text:
Introduction to Property and Casualty and the Insurance Contract
- Course Delivery: On Demand
- Credit Hours: 6
- Credit Type: General
This course will introduce you to the basic principles of insurance, including the concept of risk, the different types of risk, and techniques in managing risk. It will introduce you to several basic elements and terms used in the insurance industry. The course will focus on explaining the insurance contract by introducing and reviewing its various parts, including: the elements, characteristics, and parts of a contract, as well as various policy organizations. It will also lesson focus on the insurance transaction. The transaction includes such things as the application process, how the policy is selected, underwritten, and rated. This section will also review some of the legal requirements of applicants and the insurance company, with respect to the insurance transaction.
Course Objectives
Upon completion of the course, the student will be able to:
- Learn the types of Insurance companies that are available to consumers.
- Study the basic structure, and types of Property and Casualty insurance.
- Review who and what exactly makes up and insurance company.
- Gain an understanding of how the industry is regulated, and who regulates it.
- Review the insurance contract by discussing its key elements.
- Understand the basics of the insurance transaction.
Regulatory Information
Introduction to Property and Casualty and the Insurance Contract - Arkansas Insurance Department
- Name:
- Arkansas Insurance Department
- Phone:
- 501-371-2600
- Fax:
- 501-371-2618
- Website URL:
- https://www.insurance.arkansas.gov/
- Email Address:
- email@example.com
- Address:
- 1200 W. 3rd Street
- City:
- Little Rock
- State:
- Zip:
- 72201-1904
Subject Matter Expert
This course is written by EMMERT C. DAUGARD, M.A. CLU ChFC HIA MHP PAHM RHU REBC LIC
An accomplished speaker/trainer who has developed and taught many public insurance continuing education courses. Since 1988, designed and taught courses to over 25,000 insurance professionals. Held the insurance positions of agent/broker, manager, and corporate senior vice-president. Licensed for over 20 years in both property/casualty and life/health.
Director, Center for Continuing Education, Austin, Texas
Manager/Senior Vice--President, Sales/Marketing, Sheshunoff & Company, Austin, Texas
Vice President, Sales, Hawkeye Insurance Services, Des Moines, Iowa
District Manager, Farmers Insurance Group, California & Iowa
EDUCATION and LICENSES:
Master of Arts, Business and Administration, Columbia Pacific University; Bachelor of Science, Mankato State University; Chartered Life Underwriter & Chartered Financial Counselor Designations; Registered Health Underwriter & Registered Employee Benefits Counselor Designations; Managed Healthcare Professional & Health Insurance Associate Designations; Associate in Insurance Claims; Professional, Academy of Healthcare Management; Currently Enrolled in Certified Employee Benefits Specialist Program, Wharton Business School; Holds insurance licenses for Life, Property/Casualty, MGA, All-lines Adjuster, and Life Insurance Counselor
End of Course Instructions
Congratulations! You have successfully completed your continuing education course. 360training or a 3rd party affiliate of 360training will report your credit hours to the Department of Insurance within 15 days. You may also now print your completion certificate online. Keep in mind that certificates of completion must be kept on file for 5 years.
Why Choose 360training.com?
- Fast and easy courses completion
- Get an education faster than at traditional colleges!
- 100% online - No classroom attendance required.
- Online customer support
- Over 500,000+ certified nationwide.


text: Angelina Jolie Wearing New Engagement Ring, Confirms Jeweler (Exclusive) 10:24 AM PDT 4/13/2012 by Merle Ginsberg FACEBOOK TWITTER EMAIL ME 2012 Museum Associates/LACMA by Howard Pasamanick Angelina Jolie Engagement Ring Inset - H 2012 UPDATED: Beverly Hills jeweler Robert Procop, who has a collection of jewelry within his company called "Style of Jolie," confirms to THR that he created an engagement ring for Angelina Jolie designed in collaboration with Brad Pitt. Who is Robert Procop? He's about to be a household name, we predict. The Beverly Hills jeweler and former CEO of Asprey & Garrard, the British jewelry company to the English royal family, confirms to The Hollywood Reporter that he has designed an engagement ring for Angelina Jolie. A rep for the jeweler says, "I can confirm that, yes, Robert Procop did indeed design an engagement ring for Angelina Jolie, designed in collaboration with Brad Pitt." On Friday afternoon, Pitt's manager, Cynthia Pett-Dante, told THR: "Yes, it's confirmed. It is a promise for the future and their kids are very happy. There's no date set at this time. Brad designed the ring." PHOTOS: Angelina Jolie's Top 10 Red Carpet Looks Jolie was seen wearing the ring two nights ago, April 11, at a private viewing of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's Chinese Galleries. She attended the small gathering with Pitt as well as their son Pax. PHOTOS: Outtakes from Brad Pitt's THR Cover Shoot Procop tells THR: "Brad had a specific vision for this ring, which he realized over a yearlong collaboration. He wanted every aspect of it to be perfect, so I was able to locate a diamond of the finest quality and cut it to an exact custom size and shape to suite Angelina's hand. Brad was always heavily involved, overseeing every aspect of the creative design evolution. The side diamonds are specially cut to encircle her finger. Each diamond is of the highest gem quality." STORY: Brad Pitt On the Unmentionables: Marriage, Politics and Religion It makes sense that Procop was the designer who created the ring with Pitt. Procop's "The Style of Jolie" jewelry collection on his website was designed with the star, and she's worn a multitude of his pieces on the red carpet, including to this year's Producers Guild Awards. The first funds from Procop's collaboration with Jolie have been dedicated to the Education Partnership for Children in Conflict to build a school in Afghanistan. Procop also created pieces of jewelry for Jolie for The Tourist. Procop's had one very good week: When Robert Downey Jr. and his wife Susan stepped out for the L.A. premiere of The Avengers for the first time since the Feb. 7 birth of their son, Downey told the press he and his wife were wearing amethyst jewelry from Procop in honor of their son's birthstone. Downey also wore a purple Gucci suit, and the couple joked that they were bringing a little bit of their new son Exton with them. News of the engagement should come as no surprise to readers of The Hollywood Reporter. In January, Pitt told THR that he and Jolie did hope to one day tie the knot for the sake of their children. "We'd actually like to," he said of making Jolie his wife, "and it seems to mean more and more to our kids. We made this declaration some time ago that we weren't going to do it till everyone can. But I don't think we'll be able to hold out. It means so much to my kids, and they ask a lot. And it means something to me, too, to make that kind of commitment." At the time, Pitt declined to comment on whether he had proposed yet. "I'm not going to go any further," he said, "But to be in love with someone and be raising a family with someone and want to make that commitment and not be able to is ludicrous, just ludicrous." FACEBOOK TWITTER EMAIL ME Merle Ginsberg firstname.lastname@example.com @thr

subset: commoncrawl


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The Liberty men's and women's squads swept the 2013 Big South outdoor team championships on Saturday.
