 PA. So continues the projected Sweeney decline. Forget Meche, KC is paying $11 million for this? It'll be interesting to see if he gets to 374 plate appearances. His most comparable player is the '03 Juan Gonzalez. Yikes. He ain't what he used to be and Royals fans better get used to that idea.

NOTE: I'll try to get to the pitching PECOTAs over the weekend but may not get to them until next week. The Royals legacy countdown will also continue soon.

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Deacon Frost Anime

Deacon Frost was a vampire and a particular enemy of Blade.

Although the only turned member of the vampire council- all other members had been born vampires, but Frost was apparently originally human-, Frost nevertheless felt that the Council were too soft on humans, and sought to establish his species as the dominant one. To this end, he arranged for Black Cat to steal various artefacts that he could use to complete a ritual to turn himself into the personification of the Blood God, La Marga, in order to re-establish the vampires as the dominant species.

Frost's plan went wrong when the Justice League and the X-Men became involved in the theft, alerting them to the vampires' activities and the ritual that had been performed. With the ritual only requiring the sacrifice of Black Cat for Frost's transformation to be permanent, the League, the X-Men and Blade retreated to a nearby church- Superman reasoning that the legend of vampires being unable to cross holy ground may have originated with the kind of vampire that Frost had become- where Blade and Superman were able to keep Frost occupied long enough for the sun to rise, prompting La Marga to withdraw his power and leave Frost to burn.

Powers & AbilitiesEdit

Frost possessed the standard strength, speed, longevity and healing abilities of a vampire, although his age meant that he was stronger than the average vampire.

When he became the personification of La Marga, Frost's strength and ability to heal were greatly augmented, and he was also capable of projecting himself across long distances, turning himself into a semi-solid state where his body was made of blood. However, he was unable to enter holy ground in this form.

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Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Turkey trist.

Slowly but surely, the usual gang of critters is returning! My female turkey friend showed up this weekend, and she wasn't alone.
Enter stage left.... young, handsome man!
Enter stage lovely lady friend.
They greeted each other and snuck off into the woods. I couldn't see much, but the effort he was putting into puffing up and strutting around suggests she was playing a little hard to get! LOL I finally lost sight of them as they wandered deeper into the woods to get away from the peeping tom with the camera! (pun intended!)
Later the next day my girl was back without her suitor, paying a little visit to Dracoon....noble guardian of my walkway! She'll probably hang around for a few weeks like she usually does, then move on to wherever her usual late spring hangout is!
I think my groundhogs are the only regulars that haven't made their annual appearance yet, however I have noticed some recent excavating activity around the entrance to his hole in the mound by the driveway.

1 comment:

  1. I've only been able to capture one good photo of turkeys...they are such crafty creatures! You got great shots!...:)JP


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Saturday, August 30, 2014

Melrose Whole Foods loves NEW ARC!!

At long last! A GREAT BIG shout out and THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!! to Melrose Whole Foods!!  This newsletter from Emma Crowley at Whole Foods says it all....

Melrose visits NEW ARC!
(And hangs out with rescued raccoons!)

 In an effort to be as resourceful and ethical with our waste as possible, team members in Melrose have begun donating out-of-code product to some of the least picky eaters we know: wildlife!

Lisa, our amazing Healthy Eating Specialist and full-time animal lover, suggested we partner with NEW ARC (North East Wildlife Animal Rescue Coalition) as she had worked with member Deanna in the past. One of the main goals of this organization is to provide humane and compassionate rehabilitation to injured and orphaned wildlife with the goal of returning them back to their natural habitat.

NEW ARC is completely non-profit and all expenses are out of pocket or from donations from the community.

In many cases, once a lossed food item is no longer suitable for the Food Bank it is still perfectly good to be enjoyed by animals like squirrels, raccoons, chipmunks and the like. We were able to gather cereal from grocery, nuts from bulk, and fruits/veggies from produce among other fare to provide these animals with a special meal (free from artificial colors, flavors, and hydrogenated oils! :P)

The shelters were completely equipped with hammocks, play areas, and room to explore the venue and enjoy being a raccoon! In total, Deanna estimated that at the time we visited she was fostering approximately 60 raccoons in her backyard.  That’s a lot of wild animals to feed!

It was an absolutely beautiful day and we even had a surprise visit from a local turkey! Deanna was extremely knowledgeable with a heart of gold and we were happy to help in way we could. We look forward to continuing our partnership with NEW ARC and can’t wait until we get to visit those adorable raccoons again!

If you’d like more information on NEW ARC feel free to check out their website here:
(do it!!! J)

Thank you to Lisa for being the leading voice in this effort, and to Carrie Muench and Cole Leighton for doing the appropriate research. Thank you to Karen Franczk for answering all of our questions and to Anthony (our photographer), Holly, and Erica for being a part of this journey. And of course a HUGE appreciation goes out to all the teams that donated goods and Store Leadership. THANK YOU!!

