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Solutions For Resident Physicians
What we've created here is a page that is dedicated to you as a resident. Whether you are graduating med school, just starting in a residency or are a transferring resident, we've identifed some of the main problems with receiving an approval for a mortgage. And then we've identified the solutions that we have for you.
We'd invite you to look at each of the videos below and at the conclusion of them, you two choices: You can either call us and we'd be happy to do what we call a compatibility interview. We get a deeper understanding of your situation, we then tell you the specific solution that we have for you. Or, if you'd like to move forward right away, there is an application page and a place to upload your documents and we will get back to you with a financing proposal. Thanks for joining us and I hope you enjoy the videos.
Why work with us - Solutions and Service
There are a lot of things that we do that are different from other loan officers and other mortgage programs, but I can boil it all down to two really key points. And that is solutions and service. Whether it's one of our specialized physician programs, an FHA program or a conventional program, we have loan officers, pre-underwriters and final underwriters who have all been specially trained to identify and understand the unique sets of situations and contracts that physicians have. So whether you are going into residency, starting a new position or you are a self employed 1099'd or in private practice, we understand those complexities and we know how to place your loan with the correct loan program that will find the right solution for you. And I think that is very different than most lenders. You'll find out right from the beginning we have a deeper understanding of your situation.
The second thing is service. We understand that many times when you are relocating or transitioning between jobs, there is a tremendous amount of stress to pack around the moving, the relocating, kids - it just adds stress to everything. And if we put a complicated loan process on top of that, it can be too much to bear. We understand that we need to get as much documentation up front, we need to have a very clear, fundamental understanding of what your situation is - where you're going into practice, what your new contract looks like and when you need to be in your new home. Then we deliver excellence in service in guiding you to that place.
So, what I'd invite you to do is to take a look around the website and find out what these resources have to offer. You're going to see that we have a unique section for residents, for new physicians or physicians relocating and self employed, or private practice. Go there, enjoy those resources and then I'd invite you to contact us. Thanks so much, we hope we have the opportunity to help you.
What you can expect from our team when you get a physician loan?
What can I expect when I deal with Utah Physician Home Loans?
This is a question we don't hear very often, but we think is on the minds of most residents when they come to us and that is what can we expect when we deal with your company?
Really, it's the fear of the unknown, right? We've all heard of clients that have had bad experiences. We go into the chat rooms and we see what physicians and residents are saying about their mortgage experiences because we want to learn from you. And we hear the horror stories. We've seen more horror stories in these chat rooms and online about physicians that have bad experiences. And if you have been there and seen those same things, then I am guessing that you've got some fear and a bit of apprehension about that.
So let me tell how it will work when you work with us. We're first going to start with a compatibility interview. This is where we decide if we're right to work with one another. I'm going to ask some question about what your situation is: What your student loans look like, how long your new residency contract is, how early before your contract date do you want to start. And then I'm going to say, okay, I've got a couple of ideas. And then I'm going to answer all of your questions. At the conclusion of that, we're going to decide if we're right to work together. If you feel comfortable we move forward with the application process that is very streamlined, five to ten minutes online we can take care of that.
If you are trying to get this done now, are working 70 hours straight through, have about ten minutes to catch some rest and don't have a spare minute to talk on the phone for a compatibility interview, then you can go down to the bottom of the page and fill out a loan application and get things rolling!
Then we're going to dive you a financing proposal. We're going to see our best estimate as what you can expect to see the day of closing. It will be very clear. We'll spend a few minutes over the phone going over it and you're going to say, "That looks great, how do we move forward?"
I send you a short list of items that we need to receive. We're going to a full pre-underwrite on those items. This is very different than what most loan officer do and this is how most loan officer get in trouble is they do pre-approvals. We do a full credit and income approval which means that our in-house initial underwriter is going to pre-underwrite all of your documents, your employment contracts, the information about your income based repayment, all your student loans. All of that is reviewed, we dive it our stamp of approval and issue a credit and income approval. That is like a blank check. If you find a house, it appraises, there's no problems with the title, we have money for you, we've committed to lend.
From there, you find your home, you write the offer, we walk you right through the process to closing and this is where it gets vital that we know what we are doing because at this point you are relocating your home, your family and your children across the country and it's important that we don't have any mistakes. So we are painstakingly aware of the potential issues and everyone on our team is trained to identify them early and once we issue an approval, rest assured you are in good hands.
But, don't take my word for it, what I'd love you to do is click on the upper left had corner and see what Dr. Trisha and Derek Twelves had to say about their dealings with our group.
How do I tell if a loan company is legit?
The only way to really know is to do your own research and due diligence in searching out a mortgage lender. One of the ways that I'd suggest you do that is get on Google. Start researching them. See if you can get a list of their past clients and get a deeper understanding for who it is they serve in their community. One of the things I'd love you to do is take a look at this testimonial from Utah Medical Association Financial Services where they've endorsed us as their preferred lender.
"We have been very impressed with Josh and his team. In fact, I first learned of Josh through one of my physician clients. The feedback was so outstanding that I decided to contact Josh directly and meet. Since that time, we have been extremely impressed with Josh?s knowledge, customer service and ztrong desire to continually do what is right for his clients. As a result, we have been referring our clients to Josh and the feedback continues to be exceptional!"
Jeff Zesiger, Vice President ? Utah Medical Association Financial Services
They've done that because we have a deeper understanding of the physicians that we serve and that we're more adept at identifying the unique challenges and making sure that we get you into your home without any surprises.
If you have any other questions about this we'd be more than happy to answer them for you. We'd love you to check out the testimonial.
Am I better off renting or should I buy a home?
That's a really good and although I do love real estate and I think there's no better way to build wealth and tax deductions and all the benefits that come with owning a home, I think there is also a time when you should rent. The only way to really know how that should work for you is to identify the market and where you're buying, and then do a cost analysis. Take a look at what it's going to cost you to rent over the next coup;e of years and take into consideration that if you're in a booming economy or a hot economy that likely you're going to have rent raises over the next couple of years. And then take a look at where the real estate market is and then see what those payments look like. What are the payments on rent vs. the payments to buy and what are those costs going to look like over the amount of years that you expect to be in your home. And then I'd also encourage you to think about when you're buying a first residence or a primary residence that you're probably going to get one of the lowest interest rates in your entire life. And with that loan, it's expected that you live there for at least a year, but it is oftentimes a great opportunity to leverage that low interest loan into an investment after you move on, whether you're out of state or staying in the state moving into a larger home. But you can keep that as investment property. So, I'd love to counsel you and dive you advice on that directly and if there's anything we can do to be of service helping you break down those different costs we'd be happy to do it. We'd invite you to reach out to us directly for more information.
What are the pros and cons of a physician home loan?
What it comes down to is really the underwriting guidelines. And the other piece of that is that most physician loans do not have mortgage insurance included. With a physician loan what you can typically expect is that we are going to have more liberal underwriting guidelines. We're going to allow you to qualify without student loan debt being counted, we're going to allow you to qualify for a higher loan to value. And we're going to allow you to close prior to starting your employment contract. That's really a key piece, because if you're relocating and starting a new position, often you don't want to move twice. You don't want to move into temporary housing, then find a home once you're on the job and then move again. With the more liberal underwriting guidelines, we're going to have a deeper understanding of your employment contracts, we're going to allow you to close, sometimes as early as 120 days before your employment contract starts, and then move into your home, then start your employment.
There are many differences between a physician loan and the more conventional product. What we like to start with typically is our initial interview where we decide if we're compatible with one another and we'll explore a little bit more about the solutions that we have for you. If you are trying to get this done now, are working 70 hours straight through, have about ten minutes to catch some rest and don't have a spare minute to talk on the phone for a compatibility interview, then you can go down to the bottom of the page and fill out a loan application and get things rolling! As always we'd invite you to reach out to us directly for more information.
What is the difference between a physician loan and a conventional loan?
That's a question we get all the time, and there's a couple of differences. With a physician loan, you're typically going to get a higher loan to value - maybe a 97% loan to value in most situations. You're also not going to have mortgage insurance, in most situations. Now that's not always the right solution for you, but that's typical of a physician loan.
And you're going to have more liberal underwriting guidelines. You're going to be able to exclude student loan payments or you are going to be able to work through the fact that you have not entered into income based repayment or your loans are not deferred for greater than a year. Those are solutions that are very problematic for a conventional loan, but are more compatible with our physician loan products and we're able to find the solution.
And then lastly, closing before your contract date. With a conventional loan, one of the big stumbling points is typically you've got to be on the job 30 days with the paycheck stubs in hand before you can close. With a physician loan product, we're able to get you closed prior to you actually starting your job. In some instances we can close you as much as 120 days prior to starting your employment contract. Now most people don't need that, but in some situations it becomes extremely useful. There's a few other nuances and as always, if there are any other questions you'd like us to answer, we'd invite you to contact us directly.
How will my student loans affect me qualifying for a mortgage?
As a new physician or coming out of a fellowship or residency, you're often going to have you student loans coming into repayment. And those are always going to play a part in the underwriting process. So what we're going to do after we complete our initial conversation which we call a compatibility interview, is to take a look at your credit and your student loans and we're going to see exactly where you are in the repayment process. We're then going to analyze if they're in deferment or in forbearance and they're in a long enough period out that we don't have to count them. Or if we need to calculate what those student loans are going to be. Or sometimes you're going to go from a forbearance or deferment into an income based repayment structure.