Day 3 Recap Video Liberty completed its seventh time hosting the Big South Outdoor Track & Field Championships on a sun-drenched Saturday at the newly-refurbished Matthes-Hopkins Track Complex. Just as on the previous six occasions, the Flames and Lady Flames swept the Big South team titles on their home track. The Liberty men's squad won six Saturday events, highlighted by a 1-2-3-4 sweep of the pole vault and a 1-2-3-5 finish in the men's 5K. As a result, the Flames rolled to their 18th championship in the 20-year history of the meet and their seventh in a row. Liberty racked up 213 points, putting the Flames 82 tallies ahead of runner-up Coastal Carolina's score of 131. Liberty also closed out its seventh consecutive Big South men's "Triple Crown" of championships, after winning the cross country title in October and the indoor track & field championship in February. The Lady Flames exchanged the lead with two-time defending champion Coastal Carolina several times on Saturday, before going in front for good when Khristina Kanagy and Jacy Christiansen placed second and third, respectively, in the women's 5K final. Liberty scored 210 points to the Chanticleers' 203.25 for the narrowest margin of victory among the Lady Flames' 13 Big South outdoor team titles and its first win at this meet since 2010. Redshirt senior Ryan Smith won the shot put while placing second in both the discus and hammer to earn his second straight Big South Men's Outstanding Field Performer award. It was the seventh consecutive year that a Liberty Flame has captured the honor. Meanwhile, sophomore Mychelle Cumings swept the women's shot put and discus crowns for the second year in a row. As a result, she was voted as Liberty's first Big South Women's Outstanding Field Performer since Marie Williams in 2009. Head coach Brant Tolsma was tabbed Big South Men's and Women's Coach of the Year, bringing his career total to 54 Big South Coach of the Year laurels. It was the seventh straight year that Tolsma has been honored as Big South Men's Coach of the Year at this meet. Liberty's honorees on the Big South All-Academic Team were both distance runners, redshirt sophomore Caleb Edmonds and sophomore Meredith Mistretta.
Men's Day Three Recap For the second straight year, Liberty swept the top four places in the men's pole vault, led by Cody Bingham's winning clearance of 16-0.75. The redshirt freshman completed a yearly sweep of the Big South indoor and outdoor men's pole vault crowns. Behind him, Cody Fridgen placed second, equaling his personal best and qualifying for the IC4A meet at 15-9. Harrison Allen cleared a personal-best 15-3 for third place, while freshman Ken Ritchey sailed over a season-best 15-3 to finish fourth. After placing first, second, third and fourth in Thursday night's men's 10K final, Liberty's distance runners almost repeated the feat in Saturday's 5K. In the next-to-last men's event, the Flames punctuated their team victory with a 1-2-3-5 finish. Caleb Edmonds led the way in a time of 14:26.14, followed by Josh MacDonald in an outdoor personal-best clocking of 14:28.70. For MacDonald, it was his third All-Big South performance in as many days, following third-place finishes in both Thursday's 10K and Friday's steeplechase. Jeremie Bourget also recorded an outdoor 5K personal best at 14:31.29, crossing the line third to match his finish at the Big South indoor meet. After winning Thursday's 10K, David Ricksecker was fifth in the 5K, posting a 14:38.85. Isaac Wendland enjoyed a most successful Saturday, winning the first two Big South individual titles of his career. He started his day with a 1,500-meter victory in a time of 3:56.78. Ninety minutes later, Wendland clocked a season-best and IC4A-qualifying 800 time of 1:51.37 to complete the first Big South men's 800/1,500 sweep by a Flame since Stephen Githuka in 1999. Andre Washington was another busy, productive Flame on Saturday, highlighted by his victory in the 400 hurdles. He posted a personal-best time of 51.95 seconds, moving up to fifth in program history while becoming Liberty's first Big South 400 hurdles champion since Tim O'Donnell in 2009. Washington also qualified for the IC4A meet with a season-best 400 dash time of 48.17, placing fifth in the event. The senior ran on both of the Flames' relays as well, helping the 4 x 100 squad take third place in 41.11 seconds and the 4 x 400 relay unit finish fourth in 3:15.24. Washington was joined by Roderick Spruel, Tarell Williams and ConRoy Smith in the 4 x 100. His 4 x 400 teammates included Wendland, Kyle Gill and Paul Arslain. Chris Johnson popped off a season-best 48-8.75 triple jump in the sixth and final round, winning the event title for the second time in three years. Smith briefly held the lead during the latter stages of the discus before coming in second with a season-best 159-3 heave. He wraps up his brilliant career with 10 Big South individual titles and 15 All-Big South honors.
Women's Day Three Recap Liberty trailed Coastal Carolina by 2.25 points (192.25-190) in the women's team standings entering the penultimate event, the 5K. However, the duo of Kanagy and Christiansen enabled the Lady Flames to turn the tables. Kanagy maintained second place throughout the race, running an outdoor personal-best and ECAC-qualifying time of 17:14.83. Meanwhile, Christiansen made a powerful charge through the field during the final laps, ending up third and cutting 20 seconds off of her 5K personal best. The sophomore, who now ranks No. 5 in program history with her 17:26.20 effort, helped Liberty outscore Coastal Carolina, 14-1, and seal the team victory. Not to be overlooked, though, was a key 1-2-3 podium sweep by the Liberty women's discus throwers late in the meet. Cumings led the charge, throwing a meet-record and season-best 166-11 for her second straight Big South discus title. Jocelyn Williams (155-8) and Jennifer Nicholson (155-4) placed second and third, respectively. The performance added more than two feet to Nicholson's personal best in the event. After the Lady Flames had set three school records on Friday, redshirt freshman Ansley Gebben equaled one on Saturday. Her 400 hurdles time of 60.57, which placed third in the event, equaled the mark which Danielle McNaney had set at the 2005 Big South meet. Gebben, who helped the Liberty volleyball team win the Big South title in November, played a key role in her first Liberty track & field Big South team crown. Fellow freshman Brittney Webley followed with a fourth-place finish in the 400 hurdles, running 61.68 seconds. Now No. 4 on Liberty's all-time list, Webley joined Gebben in qualifying for the ECAC meet. Staying with the freshman theme, Janae Jones became the third Lady Flame ever to triple jump over 40 feet. She reached a personal-best 40-4.25 for second place in the event. Teammate Melissa Rohwer triple jumped a season-best 38-10.5, coming in fourth. After setting school records during Friday's 100 and 200 prelims, sophomore Abigail Flower earned All-Big South recognition with third-place finishes in both events on Saturday. Her times (11.84 in the 100 and 23.95 in the 200) were impressive, considering that both races were run into a headwind. Amanda Wimbush stepped onto the all-conference podium for the first time in her career, after placing third in the 800 at 2:14.04. Liberty clocked season-best times of 46.55 in the 4 x 100 relay and 3:51.26 in the 4 x 400, placing fourth and third, respectively. The 4 x 100 relay grouping included Sherri Spruel, Olivia Davis, Flower and Webley. Meanwhile, Corinn Bedell joined Gebben, Flower and Webley in posting the Lady Flames' first ECAC-qualifying 4 x 400 effort of the 2013 campaign.
Liberty will remain within the Commonwealth for its next meet, as the Flames and Lady Flames will compete in the Highlander Invitational, Friday and Saturday at Radford.