Emma Crowley
Demo Coordinator/Local Forager
Whole Foods Market
880 Main Street
Melrose, MA

Needless to say, we have SO MANY to thank for SO MUCH from our wonderful Melrose family at Whole Foods!! They have been such an incredible help, and instrumental in providing so much of the foods necessary to raise many of the orphaned species of wildlife we care for.  It's a win win for everyone! Food that would end up in the garbage now has a new purpose instead of being wasted, and we are able to provide our rehabs with a variety of nutritious and appropriate foods they need to grow and develop, without the added stress on our wallets. For, as you may not know, our hearts are always full, but our wallets are always empty!
So to our Whole Foods family in Melrose ...Thank you form the bottom of our furry little hearts....we can never thank you enough for all you are doing to help us!!!

It's always a special delivery when Whole Foods visits! :)

Who better to thank you than the very animals you are helping! As you can see, there is no lack of enthusiasm from the gang when it comes to devouring the latest bounty!

Many thanks to Lisa for kick starting this program!! Without you this would not be happening..... and Lisa and Elaine for donating even more....taking their own free time to load up and lug all this great stuff out to us every week!! Again, words cannot express my gratitude... and I love our visits when you come by!

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Monday, 3 August 2015

BOYL Saturday Game 3 - Vulture warriors

While I was spectating over at Axiom's Anarchy in the Underhive game, Dral came to find me and asked if he could play the Vulture Warriors game. He had painted up all the Paranoia figures and Erny had donated the Orks. Warlord Paul took over the Orks and Thantsants took on the Red Level Trouble shooters.

We played it traditionally. Both parties started off in their separate sections of the base only moving to the central table when they moved into the central room. Dral had deliberately not re read the scenario an Thantsants also had no idea what was going on, I reckon Warlord Paul had a bit more knowledge but played the game as if it was all knew to him.

The trouble-shooters were keen to explore the base and moved into the middle section first. They started pressing buttons to see what would happen and notice the other door. They started to wonder what was behind it.

A load of anger Orks were behind it!
What ensued was high-velocity mayhem as every figure in the board attempted to fire very weapon it owned it everything that moved.

Some of the trouble shooters were caught out in the open and one of the Blue troopers jabbed at the controls, sending the trouble shooters down the bay doors......

Only for them to be mown down by the unit of works waiting on the lift

From this point on the Troubleshooters were wildly outnumbered and with the Bots missing or not having a controller the Ork soon had the base all to themselves again.

It was great to see this game actually been played. It worked perfectly. The guys had a great time and the scenario didn't show its age at all. Fantastic.

  1. I missed this entirely! Looks great - care to rerun it some time?

  2. SO wanted to play this game!

    Maybe one day. (sigh)

  3. Anytime mate. I know Cheetor wanted to play it as well, it's on his bucket list. Next year? I'll GM it for you both.

  4. I was sorry I missed this as well; I've been a big Paranoia nut since my youth (although I'm not *that* James Holloway).

  5. Yeah, I'm definitely up for playing this one next year if you can accommodate. Care to make it man-date-ory Axiom?

    I don't have troubleshooter models, but I spent much of the long trip home working out how to segue some other projects into suitable proxies.

  6. Absolutely loved this game - brilliantly GM'ed and the scenery worked a treat. I genuinely didn't know what was round each corner and that really added to the enjoyment.

    Cheers for a fantastic game and for getting me hooked on Paranoia. I have a few troubleshooters and a hankering for more now!

  7. Wouldn't be quite the same with out the full set of trouble shooters but here is another one to play out back home. Sad to miss it in that I was doing other cool stuff way.

  8. I'd read the scenario once or twice over the years but had never given it the time of day as a 'youth' (no longer able to describe myself as old without hearing Golgfag's maniacal laughter in the background) because of it's extreme levels of comic/mash-up weirdness. Of course, having now played it alongside some excellent fellows I can confirm it is an extremely enjoyable, clever and well-conceived little scenario that everybody should get under their belt. If you lack the scenery-building drive of Whiskey Priest and can't wait until the next BOYL, you might want to try printing off a few suitable floorplans, mounting them on card and turning them into the platforms with some plastic cups. Then it's just a matter of dragging some suitable minis out of the collection. Thanks to all who took part, definitely the 'funnest' game of the whole weekend for me.


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Sunday, June 19, 2011

Art inspiration: Cloud eaters

i wish i could have teleported to iowa on friday for the opening of the newest show at the bakery gallery. the adorable gallery is run by two dear friends, anna and joseph, who are both talented artists and wonderful people who also happen to have a combination of exquisite taste in art and the savvy business skills to run a gallery space. the current show features work by artist Adam Little, some of which is pictured above (and which eli is bugging me to get more info about - specifically: how do we buy it?).

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Monday, October 17, 2011

Pumpkin Painting, Sippy Cups, and The Exersaucer

Ryder has been overly excited about pumpkins being out. I knew we weren't going to be getting our official pumpkins anytime soon so I let him get one at the grocery store a couple weeks ago. Last week he was bored out of his mind so I let him paint his pumpkin. We now have a half black pumpkin from all the mixed paints!