We're gong to guide you through that process, make sure that you file all the correct paperwork such that we can get you through the loan process and not have any underwriting snags. This all comes back to part of our solution package which is to have specially trained underwriters, loan officers, processors who understand your situation and are able to guide you and your unique set of circumstances. We guide you through the process so that we don't have a snag. That's a little bit about student loans and how they'll affect you. If you have additional questions, as always, we'd invite you to reach out to us directly.
How do I qualify for a mortgage if I'm going into Income Based Repayment (IBR)?
The most typical situation we see is someone coming out of med school, they're in that "no man's land" and they're in that period between where they've graduated med school, they've got about a six month period before their repayment begins, and at that point they're going to apply for income based repayment. Lenders really struggle with approving new residents during that period, because they don't have a means to identify what your payment is going to be. Because you haven't actually started repayment. What's different about the way we underwrite and advise clients is we will actually walk you through a process in that we can qualify off your income based repayment amount before you even enter into inceome based repayments. Where most lenders will have a real challenge with that "no man's land", as I call it, we're able to guide you through the process and make it seamless. We've done it for countless residents and even new Fellows that are starting income based repayment, and we'd be happy to advise you on how to get through that process as well. If you have any more specific questions about income based repayment, feel free to contact us. We'd be happy to help you.
How do I prove income based repayment?
Again, for residents, this is the most difficult thing for qualifying for a loan, because you are in that "no man's land" in between where you've graduated med school, and where you are starting your residency and you've got these student loans that are defered out for 6 months. And you don't even have to worry about this thing for 6 months. But, to a mortgage underwriter, they've got to think through that. So what we've gotten really good at is guiding you through that process. Whether you're going to go for an additional deferral or whether you're going to enter into income based repayment, we have a solution for you. We can tell you exactly what the process is and what paperwork needs to be filed so that we perfectly fit our underwriting guidelines and you don't have a problem qualifying. I know there's a lot of challenges out there surrounding this issue and there's a lot of questions. What I think you should know is we have a solution in store for you. We'll walk you exactly through the process and we've done it dozens, if not hundreds of times before for relocating residents and new residents so there is a solution there for you. If you have any specific questions about that or you'd like us to walk you through the process, feel free to shoot us an email or dive us a call.
Can my down payment be a gift?
Yes, almost all of our programs will allow for a gifted down payment. And I encourage you to take advantage of that because you've just accomplished something amazing in graduating med school. We have multiple programs and depending where you are with credit score and down payment amount, there's going to be different underwriting guidelines but virtually all of our programs will allow 100% gifted down payment and many of our programs - almost all of our programs as I think about it - do not require any reserves. We have probably the most liberal guidelines that I know where your down payment can come from and you don't need a bunch of additional money on top of the down payment when you get to closing in the form of liquid reserves which many lenders will require. So, if you have any additional questions about this we'd invite you to reach out to us directly.
Should we put money towards a down payment, or should we use that to pay off student loan debt?
That is a really good question and here's how I advise my clients to think through that. First of all, look at the interest rates you are accruing on your student loans. Let's just say you are at a 6.8% on those student loans, and that they're non tax deductible. So you're paying in real dollars 6.8% per year on the total amount of student loan debt that you're carrying. And then compare that to where interest rates are. And now also keep in mind with your interest rates on a home mortgage that it is tax deductible. So you can roughly shave off 20 - 30% of that interest rate because you're going to be able to write that off in your taxes. So let's say today interest rates are at 4.5% and you figure that you're in a 25 or maybe 30% tax bracket. Well then the true cost of that loan is maybe only somewhere closer to 3% or 3.5%, and if that is less than the student loan debt than you're carrying, then I would suggest putting a smaller down payment and then putting more money toward reducing your student debt. And if you'd like some help in calculating that for your exact situation, we'd be more than happy to do that as well. We'd invite you to contact us directly with any questions that you have.
Are there really loans that you can put less than 20% down and not have mortgage insurance?
Yes, absolutely, we have those products. But, what you should know, this isn't a one size fits all solution. We have many different products and depending on your particular situation with your employment contract, your credit scores, the amount of money you have down, where your down payment is coming from, how much student loan debt you have, where you are in your repayment process with student loans - we have different solutions that will fit all different types of situations. So, where we start is with a compatibility interview. Usually takes five to ten, maybe fifteen minutes over the phone. We walk through your specific situation and all the factors that are in play.
If you are trying to get this done now, are working 70 hours straight through, have about ten minutes to catch some rest and don't have a spare minute to talk on the phone for a compatibility interview, then you can go down to the bottom of the page and fill out a loan application and get things rolling!
And then we're going to dive you some advice on which loan program we think is best. Once we've done that, we usually do a cost breakdown or a cost analysis, where we're going to look at the difference between a physician loan product, an FHA product, and if you would qualify, a conventional product. And then we're going to make the best decision at that time on what the least costly solution for your financing is. So, we understand that you probably have a lot of questions about that and we'd be more than happy to answer them for you. We'd invite you to reach out to us directly.
Am I responsible for paying closing costs?
Who is responsible for paying closing costs?
That's all negotiable. What you should know is in a slow moving market, oftentimes buyers are able to ask the seller to cover their closing costs. That's just pretty much par for the course. When you see more of a fast moving market where there's very low inventory and the sellers kind of rule the roost, then oftentimes they are going to not pay your closing costs and you'll have to pay them yourself. And so how do yo upay them? There's a couple of different ways you can do that. You can do that in cash in addition to you down payment or you can actually roll it into your interest rate. So we've got several solutions there, where you say, "I'm probably only going to be in this house for 3 - 5 years" so maybe if we increase the intrest rate an eighth or a quarter percent, which typically is only going to kick up your payment between twenty five and fifty dollars a month, then you don't have to come to closing with tht additional money. So, we have solutions, we're more than happy to walk you through those depending on your specific situation. Don't let closing costs scare you, they are something we have a solution for. Thanks for watching and if you have any more questions we'd invite you to contact us directly.
What if I haven't filed taxes for the last couple of years? Can I qualify off my contract?
The answer is, yes and yes. Many times we'll see residents who have been in med school and have no income to report and have not filed taxes at all. That is not a problem for us. What we are going to ask you to provide is simply a copy of your transcripts and eventually we'll need your original transcripts to prove that you've been in school. And then we're going to underwrite and calculate your income based off your employment contract or offer letter. So, not a problem for us at all. It is something that is unique to a physician loan product and most lenders would struggle with but you should know we have a solution there for you and that would allow you to close priorto you starting your employment contract.
It really is quite incredible, but you can have not filed taxes for two years, you can have hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loans, and we can close you before you ever start the first day of your employment contract. Very unique solution that we have in store for our resident clients. So, if you have any additional questions, feel free to shoot us an email or dive us a call.
When is an ARM or adjustable rate mortgage right for me?
What we advise clients is to try and forecast where you're going to be in 5, 6, 7 years at the conclusion of that initial fixed period. When you talk about an ARM, the first thing you should know is there is usually a fixed period of the first 5, 7, or 10 years where the loan rate cannot change. It's guaranteed. And if it's likely that you're going to be relocating, or that your income is going to be increasing substantially over the next 5 or 7 years, then that product might be right for you. The other thing to keep in mind is, where will that payment move to and how much can it fluctuate at the conclusion of the fixed rate period. So they have what's called caps and every mortgage that's an adjustable rate will have caps. And that's at the end of that 5 year period, 7 year period, whatever the fixed period is, then each year thereafter it can only move up or down by so much. That's called interest rate caps.
So let's say you are on an FHA loan hypothetically, and at the end of the first five years it can only move up 1% per year, so it's going to have a relatively low effect on your overall payment. Some loans can move as much as 4% per year. What we advise clients to do is forecast where they're going to be at the end of the 5, 7 or 10 years. If they think it's more than likely they're going to be moving or their income is going to be greatly expanded and they're ready to move onto another home, then calculate your savings over that period of time (the amount you will save by having the lower interest rate during the initial fixed period) and then you can analyze if you think an ARM is right for you. If you have more specific questions on this or you'd like our help in running those numbers and doing the analysis, we'd be more than happy to do that. We'd invite you to reach out us with your specific questions.
Does a physician home loan have higher closing costs & interest rate?
The answer is, it really depends. And it depends on your exact situation. So if you're asking a lender to go to a much higher loan to value like let's say you're in a situation where you want 97% financing and you don't want to pay mortgage insurance, then yes, typically you're going to have a higher interest rate. if you're in a situation where you're putting five, ten percent down, then no, your loan as a physician loan should actually be more cost efficient.
So, when you think about a physician loan, we're either going to be more liberal in the loan guidelines, meaning higher loan to values or higher loan amounts or excluding student loan payments. But with those more liberal guidelines, understand that typically there's a little bit of a higher cost.
Now what I encourage clients to do when we look at a loan is we do a side by side comparison. So, we'll look at a physician loan and the total costs associated - there's no mortgage insurance so we're just talking about closing costs and interest rate. And we'll maybe compare that with how an FHA loan would look or a conventional loan would look. Those loans are typically going to have mortgage insurance, interest rate and then closing costs, and we're going to compare those two and I'll do a total cost analysis so you can see the differences.
So, it depends where you are and what situation fits best for you, but on average, I would say that you are going to pay about 1/8, maybe 1/4 percent more for a physician loan that has very specific underwriting guidelines, more liberal underwriting guidelines that will help you get approved. As always, if you have more questions about that, we'd invite you to contact us directly.