Final Men's Team Standings 1) Liberty – 213 2) Coastal Carolina – 131 3) High Point – 110 4) Charleston Southern – 81 5) VMI – 73 6) Campbell – 65 7) Radford – 56 8) Gardner-Webb – 44 9) Winthrop – 25 10) UNC Asheville - 20
Final Women's Team Standings 1) Liberty – 210 2) Coastal Carolina – 203.25 3) Charleston Southern – 89.5 4) Campbell – 74 5) UNC Asheville – 51.75 6) High Point – 48 7) Gardner-Webb – 42.5 8) Winthrop – 39 9) VMI – 38 10) Radford – 23
Men's Outstanding Track Performer Evan Emery, High Point
Women's Outstanding Track Performer Jeanne Stroud, Winthrop
Men's Outstanding Field Performer Ryan Smith, Liberty
Women's Outstanding Field Performer Mychelle Cumings, Liberty
Men's Freshman of the Year Alex Young, Gardner-Webb
Women's Freshman of the Year Jessica Gelibert, Coastal Carolina
Men's Scholar-Athlete of the Year Cabell Willis, VMI
Women's Scholar-Athlete of the Year Jeanne Stroud, Winthrop
Men's All-Academic Team Ben Bell, Gardner-Webb Eric Baldwin, Campbell Kurt Hibert, UNC Asheville Corvaughn Archie, Charleston Southern Tristan Faure, High Point Cameron Griggs, Coastal Carolina Gabe Holguin, Winthrop Caleb Edmonds, Liberty Joseph Betts, Radford Cabell Willis, VMI
Women's All-Academic Team Kelsey Hunt, High Point Ivana Hughes, Gardner-Webb Emily Marchini, Coastal Carolina Meredith Mistretta, Liberty Heidi Dean, Charleston Southern Teresa Williamson, Radford Emma Bussard, UNC Asheville Jenna Moye, VMI Jeanne Stroud, Winthrop Brianna Kincade, Campbell
Men's Coach of the Year Brant Tolsma, Liberty
Women's Coach of the Year Brant Tolsma, Liberty


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Main Content
The Wedding Pianist
I'm Simon Jordan, a highly experienced wedding and function pianist. I specialise in piano music for weddings and can play for your ceremony, drinks reception or wedding breakfast.
You can hire me to play my own piano – or an instrument at your venue – from £175.
Hear Me Play
About Simon Jordan
A highly experienced and versatile musician whose CV includes solo concertos at the Royal Festival Hall, playing for the Prime Minister's annual Christmas Party, 20 years as a producer for Radio 3 and Radio 2, and concert performances across the UK, Europe and the World. Simon's unique experience as a musician and producer means he is a recommended supplier at a range of venues across London and the Home Counties including the Olde Bell, Danesfield House, One Canada Square, the Dorchester, Syon Park and many more.
I've over 20 years' experience playing for weddings and receptions and am one of the UK's most popular wedding pianists, playing at events throughout England and Wales. Unlike every other pianist, I will play the music you choose and not make you pick from a list.
"A great pianist who is a must for any wedding" Toastmaster Timothy Lee
A piano at your wedding
A pianist at your wedding can create a relaxing and unique atmosphere, provide your favourite music in the most romantic way and then set the tone of the rest of the day. In the hands of the right pianist, this most versatile of instruments can provide an extraordinary range of different musical colour.
Wedding Ceremony
A great pianist can provide a stunning soundtrack to your wedding ceremony. From church hymns to your favourite song, or relaxing background music, wherever you are getting married, and whatever you want to hear, the piano is the perfect instrument.
Wedding Drinks Reception / Canapés
While you are busy with the photographer, the best pianist can stop the atmosphere from going flat and keep your guests entertained – as well as taking requests. Now your friends and family have the chance to talk and catch-up, a friendly and versatile piano player will provide the perfect conversation starter.
Wedding Breakfast
Your guests are in the same seats for a couple of hours – so let the entertainment begin! A well chosen wedding pianist can play everything from today's chart-toppers to the great songs of the past and a few light classical pieces to whet the appetite. Your guests will be enthralled, and a magical atmosphere will be created.
Free Consultation
A no-obligation service in which Simon will play the music you have chosen so you can sample their sound on the piano before your wedding day. This process can take place before or after booking, over Skype or FaceTime, or in person at Simon's studio in High Wycombe, Bucks. It is vital that you are satisfied with your music for the day, and use Simon's versatility and experience to its fullest, so you can discuss any musical requests and requirements you have in as much detail as you like.
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16 Friars Gardens | Hughenden Valley | Buckinghamshire | HP14 4LT
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Simon is powered by Yamaha Music and Events


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Will Ferrell's strange Old Milwaukee ads that no one sees are rapidly becoming a Super Bowl tradition. Last year's aired in North Platte, Neb., the second-smallest TV market in the country. Last night's—a solid minute of Ferrell making out with an Asian lady as Chinese music swells and the camera pulls out to show a six-pack of beer—actually appeared in three tiny markets.
Ferrell claims he doesn't get paid a thing for these commercials, though they are produced and placed by Funny Or Die, a company Ferrell has an ownership stake in.
Whatever the ad buy, it's relatively cheap—and surely a wise investment. Think about it: you just watched an entire commercial for Old Milwaukee. How many commercials did you give your full attention last night, even as companies paid $3.8 million for 30 seconds of national exposure? How many did you pass along to your friends? Maybe Chrysler should have had Paul Harvey tongue a woman on a bus.


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Details on Tuesday's font serving outage
This past Tuesday, 18 December 2012, from approximately 6:00 PM PST to 6:45 PM PST, our font network experienced a partial outage for many users around the world.
Our font network uses a worldwide system of servers run by a major commercial content delivery network (or CDN). Each request for fonts is routed to the nearest server in order to return a response as quickly as possible.
Unfortunately, our CDN provider pushed a bad configuration on Tuesday evening, and a change that was meant for only one of their customers got applied to many customers instead, including Typekit. From our CDN provider's post-mortem:
The outage occurred as a result of a change we made to a configuration in our core caching platform. It's important to note that this was not a security issue, or even a bug, but a simple human error that was not flagged by our standard staging and testing procedures.
This mistake resulted in font requests failing, which meant that some visitors saw fallback fonts on sites using Typekit for a period of about 45 minutes. The configuration change rolled out slowly, which meant that more and more traffic was affected over time. Typekit Enterprise customers who use their own CDN environment weren't affected by the outage.
We have external and internal monitoring to detect problems with our font serving network, but our monitoring didn't pick up on the growing issue until approximately 6:18 PM PST. At that time, we quickly got in touch with both our CDN provider and our customers (via the status blog and Twitter). At approximately 6:45 PM PST, our CDN provider finished rolling back the bad configuration changes, and font serving was restored to normal.
Requests for fonts failed quickly during the outage, and the fallback fonts specified in each site's CSS were shown instead. This illustrates one reason why designing and implementing good fallback fonts is important. Not only does it improve the appearance of your site during an unlikely outage, but it's also important for older browsers that don't support web fonts.
We know that our customers have high expectations for uptime on our font network and prompt communication about issues and downtime. We sincerely apologize for the impact that this outage had on our customers and their visitors, and our delay in detecting the problem. Our CDN provider has responded proactively to prevent this type of configuration error in the future. At Typekit we're working to improve our monitoring so we can detect and respond to outages like this one more quickly.
If you have questions or concerns, please get in touch with us at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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KAMPALA, Uganda - Uganda's athletics body suspended a coach who is accused of sexually harassing female runners, an official said on Monday, after Ugandan police started investigating the man whose alleged misconduct has sparked calls for his arrest and prosecution.
The suspended coach, Peter Wemali, faces "a range of allegations" related to suspected sexual harassment of female runners who recently trained under him in eastern Uganda, said Beatrice Ayikoru of the Uganda Athletics Federation.
"Sexual harassment is criminal, so it has to be investigated by those who have the mandate to do so," she said, talking about an ongoing police investigation.
Wemali hasn't issued any comment on the charges.
Ayikoru said the decision to suspend Wemali was taken after some athletes complained in an unsigned letter that prompted a criminal investigation. No female runner has come forward to complain about Wemali, she said, apparently because they are afraid of retaliation.