Our pediatrician recommended some water for Landon. I never gave any to Ryder, but figured i'd put some in a sippy cup and let Landon start figuring out how these things work. I don't think any water actually went in his mouth, but he had fun playing with the cup.

And... some more just because he's cute. Landon spends lots of time in his exersaucer just like his big brother use to.

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Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Butternut squash risotto

Several weeks ago, I was exploring Martha's recipe selections for butternut squash, and I came across butternut squash risotto.  It looked delicious, but since I've never tackled risotto before and cooking risotto takes a lot of time, I put the recipe aside.  It stayed with me though, and finally I just had to make it.

And I'm so, so, so glad I did.  This dish is now among my top comfort foods, and it's a must for the chilly fall season.

Start with a bunch of butternut squash cut into pieces larger than dice.

The recipe calls for a whole butternut squash. I thought that seemed like a bit much, so I only used half.  This was wrong of me--in retrospect, I wish I had added the entire squash.  Oh well. Live and learn, am I right?

Risotto does take a substantial amount of time to make.  Add some liquid, stir the risotto until all the liquid is absorbed, add more liquid, stir the get the idea.  In all, you can expect to stir this dish for 40-60 minutes before it is ready.

My stirring time was constantly interrupted with the needs of my children, so I stepped away several times to wipe a nose or find a special toy.  This had me worried about the quality of the final product, but the risotto turned out fine.

It was my first time making risotto, and I am hooked. The time commitment is large, but it is worth it.  I can see this dish impressing dinner guests or just being a nice, comforting family meal for a chilly fall evening.

Give this one a try soon, and let me know how it goes. Enjoy!

teryn j. said...

That looks and sounds amazing.

Sarah Eliza @ devastateboredom said...

Ooooh I will TOTALLY try this. Thanks for the recipe!


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Friday, October 16, 2009

Last weekend was the Emerald City Writer’s Conference sponsored by the Greater Seattle RWA chapter. Every year the GSRWA sponsors a contest they call The Emerald City Opener. This is the first seven pages of your manuscript that are judged with the top three finalists in each category announced at the ECWC. This was the third year that I entered and like the previous two I did not final.

What I appreciate about this contest (aside that it raises money for my home chapter) is the feedback that the judges are encouraged to give. They don’t just score but they try and offer positive feedback.

The thing about most contests is how very subjective they can be. I know this from personal experience. Two years ago I judged the first round of entries for the Golden Heart, which is the big contest for unpublished writers in the RWA. I chose the historical category. The RWA has since made Regency historical their own category but when I judged they were included in the overall historical category. I’m not a biggie on Regency romances. I won’t go so far as to say that I hate them but, unless I either know the author or it’s an interesting twist on the era, I don’t go out of my way to read them. Sure enough three of the five entries I got to judge were Regency. I will admit it was really hard to separate that dislike I have from judging the authors work on it’s own merits fairly.

There are people who will enter their work in any and every contest they can get their hands on. For most contests, the final entries are usually put in front of editors and/or agents who agree to pick the finalists and, possibly request work from the author. I think that sometimes too much is made of the contests. I don’t want to take away from anyone’s well deserved win, but the fact is that the very subjective nature of contests isn’t always healthy for a writer’s self esteem.

At the conference last week I attended a session given by Debra Mullins. One of the tips she gave was something I want to print into poster size and suspend from my ceiling – it was what she called “the rule of three.” Dismiss any feedback that you don’t agree with if it’s feedback that’s only given by one person. If two people make a similar comment about something you might want to take a look at what they are talking about. If three people make the same comment work on clarifying that part of the story. She also mentioned that interpreting judges feed back involves a lot of reading between the lines. Oh and though she didn’t specifically mention it, I’d like to follow the rule of three for both positive as well as not-so-positive feedback. For example, all three judges that judged my entry, a romantic suspense I entered in the series category titled “Three Times a Bridesmaid” liked my heroine.

Contests can be a great way to get work read by non-biased people but care should be taken that you worry so much about submitting to contests that you don’t do what you should be doing: submitting the work to editors and agents who can get your work published.

Katie said...

Thank you for posting this information. It's something I needed to hear, given the feedback I received from the same contest.

Andrea said...

I like the Rule of Three; that's a great way to approach criticism. I've never entered or judged a contest, but maybe I will next year just to get some true third-party feedback.

Sheila said...

Feedback is a fine and wonderful thing, especially when it's someone besides your mom, your husband, or your best friend. (Note that I generally only solicit feedback from the latter two of these three -- I'm not sure I want my mom knowing I've written sex scenes!)

However, it is important to keep in mind that a third-party reviewer *can* still be biased (e.g., your example about Regency romances). Or they might just have read through your piece too quickly, or have been having a bad week, or any of a bazillion other reasons they don't give your work a fair shake.

So yes, the Rule Of Three is a good one to keep in mind. If everyone who reads your work finds the same issues, then it's something you need to address. And if they all like something, it's probably something you want to keep.