What criteria should I use in selecting a lender?
It's a great question and it's on the mind of most residents we talk to. So what you should know as a resident, whether you are coming out of med school or you're a transferring resident, there's a lot of change going on. In that student loans may be changing, income is definitely changing, new job, and you're relocating your family, and student loans are probably moving in and out of income based repayment and deferment and all of that adds complexity to the loan process.
So, two thing I would suggest. Number one, make sure you are working with someone who is an expert and understand physicians and physician lending. So I would just ask them: How many physicians have you worked with in the last year? How many residents have you worked with and closed in the last year? Could I speak to any of them?
Real simple, you're going to understand right away if they are an expert. And then I would check their testimonials. If you are actively working with physicians, there should be a number of past clients that you are able to speak with. And I think once you've done those two things, you've established they're an expert, you've viewed some of their testimonials, you're going to know right away if you're dealing with someone who'll do a great job for you or someone who may need a little more experience before they do your loan. If you have any other questions on that as always, we'd invite you to dive us a call.
Can I really close 30 days before I start my residency?
The answer is yes. That's one of the biggest advantages of working with a physician loan vs. a conventional or an FHA or a more traditional loan product. Typically, underwriting guidelines are going to state that they want to see 30 days worth of paycheck stubs. So what that means to you is you would have to start your employment, wait two weeks before you got your first paycheck stub, then wait an additional two weeks before you got your second paycheck stub. So typically you're 30 to 45 days after you've started your new employment before you can qualify for a home loan. That's particularly troubling when you are relocating a family across the country. It means you are putting yourself into temporary housing or living with family for a while and then moving again for a second time.
The solution we have for you as a resident is that we will allow you to use your employment contract. And sometimes we don't even get a signed contract until after you close, sometimes we just have an offer letter and then we'll get the employment contract once you show up. But we'll use the offer letter or employment contract - we'll use that income to qualify you. And typically we can allow you to close 30 days prior to the start of that employment contract. So, yes, we can allow you to close before you start your job, and yes, you will only have to move once! If you've got any more specific questions on this, we'd be more than happy to answer them, we'd invite you to reach out to us.
Will there be surprises at my closing?
We get this all the time, and for the clients who don't say it, they are probably thinking it. Like any other industry, there are the good guys and there's the bad guys. And you really need to make sure early in the process that you are dealing with someone that has testimonials and you have a really good gut feel for. The process is, and when you are shopping for a loan, you need to understand that what you're getting is not just on a piece of paper, like a Good Faith Estimate, but you're actually getting a service. What you're buying is how will that process of the loan, and closing and making sure you get to the closing table without any surprises - how will that person service you throughout that process? So that's the thing that you've got to assess and the best way to do that is to do some research on those lenders. Make sure you look at their testimonials, ask them if you can talk to past clients, and you're going to figure out real quick if those guys will deliver exactly what they've promised to you. So if you'd like to speak to any of our past clients of view our testimonial page we'd certainly invite you to do that and we'd be happy to dive you any other information you need.
Can you get a construction loan with a physician loan?
Yes, but it's not going to give you as high of a loan to value as you would get with an existing construction. So, if you're building a home and you want 97% financing, we're going to struggle with that. If you're building a home and you have a challenge with student loans, maybe in deferment, or being new into private practice or being a 1099'd employee or maybe wanting to go into a 90% loan to value, then we have some solutions for you.
What you should know about this kind of product is they're going to be what's called a two time construction loan. So, you're going to close on the construction loan, that loan will typically be between 3 and 6 months while you build the home, and once the home is complete, we are going to refinance you to a long term construction. That's called a two time close as compared to a one time close. There are some lenders that allow one time closes, but none of them have any varying or bendable guidelines, specifically for physicians that I'm aware of. So a two time close, close on your construction loan, then refinance and get your long term financing. We do have some products available that will be more flexible, will bend the underwriting guidelines and are a little more liberal for physicians than they are for anyone else.
So this is a little bit more of a detailed conversation and there's many moving pieces when you talk about physicians relocating or starting new into practice and then the timing of two different loans. So, if you've got any questions about that, we'd invite you to email or contact us directly. We'd be happy to find out a little bit more about your situation and then dive you some specific answers.
How big of a PIA is the loan process?
Of course PIA is for pain in the *** and that's a question we actually got from a medical chat room and we go in there frequently and we try to understand the challenges that medical professionals are running into when they are getting home mortgages. And that's a question that comes up all the time - how big of a pain is this going to be? We think we bring a unique perspective and an advantage to you is our deeper understanding of those challenges that you're going to have. Those challenges surrounding student loans, new employment contracts, transferring across the country and the timing on the closing of your new home. And through our experience and deeper understanding, we're able to bring down that PIA factor substantially. However, understand that we are in the age after the mortgage meltdown and 2006 it was the glory days, if you could fog a mirror and you knew how to sign your name you could probably get a million dollar mortgage. That's not today. There's definitely more questions being asked, there's more due diligence, which is good for our real estate market. It's actually good for the state of our economy, but it's a little more work. Our deeper understanding is going to make it much less painful but you are going to have more questions and probably more detailed examination by underwriting to all the financial affairs. Basically all that means is a little more documentation. If you have any other questions on this, be happy to answer them, as always, we invite you to reach out to us directly.


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Property Description:
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Company Description:
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subset: commoncrawl


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Obama's closing TV ad of sorts with 40 days to go… Why? Because voters in 30 states are already voting in some form or fashion… The administration's evolving statements on Libya… Romney's evolving statements on health care… This week's 10 hottest TV markets… Team Romney's ad-spending edge… But the main Dem Super PAC narrows the gap in September… New NBC/WSJ/Marist polls of Nevada, New Hampshire, and North Carolina come out tonight… And both Obama and Romney stump in Virginia.
For the third straight day, both Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama will be campaigning in the same state. The Daily Rundown's Chuck Todd reports.
*** Obama's closing ad (with 40 days to go): Although we're 40 days out until Election Day and even though the first presidential debate isn't until next week, the Obama campaign is going up with a closing TV ad of sorts. In this two-minute TV ad -- to air in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, and Virginia -- Obama looks to the camera and describes his economic plan, much of what he laid out in his convention speech. Creating a million new manufacturing jobs by giving tax breaks to companies that invest in the United States. Reducing oil imports in half. Hiring 100,000 new science and math teachers. And cutting the deficit in a "balanced" way by raising taxes on the wealthiest. Obama concludes in the TV ad, "It's time for a new economic patriotism, rooted in the belief that growing our economy begins with a strong, thriving middle class. Read my plan. Compare it to Gov. Romney's and decide for yourself." The Romney camp issues this response to the ad, "President Obama's record is clear: we can't afford another four years that look like the last four years. Mitt Romney will strengthen the middle class, create 12 million new jobs and deliver what President Obama hasn't -- a real recovery."
Slideshow: On the campaign trail
*** Why? Because voters in 30 states are already voting: This new Obama spot has the feeling of a closing TV ad 10 days out from Election Day because, well, the Obama camp believes we're really 10 days out -- or we're already there. Indeed, voters in 30 states -- including the battleground states of Iowa, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Virginia -- are now casting ballots, either via absentee or early in-person voting, per NBC's Kyle Inskeep. Today, early in-person voting begins in Iowa and Wyoming, while absentee ballots are now being sent to voters requesting them in Alabama, Wyoming, North Dakota, Iowa, and Illinois. By the end of next week, voters in five more states, including Ohio and Florida, will join this list. The early vote has always been a big part of the Obama ground game, and they are acting on that. And as we predicted in this space months ago, with the airwaves soooo saturated, campaigns are going to have to look for different ways to break through, and one of those ways is a two-minute spot. Don't be surprised if someone tries the five-minute ad, especially on the Senate level.
*** The administration's evolving statements on the attack in Libya: But while Team Obama is quickly seizing on all of the early voting, it was just as slow in labeling the attack on the U.S. embassy in Libya as an act of terrorism. The Washington Post runs a good timeline on the Obama administration's evolving statements when it comes to describing what happened in Libya (first saying it wasn't planned or pre-meditated to now acknowledging it was an act of terrorism). The most CHARITABLE explanation for these evolving statements is that the information the administration received simply changed or wasn't complete. The most UNCHARITABLE explanation is that the White House was slow to admit the attack was terrorism due to the upcoming election. In all of this, perhaps the biggest mistake was sending out U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice to all the Sunday morning shows -- days after the attack -- saying, "We do not have information at present that leads us to conclude that this was premeditated or preplanned." And given what apparently U.S. intelligence officials feared just 24 hours after the attack, Susan Rice either intentionally misled the public or was misled herself by briefers. You have to wonder, if Obama wins re-election, if Rice's chances of being Secretary of State in a second term are collateral damage from all of this simply because Senate GOPers may want someone to go after in the aftermath of losing.
