text: Chaks' SharePoint CornerSharePoint and other stuffhttp://blogs.msdn.com/b/chaks/atom.aspxTelligent Evolution Platform Developer Build (Build: 5.6.50428.7875)2011-05-19T00:31:00ZNapa Just Got Social!http://blogs.msdn.com/b/chaks/archive/2012/09/30/napa-just-got-social.aspx2012-10-01T03:10:05Z2012-10-01T03:10:05ZLast week we introduced something special for Napa – Share Project Share Your Projects Yes, you can now easily share your projects with everyone with just a click (three to be precise) Once you click the Share Project icon, you will asked for your permission to share Once you click Share button, you will be given a short URL link which you can share with your colleagues or anyone you wish [You cannot share with specific people though]   As you can see in the dialog above, you can stop sharing...(read more)Chakkaradeep Chandranhttp://blogs.msdn.com/Chaks/ProfileUrlRedirect.ashxBuilding your first SharePoint App using "Napa" Office 365 Development Toolshttp://blogs.msdn.com/b/chaks/archive/2012/08/16/building-your-sharepoint-app-using-napa-office-365-development-tools.aspx2012-08-16T11:45:00Z2012-08-16T11:45:00ZIf you are not familiar with the new App Model, I would highly recommend users to read my previous blog post to get familiar with the new App Model before building your first SharePoint App: Introducing Apps for Office 2013 and SharePoint 2013 Getting Your Office 365 Preview Account To build apps using the new "Napa" Development Tools, you first need to sign up for the Office 365 Preview which includes the new SharePoint 2013 Preview. You can find the instructions to...(read more)Chakkaradeep Chandranhttp://blogs.msdn.com/Chaks/ProfileUrlRedirect.ashxInstalling Office 2013 and SharePoint 2013 Developer Tools Preview for Visual Studio 2012 RTMhttp://blogs.msdn.com/b/chaks/archive/2012/08/16/installing-office-2013-and-sharepoint-2013-developer-tools-preview-for-visual-studio-2012-rtm.aspx2012-08-16T00:09:05Z2012-08-16T00:09:05ZToday, we made available Visual Studio 2012 RTM for MSDN subscribers However Visual Studio 2012 RTM does not include the Office 2013 and SharePoint 2013 Developer Tools Preview with it. So, to install the preview tools, you need to grab the Microsoft Web Platform Installer Download the web platform installer, search for SharePoint and you have it there: So, "What amazing SharePoint app will you build today"...(read more)Chakkaradeep Chandranhttp://blogs.msdn.com/Chaks/ProfileUrlRedirect.ashxIntroducing Apps for Office 2013 and SharePoint 2013http://blogs.msdn.com/b/chaks/archive/2012/08/16/introducing-apps-for-office-2013-and-sharepoint-2013.aspx2012-08-15T13:14:17Z2012-08-15T13:14:17ZOne of the new SharePoint 2013 and Office 2013 development model is the App model. Using this new App model, developers can easily extend SharePoint 2013 and Office 2013 and build great apps that integrate with millions of services out there. Below is a video introducing apps for Office 2013 and SharePoint 2013 Video: Imagine apps for Office 2013 and SharePoint 2013 in 90 seconds Why build apps? Internet is filled with many services today and people are always connected. People today tweet, facebook...(read more)Chakkaradeep Chandranhttp://blogs.msdn.com/Chaks/ProfileUrlRedirect.ashxIntroducing Event Finder App for Windows Phonehttp://blogs.msdn.com/b/chaks/archive/2012/05/30/introducing_2D00_event_2D00_finder_2D00_app_2D00_for_2D00_windows_2D00_phone.aspx2012-05-30T09:16:45Z2012-05-30T09:16:45ZMy Windows Phone App – Event Finder App – just got published last week and is available now in the Marketplace! If you are in New Zealand, you can use the app to browse local events in your region from the Event Finder web site – http://www.eventfinder.co.nz For the rest of the world, the app should still work. So if you are planning to visit New Zealand, make sure you have the app to find what's going on! Home Screen Below is the screenshot of the home screen: The home screen lists events that are...(read more)Chakkaradeep Chandranhttp://blogs.msdn.com/Chaks/ProfileUrlRedirect.ashxWorkflows and Content Type Hubs–Whats the story?http://blogs.msdn.com/b/chaks/archive/2012/05/05/workflows-and-content-type-hubs-whats-the-story.aspx2012-05-05T08:39:00Z2012-05-05T08:39:00ZRecently I have received a lot of misinformation on associating workflows to content types managed via Content Type (CT) Hub. It is true that workflows do not get published along with the content type from the hub. That means, if you have associated a workflow to a content type and publish the content type, only the content type is published and not the workflow. So how do I approach this problem if I want to associate my workflow with the published content type? The key thing here is installing...