On the other hand, I know that I, for one, can really use some skin-thickening therapy. Perhaps I should look into submitting something for this contest next year?


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Monday, 13 September 2010

New Ulster-Scots courses

Dr Carol Baraniuk is the tutor for two new courses at Stranmillis College.

The first is on The Ulster-Scots in History and it starts on Tuesday 12 October at 7.00 pm.  The course runs for 8 weeks and the fee is £50 with a concessionary rate of £40.

The second course startes on Wednesday 13 October and is on Ulster's Weaver Bards: Northern Rhymers.

Dr Baraniuk, who is a member of the committee of the Ulster-Scots Language Society, gained her doctorate on the work of James Orr (1770-1816), the Bard of Ballycarry.

More details are available on the Stranmillis College website

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Yummy Giveaway: Win Cupcakes from Mommatudes/Oh So Sweet Treats!

1:10 PM Posted by Honey and Lime

There is quite the yummy giveaway going on over at Mommatudes...

Win a half-dozen cupcakes just in time for Valentine's Day from Oh So Sweet Treats! Contest ends 2/10, go HERE to enter!

Love this deal? Subscribe or follow on Twitter!

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Monday, January 23, 2012

TV Series News: 1980's Beauty and the Beast Remake!

Vincent: This is where the wealthy and the powerful rule. It is her world, a world apart from mine. Her name is Catherine. From the moment I saw her, she captured my heart with her beauty, her warmth, and her courage. I knew then, as I know now, she would change my life forever.

Catherine: He comes from a secret place, far below the city streets, hiding his face from strangers, safe from hate and harm. He brought me there to save my life; and now wherever I go, he is with me in spirit. For we have a bond stronger than friendship or love...and although we cannot be together, we will never, ever be apart.

The News: Sound familiar? That's right, the cult classic, live action Beauty and the Beast tv series that ran on CBS from 1987 to 1990 is getting a remake! For those of you who may or may not remember the show, it starred Linda Hamilton (Terminator) who played Catherine, a district attorney in NYC, who is beaten and left for dead in Central Park. Luckily, she is rescued by Ron Perlman's character, Vincent, a mysterious, yet gentle Beast man who nurses her back to health down in a secret society living beneath the city's sewers and tunnels. This show was one of my favorites! Hands down, the theme song of Beauty and the Beast is still the most achingly beautiful ever created for a series. The show really had it all: romance, drama, some action, and might I add some really great makeup artists for that time period. The reason it was cancelled after only 3 seasons is because the main star, Linda Hamilton, decided to leave the show after season 2 ended, due to her being pregnant. The network decided they wanted to steer the show in a darker more action packed direction so that they could get more male viewers, but Linda Hamilton's exit and her character being killed off only angered die hard fans. The show was finally cancelled after a severe decline in ratings.

It was announced back in September 2011 that the CW would be teaming with Jennifer Levin (Felicity, Without a Trace) and Sherri Cooper (Everwood, Brothers & Sisters) to write the script. Last week it was confirmed that the CW put an order in for a pilot episode. The new show will be simply called Beast. No actors/actresses have been confirmed for the parts yet.

My Thoughts: A part of me is very excited about this remake. So far I've been hearing that the CW plans to follow the original 80's show as far as plot-- if not, why would they call it a remake, right? Then again, I am nervous because how many movies and tv series remakes have we seen that are almost completely unrecognizable when compared to their original? I can't wait to see who they get to play the parts, especially Vincent's character. What will the Beast look like this time around? What do you think?

  1. I loved the original series. My mother and I watched it together. KK is a great actress, my fingers are crossed. Let's see how she does on the pilot!

  2. I absolutely loved the original.. To this day, I'm still peeved at the way the original show ended. If they do go ahead with a re-make I'll have a wait and see approach. Killing off Catherine was the worst ending of any TV series I've followed over the years.

  3. i loved the original program. Ron Perlman & Linda Hamilton are going to be a hard act to follow. especially ron perlman- HE is the Beast.

  4. I really cannot see how anyone could be more magical than Ron Perlman and Linda Hamilton. They were just amazing .... every episode made me cry ....


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Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Four Pieces for Violin and Guitar is Published!

I was wondering what I was going to write about today and coming up empty when I checked my email to discover that my Four Pieces for Violin and Guitar are now available from my publisher The Avondale Press, based in Vancouver. The publisher, well-known Canadian flautist Kathryn Cernauskas, was a delight to work with and I'm very happy to see these pieces now available. You can also download a recording of the pieces that I made in September with violinist Claudia Shiuh. Here is the link to the publisher's website where you can place your order (hint, hint!):

Here is a little video I did with photos from the recording session of the last piece, "Surreal Reel" based on an old Irish reel, which I dedicated to my mother, an old-time fiddler:

The four pieces are Strange Romance, Cloudscape, Xitango and Surreal Reel. I hope you enjoy them. You can also download the recording along with the score.