*** Romney's evolving statement on health care: Speaking of evolving, don't miss what Mitt Romney told NBC's Ron Allen when he was asked why he's struggling to connect to middle-class Americans. "I think throughout this campaign as well, we talked about my record in Massachusetts, don't forget -- I got everybody in my state insured," Romney said, per NBC's Garrett Haake. "One hundred percent of the kids in our state had health insurance. I don't think there's anything that shows more empathy and care about the people of this country than that kind of record." Of course, if you've been following this race for the past year-plus, you know that Romney rarely talks about his signature achievement while governor of Massachusetts. The irony here is that Romney appears to be losing this race precisely because he never really talked about his health-care law until now. It was a bipartisan accomplishment he could contrast with the very partisan last three years in Washington (Ted Kennedy was standing next to him!!!). But he walked away from it. And just asking, but if insuring everyone is a demonstrating of empathy, what happens when you promise to repeal a law insuring all Americans? By the way, given how easily Romney went to his health-care law in a question that was NOT about health care but empathy, he gives the impression of someone who wants to scream from the rooftops, "Yes, you are gosh darn right I supported a mandate, and I'd do it again!" But he can't…
*** This week's 10 hottest markets -- dominated by Virginia and Ohio: On Tuesday, both Obama and Romney were in New York. On Wednesday, they campaigned in Ohio. And today, both men will be in Virginia. Indeed, seven of this week's 10 hottest advertising markets (in terms of advertising points from Sept. 24-30) are in either Virginia or Ohio. And just two other states (Wisconsin and Florida) represent the other three. Here's this weeks' list:
1. Madison, WI: Obama 1540/Restore 1480/Romney 940/Priorities USA 860
2. Orlando: Obama 1700/Romney 1240/AJS 890/Crossroads 620/Priorities 250
3. Cleveland: Romney 1540/Obama 1500/AJS 710/Priorities 440/Crossroads 400
4. Tampa, St. Pete: Obama 1710/Romney 1300/AJS 670/Crossroads 480/Priorities 280
5. Washington, DC: Obama 1800/Romney 1500/AJS 570/Crossroads 250
6. Roanoke-Lynchburg: Romney 1500/Obama 1340/AJS 670/Crossroads 530
7. Norfolk-Portsmouth: Obama 1450/Romney 1440/AJS 730/Crossroads 215/Priorities 200
8. Dayton: Romney 1540/Obama 1390/Crossroads 570/AJS 360
9. Richmond-Petersburg: Romney 1475/Obama 1360/AJS 490/Crossroads 400/Priorities 230
10. Toledo: Romney 1500/Obama 1110/AJS 680/Crossroads 270/Priorities 330
*** Team Romney's ad-spending edge: It's worth noting that Obama's lead in the current polls comes as the GOP continues to enjoy an ad-spending advantage in the presidential race. This week -- from Sept. 24-30 -- Team Romney (campaign and outside groups) are outspending Team Obama (campaign and outside groups), $24.4 million to $18.6 million. Last week's GOP edge was a bit smaller, $22 million to $19.3 million. In the general election to date, more than $650 million has been spent on ads, with Team Romney at $356 million and Team Obama at $308 million.
*** The Outsiders: And speaking of all the ad spending, it increasingly looks like the main pro-Obama Super PAC Priorities USA Action is narrowing the outside-group gap. In August, American Crossroads, Crossroads GPS, and Restore Our Future spent $25 million to Priorities' $4 million. But so far in September, that ratio has narrowed to $24 million to $9.4 million. (But this comparison doesn't include outside spending by GOP-leaning groups like Americans for Jobs Security and Ending Spending.) By the way, Priorities USA and AFSCME are pairing up with a new radio ad hitting Romney on "47%." But it is worth asking: Given the Romney campaign problems of message discipline, does a conglomerate of advertising confuse things even more?
*** New polls coming out tonight! Heads up: We will be releasing the results of new NBC/WSJ/Marist battleground polls of Nevada, New Hampshire, and North Carolina beginning at 6:30 pm ET tonight.
Jewel Samad / AFP - Getty Images
President Barack Obama speaks during a campaign event at the Bowling Green State University on September 26, 2012 in Bowling Green, Ohio.
*** On the trail: Obama holds a rally in Virginia Beach at 11:50 am ET… Romney stumps in Springfield, VA at noon ET… Paul Ryan raises money in Tennessee… Ann Romney campaigns in Reno, NV… And Tagg Romney is in North Carolina.
Countdown to 1st presidential debate: 6 days
Countdown to VP debate: 14 days
Countdown to 2nd presidential debate: 19 days
Countdown to 3rd presidential debate: 25 days
Countdown to Election Day: 40 days
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Dordt's music program offers the best of two worlds. The department is large enough to offer those with professional interests courses and lessons taught by specialists, yet small enough to accommodate non-majors who want to participate because they love music. Our faculty includes 23 full-time and adjunct professors, all of whom are excellent musicians.
Any student can find many opportunities to make music at Dordt. In fact, more than 20 percent of all Dordt students choose to participate in a musical group. Large groups include Concert Band, Campus-Community Band, Chamber Orchestra, Concert Choir, Bella Voce Women's Chorus, and Chorale. There are also individual and small-group opportunities available including taking private lessons, performing in recitals, playing and/or singing in chapel and area church services, and teaching lessons to local students. You can also consider joining the smaller ensembles Jazz Band or Kantorei, or even organizing your own band or small ensemble.
At Dordt, we encourage you to develop your musical interests because we see music an important part of creation. Good music is the shaping of sounds and words in response to God's command to develop his world. Vocal and instrumental music are enjoyed as part of a life obedient to God, both speaking of our relationship to him and addressing other aspects of life in his good world. We want you to use your gifts in music to serve the body of believers and to enjoy music in community, whether music is just a special interest or if it is your chosen profession.
If you are considering majoring in music, you can best prepare yourself by acquiring as much experience as you can in band, orchestra, choir, general music, and private instruction in keyboard, instruments, or voice.
For more information about the music courses available at Dordt, please see the program overview. Find out more on this site or on the music department's Facebook page. And be sure to apply for scholarships!


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Sadly, the West Virginia Conference is a thing of the past.
The league – officially known as the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC) – was made up primarily of small colleges around the state. It existed for close to 90 years.
The WVIAC has been dissolved. Most of the members are now going to be a part of the new Mountain East Conference. Charleston, Concord, Glenville, Fairmont, Shepherd, West Liberty, West Virginia State, West Virginia Wesleyan and Wheeling Jesuit are all sticking together. Joining forces with the aforementioned WVIAC schools will be Urbana, Ohio, Notre Dame College of Ohio (located outside of Cleveland) and Virginia-Wise.
Through the years, several Jackson County natives and others with ties to the area enjoyed athletic success in the old WVIAC. In the July 25th edition of The Jackson Star News, we shared with readers some of the former football stars of the league who had a connection to Jackson County. Due to space limitations we couldn't bring you all of them.
So, as we continue our assault on the WVIAC history books, it's time to recognize a few more names from not only football but other sports.
Roger Hart – In 1965, 1966 and 1967, Hart earned First Team All-West Virginia Conference honors as a basketball player for Morris Harvey College (now the University of Charleston). Hart served as the head boys basketball and head boys track and field coach at Ripley High from 1973-1977.
Cal Bailey – In 1967, Bailey was named to the All-West Virginia Conference First Team in baseball as a first baseman at West Virginia State. Bailey spent time after that in pro baseball before entering the teaching and coaching profession. He started his career as a teacher and coach in Jackson County. Bailey has been the head baseball coach at State since 1978 (and will retire at the end of the upcoming 2014 season). He was the league's Coach of the Year in baseball seven times.
John Gattuso – An outstanding defensive end in football at West Virginia Tech, Gattuso was a First Team All-WVIAC selection in 1975. Gattuso was a member of Frank Marino's first coaching staff at Ripley in the football season of 1977. Gattuso played for Marino at old Welch High School.
Jay Robinson – In the spring of 1976, the one-time Ripley High athlete earned All-WVIAC honors in golf. Robinson, who would later return to his home county to serve as the head pro at Greenhills Country Club, excelled in golf, basketball and baseball during his high school days.
Gary Blair – As a freshman at Fairmont State in the fall of 1976, the former Ravenswood Red Devil football standout was a First Team All-WVIAC pick as a defensive back. Blair, who died a few years ago, played in the North-South Football Classic of 1976. It was the first N-S showdown since 1955.
Chuck Carr – A one-time county resident and Ravenswood assistant baseball coach, Carr was a First Team All-WVIAC baseball player in both 1981 and 1983. A native of St. Albans, Carr was the league's Hitter of the Year in '81.
Randy Anderson – In the 1981 conference men's tournament, Anderson and former Ripley High teammate Scott Ludwig helped lead Glenville to the semifinal round. Anderson was the Pioneers' dynamic point guard and earned the Commissioner's Heart & Hustle Award. Since his playing days, Anderson has been a highly successful basketball coach. Ripley High was one of his stops. He led the Vikings to the school's only State Tournament appearance in 1996.
Scott Ludwig – As a senior in the season of 1982-83 at Glenville State College, the smooth-shooting Ludwig led the conference with a 92.7 percentage from the free throw line. Ludwig, an area businessman, was a standout player at Ripley from 1975-78.
Shelley Ritchie – After helping lead Ravenswood to the Class AA state championship in December of 1982, Ritchie moved on to play basketball at the University of Charleston. She had a solid four-year career, culminating with All-WVIAC Second Team status in 1987.
Nikki Randolph – For two straight years the former Ripley High standout topped the assists category for WVIAC women's basketball while playing at Glenville. Randolph averaged 7.8 assists per game during the 1987-88 season and 9.0 in the 1988-89 campaign.
Kim Creel – A First Team All-Stater at Ravenswood, Creel moved on to play basketball at Glenville and is now in the school's Hall of Fame. Among her many highlights was leading the conference in field goal percentage at 58 percent during the 1987-88 season.