(read more)Chakkaradeep Chandranhttp://blogs.msdn.com/Chaks/ProfileUrlRedirect.ashxGetting Started With TFS 11 Express Betahttp://blogs.msdn.com/b/chaks/archive/2012/03/05/getting-started-with-tfs-11-express-beta.aspx2012-03-05T08:47:26Z2012-03-05T08:47:26ZMicrosoft released Visual Studio 11 Beta last week – This also includes Team Foundation Server (TFS) 11. What you might have noticed is the addition of new product TFS Express 11 available for FREE. TFS Express 11 is a new product line-up in the Visual Studio Express Editions giving you the capability to utilise a subset of TFS features such as: Source code control Work Item Tracking Build Automation I would recommend reading Brian's blog post to understand what is included in TFS Express. In short...(read more)Chakkaradeep Chandranhttp://blogs.msdn.com/Chaks/ProfileUrlRedirect.ashxPut People First – Building a Staff Directoryhttp://blogs.msdn.com/b/chaks/archive/2012/02/01/put-people-first-building-a-staff-directory.aspx2012-01-31T12:21:10Z2012-01-31T12:21:10ZThis is a follow up of my previous post – Understanding SharePoint Sites When customers ask me what they should be doing with their newly deployed SharePoint environment, I say Put People First! – Let users find their peers, colleagues. Let them share information with their peers/colleagues. Redirecting your users to search page doesn't count. It is just a blank white page! You should see how you can show the available options to users so they get interested with the content and come back often to...(read more)Chakkaradeep Chandranhttp://blogs.msdn.com/Chaks/ProfileUrlRedirect.ashxGet ready for 'Office 15'http://blogs.msdn.com/b/chaks/archive/2012/01/31/get-ready-for-office-15.aspx2012-01-30T18:41:19Z2012-01-30T18:41:19ZAre you eagerly waiting for "Office 15"? Then here is some news! We just announced the beginning of the "Office 15" Technical Preview and a public beta later this summer! (Summer in the USA, Winter here in NZ) While the Technical Preview program is already full, everyone will have the opportunity to try the Office 15 public beta later this summer, and we'll have more to share about the release then. In the meantime, I do want to thank everyone who is participating in the Technical Preview for their...(read more)Chakkaradeep Chandranhttp://blogs.msdn.com/Chaks/ProfileUrlRedirect.ashxConfiguring Phonetic/Nickname Search in SharePoint 2010http://blogs.msdn.com/b/chaks/archive/2012/01/30/configuring-phonetic-nickname-search-in-sharepoint-2010.aspx2012-01-30T01:07:38Z2012-01-30T01:07:38ZOne of the new enterprise search feature added to SharePoint 2010  is the ability to search people by their 'nicknames'. For example: You could search ' aron ' for ' aaron ' or ' jon ' for ' john '. We geeks call this Phonetic search Below is a screen shot of the nickname search: How does this work? This is an enterprise search feature, meaning you should have SharePoint Standard (or SharePoint Enterprise) installed. It works in conjunction with the Microsoft Speech Server platform. This is...(read more)Chakkaradeep Chandranhttp://blogs.msdn.com/Chaks/ProfileUrlRedirect.ashxUser Profile Synchronization Service and FQDNhttp://blogs.msdn.com/b/chaks/archive/2012/01/27/user-profile-synchronization-service-and-fqdn.aspx2012-01-26T12:14:00Z2012-01-26T12:14:00ZSpencer has written by far THE BEST blog post on configuring User Profile Service (UPS) Application in SharePoint 2010. Below are the steps I always check/validate when I provision the UPS: 1) Add SPFarm admin account to local administrators group 2) Allow log on locally to SPFarm admin account 3) Start the UPS synchronization service 4) Once UPS is provisioned successfully, remove the SPFarm admin account from the local administrators group Today while configuring UPS for my demo...(read more)Chakkaradeep Chandranhttp://blogs.msdn.com/Chaks/ProfileUrlRedirect.ashxUnderstanding SharePoint Siteshttp://blogs.msdn.com/b/chaks/archive/2012/01/26/understanding-sharepoint-sites.aspx2012-01-25T11:01:20Z2012-01-25T11:01:20ZSharePoint is a platform. When you deploy SharePoint, it is going to help you build and automate many business solutions, not just the project for which you are deploying. Yes, I hear you – Every project starts with building an Intranet! But is your organisation ready for the Intranet? And what about your business units/teams sites? What about collaboration? What about sharing/caring? – The immediate answer you would get is "everything is Intranet!". Is INTRANET Everything? No. Intranet isn't everything...(read more)Chakkaradeep Chandranhttp://blogs.msdn.com/Chaks/ProfileUrlRedirect.ashxSharePoint 2010 October 2011 CUs Releasedhttp://blogs.msdn.com/b/chaks/archive/2011/10/18/sharepoint-2010-october-2011-cus-released.aspx2011-10-18T05:59:15Z2011-10-18T05:59:15ZSharePoint 2010 October 2011 cumulative update packages have been released. Below are the links: SharePoint Foundation 2010 - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2553050 SharePoint Server 2010 - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2553048...