UPDATE: Here is the second of the Four Pieces, Cloudscape:

Rickard Dahl said...

Great news! Congratulations! Nice to listen to the pieces (at least the ones you posted here) again.

Anyways, I have a possible topic suggestion (I will comment on the previous post once I have some time): I was thinking about how it seems that in a certain period of time and at a specific location a cluster of geniuses can form, for instance Athens between 440 and 380 BC, Florence between 1440 and 1490 or Vienna (especially during the classical period). I found this article when I searched: http://www.wired.com/magazine/2012/02/st_essay_genius/. A few interesting things:

1. "This might seem like an impossibly ambitious agenda. It’s not. Bill James, the pioneer of Moneyball-style statistical baseball analysis, points out that modern America is already very good at generating geniuses. The problem is that the geniuses we’ve created are athletes." We basically value athletes & sports more than science, (classical) music, painting (although this one is valued quite much by certain rich people, you can own a painting after all, something that can't be said about music for instance) and so on.

2. As one commentator notes: "It is going to be an uphill battle to encourage geniuses when the current culture regards the word "intellectual" as an insult and scientists to be money grubbing liars who would say anything for a buck. " and "Why would you want to be an engineer/scientist when the athletes/actors/singers get all the attention.", which confirms point one. And besides, if it weren't for intellectuals, we would still be living in the dark ages. I have nothing against athletes and actors at least. Singers on the other hand, well, they don't make good music in most cases (if they make any good music at all), so, yeah, their fame and money isn't really justified imo considering they, unlike athletes and actors (at least good ones), are far from the top of their art. Basically, too big compensation for too little effort put in the aesthetic value of their music.

3. "The last meta-idea involves the development of institutions that encourage risk-taking. Shakespeare was lucky to have royal support for his odd tragedies, while Renaissance Florence benefited from the willingness of the Medicis to support new artistic forms, such as the use of perspective in painting. Many of these ventures failed—Shakespeare wrote several bad plays—but tolerating such failure is the only way to get a Hamlet." In regards to music we have went from rich people supporting composers by giving them resources while not restricting artistic freedom too much (perfect conditions for a composer) to a marketing based approach where what is most marketed and sold is valued most. Nowadays it's almost unimaginable that a rich person would support a composer in that way. People complain about certain types of rich people while embracing other types (Hollywood, pop artists etc.). And I don't think state support is a good solution, but it's better than nothing at least.

Rickard Dahl said...

4. Also, a few thoughts: Do we have any genius cluster nowadays? If so, what kind, and why is it so little known, and if not, how come? I guess Silicon Valley could be seen as a genius cluster (although ofc not everyone there is a genius, whatever the definition of genius is). How can we create genius clusters more efficiently? Maybe specifically, musical genius clusters? And assuming that geniusness is something you're either born with or not, are we bad at encouraging geniuses or maybe people in general to pursue their interests? Are we maybe simply bad at discovering geniuses? And if genes play a big role in intelligence (something that seems to be the case in certain studies (at least I've heard that it's the case), does it make the hypothesis of musical and unmusical nations (something you've posted about earlier) more probable? Maybe we are (also) bad at discovering and encouraging musical geniuses in certain countries and better in others? How come we don't see musical geniuses at the level of Mozart, J.S. Bach or Beethoven for instance? We should have many musical geniuses on that level considering the Earth's population. Maybe we don't discover, encourage and support them enough. Maybe there are some geniuses on that level, just have difficulty reaching out in this pop dominated World. Maybe they are sticking to the modernist and postmodernist ideologies instead of writing what sounds great. Or maybe we have lost some of our human intelligence over time (the surprising discovery of IQ getting lower over generations could be true).

Anyways, in general I think people should pursue what interests them, whether they are geniuses or not. That's the way we increase innovativity and move humanity forward. And being a genius isn't always a necessity in creating something great. Sometimes a great idea can simply pop up out of seemingly nowhere. And even small innovations can in the right context lead to more important innovations. Even if a certain scientific discovery for instance may not be useful now, it could become very useful down the road. And in music, J.S. Bach was not very well known in his lifetime but became a great influence to many composers and deemed by many to be the greatest composer.

Anyways, time to pursue my interest and do some composing.

Nathan Shirley said...

Very nice pieces. They remind me a bit of Hovhaness, nothing specific, just a similar harmonic taste.

Bryan Townsend said...

Thanks very much, Nathan. Coming from a fellow composer, it is much appreciated! I can't claim Hovhaness as an influence as I don't know his music very much. Perhaps I should have a listen.

Rickard, thanks as well.

I mentioned some of this in connection with a comment Bridge made a while back. The "genius cluster" in Athens was really the most remarkable in history, but the other three of 15th century Florence, 16th century London and 18th century Vienna, from a musician's point of view, were also remarkable. Based on the article, I wonder if the social and historic contexts of those different times and places have not been looked into very thoroughly. For example, "meta ideas" like a patent system, public libraries, and universal education were certainly not present in ancient Athens!