Lisa Thompson – Not once, but twice during her softball playing days at West Virginia Wesleyan did this one-time Lady Viking standout earn First Team All-WVIAC and the prestigious Pitcher of the Year Award. Those honors came following the seasons of 1992 and 1994.
Frankie Cummings – The former Ripley High First Team All-State baseball player moved on to the collegiate ranks and enjoyed a great career as a pitcher at West Virginia State under Cal Bailey's guidance. Cummings was a First Team All-Conference pitcher in the season of 2000. He is now a Ripley High assistant baseball coach.
Josh Romeo – A former Ravenswood High athlete, Romeo had a fine football career at Fairmont State. Romeo played at Ravenswood as a freshman, sophomore and junior before moving to Parkersburg High during his senior year. He was a running back/wide receiver/return man for the Fighting Falcons. In the first game of his career at Fairmont in the season of 2002, Romeo earned West Virginia Conference Player of the Week honors. He led the league in kickoff return yardage during the 2004 season.
Corey Isner – After an outstanding three years as a quarterback for Ripley High, Isner became the face of the new football program at the University of Charleston. He started the bulk of his career in the seasons of 2003-06. Isner set several passing records as a QB for UC and was named the WVIAC Conference Player of the Week once in 2004 and twice in 2005.
Rick Simmons – The former editor of The Jackson Herald was quite the golfer. Simmons excelled both on the high school level at Ripley and in college for Glenville State. After giving up the family newspaper business, Simmons returned to Glenville and among his jobs was serving as GSC's head golf coach. He was named the WVIAC Coach of the Year for the sport in 2003.
Tim Fisher – The Ripley High graduate was not only an All-WVIAC
golfer in 2004 but was also chosen as the sport's Player of the Year. Fisher, who was the West Virginia High School golf champ in 1998, has won three West Virginia State Amateur titles since his college career ended.
Tyler Franklin – One year after Fisher earned All-Conference, another Ripley High graduate in Tyler Franklin garnered the same honor. Franklin played his college golf at Fairmont. He is now an assistant pro at Berry Hills Country Club in Charleston.
Casie Waskey – Just like Lisa Thompson did in 1992 and 1994, Waskey, a former Ripley High player, was named First Team All-WVIAC and the Pitcher of the Year twice while competing at Alderson-Broaddus College. Waskey did so in back-to-back softball seasons of 2005 and 2006.
Josh Miller – The season of 2007 was a banner one for this former Ravenswood Red Devil three-sport standout. During that spring, Miller's bat and glove in the outfield earned him three outstanding honors as a player at West Virginia State. Miller was First Team All-Conference, Hitter of the Year and Player of the Year.
Jackson County connections to the WV Conference
Sadly, the West Virginia Conference is a thing of the past.


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UK distributors Hotlines have given us a pre-Eurobike preview of the latest bikes from Ghost. On the mountain bike side, the German company have redesigned their AMR Plus all-mountain/trail bike and added a 170mm-travel variant called the Cagua, introduced a 29er hardtail and added a couple of well-priced downhill/freeride options to the line-up. They also have some revised road and urban options.
AMR, AMR Plus and Cagua
We've had one of Ghost's 120mm-travel AMRs on long-term test and there's not much we'd alter about it; Ghost seem to agree as for 2012 the only changes are new colours and a drop in price. For example, the top-end alloy model, the Shimano XT-equipped 7500, will cost £2,299.99 as opposed to £2,399.99, with the only spec changes being a switch from Ritchey kit to an own-brand (wider) bar, stem and post.
The 120mm-travel AMR has been treated to new colours and spec tweaks for 2012
It's longer-legged brother, the AMR Plus, however, gets an all-new frame, available in carbon fibre (Lector) or aluminium (Actinum), with up-to-date features including a 1.5in head tube, Syntace X12 rear axle, Direct Post Mount brake tabs and ISCG05 mounts. It has 150mm of travel as stock (more on this later), with a slacker head angle (66.5°) and steeper seat angle (74°) than the current model, as well as a lower bottom bracket.
All AMR Plus models will come with dropper seatposts with handlebar remotes – either a RockShox Reverb or X-Fusion Hilo. The range starts with the alloy 5900 at £2,299.99, with a 15mm-axle Fox TALAS RL fork and X-Fusion 02 RCX shock, Shimano Deore XT groupset and non-series Shimano 596 disc brakes. It tops out with the carbon Lector 9000, with a Fox TALAS FIT Kashima RLC fork and RP23 Kashima shock, plus SRAM X0 gearing and brakes, for £4,499.99.
The AMR Plus has an all-new frame, and all models come with a dropper post for 2012
The AMR Plus uses the same four-bar suspension design as most of Ghost's range. New for 2012 is the ability to increase its travel to 165mm by swapping to a different length shock. This means you could run it stock for your local trails and then stick on a longer shock and fork, along with some form of chain guide, to beef it up for a trip to the bikepark or the Alps.
This is where things get slightly confusing, because Ghost have another new bike called the Cagua which uses exactly the same frame as the AMR Plus but comes as stock with 165mm of travel. So what's the difference between the two? It's all about the build. Where the AMR Plus comes with a tapered-steerer Fox 32 fork offering 150mm of travel, the Cagua has a 1.5in-steerer fork, and it's the burlier Fox 36 model with 170mm of travel.
The Cagua uses the same frame as the 2012 AMR Plus but has an extra 15mm of travel courtesy of a different length shock
There's a similar theme with the rest of the equipment too – 2.35in Schwalbe Nobby Nic tyres on the AMR Plus, 2.4in Fat Alberts on the Cagua; 1-1/8in stem vs 1-1/2in; triple chainring vs twin-ring plus chain guide... This difference in spec is reflected in the weight of the two bikes, too – the AMR Plus Lector 9000 is said to weigh 11.9kg (26.2lb), compared to 13.7kg (30.2lb) for the top-end Cagua (price and spec TBC; Hotlines don't yet know whether they'll be bringing the Cagua to the UK).
Northshore and DH
Ghost have another new bike, the Northshore, with just 15mm more travel than the Cagua and the same X12 rear angle and ISCG mounts. However, the separation between the two is clear – the Cagua is billed as an 'enduro' bike (ie. it's been designed to be pedalled up hills as well as bomb down them) while the 180mm-travel Northshore, as the name suggests, is aimed squarely at the freeride/bikepark fraternity.
Hotlines didn't have a 2012 Ghost Northshore to show us, but it uses essentially the same frame as the DH
The Northshore chassis is essentially a cheaper-to-produce version of Ghost's downhill frame (more on this below) and this is reflected in its pricing – the complete bike costs £1,999.99; the same as some freeride frames. It uses the same tubing as the 200mm-travel DH but has steeper, shorter geometry – a 65° head angle, 58.5° seat tube and 430mm chainstays. The spec includes a Marzocchi 66 RCV single-crown fork with 20mm axle, a Marzocchi Roco R shock, Truvativ Hussefelt cranks and nine-speed Shimano XT gearing, plus Magura MT2 brakes.
The DH has one major advantage over its little brother – a 'Bogey Roll' idler pulley to mitigate the effects of the high main pivot placement on pedalling (traditionally not a major concern with freeride bikes). The bike was introduced last year and changes for 2012 are minor – the head angle is now 1° slacker (63°), there's a Direct Post Mount for a 180mm rotor at the rear, a new 'small' size has been introduced (dimensions of the existing medium and large frames will shift slightly as a result) and the top-end 9000 model gets a carbon fibre link.
The DH has a 'Bogey Roll' idler to separate pedalling forces from the suspension
Claimed weight of the £4,499.99 DH 9000 is 17.3kg (38.1lb) and, with a Fox 40 RC2 FIT Kashima fork and DHX RC4 Kashima shock, 10-speed SRAM X0 and Magura MT6 brakes, Ghost reckon it's ready to race. Of more interest to many readers, though, will be the entry-level DH 7000, with Marzocchi 888 RCV fork and X-Fusion Vector RC shock, nine-speed SRAM X7, Truvativ Hussefelt cranks and Avid Elixir 3 brakes, for £2,299.99. The 7000 is also available as a frameset, with Fox instead of X-Fusion shock, for £1,499.99.
As with the rest of Ghost's full-suspension range, needle bearings are used in the shock eyelets instead of bushings for extra suppleness over small bumps (both eyelets on the DH and Northshore, just the upper on the AMR and AMR Plus) and chainstay lengths as well as front triangle dimensions are size-specific.
The DH 7000 looks like a good option for anyone starting out in downhill
On the hardtail side, both the entry-level SE and the race-orientated HTX are unchanged save for new colours and spec tweaks. New for 2012 is a 29er version of the HTX, the HTX 29, available in aluminium only, with prices for the three-model range starting at £999.99.
Ghost say it has "agile geometry", with a 69° head angle, 72° seat angle and the same wheelbase (1,085-1,120mm, depending on size) and Active Flex rear end (slim, ovalised stays and a 27.2mm-diameter seatpost to add comfort) as the 26in bike. There's a tapered head tube up front and press-fit bottom bracket down below to add stiffness.