(read more)Chakkaradeep Chandranhttp://blogs.msdn.com/Chaks/ProfileUrlRedirect.ashxVisualising Provisioning SharePoint 2010 Managed Metadata Fieldshttp://blogs.msdn.com/b/chaks/archive/2011/10/07/visualising-provisioning-sharepoint-2010-managed-metadata-fields.aspx2011-10-07T01:44:00Z2011-10-07T01:44:00ZAri Bakker and Wictor Wilen both have done great jobs on documenting what it takes to provision SharePoint 2010 Managed Metadata fields. - Ari Bakker's Provisioning SharePoint 2010 Managed Metadata fields - Wictor Wilen's How to provision SharePoint 2010 Managed Metadata columns Yes, I agree it is a tedious job and there are lot of things to keep in mind when provisioning managed metadata fields in SharePoint 2010. So, I decided to visualise what is involved. I strongly recommend...(read more)Chakkaradeep Chandranhttp://blogs.msdn.com/Chaks/ProfileUrlRedirect.ashxExport (.ical) Individual Events from SharePoint Calendarhttp://blogs.msdn.com/b/chaks/archive/2011/09/20/export-ical-individual-events-from-sharepoint-calendar.aspx2011-09-20T11:23:00Z2011-09-20T11:23:00ZSharePoint Calendar is a great tool to manage events related to your site and also provides many other capabilities like creating multiple calendars and overlaying calendars. The Problem What about exporting individual events as .ical so you can add them to Outlook? It is available out of the box, but it is well hidden in the Event item dialog! Not a good place to put such an useful feature! The Solution You may find many solutions and working samples out there already, but I wanted something that...(read more)Chakkaradeep Chandranhttp://blogs.msdn.com/Chaks/ProfileUrlRedirect.ashxWeb Templates and InfoPath Formshttp://blogs.msdn.com/b/chaks/archive/2011/09/15/web-templates-and-infopath-forms.aspx2011-09-15T09:08:57Z2011-09-15T09:08:57ZThe Problem If you are using custom web templates to create your site, you may face an issue where InfoPath forms don't work in your site. Here is the screen shot of the error message: What is missing? The InfoPath site feature is missing. You can check this by going to the List settings page. You will not find the Form Settings link to manage InfoPath forms in your list. The Solution The hidden feature IPFSSiteFeatures which is responsible to activate the InfoPath forms management at a site level...(read more)Chakkaradeep Chandranhttp://blogs.msdn.com/Chaks/ProfileUrlRedirect.ashxModal Dialog Box in SharePoint Sandboxhttp://blogs.msdn.com/b/chaks/archive/2011/09/14/modal-dialog-box-in-sharepoint-sandbox.aspx2011-09-14T11:46:26Z2011-09-14T11:46:26ZEarlier I blogged about how to make use of the new dialog framework in SharePoint 2010. It covered working with Application Pages in the _layouts directory. What about sandboxed solutions? Can you create custom sandboxed dialogs? Yes, you can! It involves a little bit of work though. First of all, you can open any page in the dialog. What we are interested is to open our custom page that is specifically going to serve us only via the dialog (popup). As you might have guessed, we cannot make use of...(read more)Chakkaradeep Chandranhttp://blogs.msdn.com/Chaks/ProfileUrlRedirect.ashxContent Type Hub - Publishing and Subscribing to Content Types Programmatically (C# Code)http://blogs.msdn.com/b/chaks/archive/2011/09/04/content-type-hub-publishing-and-subscribing-to-content-types-programmatically-c-code.aspx2011-09-04T10:44:25Z2011-09-04T10:44:25ZBelow is a simple code snippet that you can wrap in a site scoped feature to publish and subscribe to content types from a content type hub. As a precaution, please be careful to use this code snippet in production unless you have thoroughly tested it. Why do we need it? This is very useful when you are provisioning a site using a web template. This code, wrapped in a site scoped feature will push the published content types from the hub to the new site. You don't have to wait and guess when the...(read more)Chakkaradeep Chandranhttp://blogs.msdn.com/Chaks/ProfileUrlRedirect.ashxWeb Templates and Content Type Publishinghttp://blogs.msdn.com/b/chaks/archive/2011/09/04/web-templates-and-content-type-publishing.aspx2011-09-04T09:14:00Z2011-09-04T09:14:00ZThe Problem Web templates allows you to specify which features to activate by customising the onet.xml file. Usually developers will pick the nearest one or more site definition's onet.xml they want to use – copy the WebFeatures and SiteFeatures (which is totally acceptable). For example, for a publishing site I may use the CMSPUBLISHING onet.xml which you can find at: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\TEMPLATE\SiteTemplates\SPS\XML\onet.xml...