Just taking Vienna for example, things got rolling their because of Haydn. There was a very fertile class of nobility with a taste for music of which Prince Nikolaus of Esterhazy was the foremost example. He employed Haydn and gave him both the freedom to work and the resource of fine musicians to play his music and did so over several decades. Mozart was a remarkable genius, but he was able to flourish by moving to Vienna from Salzburg. Beethoven came to Vienna from Bonn both because of the musical environment and with the hopes of studying with Mozart, who, alas, had just died. He studied with Haydn instead.

I don't have time to go into this more thoroughly, but I suspect that, as is often the case, that the truth lies in the details!

Bridge said...

Congratulations! The music is not really my thing to be honest, but I would have liked to listen to all four pieces with the score. Unfortunately it seems like the YouTube channel you used to upload these is nonexistent (probably private) so I can only listen to the two you linked - also the score obviously costs money. That's not criticism, however I only purchase scores for music I already know and am interested in studying - so I hope you forgive me for not buying it. Any chance to get the links to the other tracks, or are you going to publish them on a CD?

Bryan Townsend said...

Thanks, Bridge.

Obviously I would like (and my publisher would like) for people to purchase the score. With it you can also download the recordings of all four pieces. I don't have a YouTube channel and I don't post things on YouTube, which is why you can't find it. I am talking right now with my publisher about issuing some other pieces of mine, so sales would definitely help!

Bryan Townsend said...

I was looking back and I seemed to have missed commenting on the second part of your big comment, Rickard. I think that there are often clusters of, if not geniuses exactly, then certainly very talented people. They do seem to come in clusters and I think that could be for two reasons. There might be factors, such as cultural support or reward that cause a number of people to work in a certain area. I think that geniuses also tend to inspire one another as the trio of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven and the other trio of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle seem to show.

Here are some recent clusters in my view: the cluster of people working in physics in the first half of the 20th century that included Einstein, Schrödinger, Niels Bohr and others; the cluster of rock musicians in the 60s that included the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, the Doors and others; the cluster of modernist writers in the early 20th century that included Ezra Pound, T. S. Eliot, James Joyce and others.


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Sunday, April 25, 2010

Today in parenting

Yes I am also a parent, hell I am almost uber, what with the stay at home dad thing. I have yet to read my kids Rand, but they are well versed in Orwell's Animal Farm. So yes, it is in around 'bed time' in these parts; this comic pretty much sums up the whole process, enjoy:

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Well I Didn’t Expect to Meet HER in Tanzania

*Special thanks to Photographer Keely Scott for capturing the stories through her photos.

I met Hospitality today.  Yep, her.

I’ve always known the requirement for being hospitable isn’t about finally getting to the place where you love where you live and can have the most up to date flooring and look cute in the Anthropologie apron while making that delicious meal Ina Garden made on TV when Jeffrey was out-of-town.  We all know that. But few of us live that.

Well, I’m reporting to you live from Africa, Tanzania to be exact and you very well may already know what we do here while on this Tanzania trip with Compassion but I’ll give you a quick recap.  We travel (what seemed long enough to reach the moon) and then we travel more and just when we think we are done? We travel more.  And then finally, when we reach our destination with our greasy hair and bossy intestines we get in a bus and head to a church.

We get out of the bus and wind our way around a well-worn 12 inch dirt path (don’t fall off) until it opens up to the biggest collection of children you can imagine. Smiling children.  Children who are sponsored (or waiting to be sponsored) by someone like you and someone like me. It was a sight.

We split up our group and a few of us go to little Jennifer’s house. She’s 6 years old and lives with her grandmother.  Her grandmother, who if you saw her randomly, walking around New York City, you would naturally assume she’s an African runway model with her beautifully patterned dress that I’m sure has a proper name and gauzy head scarf and stately features.  And she smiles and greets us and asks us to come into her home.  Her home that is made of concrete that is beginning to come apart.  You can see holes in the roof.

I watched her face as she invited us in.  It was pure joy.  There was no shame. It was as if she was honored we were there.  What?  You mean she wasn’t all “I’m so sorry I don’t have a rug, I’ve been meaning to repair my concrete floors, try to ignore the fact that 12 of us sleep in a three room house the size of your family room”…  How many of us do that on a daily basis when we sheepishly invite someone into our homes?

There was absolutely none of that. I cannot even imagine a word of ungratefulness even coming out of her mouth.  She was simply thrilled we were there.  I want to be like that.  When I invite someone in, am I more worried about what they think of me and my stuff or do I put the focus on people?  That is Hospitality.

She doesn’t have much, a table covered with a floral vinyl table-cloth, a plastic flower arrangement set centered on the table, a few random wall hangings, a sofa, a sheet covering a doorway to a bedroom.  She is one of twelve people who live in the three room house.  She sells tomatoes.  And her dream?  Not too unlike my own, her dream is to be able to buy her own home. Then she’ll be able to have her own land and hopefully grow more tomatoes to help her family.