The Ghost HTX 29 is about as sleek-looking as 29ers get. The angles look promising, too
The entry-level HTX 29 Actinum 7000 (£999.99) has a 100mm-travel RST First 29 Air SRL fork, Shimano SLX gearing (with non-series 552 cranks) and Avid Elixir 1 brakes. The top 9500 model (£1,799.99) upgrades to a tapered-steerer Fox 32F 29 RL fork with remote and 15mm axle, and full Shimano XT.
Road and urban
Ghost are best known for their mountain bikes but they also have a small but perfectly formed range of town and drop-bar models. The Trekking (utility, from £599.99), Cross (hybrid, from £449.99) and Speedline (fast hybrid, from £699.99) urban bikes get new, lighter hydroformed frames for 2012, with 27.2mm seatposts for improved comfort, sloping top tubes, Post Mount Direct brake tabs and 3D forged dropouts.
The rigid-forked, disc-brake-equipped Speedline 5700 caught our eye, at £999.99
The aluminium Race Actinum road bikes now have 27.2mm seatposts to improve comfort, while the carbon Race Lector will be available in a Pro version with Shimano's new Ultegra Di2 electronic groupset for £2,999.99 as well as a top-end version with SRAM Red for £5,299.99.
For more information on the Ghost range, visit www.hotlines-uk.com and www.ghost-bikes.com. The new bikes will be officially launched at Eurobike and are due to start appearing in shops in September. Look out for reviews of key models here on BikeRadar. Check out our image gallery for lots more pictures.
Ghost's road bikes are looking good, too; this is the carbon Race Lector Team with SRAM Force


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The Wings of History Museum is an all-volunteer, non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and restoration of antique aircraft, and displaying items from aviation history. The Museum has been in existence for more than 40 years. The name has changed over the years, but the spirit and enthusiasm of the members has always been the driving force that makes the Museum what it is today.
Museum Displays
The pictures to the right convey the diversity of our displays and exhibits.
Once a year we host a free Museum open house held on a Saturday in May. At our open house we invite all to come and experience our museum, and additional special event exhibits such as antique automobiles, tractors, engines, and other fun things.
If you would like to be a part of our May event or help our museum in other ways, we would like to talk to you. Our volunteers are people who share an interest and a love for flying machines or history in general. We all work hard to preserve, restore, and display any and all things to do with the evolution of flight.We strive to develop a fraternal spirit among the region's antique aircraft enthusiasts and to provide a forum for the exchange of aircraft history and information.


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Sunday, June 5, 2011
Seven days full of Zander.
We've all been getting to know him in our own way. Cautious poking.
He's staring into his Daddy's eyes a lot and looking for him when he hears his voice.
I'm staring at him a lot, nursing a lot, sleeping a little.
The kids had Daddy home for the first few days and got their first camping trip on the lawn this year.
We've had amazing friends bring us dinner all week - what a blessing that's been.
Hundreds of pictures have been taken.
Because ... because babies are irresistible when they're sleeping.
We've spent a lot of time cuddled on the couch watching Batman. Gray even has his own Batman dance he does now when he hears the theme music. And I know more about Batman than I did a week ago - which is actually saying something since Batman and Company are such a big part of our lives.
And look at what happens when Mommy is nursing or holding a sleeping baby -
She gets to eat cookies right off of the cooling rack - why get a plate dirty? Oh, right. The crumbs.
We've been playing a lot more games this week also because I'm so sedentary. While playing Qwirkle the other day, this was my view to my left ...
and to my right.
And on the nice days, when the kids are wanting to be outside I can sit on a bean bag on the porch with either Zander, or, if he's ok with being put down for his nap, with my laptop, and have the kids come up to talk to me or cuddle or yell at me to watch what they can do.
And then I take more pictures of a sleeping baby.
Because he's irresistible.
8 comments:
- dreamer said...
Enjoy every minute :) Priceless!
Thanks for sharing with us x
- June 6, 2011 at 4:25 AM
- Joy said...
What a sweet new little one! I love the picture of Hannah holding Zander. It looks like they are all adapting wonderfully. You look great mama!
- June 6, 2011 at 4:56 AM
- Cindy's Custom Creations said...
That picture of Ainsley in the background when you are playing the game is my favorite. That, and her eating cookies off of the tray. :-)
- June 6, 2011 at 9:08 AM
- nancy said...
Beautiful baby, beautiful mama, beautiful family! So happy for you all! Thinking of you from Texas, with love.
- June 6, 2011 at 12:28 PM
- Lindsay said...
So precious! Love the pics of the kids with their new baby brother. How are they all adjusting?
- June 6, 2011 at 12:57 PM
- Sarah said...
@Lindsay, they're all doing well. Hannah and Ainsley understood and were excited about it. Gray --- who knows what he understands and he hasn't been excited about it, but he also hasn't been angry about it. Mild interest, I think. But no anger or aggression, so I've been glad about that.
- June 6, 2011 at 1:50 PM
- Mama Teaching 3 said...
I love the new baby in the house blogs. :) *sigh* He is so pretty! :) Hee hee...
Did he fall asleep in the sling and then you laid him down gently? I did that alot with my middle boy.
- June 7, 2011 at 11:57 AM
- debbie said...
SO beautiful. This all made me cry. You live a beautiful, rich life my friend. xo
- June 27, 2011 at 9:26 PM


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by Lou Mancinelli
The Wissahickon Valley Park is a local treasure that isn't hidden on any secret map. The preservation and conservation of the park are in large part executed by staff members and volunteers of the Friends of the Wissahickon (FOW). Even corporations like FedEx put time in the valley repairing streams damaged by storms.
While the FOW staff members and volunteers and countless others serve as stewards for the physical aspect of the park, its board members work to preserve the Wissahickon from behind the scenes.
One such member is Chestnut Hill resident Will Whetzel, who is currently the chair of the FOW governance committee.
Whetzel, 63, went from selling advertisements for Rolling Stone magazine in Manhattan in the mid-1970s to investment banking for media groups in the '80s and on to a regional bank in Pittsburgh and volunteering in the non-profit sector in the '90s.
He is also on the board of the Nature Conservancy, an organization that, while working on conservation issues at both a regional and global scale, shares with the FOW the understanding of the importance of partnering with community organizations and other non-profits to get things done through a results-focused commitment to environmental stewardship.
The path of Whetzel's life and career has clearly been influenced by family members — parents, grandparents, siblings — who have been involved in non-profit work throughout their lives. His father was the president of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy for many years, and his brother is currently a board member. While president, his father worked across the state on environmental issues with his friend Tom Dolan, a long-time board member of FOW.
Whetzel was raised in Pittsburgh and attended Trinity College in Connecticut, graduating in 1972. After a few years in Boston, he moved to Manhattan and worked in advertising and sales at Rolling Stone, helping the magazine's owner and management launch Outside, a magazine about the outdoors.
Throughout the '80s, Whetzel worked in mergers and acquisitions in New York, specializing in publishing and media. At firms like Henry Ansbacher and Kidder Peabody, he "often aided British buyers interested in expanding into the U.S. newspaper and publishing market."
By the late 80s, Whetzel had married and was the father of two young girls. In 1990 he relocated to Pittsburgh and shifted his work focus to regional investment banking. At this stage in his life, away from New York, the idea of giving back and helping others kicked in, and he immersed himself in volunteer work. Before Whetzel left the Steel City, he had served as chairman or board member of a number of non-profit organizations including the New Leadership Board of the Pittsburgh Symphony, The Women's Center and Shelter, the Pittsburgh AIDS Task Force and others.
In 1999, he met Kim Pearson, who lured him to Chestnut Hill; they were married the following year. (Whetzel and his first wife had gotten divorced.) After a short stint at Paine Webber, Will was invited to join the boutique investment advisory firm Mitchell Sinkler & Starr in center city, where he still works today. The firm provides personalized advisory services to individuals, families and — no surprise — non-profit organizations.
Whetzel quickly fell in love with the personality of Chestnut Hill as well, and knew he wanted to become involved in the community in a meaningful way. Living next to the Wissahickon Park and learning about the considerable scope of the activities and mission of the Friends of the Wissahickon, it didn't take long for him to sign on.
He first served on the development committee, working on projects like the Asleep At The Wheel fundraisers. In 2009 he moved to his current position on the governance committee, which helps with issues like board development and the oversight of numerous operational decisions.
The recent completion of a five-year strategic plan has Whetzel and his fellow board members thinking about how to leverage partnerships with other organizations, build membership and increase volunteerism to better serve FOW's stewardship goals.
Rebuilding park trails, educating people about conservation issues, protecting signature places and managing a challenged habitat are all part of protecting the land and water of the Wissahickon. "These efforts are critically important for our whole region's health and prosperity; the park itself logs 1.1 million active outdoor recreation visits each year," he said.
In addition, water from the Wissahickon is delivered to the taps of over 350,000 Philadelphians. At the heart of FOW's programming is the unchanging, 90-year-old mission to "to preserve the natural beauty and wildness of the Wissahickon Valley and stimulate public interest therein."
In fact, Whetzel's work with FOW gives him an opportunity to combine his love for the environment with his tireless effort to preserve it. "If we can all slow down enough to work together and focus on the things around us that are important," he said, talking about board members and volunteers and those who visit the park, "that's how we can get things done."
It sounds hokey. It also sounds true.
For more information about Friends of the Wissahickon, visit www.fow.org.


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I used dominate a little bit and I was dissappointed to discover that when a charmed target was killed by the enemy, which is possible during a big swarm, you don't get any experience for it. Or at least it seemed that way, I'm not sure if I was too high a level for the mob. Whats the deal here in G5?