(read more)Chakkaradeep Chandranhttp://blogs.msdn.com/Chaks/ProfileUrlRedirect.ashxWeb Templates – What base template should I use?http://blogs.msdn.com/b/chaks/archive/2011/09/04/web-templates-what-base-template-should-i-use.aspx2011-09-04T04:17:12Z2011-09-04T04:17:12ZI have had some interesting discussions with Wayne Ewington and others on what base template should you use for web templates. A little background to what this base template means to web templates: Web Templates depend on an existing site definition installed in the server. The general guideline is to always reference a site template that is always going to be present. Let us take a look at the web templates Elements.xml file: <? xml version ="1.0" encoding ="utf-8" ? >...(read more)Chakkaradeep Chandranhttp://blogs.msdn.com/Chaks/ProfileUrlRedirect.ashxTechEd 2011– Provisioning SharePoint Sites Using Web Templateshttp://blogs.msdn.com/b/chaks/archive/2011/09/04/teched-2011-provisioning-sharepoint-sites-using-web-templates.aspx2011-09-04T03:25:27Z2011-09-04T03:25:27ZAs promised, you can download my session – Provisioning SharePoint Sites Using Web Templates – slide deck and sample. Provisioning Sites in SharePoint 2010 Using Web Templates View more presentations from Chakkaradeep Chandran . The sample is a Sandboxed solution that can be deployed to a site (web). It is also Office365 ready!...(read more)Chakkaradeep Chandranhttp://blogs.msdn.com/Chaks/ProfileUrlRedirect.ashxList of issues fixed in SharePoint 2010 SP1http://blogs.msdn.com/b/chaks/archive/2011/06/30/list-of-issues-fixed-in-sharepoint-2010-sp1.aspx2011-06-30T02:13:03Z2011-06-30T02:13:03ZIf you are looking for a single document that discusses about the issues fixed in SharePoint 2010 SP1, then hit the link below to download the Excel workbook that lists the issues fixed by this service pack: Microsoft SharePoint 2010 and Office servers Service Pack 1 Changes You can filter the issues by product, which is great: This information available in the Service Pack 1 KB article...(read more)Chakkaradeep Chandranhttp://blogs.msdn.com/Chaks/ProfileUrlRedirect.ashxSharePoint 2010 SP1 - Site Recycle Binhttp://blogs.msdn.com/b/chaks/archive/2011/06/30/sharepoint-2010-sp1-site-recycle-bin-ui-experience.aspx2011-06-29T12:07:00Z2011-06-29T12:07:00ZOne of the cool new features introduced in SharePoint 2010 SP1 is the Site Recycle Bin feature. Earlier, the only way to restore deleted sites and site collections required to restore the appropriate content databases. But from SP1 onwards, deleted sites can be recovered from the Site Recycle Bin. Deleting and Restoring Sites (SPWeb) When users delete a site, they are presented with the following page: As you can see from the message, the entire site including its contents, permissions...(read more)Chakkaradeep Chandranhttp://blogs.msdn.com/Chaks/ProfileUrlRedirect.ashxService Pack 1 (SP1) for Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 and Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010http://blogs.msdn.com/b/chaks/archive/2011/06/28/service-pack-1-sp1-for-microsoft-sharepoint-foundation-2010-and-microsoft-sharepoint-server-2010.aspx2011-06-28T11:07:00Z2011-06-28T11:07:00ZSP1 for SharePoint Foundation 2010 and SharePoint Server 2010 is now available for download: SharePoint Foundation 2010 - KB 2460058 SharePoint Server 2010 - KB 2460045 For known installation issues, visit here . SharePoint product team have also blogged about it here . While you are waiting for the SharePoint 2010 SP1 bits for download, You can download the SP1 white papers here You can also read more about what is new in SP1 here (SharePoint Product team blog post) The white paper highlights the...(read more)Chakkaradeep Chandranhttp://blogs.msdn.com/Chaks/ProfileUrlRedirect.ashxDeploying a Document Template file in Content Type in a (Office365) Sandboxed Solutionhttp://blogs.msdn.com/b/chaks/archive/2011/05/19/deploying-a-document-template-file-in-content-type-in-a-office365-sandboxed-solution.aspx2011-05-18T12:31:00Z2011-05-18T12:31:00ZIn SharePoint 2007, we have the choice of using _layouts folder for deploying document templates that are used in content types. That option still exists in SharePoint 2010 for farm based solutions, but the SharePoint Root (14 hive) is not accessible in Sandboxed solutions and hence it is not possible to deploy the document templates in _layouts folder. You will need to include the document template within SharePoint, meaning it will be stored in the content database. The following TechNet How...(read more)Chakkaradeep Chandranhttp://blogs.msdn.com/Chaks/ProfileUrlRedirect.ashx


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The following products and promotions allow consumers to support Make-A-Wish® through purchases or participation in cause-corporate programs.