Wemali's alleged wrongdoing was first reported by the Ugandan Olympic runner Moses Kipsiro, who told a local newspaper last month that the coach urged female runners to have sex or give birth to improve their performance. Kipsiro, who said some female runners had confided in him, told Uganda's Daily Monitor newspaper that Wemali urged the runners to have sex regularly because then "their legs move easily."
One unnamed runner told the newspaper that Wemali "threatened to chase us from (training) camp if we ever said anything or turned down his sexual advances."
Details of the allegations —as well as Kipsiro's belief that the coach was being protected by athletics officials who knew about his alleged misconduct — shocked many in this East African country and sparked calls for Wemali's arrest and prosecution. Some Ugandan lawmakers have demanded an investigation into the coach's alleged misdeeds.
Wemali has long been the subject of numerous allegations involving sexual abuse of female runners, including one who quit running under unexplained circumstances, said Rafael Kasajja, a Ugandan athletics coach. But Wemali appeared to have the backing of Ugandan athletics officials, possibly discouraging his alleged victims from coming forward to launch official complaints. Without the intervention of Kipsiro, the male runner who exposed Wemali's alleged crimes, "the allegations would have remained a secret," he said.
Ayikoru, the athletics official, said Wemali could return to his job if the criminal investigation uncovers no wrongdoing.
"The suspension is temporary," she said.


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This is the story of my road trip from Pekin, IL to Gatlinburg, TN on my Honda CBR 600 RR motorcycle.
Alas, all good things must come to an end, and today is my last day in the Smokies. First, though, let me rewind to last night. I was bored around 10PM so I suited up and went for a ride. It was amazing. Why did nobody tell me that night riding here is so great? It isn't as treacherous as some people would have you believe, and it is without a doubt one of the best rides I've been on in my life. Apart from the ride itself, I also noticed that there is a Krispy Kreme Doughnuts shop in Pigeon Forge and decided that it would be my first stop for today's adventure.
After scarfing down two doughnuts and some cappuccino I set out for the back roads behind Pigeon Forge to see if I could get lost. Unfortunately I didn't get lost but I did find some nice peaceful roads to relax on. I spent about an hour roaming around before making my way back into Gatlinburg. At this point I wasn't quite sure where I wanted to go. I didn't want to ride too far and be worn out for the ride home on Saturday and Sunday, but I didn't want to sit around and do nothing either. I remembered that I never checked out Look Rock up on Foothills Parkway and decided I'd go in that direction.
I made my way through the national park and then Townsend before finally reaching the parkway. I made my way up to the overlook where the trail for Look Rock starts and set off on a hiking mini-adventure. Halfway up the trail I couldn't help but laugh at myself because I was hiking a half mile up the side of a mountain in a riding suit and boots; I had to look comical. The effort was definitely worth it, though. There is a lookout tower on Look Rock that gives you a breathtaking 360-degree view of the area and makes for some spectacular photography. After breathing in the fresh air for a few minutes I headed back down and got on my bike.
I continued down the parkway until I made it to the other end and turned around. I thought it might be fun to see how fast I could make it back to the other end so I waited for the clock on my bike to tick over to the next minute and took off. As I approached the other end of the parkway it had been 11 minutes, and that was even after I got stuck behind two SUVs for a good 30-seconds. 16.5 miles, 11 minutes, you do the math.
By this time it was about 2:30 so I decided to stop for lunch at a BBQ place in Townsend. They had seating out back in a big screened porch on the river, and the food was fantastic. I had a sweet and spicy BBQ pork sandwich with homemade fries and a big mason jar full of sweet tea. When I had finished lunch I just sat and watched the river for a while and soaked up what was left of my last day in the Smokies.
For the route back to Gatlinburg I took 321 to Pigeon Forge and then 441 into Gatlinburg instead of going through the park and dealing with slowpokes. Now I'm back at the motel packing up my things and sorting through photos, wishing that this whole adventure could last just a little bit longer. One thing I'm absolutely sure of is that I'll be back next year. You can bet on it.
You can see all of the photos from my trip in my Facebook album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2068810&id=197102025&l=9f9eff78bb


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San Diego based Tim Long Painting has earned its reputation as a professional painter by providing the highest-quality work while taking the utmost care of customer's property. A leading painting contractor in San Diego & surrounding areas, their first priority is establishing LONG-term client relationships.
We'll not only properly prepare your surfaces before painting - including power washing, scraping, sanding, caulking, surface repair, and priming - but we'll also protect your home and furnishings by thoroughly masking all furniture and flooring. We aren't done until we've performed a thorough cleanup of the work area. Call the best painters in San Diego, Tim Long Painting.
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- Image 0
- Image 1
Table spoon in 18/10 stainless steel. 6 pieces.
- Code: LCD01/1
- Length (cm): 20.00
Delivery and returns
Enjoy Free Shipping on orders above 50 SFr.
Free Returns on all your orders.
Time of Delivery: 1 to 3 working days.
More info in Customer Care Section
Designed in 1938 and presented in silver at the 1940 Triennale, the Caccia series of cutlery - an excellent example of "Lombard classicism" in design - won praise from Gio Ponti for the balance it struck between an image of craftsmanship and the industrial future of household objects.


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Department of Surgery faculty members, both physicians and scientists, are world-renown in their subspecialties. Faculty members are passionate in their clinical care and research practices, as well as being mentors for medical students and trainees. The department also invests significant funds to provide protected time and lab space for junior faculty to perform research.
David G. Armstrong
General Surgery: Top Author Commendation, 2017
University of Arizona: University Distinguished Outreach Professor, 2017
PM Magazine: Most Influential Podiatric Surgeons, 2017
California School of Podiatric Medicine: Heather Barton Alumnus Award, 2017
National Academics of Practice: Distinguished Fellow, 2015
National Health Information Awards: Gold Award, 2013
University of Western Australia: The Raine Visiting Professorship, 2013
Brigham and Women's Hospital: Visiting Professor of Surgery, 2013
University of Arizona/Tech Launch Arizona: Leading Edge Researcher, 2013
Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow: Fellow, 2012
Podiatry Management VIP List: Most Influential Podiatric Surgeons, 2011
American Diabetes Association : Roger Pecoraro Award, 2010
Universidad Complutense, Madrid: Honorary Professor of Medicine, 2008
Georgetown University: Georgetown Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award in Diabetic Limb Salvage, 2007
University of Manchester: Visiting Professor of Medicine, 2006
American Podiatric Medical Association: Meritorious Service Award, 2002
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2003 William JStickel Silver Award. Skin temperatures as a one-time screening tool do not predict future diabetic foot complications. J Am Podiatr Med Assoc. 2003 Nov-Dec; 93(6):443-7. . View in PubMed
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Analgesic efficacy of topical butamben picrate J Am Podiatr Med Assoc. 1995 Dec; 85(12):738-40. . View in PubMed
1995 William JStickel Bronze Award. Prevalence of mixed infections in the diabetic pedal wound. A retrospective review of 112 infections. J Am Podiatr Med Assoc. 1995 Oct; 85(10):533-7. . View in PubMed
Dr. Armstrong has produced more than 510 peer-reviewed research papers in dozens of scholarly medical journals as well as over 90 book chapters. He is co-Editor of the American Diabetes Association's (ADA) Clinical Care of the Diabetic Foot, now in its third edition.
Armstrong was appointed Deputy Director of Arizona's Center for Accelerated Biomedical Innovation (ACABI) and co-founder of its "augmented human" initiative, which places him at the nexus of the merger of consumer electronics, wearables and medical devices.