But for now she has a huge load lifted off her shoulders because Jennifer is one of the children sponsored through Compassion International. Someone, someplace in the world spends $38 a month and somehow the Compassion people are able to magically make that little bit of money transform into something that is life changing. Which in turn can affect the entire family.  So no one has to fret over making sure Jennifer gets the medical attention, nutrition, schooling, and Bible teaching that will shape her future.  And because Compassion works with the local church, a two minute walk from little Jennifer’s rented home, when the family had some extra needs recently, Compassion stepped in to help. Compassion has a special fund set up especially for families who experience extreme circumstances like famine, illness, and natural disasters.

There are 50 Children at the Center/Church that we visited today that are patiently waiting on a sponsor.  Have you ever considered sponsoring a child?  I’d love for you to click over and just find out a little more information about the children patiently waiting on a sponsor, you can choose a boy or a girl or a birthday or find the child who’s been waiting the longest for a sponsor (my personal favorite).

I’ve just traveled further than I thought was possible without getting right back to my house and you know what I found? Moms and dads and grandmas and families just like me.  They love their children, dress them in their best when company’s coming, have dreams for tomorrow, live in community, put flowers in the center of the table on a special occasion, and have a hope for a better future for their children.

Be sure to read all the posts from the other bloggers I’m here hanging out with.

To be continued…

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  1. Hey, if you happen to see Jennifer or her supermodel grandma again, you should tell them (if you didn’t already), that their home is lovely. Really…quite beautiful. That shot of the table with the tablecloth and flowers and those nice chairs? It’s got some sort of stately elegance that I couldn’t replicate with all the money in the world if I tried. Some people are just elegant and lovely…I think Jennifer’s grandma must be one of them. :)

  2. What a beautiful tribute to a beautiful family! I don’t know you personally, but I am “proud” of you for taking this unselfish trip and bringing this to all of our attention!
    Safe travels!~Kim

  3. What a beautiful reminder that it doesn’t take worldly things to make us happy or able to entertain. I am reminded of this every time my husband and I go on a mission trip. It is always so humbling for me. Some of the happiest and most content people I have met live in extreme poverty. All we need is God and to share the love of Christ.

  4. Brian Early says:

    So good…

  5. This really touched me. I always get apologetic when people come over while I should be focused on them! People not stuff should be my new motto. Thank you!

  6. Julie Sawyer says:

    Thank you for your words! I am following you and Keely (childhood friend) as you reveal together the amazing works of Compassion! Hope the rest of your trip continues to be just as touching!

  7. I’m so glad you are there and getting to experience these wonderful things and then also tell us these simple truths – we are all the same. Love you and praying for you.

  8. You have inspired me! My husband and I are now sponsoring a 6-yr old boy named Robert from Tanzania. Thank you for sharing Compassion’s ministry with us– we’re excited to be part of it!

  9. You’re intuition about the true meaning of hospitality has really struck a cord in me. This is a beautiful trip you’re undertaking. I can’t wait to see your next post.

  10. bless you and hugs to them!

  11. So beautiful!!!

  12. Thank you for this post. I read this via Big Mama and felt led to sponsor a child that has been waiting a long time. I”m the proud sponsor of a bouncing 6 yr. old boy named Ally from Tanzania :). He’s actually my second sponsored child, joining Dino from the Philippines through World Vision. Praise God for the work of these organizations!!

  13. Love you and love your heart.

  14. Love this post! I love how you captured the true meaning of hospitality, we should all be so grateful for what we have in our homes and be blessed to invite others in.

  15. What a wonderful experience !!! I sponsor two children through Compassion, one in Guatemala and one in India, two boys. I know there is a girl somewhere in the near future too. Thanks for sharing and for making it known, that there are so many children out there whose lives would be changed forever for just the money we spend on a night at the movies.

  16. You are so right about the true meaning of hospitality. I always feel so uncomfortable when people start apologizing for their home, and I decided to stop doing it no matter how messy mine might be at the moment. If we are welcoming and are truly glad to see them, that’s what counts. Thanks for sharing your experience with Compassion –they are a wonderful ministry.

  17. Samantha says:

    I loved this post it humbled me in such a good way. I have been embarrasssed for too long of God’s blessings on my life. I am embarrassed that my blessings are not as nice as what my friends have. But what a blessing it is to have a 4 bedroom mobile home (typing those two words for people to read make me want to bust into tears, this is where my embarrassment lies living in a mobile home) and being mortgage free at 24. I have not invited people in with honor I have invited them in with shame and embarrassement. Thank you so much for these words and for the Godly woman who showed contentment in what the Lord has blessed her with, she has humbled me and convicted me of the change I need to make in my life.

    • I woke up this morning with my senseless “problems” weighing on my mind so heavily. Really, I have no problems. Thank you for the beautiful picture of joy of this woman. She is an inspiration. I needed that reset.

  18. Anonymous says:

    This was beautiful! Thank you for sharing. It reminded me of a book I read by Edith Schaffer called, The Hidden Art of Homemaking. It’s the love and care that makes it beautiful, not the expense or “bling”. And using God’s handiwork, such as those gorgeous flowers…could it be any more lovely? I’m moved and inspired. Thanks!