Through December 24, Macy's invites Believers of all ages to be part of holiday magic and drop off their stamped letter to Santa at their local Macy's store. Or, create and send your letter online at macys.com/believe. When you send your letter to Santa online, you can be part of the longest wishlist to Santa. Macy's will donate $1 to Make-A-Wish for each letter received, up to $1 million. To learn more, visit macys.com/believe
Chi Omega, the largest women's fraternal organization in the world, raises money and awareness for Make-A-Wish throughout the year through a variety of events and fundraising activities. Chi Omega collegiate and alumnae chapters have raised nearly $13 million for our wish kids since 2001. For more information about how to participate at a school near you, please click here.
During the 2014 Subaru "Share the Love" event, Subaru of America, Inc. will donate $250 for every new Subaru vehicle sold or leased between Nov. 20 – Jan. 2, up to $15,000,000 total, to a choice of participating charities selected by the purchaser, including Make-A-Wish. Visit subaru.com/share for more details.
From 11/24 to 1/4, guests can purchase a wish star for $1, which allows them to select one of two coupons to be used for either $5 free game play (with purchase of a $10 game play) OR a free appetizer (with purchase of an entrée). In addition, Dave & Buster's will donate $1 to Make-A-Wish® for each Lotsa Loaded Tots appetizer sold. Since 2012, Dave & Buster's has raised more than $2 million for Make-A-Wish. For more info, visit daveandbusters.com.
In addition to supporting electronics and shopping spree wishes year-round, this holiday season, GameStop is donating $50,000 to Make-A-Wish and offering a gift card that features wish kid art, learn more at gamestop.com.
Isagenix® will donate 50¢ to Make-A-Wish for each box of e+ sold. To learn more about the e+ product, please visit isagenix.com/share.
In addition to hosting parties for wish kids in their restaurants throughout the year, Maggiano's will also donate $1 to Make-A-Wish for each special menu item sold year-round, with a minimum guarantee of $150,000 from in-restaurant promotions. To find the nearest Maggiano's Little Italy, please visit http://a.wish.org/Maggianos14.
Discover will make a 2% bonus donation for every donation made on wish.org with a Discover card in November and December. Additionally, when you use your Discover® card to earn Cashback Bonus®, the rewards can be redeemed as a donation to Make-A-Wish. Visit discovercard.com for details.
NCAA Division II student athletes across the country raise money and awareness for Make-A-Wish throughout the year. Division II institutions use a variety of fundraising opportunities to increase donations for children with life-threatening medical conditions. For more information about how to join the efforts at an institution near you, please click here.
BioTRUST is giving its customers the opportunity to donate $1, $5, or $10 at checkout. They even matched the first $50,000! Learn more at biotrust.com.
In honor of the thousands of children Zaxby's serves every year, Zaxby's is teaming up with Make-A-Wish® to help grant more than 55 wishes for children with life-threatening medical conditions. See wish stories and videos and learn how Zaxby's is supporting Make-A-Wish at Zaxbys.com/MAW.
Allegiant donates $1 from every Wingz Kid Snack Pack sold inflight to support our efforts to grant life-changing wishes to courageous children across the country.
During the "Save Room for a Wish" campaign from December 1 – 31, Black Bear Diner will donate $1 to Make-A-Wish for select desserts sold and 100% of all donations from paper wish star sales with a guaranteed minimum donation of $100,000. Visit blackbeardiner.com for location information.
Claire's stores is donating $5 from each Make-A-Wish ear piercing earring and half the purchase price of each Make-A-Wish wristband set. To locate a store, visit claires.com.