Dr. Armstrong was selected as one of the first six International Wound Care Ambassadors and is the recipient of numerous awards and degrees by universities and international medical organizations including the inaugural Georgetown Distinguished Award for Diabetic Limb Salvage. In 2008, he was the 25th and youngest-ever member elected into the Podiatric Medicine Hall of Fame. He was the first surgeon to be appointed University Distinguished Outreach Professor at the University of Arizona. He was the first podiatric surgeon to become a member of the Society of Vascular Surgery and the first US podiatric surgeon named fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, Glasgow. He is the 2010 and youngest ever recipient of the ADA's Roger Pecoraro Award, the highest award given in the field.
Dr. Armstrong is past Chair of Scientific Sessions for the ADA's Foot Care Council, and a past member of the National Board of Directors of the American Diabetes Association as well as a former commissioner with the Illinois State Diabetes Commission. He sits on the Infectious Disease Society of America's (IDSA) Diabetic Foot Infection Advisory Committee and is the US appointed delegate to the International Working Group on the Diabetic Foot (IWGDF). Dr. Armstrong is the founder and co-chair of the International Diabetic Foot Conference (DF-Con), the largest annual international symposium on the diabetic foot in the world.


text:
Big Bird, biography, Book Review, Brian Jay Jones, C is for Cookie, Children's Entertainment, Christopher Hitchens, Cookie Monster, Ernie and Bert, Film, Fozzy Bear, Fraggle Rock, Frank Oz, Gonzo, Honest Trailers, I'm Going to Go Back There Someday, imagination, Jim Henson, Jim Henson: The Biography, Kermit the Frog, Labyrinth, LSD, Mark Twain: American Radical, Miss Piggy, Muppets, puppetry, Robot Chicken, Rubber Ducky, Sam and Friends, Sesame Street, The Dark Crystal, The Muppet Movie, The Muppet Show
Jim Henson had me in tears after only three pages. The biography begins with a brief narrative describing the filming of a scene in Sesame Street when Kermit the Frog, played ever always by Jim Henson, sings the ABCs with a little girl named Joey who constantly interrupts the song by saying Cookie Monster instead of a letter. If that sounds unbearably cute I've provided a link at the bottom of this review and you can watch it for yourself. For my part I didn't watch it until after I finished the biography and I was still rendered a puddle.
Jim Henson: The Biography by Brian Jay Jones does everything a biography should do, and here I fall back upon Christopher Hitchens's list he provides in his essay Mark Twain: American Radical:
- That a biography shall cause us to wish we had known its subject in person, and inspire in us a desire to improve on such vicarious acquaintance as we possess.
- That the elements of biography make a distinction between the essential and the inessential, winnowing the quotidian and burnishing those moments of glory and elevation that place a human life in the first rank.
- That a biographer furnish something by way of context, so that the place of the subject within history and society is illuminated, and his progress through life made intelligible by reference to his times.
- That the private person be allowed to appear in all his idiosyncrasy, and not as a mere reflection of the correspondence or reminiscences of others, or as a subjective projection of the mind of the biographer.
- That a biographer have some conception of his subject, which he wishes to advance or defend against prevailing or even erroneous interpretations. (40-41, Appears here in selections).
All of these requirements are satisfied by reading to the end of Jim Henson, for after I had finished reading the book it was impossible for me to idealize the man who made the Muppets and by extension most of my childhood. That's not to say that Jim Henson was a monster, for anyone who reads the book is sure to discover Henson the man was just benevolent as the creations he made in life, however the man himself was not the faultless Kermit who sang Rainbow Connection. But he almost was.
I picked up Jim Henson: The Biography despite the fact that I really shouldn't have. Whenever my family makes it pilgrimage to Half Price Books in Dallas my sister and father leave the store with three, four, maybe even five books. My mother and I on the other hand tend to leave with entire baskets. Carts really, and I do mean shopping carts full of books. My mother is more practical, and I might even go so far as to say shrewd in her book buying, because she makes sure that almost every book in her stack(s) is from the bargain section at the back of the store and so most of her purchases amount to $1-2 American. As such she could buy 40 books and wind up paying only 40-80 dollars. As for myself, I am not so clever, and I have never been shrewd. I already had a stack that amounted to over $100, yet while I was looking for my little sister I was passing through the biographies and I looked up and there it was. I plucked it off the shelf, read two lines, and placed it on the ever growing stack.
I began reading the book and it's difficult to process what this meant for me. My parents tell me, because I have no memory of it, that when I was an infant my favorite television show was Fraggle Rock. This would eventually be replaced with Sesame Street and Barney, though I only admit to the first one. Most of the early memory's I have of my childhood is singing along to the Sesame Street sing-along cassette tape my mother bought for us, and the songs "C is for Cookie" and "Rubber Ducky" are still fixed in my mind to the point to this day I'll find myself, usually while washing dishes or walking my friend's dog, humming "Rubber ducky, you're the one." Jim Henson, like many before me, left a distinct impression upon my life because he created an aesthetic so unlike anything else I would experience on television. While 3-D, and 2-D animation were the standards of most animated programs, I loved Sesame Street and eventually The Muppet Movie because it was different to see puppets on the screen. Puppets weren't like cartoons, because unlike the drawings and three-dimensional models, I realized that these were real objects operated by real people that eventually became real people themselves.
This experience was not novel, for Jim Henson himself marveled at television, and Brian Jones explains the young man's fascination with the device:
To the boy who had sat spellbound in the movie theater watching exotic tales of the Far East, this was like a genie's sorcery. "I loved the idea that what you saw was taking place somewhere else at the same time," Jim recalled. "It was one of those absolutely wonderful things." After watching television at a friend's house in late 1949, Jim was convinced his family had to have a television set of their very own. Now. (24).
Jim Henson grew up in a relatively calm Christian Scientist household within the Mississippi delta. This atmosphere would eventually be replicated in the opening scene of The Muppet Movie when Kermit would sing the song Rainbow Connection. As the reader learns of Jim's early life his character is arrived at relatively quickly. Henson was a thoughtful creative type, and while he was quiet the young man he had a passion for both cars as well as pretty girls (and as Jones goes into some explicit detail Henson preferred the cheerleader types and wasn't exactly virginal in any sense.). It's the influence of television however that became the interest, or really the locus of his entire creative and personal goals. He attended briefly The University of Maryland, but by the time he reached college he was already working in television studios, learning about the trappings that made up the industry as well as experimenting with puppetry and trying to find a way to blend the two.
Jim would eventually create a small host of puppets and Jones does take the time to explain out a rumor that has emerged for years about how the term "muppet" came about.
Interestingly, Jim was already using the term Muppet as early as December 1954, while working for Joe Campbell at Circle 4 Ranch.
"It was really just a term we made up," Jim admitted later. "For a long time I would tell people it was a combination of marionettes and puppets, but, basically, it was really just a word that we coined," he added, pointing out correctly that, "we have done very few things connected with marionettes. (41).
The reader is probably waiting for one glaring mention and so I suppose I should get to that quote. Henson, and the woman who would eventually become his first wife Jane, began to work together and after securing a deal at a local television station a group of these "Muppets" was constructed for five minute sketches to be included at the end of a local variety program. The cast was called Sam and Friends and in this group there was one member who would outlast all of his troupe:
There was another abstract Muppet in Sam's cast who, while still only relegated to mostly small parts—and usually getting devoured at the end—already has a special place in Jim's heart. It was a puppet Jim had built while passing several long sad days tending to his grandfather Pop, who was slowly dying of heart failure—a puppet that, even early on, Jim would always call his favorite.