Major Lining Mid Palladium nbsp;textile London Brown Ankle Boots ZSW46gBq
By Delicious Vlish, in Geneforge Series
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Spellcraft is vital to any character build since it helps all spells including healing craft ones.
Take advantage of the terrain. Whenever you face more than 2 opponents that aren't under your control or dazed consider retreating to where you can't be swarmed. You can't use mental spells on golems, constructs, and a few other opponents so for those places you need to fight them yourself. Don't face more than 2 to 1 in a fight.
Submission creatures are a pain for any build since stun resistance doesn't guarantee that you will survive their attack. Try to only face one stunner at a time by staying out of the other's range or line of sight. This is a good place for creations to draw fire and missle attacks.
This is why you apply acid and pick the strongest targets. Acid should get the kill when something is down to a sliver of health.
At least, it usually does. Not always.
Usually you get credit for enemies that die from acid, poison, or lightning aura, but I had a few times where I didn't. It's worse in swarm fights where there are others dealing damage besides your character and creations.
I'm pretty sure that credit for a death from ongoing damage goes to whoever scored the last hit. If it was you or one of your creations, you get experience; if an NPC ally or a charmed monster, no such luck.
Sorry if this question has been answered already, but why is a magic servile build better that an agent or infiltrator?
Defensive abilities. The ability to hunker down and endure any incoming storm of melee.
You give up a bit of offense for an incredible amount of defense.
I've just been playing as an agent in geneforge 3, even with 20 int, and 1500 spell energy, I was still frequently having to run away to recharge, surely a magic heavy servile would be in a worse position?
A servile can easily switch to a weapon while waiting to recharge and should be better able to withstand damage. It really depends upon how you build the character and what equipment you are using.
Playing as agent in the G1-G3 games, I also found essence and spell energy big issues. That hasn't been a problem in G5. That's really cool, too. You can focus on what you're doing instead of running back to town between skirmishes. In G5, I can last a good long while before even gobbling an essence pod. In G1-G3, I tried to balance magic with melee/missile with the agent, who wound up being as strong later in the game as a guardian (for me, anyway). Agent is a powerhouse at the end. But it was really difficult early on.
I'm thinking that servile might be fun to try after reading this thread. I will miss the cool-looking sorceress outfit, though.
I'd love it if somebody would put together a sorceress build guide because I suspect it will be a popular character because of magic/shaping angle. Also, it would be nice to see if I'm even on target with what I'm doing.
A Servile can shape just as well as the Sorceress can. Really. It is a matter of waiting for the right items.
A Servile is a good bit more durable though.
"Waiting for the right items" was an excellent strategy in G4, because the best creations didn't have much time to level up anyway. In G5, it doesn't work as well. All the best creations can be shaped by level 25 or so, without skipping entire segments of the game. Some other good ones become available around level 10. That gives you 30 to 45 player level ups, or about 15 to 30 level ups creations are likely to get while they follow you around.
Additionally, shaping skill no longer has a 10-cap so the shaping bonus items are just as helpful for strong-shaping classes who have already invested in those skills.
Finally, the servile gets 6/7 the essence of the sorceress and also has less Intelligence (I forget if it's 1 or 2 points less).
So a servile certainly *can* shape, but he *won't* do it as well as a sorceress, with or without the items. He will be slightly worse at making disposable creations, and significantly worse at making permanent allies.
What he lacks in permanency he makes up for in durability.
Brown nbsp;textile Major Palladium London Mid Ankle Lining Boots I like the sorceress... Don't get me wrong. I like her a lot actually. But she isn't the class I had hoped for her to be based on the missing slot in G4. If you play as a strong shaper sort, not enough essence to pound enemies with spells. If you play as a strong agent or spellcaster type, and rely on items to shape with, then you really are no different than an agent / infiltrator / servile type.
It is in my opinion that the sorceress spreads her self to thin in achieving power. Every point she spends in shaping, she robs power from her magical abilities. If she shapes from items and boosts her magic to effective levels, her creations are little more than decoys, distractions, or a mop up crew.
The shock trooper can get all of the best creations early enough, have more essence, get more energy, and can cast spells. If you want strong creations, as is your point Slarty, then you want a class with strong shaping ability, rather than the piddling average. A sorceress raising a shaping ability to 10 (and no waiting for items, remember, as you stated) would hamstring her self to the point of disability.
Take away all the items and high powered goodies, and then we have a different argument. I'd probably say the sorceress is a good bit stronger than the servile, and possibly the perfect class. Items are the deal breaker, just as they were in G4. In G4, the servile was so freakishly overpowered that it was just obscene.
I made the same argument in G4. The items break the game. Which is why the shock trooper has a new lease on life and is incredibly dangerous.
I agree with you about the sorceress. I was disappointed by her as well, and she is probably worse than a lifecrafter or an infiltrator. Or a shock trooper.
My post was simply correcting your statement that the servile can shape as well as the sorceress. He can't.
I believe that Vlish simply meant to say that the Servile can easily get the strongest creations, and while his creations might not be every bit as good as, say, a Lifecrafter's or a Sorceress's, it won't make that much of a difference. My GF4 Servile was pretty good at Shaping. I mean, c'mon. A servile who's good at both magic and melee, and who can make Ur-Drakons and Eyebeasts? That *is* freakish. If War Tralls are as good as people say, he may be even more powerful in GF5.
War tralls aren't overpowered compared to drakons or gazers, and there isn't really a war trall answer to the ur-drakon or eyebeast. War tralls are just able to hold their own against the other top-tier creations now, since they've got decent resistance to everything and physical damage is always reliable if not always the most effective.
Really you get a tradeoff. Drakons and gazers will be much more effective sometimes and much less effective other times, depending on the type of attack you're facing and your enemies' resistances. War tralls are just reliable. In a game that rewards you pretty heavily for keeping creations around for a while, that works well. (It would work even better if you could start making tralls earlier, but you can't.)
—Alorael, who also thinks G5 makes the shaping-heavy classes better at shaping than G4 did, mostly by way of not capping shaping skills and giving more time for leveling creations. Serviles can still make powerful creations if they want, but they'll be decidedly inferior to a lifecrafter/shaper's.
Alorael's signature summary puts it well.
The only generic enemy that will hassle the War Trall is the Pylon. This old school style of pylon is rare. It is the Wingbolt & Gazer's shining moment. However, Drakons and other fire/ice creations will have *way* more trouble with it than a War Trall will. (It resists physical at 60%, while the Trall resists its attacks at 40%. Drakons & company resist its attacks at 30% or lower and do 10% or 0% regular damage to it!)
Wat Tralls are not "just reliable" -- there are enemies that do not resist physical, but do resist all sorts of magical attacks. War Tralls shine against Gazers and Eyebeasts! Whereas Gazers actually have trouble with enemy War Tralls, since they have no armor whatsoever.
Drakons on the other hand are not in the same league. They are good, but have no real advantages over Wingbolts. Basically any enemy that the Drakon has good resistance against (i.e. a fire attack user) also has resistance to the Drakon's attack.
I would say: War tralls and gazers/wingbolts will be quite effective most of the time, super effective on rare occasions and ineffective on rare occasions. Drakons will often be quite effective, and will sometimes be ineffective.
G5 has come down to finding the right character to wear the clothes.
End results are all to similar... The servile remains exceptionally strong, but the shock trooper might just be the strongest.
I like the sorceress... Don't get me wrong. I like her a lot actually. But she isn't the class I had hoped for her to be based on the missing slot in G4. If you play as a strong shaper sort, not enough essence to pound enemies with spells. If you play as a strong agent or spellcaster type, and rely on items to shape with, then you really are no different than an agent / infiltrator / servile type.
It is in my opinion that the sorceress spreads her self to thin in achieving power. Every point she spends in shaping, she robs power from her magical abilities. If she shapes from items and boosts her magic to effective levels, her creations are little more than decoys, distractions, or a mop up crew.
I'm playing the sorceress as a shaping sorceress. It was something I have wanted to do from my first Geneforge game. I have added creations as I went along, partly to experiment to see how they work and partly to help fight and partly because it makes the game more fun to have pets. Early on, so much gets pumped into mechanics and leadership that I had little left over to put into primary stats or anything else. I pumped strength and intelligence. When I kept dying I put a point into Spellcraft even though it was a penalty later on. That's one point I couldn't train in. At about level 25/26, I did the math. I think mech was up to 11 and leadership 9 by then. I had put 67 out of 140 skill points into leadership and mechanics. I'm at level 34, just about 1/2 through the game and I don't have any shaping items. These may be in places that I can't touch yet. I'm able to survive better now because I'm not putting skill points into mech/ldrshp any more. I just noticed that pumping spellcraft/magic has made me significantly stronger.
There are a number of factors as to why I don't feel successful.
(1) I'm a mediocre player. I find the Geneforge games difficult in general. I usually survive on a good walkthrough and this message board. G5 is very difficult for me on easy. Easy and normal don't seem all that different.
(2) I play for fun. I'm game for challenges, but every round for a long stretch has been an uphill battle. It's not feeling fun right now.
(3) I'm too weak to go into the areas that may have the best items to make me stronger. For example, I would love the gruesome charm, but the shades were overpowering.