  19. This was beautiful! Thank you for sharing. It reminded me of a book I read by Edith Schaffer called, The Hidden Art of Homemaking. It’s the love and care that makes it beautiful, not the expense or “bling”. And using God’s handiwork, such as those gorgeous flowers…could it be any more lovely? I’m moved and inspired. Thanks!

  20. Thank you so much for writing this post. I read it with tears in my eyes. I sponsor a little boy name Liners through Compassion. I love this little boy even though I have never met him. You should see his smile. It is amazing:) One day I hope to meet him. Thank you so much for giving us a window into this part of the world.

  21. Ahh, you’re in Tanzania!! I have to admit, I’ve been scouring your pictures looking for my little one. His name is Jafari and he just turned 6. One of my goals is to be able to go on the Compassion trips to meet my kiddos (my other Compassion kid is in Colombia, and I have one in Uganda through Amazima ministries)

  22. The proper name for the beautifully patterned dress is ” kitenge”.
    I have been reading your blog for about a year now.
    I come from Kenya, and rural Kenya is no different from Rural Tanzania.
    Thanks for visiting and sharing your life and blog.

  23. THANK YOU for such an amazing blog! I have only in the last few months become DIY/Design blog addicted and there are only one or two that I really follow, but that’s it your my new fave now! Thank you for bringing g-d into the picture! You are an inspiration, and a wonderful reminder to keep on the good path – keep it up!

  24. virginia says:

    I love hearing about these people, their endurance, & what you are learning. Thank you for sharing.

  25. This is really amazing! Made tears in my eyes. Those images so familiar. Came from Tanzania now living in the US. I am missing home alot. I am also struggling trying to help a community in Iringa, Tanzania. I hope this gets achieved somehow.
    Thank you for the wonderful post. Such a great reminder.

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Clear Pricing for Network Services

I had to buy some switches recently and needed to gather a second quote from another vendor. I went to the Dell website and was pleasantly surprised to quickly find a clear price and a buy-now button for each device on their website.

Normally you’d need an account of the vendors portal to get this information, so it is refreshing to have straightforward access to clear hardware pricing. However it was the list of professional services options shown in the attached image that caught my eye. Continue reading


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March 16, 2012

Recycling Ideas On Pinterest

Readers, are you all clued in to the wonderful world of Pinterest? If you aren't, I highly recommend that you get an invitation and join. As with every online site, you should review the guidelines carefully and make sure you want to be part of the site. If you do, you'll see how it is a great tool for inspiration, marketing, business development, and creativity.

But I've digressed, of course! The reason I'm talking about Pinterest today is because I found an entire world of recycling ideas and crafts and it makes me so happy and I think it will for you, too!

My board on Pinterest where I keep my favorite recycled/upcycled ideas is called "Upcycled Ideas" (hardly imaginative, I know).  As of now, it only has four items, but I'm looking forward to collecting more and referring back to them at various dates to use them as needed.

While I love all of the ideas on the board and definitely intend to use the toilet paper roll options, my favorite of  is the "Holder for Charging Cell Phone" by Make it and Love it.

What I love even more is that they give you the step by step process on how to make your own. Seriously, how awesome is that?! Of course tutorials are the rage on line, especially for craft lovers like you and me, but when you combine the exchange of ideas on how to make our lifestyles more eco-friendly, it's even better! I encourage us all to take our favorite recycled/upcycled ideas and share them with the ever growing community of pinterest users. You never know what impact you may have just from sharing something as simple as reusing a lotion bottle to charge your cell phone.

If any of you have recycling/upcycling ideas that you want to share, please drop them in the comments section, especially if it has a URL and/or get them on pinterest for others to discover and share.

Happy pining, creating, and recycling!

Rozy Lass said...

Very timely, as I was looking for a way to start some plants indoors without spending any money--Huge THANK YOU for sharing!

Simone said...

Very cool tutorial, ooh, and I like the plant idea since my herbs just starting to sprout.

s2designs said...

Oh, yay, Rozy! You are very welcome! Let us know how the plants come out. :)

Simone, you should let us know, too. That would be an awesome future blog post. Take pictures!!

Kerry B. said...

Great idea for a Pinterest board!

Carla Florendo said...

I know what u mean with Pinterest. the first time i saw those craft and DIY ideas, my mind was blown ... and my mind was racing, i was thinking of so many possible things to do. it is really a great platform to take inspiration from.
Good Luck!

cheers, Carla

Fashion, Art and other fancies said...

Excellent tutorial on jazzing up one's indoor plants;-)

Wida said...

I love Pinterest!!

Missing Amsie Blog

Queen of Cups said...

I post lots of recycling ideas on my board. Check it out and enjoy!

Sara said...

Ladies! So glad you found this post informative and inspiring!

Queen of Cups, thanks for sharing your board as well. I'll be sure to follow!