It was a milky blue character a named Kermit. (46).
Reading Brian Jones's biography there is often this efficient delivery, for when I read those two brief paragraphs I felt a small tear well up in my eye. Part of this was simple nostalgia, in fact most of it was, but it's important to note how effectively this reveal serves in the book. Many of the characters that occupy the creative landscape of Henson's creative world are introduced in a way that feels not only natural, but like the meeting of an old friend. Later in the book when he describes the fashioning of characters like Fozzy Bear, Dr. Teeth, Miss Piggy, Rolf the Dog, Cookie Monster, Ernie and Bert, and (still to this day my favorite) Gonzo there is never this sense of hammed-up attempt to inspire nostalgia. Each character came about through Jim Henson's personal development, and often was the case he wasn't directly responsible for said creation. The point is that rather than allow his writing to become a long tiresome list of when Jim Henson created what program, Jones writes a biography about the development of a creative individual who left a tremendous impact not just upon the community of puppeteers, but the culture at large. President Obama has not only expressed his admiration for the show, his wife and other first ladies have appeared on the program alongside actors, athletes, singers, writers and this enduring desire to appear alongside the Muppets speaks to how relevant they remain in the hearts and imaginations of people.
What's fascinating is that while this nostalgia is largely what keeps the Muppets going, Jim Henson spent most of his life trying to escape the identity of being a children's entertainer, and even after he defeated this image he found problems:
With the worldwide popularity of both The Muppet Show and now The Muppet movie, Jim had, it seemed, conclusively put to rest the puppetry prejudice that had plagued him since Sesame Street. If there were still critics clinging to the stifling misperception that puppets were purely kid's entertainment, Jim had universally acclaimed a motion picture, an Emmy, and 235 million weekly television viewers who would likely help him argue otherwise. But the international success of the Muppets of television and movie screen had created a different kind of perception problem for Jim. True, he was no longer considered a children's performer; instead, to the entire world, he was now "the Muppet Guy." (303).
It was this perception that eventually fueled Jim Henson's creative output into the films The Dark Crystal (brilliantly satirized by Robot Chicken) and Labyrinth (also brilliantly satirized by Robot Chicken and Honest Trailers). These films have a bit of a reputation for not only being weird, but being somewhat beyond the audience's ability to comprehend what exactly was going on. It would a be a mistake to call them both flops, for The Dark Crystal actually had relatively commercial success, and even Labyrinth has assumed the title of "cult classic." These films each receive a chapter dedication to themselves and Jones's description of each time in Henson's life attests to the importance these projects had to the man. Labyrinth in particular was Henson's first "failure" and it's clear the lack of success impacted him tremendously. Jones goes so far as to quote Jim Henson directly:
Jim was devastated by the response. "I was stunned and dazed for several months trying to figure out what went wrong—where I went wrong," he said later. (390).
The end of Henson's life was largely a series of frustrations and disappointments as he dealt not only with the failed success of these two films, but also with the failure of a television program called The Jim Henson Hour as well as the troublesome negotiations with the corporation Disney who wished to purchase his company. It's fair to say that most of the biography is the story of Jim Henson's struggles or else his business actions for huge swaths of the book describe him attending promotion parties, interviews with the press, the backroom business of purchasing and owning his creative projects, and nearly every chapter has at least one mention of Jim Henson's love of either yacht sailing or skiing in Europe with celebrities.
However, the soul of this biography rests not with Henson's personal tastes for finer things, or even the numerous affairs with women that eventually crumbled his marriage, but in fact it's the small stories that contribute to the larger picture of Jim Henson as a man. For example a failed acid trip:
[…] the Muppet crew was, for the most part, fairly straightlaced. [Frank] Oz wasn't a partier at all—he found large gatherings too noisy—and Jim, while he might enjoy a glass of wine or two from time to time—and maybe, said Nelson, "a little grass"—rarely ingested anything more potent than aspirin. He has, however, tried LSD exactly once—and, if asked, would probably confess that it had been something of a disappointment.
"I remember Jim sitting at his little desk in that Eames chair of his, looking at his sugar cube laced with LSD," said Oz […] "I took it," Jim reported later, "and I waited…and nothing happened." Only slightly disappointed, he wished Sarah and Nelson good night and drove home. If Jim's experiment with with drugs had been a failure, one thing was clear: Jim didn't need chemicals to take his mind to new worlds; his mind was already there. (226-7).
This scene made me laugh, simply for the fact Jim Henson's mind was so trippy on his own that even LSD couldn't keep up with him. Having watched the Labyrinth only two weeks ago, I can attest to the fact however that Henson really didn't need drugs to make his mind go places so many people would require chemicals for.
I've provided a lot of synopsis of the biography and a few quotes to give the impression of the book, but as always I have to address my contester who wonders ever and always why they should bother.
What good does it do me reading about Jim Henson's life when I could just watch Sesame Street with my kids, or watch The Muppet Movie and cry like a baby to I'm Going to Go Back There Someday? Why should I bother reading about the life of an artist?
The value, dear reader, lies in the fact that reading about Henson's life is an opportunity to see how the characters who have impacted generation after generation came to be. There is a kind of dampening effect in some biographies of creative individuals as you learn about their affairs and faulty personalities, but often that has more to do with the writing of said biographies, or else simply the people themselves. Reading Jim Henson: The Biography is an entirely different experience however, for like I said before, reading the book is like meeting old friends, and learning about their past in a way that not only makes you closer to them, it informs your love for them in the first place. The quality of the book is due both to Jones's ability as a writer as well as the man Jim Henson himself.
Growing up Ernie and Bert were two of my favorite friends, partly because of my mother's willingness to let me play "Rubber Ducky" over and over again in the car, and the story of their creation is one of the sweetest passages in the book:
CTW intended to have pilot episode of Sesame Street ready by June 1969, so Jim began sketching out a few new Muppets for the show early that spring, handing Don Sahlin a felt-tip drawing, little more than a doodle, of two characters. The first has surprised eyes set in a tall, banana shaped head, topped by a shock of dark hair, while the other—looking rather like Moldy Hay from Sam and Friends—had a head like a football, a large nose, and even larger ears, with shaggy dark hair covering his eyes. […] In the talented hands of Oz and Jim, those vertical and horizontal characters would quickly become, in the minds of many, one of the funniest comedy duos anywhere, providing teachable moments for millions even as they poked, prodded, teased, and taunted each other: Ernie and Bert. (143-4).
Reading Jim Henson: The Biography often left me in tears, simply for the fact that so much of life, memories, and emotions were connected to Jim Henson's work, and reading about his life it's a marvel to know that someone who created so much wanted only ever and always to change people's lives. It's not idealizing Jim Henson to say that he was a selfless dreamer who only wanted to make people happy, for almost every person he met, worked with, lived with, or was related to attests that was his living breathing personality. As his work and legacy have grown, Henson has managed to escape the identity of being just a children's entertainer, but his life's work did reach children the most because he understood the need to reach children's hearts and souls.
Looking at the character of Big Bird, Jones provides a creative insight:
One of his thoughts was "to have a character that a child could live through," a Muppet who was representative of the audience. "Big Bird, in theory, is himself a child," said Jim, "and we wanted to make this great big silly awkward creature that would make the same kind of dumb mistakes that kids make." (146).
The use of the word "dumb" is a little harsh for my taste, if only because of one scene in The Muppet Movie that, my wife can attest to this, I always have to silence the room and turn up the volume to watch. It's in the middle of the song "Movin' Right Along" and Fozzy and Kermit spot a Hitchhiker:
Kermit: Hey, Fozzie, look up ahead there.