(4) Nerfing of some important spells/stats in G5. I've read all the threads about speed needing to be nerfed, and I get how the really good players are feeling. They want more of a challenge. People like me... well, there's only so much reloading and restarting I'm going to do. Hard to hit and run without speed. I used to do that even with creations. Not being able to build my character to account for the boost in poisonous creatures has hurt. Endurance does not do that anymore. I'm having to wear poison resistance instead of stat boosting items. Slarty tells me in another thread that poison/acid aren't important and I'm doing something wrong. Maybe they aren't and maybe I am. Don't get me wrong. There is probably many other better ways to go about playing this game. I am a so-so, maybe average or maybe less than average player. But as a player of previous Geneforge games, I'm tending to play like I did before and it's not working. Sometimes the only way you know something doesn't work is to fail. Unfortunately.
Back on subject...
Why play a melee servile? Why use missiles?
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Normal difficulty. (For kicks and giggles, and because I am testing something out right now) Dexterity is 10, with items, a shield and some sandals adding to my dex. Missile weapon skill is 5 at the moment, and no where near as high as it could be.
Venom batons against an un-armored foe have a wide range of damage. At this point, even though I am relatively unskilled, I have a damage range of about 60 to 90. In the shot above, you can see what I did when I shot the poor mage fellow. You can also see what my clawbug, Mr. Pinchy, is doing. When I raise my missile skill a bit more, I'll be able to clear 100 damage a shot with a puny venom baton, before physical resists and or armor. The poison damage is long and lingering against many foes. In my inventory, I have an acid baton too. In time, I'll be able to clear about 150ish average damage with it. (With some shots clearing 200) Take note, I am not blessed in this shot. This is intentional. I wanted to show the damage output as it was. With blessing, the damage goes up considerably.
Missile weapons are powerful, and are great even with out a ton of investment. It is a good way to conserve essence and spell energy to extend your jaunts out into the boonies.
Any well balanced melee character, or even well balanced spell caster will benefit from having a back up plan involving missiles.
As always submission batons and reaper batons rock the house.
Awesome! Say, it's been a while.
Thanks for the guide, Vlish. I can't wait for the reincarnation of Learned Tal.
Too bad I don't have a Mac... yet...
War tralls are just reliable. In a game that rewards you pretty heavily for keeping creations around for a while, that works well. (It would work even better if you could start making tralls earlier, but you can't.)
You can make War Tralls by your first visit to Gazaki-Uss (the diplomatic mission for Alwan). The area with the War Trall canister is not key locked - it just needs enough living tools. And if you have been conservative with them, you should have enough to spare.
Lining Ankle London Palladium nbsp;textile Boots Major Brown Mid I am pretty sure I had a War Trall by level 25 or so. He and my Wingbolt have been my most effect damage causers in the second half of the game (which because of work I cannot play as fast as I used to bang these out in the old days).
I have to say I really, really like Rotdhizons. 12 AP, good damage sinks, and essentially immune to poison (which appears to be a favorite attack in this game). I was well into Traygen lands before I could afford one of these in my entourage though.
Rotdhizons are quite good. They're also more expensive than War Tralls, though, so they'd better be. I think the War Tralls are very slightly more durable, but the rots definitely have better damage output against anything that's not almost completely immune to their acid. And the rots have the advantage of being able to run down literally everything they face.
—Alorael, who thinks maybe this line of discussion needs to move elsewhere. Rotdhizons are neat, but they aren't serviles.
The only generic enemy that will hassle the War Trall is the Pylon. This old school style of pylon is rare. It is the Wingbolt & Gazer's shining moment. However, Drakons and other fire/ice creations will have *way* more trouble with it than a War Trall will. (It resists physical at 60%, while the Trall resists its attacks at 40%. Drakons & company resist its attacks at 30% or lower and do 10% or 0% regular damage to it!)
Wat Tralls are not "just reliable" -- there are enemies that do not resist physical, but do resist all sorts of magical attacks. War Tralls shine against Gazers and Eyebeasts! Whereas Gazers actually have trouble with enemy War Tralls, since they have no armor whatsoever.
Drakons on the other hand are not in the same league. They are good, but have no real advantages over Wingbolts. Basically any enemy that the Drakon has good resistance against (i.e. a fire attack user) also has resistance to the Drakon's attack.
I would say: War tralls and gazers/wingbolts will be quite effective most of the time, super effective on rare occasions and ineffective on rare occasions. Drakons will often be quite effective, and will sometimes be ineffective.
War trolls are like.. 2-hit-KO with Gazers =)
They have 0 magical resistance. Their a double-edged sword.
Nope, you're wrong. They have 40% resistance to magic. Whereas Gazers have 0% resistance to physical attacks. Advantage: War Trall.
Incorrect. War Tralls have a d5 physical die, Gazers have a d10 kill spell. Even with the 40% damage reduction, that's still more. However, Hei is partially right, as some NPC war Trall's do, in fact, have zero Magic resistance.
Nope, you're wrong also. In G5, the War Trall's missile attack is d8. That's an average of 4.5 damage, versus an average of 5.5 for the Gazer kill. Take 40% off of that and you get 3.3 per attack for Gazers, versus 4.5 for Tralls. Tralls still win.
What? A d8? I thought all physical attacks were a d4 or d5! *runs of to replay g5 with a pack of tralls*
All PHYSICAL MELEE attacks are d4 or d5, including the War Trall's. The War Trall's RANGED attack, which happens to be PHYSICAL as well, is d8 (in G5 only).
So that's why everyone loves them. I thought it was just because they had uberhealth and sold resistances.
All lies! =(
Now add awesome damage to uberhealth and solid resistances. I think I just fell in love! Only it was a while ago...
I still think Gazers are cooler. And smarter. And immune to mental effects.
Not true. It's quite possible to daze enemy gazers, with the exception of a few named ones.
Speaking of which, I tried to take out the beastie in Lerman's Pass with my 3 tralls. After about 4 tries, I gave up. I've completed everything through the Storm Plains but have yet to move into the Dera Reaches. Lerman's Pass is one of the hardest areas in the game, right? (crosses fingers in hope)
Lermans pass is one of the harder places but outside of the challgene area it is not the hardest.
Out of curiousty, how are you trying to defeat the thing?
Personally I lure it out of the turret room then I pin it into a corner. I Poision, Acidify it. My main charcter just does mass healing. Normally 3 tralls is enough but I don't play on torment. If you have the essence shape a couple of courrepted thahds. They rock.
Master1 is right. You can charm gazers.
Kinda. When you first reach it, it is surely the hardest area in northern Terrestia (save Gorash-Kel and Sammanns place). But you can beat it after getting access to Storm Planes in a short while. I went in with a level 35 Warrior with one Rotghroth, and a Cryo/regular drayk. I went through an Acid Wand, a terror wand, and a few major healing spores, but it went off without a reload. IIRC, you mentioned your playing through on Torment for the first time, so that's probably why it seems so much harder then before (I'm also used to playing on harder levels)
Edit: Sniped by Hypnotic
That's right- they are only immune to mental effects in the earlier games. Not G5.
I haven't been able to lure it out of that room. Actually, I haven't even tried. That would probably help a lot.
Attack it once and then flee, and it'll follow in a few rounds. Fighting in the turret room without lots of creations is suicide.
I've noticed as much. I can actually last really well, but I can't focus enough energy on the actual boss. If only I could daze the stupid fungi. Thanks for the help.
"The smart man learns the trick; the dumb one learns the trick, then tells others.
(The brilliant one tells others and makes a profit)"
Why make profit ?
Any way, are drakons usefull?
I mean, since creations and troops are now a lot harder to kill.
Well why not mak a profit? A bit of extra cah wouldn't hurt. A profit is also a better to have than a loss or breaking even. So I would personally choose to make a profit.
War Tralls are better than Drakons here. More HP and battle creations rock in this game.
Go and ask the owner of a Little Shop of Horrors; don't feed the plants for cash or you'll get more than a nasty rash.
At lest you can lose more than nothing.
Although in real life it isn't that simple...
Tralls are better? How about cryodrakys, are they still "useless pieces of junk" as in G2?
Not useless, but not as great as other high-tier creations. The fire creations are good, but more expensive. I would stick with mostly battle creations, and maybe throw in some magic/fire for a good mix, but magic and fire are too expensive to be the main force of your army, or at least that's what I've found on torment.
Thanks for the advice.
I have an other question are wands that useful? I mean i can get essence everywhere now.
Moreover the Vilsh sort of compensate don't they?
Use up wands early in the game since they increase slightly with abilities, but don't do as much damage proportionally to the later monsters. Crystals no longer increase with missle weapon ability.
AHHH damn,
-Crystals not useful.
-Essence always there when you don't need it.
-HP up, Attack down.
-Creations lame.
-Wingbolts killing every thing.
-No possibility to create Human Shades.
The Geneforge series are getting old are they?
I find crystals to be useful up to the endgame, but then again, I haven't reached it on torment yet.
Never shun the extra essence. Use it as buffs, or make more creations.
Wingbolts were only around for 2 games, and the only dominated in 1. They are still powerful, but no longer the best.
Ahem in this Game its the Tralls/Gazers at the top of the food chain with Tralls with the advantage.
Wingbolts are top in G4
EDIT: Sniped


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This is a total conversion mod for Empire at War / Forces of Corruption. It takes place right after the Battle of Geonosis in "Attack of the Clones". Replacing the Empire, Rebels and Zann Consortium with the Galactic Republic and Seperatist Alliance along with The Hutt Cartel, Pirates and Neutral Worlds.
This review may contain spoilers