For the 2014 football season, Make-A-Wish® will be a charity beneficiary of Fantasy Fundraising. Participants can pay an entry fee to compete with a celebrity in Fantasy Football and 80 percent of each purchase will benefit the charity selected by the celebrity, with a minimum guaranteed donation of $100,000 to Make-A-Wish. Visit fantasyfundraising.com to learn more and see the celebrities playing for Make-A-Wish.
Three dollars from the sale of each Limited Edition I Am Loved Bear® will be donated to Make-A-Wish. Visit helzberg.com to find a store near you.
From December 10-24, 2014, Humble Bundle will offer a book bundle with the comics publisher Dynamite. Three charities will benefit from this promotion, including Make-A-Wish. 20% of each customer purchase will be split evenly among the three participating charities; however customers may choose to designate funds however they wish. Visit humblebundle.com to learn more.
Nature Made® will make a donation to Make-A-Wish® from the sale of its KIDS FIRST Vitamin products sold at Target, with a minimum guarantee of $100,000. To learn more visit naturemade.com.
Sears Outlet Stores, Sears Hardware & Appliance Stores and Sears Appliance Showrooms is hosting a "Wish Wednesday" promotion. Customers who make a donation of $5 can shop from 6-9 pm on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving (November 26) and have access to all Black Friday pricing and specials. Sears Hometown & Outlet Stores will raise funds for Make-A-Wish from Nov. 2-Dec. 31 with a minimum donation of $150,000. Visit searsoulet.com to learn more.
South Hill Designs is helping grant wishes by donating 60 percent of the purchase price of designated items to Make-A-Wish beginning August 1, 2014. To find an artist near you, please visit southhilldesigns.com.
Make-A-Wish gifts began at Things Remembered when wish kid Elysia wished to give family and friends personalized ornaments saying "Thank you, I love you and always remember me." Things Remembered donates $2 per special Make-A-Wish item sold, participates in employee giving, and collects donations for Make-A-Wish year-round with a minimum guaranteed contribution of $150,000. Visit thingsremembered.com.
Did you know, you can redeem your American Express Membership Rewards points for a donation? For every 1,000 points you redeem, we will receive $10.00. Visit the Members Give website to get started.
California Pizza Kitchen is donating $1 to Make-A-Wish for each "On the Menu" pizza purchased between 10/18/14 and 1/4/15. To locate a restaurant near you, visit cpk.com.
Cheryl's supports Make-A-Wish® by donating approximately 20% of the purchase price of several Make-A-Wish bakery gifts. Visit cheryl's.com.
Throughout the year, CLUB WYNDHAM® owners can gift unused annual point allocations to Make-A-Wish. These points will then be redeemed for wish travel to various CLUB WYNDHAM resorts. To learn more visit clubwyndham.com.
LS travel retail stores in airports across North America will be collecting donations December 1, 2014 to January 3, 2015 for Make-A-Wish at checkout. 100% of customer donations will benefit Make-A-Wish. To find a store near you while traveling this holiday season, visit lstrna.com
TSS Photography has been a supporter of Make-A-Wish since 2003, and donates between $.25 and $1.00 of the purchase price from selected items to help grant wishes. Visit tssphotography.com.
Stay in Touch!
Sign up to receive email from Make-A-Wish.

subset: commoncrawl


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A little late in posting, but last weekend's Saturday Night Live was not very kind to Congressional Republicans and their opposition to the economic stimulus package.
But it does raise a couple of questions:
The first: Is Dan Ackroyd better as John Boehner than he was as Bob Dole back in the 1980s?
The second: Most of the characters being spoofed by men are recognizable figures, but who might the woman being played by Kristen Wiig be — possibly someone close to home?
And sorry about making you sit through the commercials, but this embed comes from the official NBC site.
Please keep it civil. Don't post comments that are obscene, defamatory, threatening, off-topic, an infringement of copyright or an invasion of privacy. Read our forum standards and community guidelines.
You must be logged in to post comments. Please log in here or click the comment box below for options.comments powered by Disqus


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It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Amazing! Sign our contributors' agreement and then join us on GitHub.
$Configuration['Garden']['FavIcon'] = '/themes/camo/design/favicon.png';as referenced by @Tim & @Lincoln here...
$Configuration['Garden']['Favicon'] = '/themes/YOUR THEME/design/Your favicon';p.s the /forum/forum issue was because of a root level dot htacess redirect, also resolved.
Sr Developer at Vanilla Forums, humble servant of Lord Brackos, & pro smatcher. [GitHub, Twitter]
I have modified the conf/config.php file as suggested above, and I have a favicon.png file in my theme/design folder, but it seems to make no difference.
Does anyone have any other hints please?