Fozzie: What is that?
Kermit: Maybe we should give him a ride.
Fozzie: I don't know, he's pretty big.
Fozzie: [to Big Bird] Hey there, wanna lift?
Big Bird: Oh, no thanks. I'm on my way to New York City to try to break into public television.
Fozzie: Oh. Hm, good luck.
The Studebaker (a bear's natural habitat according to Fozzy) drives away and Big Bird bumbles along the empty dusty highway. One some level this is pathos, but there is something to be said about Big Bird as an innocent rather than "dumb" character. In this scene it's clear that Big Bird was just a kid from the Mid-West hoping to get into television so that he could help children learn. Likewise Fozzy and Kermit are on their way to Hollywood to make movies and make people laugh. At this point Jim Henson's entire creative ethos and life goal's meet in a perfect point, and while they divided and headed towards different ends of the country this small scene seems to embody everything Jim Henson tried to do in his life.
The fact that I always tear up during this scene is also a lasting tribute to the fact that I'm am emotional shlub.
Jones offers one assessment however that does a better job than I could, as he looks at the parallels between Jim and his "favorite" character Kermit:
Like Kermit, Jim had left the swamps of Mississippi for the glitter of television and film, had put together his own "clan of wackos" to work with, and had struggled to break away from the clutches of the advertising business, which didn't want to see him leave. Kermit's motivation in heading for Hollywood wasn't so far removed from Jim's own outlook, either—rather than solely seeking fame and fortune, Kermit sees it as an opportunity to entertain and "make millions of people happy." (297).
Jim Henson: The Biography isn't just a list of life events that made Jim Henson famous, it's a lasting tribute to a man who wanted to change the world, and actually managed to.
*Writer's Note*
I looked up the scene described in the prologue that made me weep like a punk, and to protect my ego I've provided a link to it below so that the reader can watch it for themselves and see if they're so badass as they think they are.
**Writer's Note**
For the record Gonzo remains my favorite Muppet, but should I ever be struck with a violent or malignant disease my "Make-A-Wish" last request would be to sing at least three or four songs with Rolf, and also Seth McFarlane if he'd be willing to join.
If the reader has any idea how to make this happen, please let me know.
***Writer's Note***
I managed to find an actual interview with Brian Jay Jones that deals with him writing the book Jim Henson: The Biography. Enjoy:
****Writer's FINAL Note****
I had to share one last video. If nothing else will demonstrate the creative power that is Jim Henson then surely the song "I'm Going to Go Back There, Someday" will help. Fair warning, I can't even make it past the harmonica playing before I'm a puddle. Whatever the case the song reminds me why I love the Muppets: there's art beneath a seemingly nonsensical song about friendship.


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Lucroy providing all-around value for Brewers
Talented catcher contributes productive bat, club-friendly contract
This is the seventh installment of an Around the Horn series that has already bounced around the diamond to cover the starting rotation, the bullpen, second base, right field, first base and center field. Up next: Catcher.
PHOENIX -- In Jonathan Lucroy, the Brewers have a 27-year-old catcher rising toward the upper ranks at his position. As a bonus, they also have one of baseball's club-friendliest contracts.
Lucroy is entering the third season of a five-year, $11 million extension he signed in March 2012. He earned $750,000 last season as one of the game's most productive offensive catchers, and he is due reasonable salaries of $2 million in 2014, $3 million in '15 and $4 million in '16, plus a $5.25 million club option for '17.
If he stays healthy and continues to improve, it will be money well spent. One of the few Brewers who avoided the injury bug last season, Lucroy led all Major League catchers with 82 RBIs. Of the nine catchers who qualified for the batting title, Lucroy ranked second to St. Louis' Yadier Molina -- the current gold standard at the position -- with a .455 slugging percentage and fifth with a .795 OPS, behind Joe Mauer of the Twins, Molina, Carlos Santana of the Indians and Buster Posey of the Giants.
Mauer is moving to first base this season and Santana to third. Lucroy is staying put behind the plate.
"I haven't looked at all the other contracts to put it in that category [of one of the best for a catcher]," Brewers manager Doug Melvin said. "But it's a nice contract for him and for us, because catchers can go out and get hurt at any time, and it's given him some security. Any contract for a young player gives them a little security to go out and play the game aggressively and take that fear out of the equation. He's performed very well. I think he gets recognized in the league for the kind of player he is, the kind of catcher he is."
It has taken a few years for Lucroy to settle in. He was rushed up to the Majors out of need in 2010, when he had played only 21 games above the Double-A level. Lucroy was still a defensive work in progress, learning to call games at the highest level on the fly, and suffered offensively as a result. In 2012, he broke through at the plate only to suffer a broken hand in May that would sideline him until the end of July.
In 2013, Lucroy was healthy and established, and the numbers rose. He led the banged-up Brewers in RBIs, and batted .303 over his final 111 games to boost his batting average to .280 by season's end. He became a vocal leader in a clubhouse that needed one in the wake of Ryan Braun's suspension, and improved his reputation with the pitching staff.
"I know people knock him a lot on certain things, but it's like, this guy is good," right-hander Kyle Lohse said. "Let's give him his due."
Slowly, Lucroy is getting some defensive due, especially for his ability to frame pitches. Matthew Carruth of StatCorner.com developed a system of measuring the runs saved or given away by a catcher's ability to make borderline pitches appear as strikes to the umpire, and according to Carruth's data, Lucroy was good for a Major League-best 31.1 runs above average in 2013, ahead of the Yankees' Chris Stewart (27.7 RAA) and Molina (19.8 RAA). Lucroy's backup, Martin Maldonado, was 10th-best at 10.4 RAA.
"I watched video of myself from after I was drafted, my first year in the Minor Leagues, and it was terrible. It was embarrassing," Lucroy said. "Now, I take a lot of pride in getting those pitches for guys. It's hard enough for pitchers to throw strikes anyway. I try to do my best, not necessarily framing the ball, but giving the umpire a good look. A lot of catchers will take the ball away, but you want to give the umpire a good look. That's all you want to do. I'm not trying to steal strikes."
Said Lohse: "You don't get rated the way he does if you're a guy who's slapping at the ball, unable to have strong enough hands to hold that pitch and present it there for the umpire. I think it's starting to get more recognition, but it's still a very underrated thing."
By other defensive measures, Lucroy had a down year. He threw out only 21 of 101 runners attempting to steal, the third-lowest percentage (21.6 percent) of regular Major League catchers. Lucroy said he has identified the problem -- he was gripping the baseball like a changeup, with three fingers off the ball, and does not possess the natural arm strength to overcome that flaw.
He is working this spring with bench coach Jerry Narron and catching coordinator Charlie Green on a correction.
"I've always felt like I was a 'hitting guy' before I was a 'defense guy,' but when you get to the big leagues, you want to be an all-around player," Lucroy said. "That's what I'm trying to be."
As he has gotten more confident behind the plate, Lucroy has gotten better in the batter's box. He batted a respectable .293 last season with runners in scoring position after hitting .389 in those situations the year before. Lucroy was the first regular Brewers catcher to lead the team in RBIs since Dave Nilsson split time between catcher and designated hitter in the strike-shortened 1994 season.
"He hits good pitching," Melvin said. "I think a lineup has to have at least four guys who can hit 95-mph-plus fastballs. I'm a big believer in that, and we've lost a few of those in [Prince] Fielder and [Corey] Hart. Lucroy can do that. He's a clutch hitter, he seems to relish that opportunity. You feel good about him when he's up there in a RBI-type situation. Catcher, shortstop, center field -- it sometimes takes years to find those positions. We've got young guys to play those positions."