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Local Mother and Baby Head to Hawaii Amid Hurricane Warnings
Updated On: Aug 07 2014 11:34:57 PM CDT
One local mother and her 20 month old baby are headed to Hawaii Thursday night as two hurricanes are set to touch down. Forecasters say Hurricane Iselle will be the first hurricane to smash into the islands in more than two decades.
State officials say they are ready for the one-two weather punch and are
urging residents to be prepared but to not panic.
Oxnard resident Cindy Rockwell is headed to Hawaii for work and to see family. Her husband, Phillip, says he's worried but holding out faith. He told NewsChannel 3: "I try not to worry too much and just have faith that the airlines wont fly a plane into something that's dangerous and they wont even take off it's not going to be able to make it."
Phillip adds that they are preparing. The family has stocked up on diapers and baby supplies. While he's not traveling with his wife and toddler, Phillip says he'll be remotely monitoring everything by the minute.
Copyright © 2014 KEYT - NPG of California, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Di Luca and Scarponi and Simoni all were busted doping, not really "breaking down" for Italian cycling... »
What was with Kimi today?
Did he not feel like going fast? »
If there is a temporary no parking sign, they will tow it to anotehr spot. didnt read the philly.com article. »


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Mary J. Blige Covers VIBE's Feb/Mar 2013 Issue!
When have you wavered?
It's in the history books. It's there (6). When you've had a high point of success and moments in your life, you find yourself chasing the things that made you successful. If you don't have the patience with yourself to do right by you, you lose. That's a constant battle.
The same can be said about one's image. Let's talk about some of your album cover looks through the ages, to see your own evolution.
Oh boy.
What's the 411? Go.
Fresh off the block.
What's the 411? Remix. Because that one was even crazier.
Wow, wow, wow. Hip-hop. That was hip-hop.
My Life.
Very blue.
Share My World.
Trying to figure it out. Where am I going with this new journey?
Growing up and maturing as an artist.
No More Drama.
There were two album covers. The first one was pure confusion. The second one? Nailed it.
The second one was fierce.
The second one was, "Hold on, let me fix that first one" [laughs].
The Breakthrough.
I'd arrived. Regal.
Growing Pains.
Stronger With Each Tear.
I don't know what was going on there.
Why? It reminds me of record sleeves from the 1920s or 1930s.
Okay, that's future of me. And also, Lena Horne.
My Life II...
It's the first one that shows your whole body. Those curves!
I have never done a cover like that before. That was the first time. I don't like to show my whole body like that.
How come?
I don't know. I don't think people care.
I can assure you that's crazy talk.
Ha! I don't know. That was revealing for me.
When do you feel most beautiful?
When I'm made up and dressed up and my heart is in the right place… [When] I feel happy. I'm not going to lie and say I feel beautiful when I have on a hair scarf and I'm running to the gym. I feel confident, but beautiful? No.
When does your husband think you look the most beautiful?
When I'm running to the gym [laughs].
I believe it. We saw you in sweats in the "Be Without You" video.
Ha! Less is more, I guess. He always tells me, "You don't need all that stuff."
[6] Any guesses? Love & Life, maybe? That Method Man single?


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Hi, Brian.. I just tried your page and the validator link worked perfect. Named your link as the one being validated and gave you a big thumbs up. Peace.. Cindy Sue FavoriteWebsiteReceived on Wednesday, 18 December 2002 20:04:07 GMT
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.2.0+W3C-0.50 : Wednesday, 25 April 2012 12:14:05 GMT


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Leighton Meester Is Single. Gentlemen, Start Your Wishful Thinking.
Sad news, celebrity-relationship buffs; Gossip Girl co-stars and real-life couple Leighton Meester and Sebastian Stan have reportedly called it quits on their fairytale romance.
A source close to the actress-turned-songbird says that Leighton was the one to pull the plug, because Meester "doesn't know how to be in a relationship and doesn't really like them."
Oh, being in a relationship is simple, Leighton; you just find someone that you think is right for you, discover their flaws way too late, stick with them anyway out of a crushing fear of loneliness, and then spend the rest of your life in quiet misery.
Speaking of misery, Stan is said to be "heartbroken" over the breakup. Don't worry, Sebastian; we're sure there are plenty of ladies out there willing to help heal the ouchie on your heart.
Are you surprised by the news of Leighton and Sebastian's breakup? Share your feelings of shock and dismay in the comments section.


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One thing is always true in American politics: One party is in trouble, and the other is heading toward it. A big loss always forces a party toward despair and then attempts at renewal, while winning leads to complacency and overconfidence. I saw these dynamics play out while leading faith outreach for President Obama's reelection campaign and serving in the White House. During that time, I met hundreds of thousands of voters, and I learned how sincerely torn many of them are between our two political parties.