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Dodgers recall Scott Van Slyke; option Elian Herrera to Triple-A Albuquerque
LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Dodgers today recalled outfielder/first baseman Scott Van Slyke from Triple-A Albuquerque and optioned infielder/outfielder Elian Herrera to Triple-A.
Van Slyke, 27, will be making his third stint with the big league club and has a .241 batting average with six doubles, six homers and 14 RBI in 33 games with the Dodgers this year. Van Slyke appeared in eight games with the Isotopes since he was optioned on July 21, batting .250 (6-for-24) with two doubles, a homer and five RBI, and is batting .355 with 10 homers and 35 RBI in 45 games with Albuquerque this season.
Herrera appeared in just one game during his recall, striking out as a pinch-hitter on Sunday, and has gone 2-for-8 (.250) in four games with the Dodgers this season.


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A man was shot dead Sunday in Beersheba after allegedly opening fire at the city's central bus station.
The Israel Police Foreign Press Spokesperson initially stated that the attack was carried out by two people; one was shot dead on the scene, and the other was apprehended.
Further investigation found that the attack had been carried out by a lone attacker, identified as Muhannad al-Aqabi, 21, from the Bedouin town of Hura in the Negev. Al-Aqabi was shot dead on the scene.
The other man thought to be involved is in fact an Eritrean asylum seeker, Haftom Zarhum, 29, who had travelled to Beersheba to obtain a visa.
Israeli media is reporting the incident as a case of mistaken identity, claiming Israeli forces shot and injured Zarhum though he was not involved in the attack. Zarhum later died from his wounds.
One Israeli soldier was killed, and nine more Israelis were taken to hospital following the attack.
Also on Sunday, a group of more than 200 Israeli settlers attacked two Palestinian villages, Wad al-Haseen and Wad al-Nasara, in the Hebron district.
The settlers threw stones and firebombs at Palestinian homes in the villages, injuring at least three people, including two children.
At least five Palestinians were injured with live fire during clashes across the West Bank and Gaza Sunday.
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We spent the majority of our Saturday in New York standing and walking around the city. To say that we were tired at the end of the day is an understatement! But we saw so much and had a wonderful time, so it's hard to complain.
Grand Central Station
We became experts at the subway system while we were there. Okay, maybe not so much. We had to ask some people for advice on how to get to such and such a place once or twice, but for our first time taking public transit on such a large scale, I think we did pretty well.
Immediately inside Grand Central.
There was a space like this to the left and right of the area in the picture above. I think you can rent this hall out for events. Can you imagine a wedding reception there? I don't know the price, but I'm sure it would be out of our budget!
And this is [a small part of] the main area of Grand Central. The terminals for all of the subways are off of the hallways and down a flight of stairs or two (or five!).
The subways had a variety of smells, none of them pleasant. Urine, fish, crotch...
After taking the subway down to Battery Park, we bought our tickets for the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. We didn't buy tickets ahead of time and saw on the website that they have a limited number of tickets to buy the day-of. We weren't sure we'd even be able to get tickets to get into the monument, but we did get there in time for those. We were informed, however, that tickets to climb up to the crown are sold out through September!
While in the [very long] security line for the Statue, we saw this memorial in the harbor for the Merchant Marines. Pop, my grandfather on my Dad's side, was in the Merchant Marines, so it was neat to see this.
The view of the Statue and Ellis Island across the harbor.
A view of the city as we took off to Liberty Island.
This is the security line we stood in to get onto the boat. We had to go through security once again when we entered the monument.
A view of the city. I've seen pictures of it and even looked at Manhattan on google maps, but you just can't get a feel for how BIG this city is until you're there. As I flew in on Friday, it was as if the pilot was doing his best to give me a great view of the city. Each block of the city has huge buildings right next to each other, and then the blocks just keep going on and on. It was incredible to see!
Lady Liberty herself. Something else I've seen tons of pictures of, but just did not realize the size of until I saw it in person.
A torch of years past. Retired in 1986 (I think??).
Her face is an entire story tall.
Looking up her robe from the top of the pedestal upon which she stands.
Us cheesin'.
I look like I'm about to fall.
My lunch. Southwest chicken panini with fries. Fries were good. Panini was good. Would have probably been better if it were fresh or at least hot.
Then we hopped on the boat and cruised over to Ellis Island. It was pretty incredible.
These are some of the trunks and luggage that were brought with some immigrants. Not sure if the immigrants just decided they didn't need them anymore or if they were donated or what. But anyway.
"You can't come in. The quota for 1620 is full." After a few years of having so many immigrants come in, there were limits put in place to control how many people came in and from where (some countries that weren't as friendly with ours had lower quotas).
We read some journal entries and one of them talked about the voyage across the Atlantic. It mentioned a baby being born on the ship. I cannot even imagine! Some of these people were coming across in the dead of winter, so to deliver at that time in a place with no heat and and no clean hospital... it blows my mind and makes me grateful for modern healthcare, as expensive as it is!
"How do you spell your name?"
After Ellis Island we walked around the financial district for a bit. We may or may not have taken a wrong turn or two while we were there, but we just chalk it up to seeing more of the city.
This is Trinity Church, the one in National Treasure with the underground lair that contained lots of treasure. Remember it? I loved those movies. I've heard rumors of a third one coming out this Christmas!
Aren't these windows beautiful?!
Some of the gravestones were marked in the 1700s. It was burned in the fire of 1776 when the British seized non-Anglican churches and used them as prisons and barracks. We think that's why some of the tombstones were brown and falling apart and others were just algaefied. Some of the ones that were burned looked like they would fall apart if they were touched. Source
New York Stock Exchange. We were there on Saturday so it was closed. Otherwise we would have been in the thick of it yelling, "Buy! Sell!" We would have fit right in.
And this... this is the most wonderful place on earth! Tiffany & Co.!
This isn't the original store, it's the one on Wall Street. We weren't planning to go into this store, but we happened past it and the sparkles lured us (read: me) in. The architecture of the interior is just amazing! Marble staircase, beautiful columns... It was gorgeous! The displays and cabinets and things looked a little dated, but I think that's the modern look (that I'm not a huge fan of) they were going for. Do you see those things floating from the ceiling? They had sparkles and jewels all over them so when you walked into the store all you saw above you was bling. Even if you don't buy anything, it's such a fun place to wander through!
After all the walking downtown we went to the hotel to change shoes. At least I did. Even my comfortable wedding day shoes were killing me by lunchtime. (Wedding day shoes are the most comfortable cute flats I can find that I wear when I'm coordinating a wedding. I haven't found a heel that's comfortable enough for me to wear all day and not be dying by the end of the night of a wedding.) We hopped on the subway and headed up to Central Park. One of the first things we saw was this bride.
Black feathers on her head with a gown that looks like lingerie with a poofy skirt. I know every person has their own style, but seriously?! This was just ridiculous. She had four photographers, a videographer, and a coordinator with her. This was the second of four brides we saw on Saturday. I'm guessing each of them had a huge budget to have a NYC wedding!
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The detail on the buildings is incredible. Faces and gargoyles looking down at you.
Where we got dinner on Saturday night. Good burgers!
RC Cola and Chocolate Soda! The chocolate soda tasted like carbonated Yoo-Hoo. Jared was a big fan!
And that was our Saturday! We were exhausted and wiped out, but again, it's kind of hard to complain when you're in NYC!