Despite cries from Beltway pundits that the American electorate is deeply and irreconcilably divided, the partisanship we see in Washington is a poor reflection of the character and values of the American people. This was clear to me on the campaign trail. I spoke with moderate Catholics who loved their Church, and disagreed with the Obama Administration's approach to the HHS contraception policy, but were motivated by their Catholic concern for the common good to support health reform. I met with Latino Christians who were uncomfortable with gay marriage, but also had trouble supporting a candidate who failed to see the conflict between family values and an immigration policy of self-deportation. I held events with young evangelicals who disagreed deeply with the president's stance on abortion rights, but could not reconcile spending their summer volunteering to serve the Third World poor with a vote for a candidate who suggests starting the foreign-aid budget at zero.
For these people, neither party is working. Their loyalty to party will only go as far as their values take them. So both parties have a choice to make.
The Republican Party is in danger of losing relevance in national elections, and becoming a party defined by its limitations: the cities it is unable reach and the voters it cannot attract. In a recent Pew survey, a strong majority (63 percent) of Americans believed the GOP has "strong principles," but a majority also viewed them as "too extreme," "out of touch with American people," not "open to change," and not looking out for America's future. It is one thing for the American people to trust the Democratic Party and President Obama more than Republicans on issues like the economy, climate change, immigration reform, and gun safety. But what should really trouble Republican loyalists is that on the deeper questions of values and character, Democrats now have the upper hand.
I have worked hard over the last six years to elect President Obama twice, and to work for his success while he is in office. But I also believe that American politics works best when both parties offer voters of various backgrounds and priorities a real, positive choice. For the last four years, the Republican Party has failed to do that. But Republicans should take comfort that the answers exist where they are most comfortable looking: the past. No, not to the 18th century and the Tea Party, but a mere decade ago with the compassionate conservatism of George W. Bush.
As Bush said often during his 2000 presidential campaign, compassionate conservatism is an approach that was "first and foremost springing from the heart." After the clear success of the Clinton Administration in improving people's lives, conservative rhetoric about government seemed cold and dogmatic: Even if you don't believe government should be the first tool of choice, why wouldn't you at least take it out of the toolbox? So Bush promised to use government to fight poverty at home and abroad through support for civic society, and improve education, particularly for minority children who were languishing in underfunded and poorly staffed school districts.
After the past four years of toying with what E.J. Dionne rightly calls a "radical individualism," Republicans' best hope is a return to a politics that leads with values. Compassionate conservatism does just that: Rhetorically, it values people over an idolatry of ideology that is disconnected from Americans' lives. Is it any wonder people question whether Republicans are looking out for them when the GOP responds to a president's passionate call to save children's lives through gun safety with twisted appeals to the Second Amendment, and suggestions that we give elementary-school teachers automatic rifles? Or refer to the free market and federalism as their reasons for opposing health reform that promises to improve Americans' quality of life and access to care? My Republican friends should know that the American people are profoundly less interested in Ronald Reagan and Milton Friedman than their own futures and those of their children.
Conservatives don't need to change their core principles to win a national election again, but they must filter their principles through a concrete concern for people's lives. Look no further than another Bush, Jeb, for a preview of the upcoming battle in the GOP. At the Conservative Political Action Conference earlier this year, Jeb delivered a speech every political operative on either side of the aisle should read. He told the conservative gathering:
Here's reality: if you're fortunate enough to count yourself among the privileged, the rest of the nation is drowning. In our country today, if you're born poor, if your parents didn't go to college, if you don't know your father, if English isn't spoken at home, then the odds are stacked against you. You are more likely to stay poor today than at any other time since World War II.
Unfortunately, the great tragedy of the past decade is that liberals have channeled the anger and frustration that comes from this oppressive dynamic and used it as an opportunity to attack the very idea of success itself. In their view, anyone who has climbed to the top 1 percent, top 10 percent, or top 20 percent has committed some form of gross social breach, and they deserve our scorn.
The voters Republicans need have no desire for compassion without understanding. A compassionate conservatism that hides a disdain for the downtrodden will not work.
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Alpine House Bed & Breakfast è una casa splendidamente restaurato turn-of-the secolo. E 'stato costruito nel 1898 e chiamato Alpine House dalla famiglia McGee. Situato sulla cima più alta di Sand Mountain, allo svincolo di Tennessee, Alabama e Georgia. Sedersi sulla veranda e guardare oltre mozzafiato Valley Long Island. Potrai affacciano sul fiume Tennesse, dichiarazioni fischio del treno nella valle e guardare le aquile volano sotto di voi. Sarete in grado di vedere otto città, alcuni in Tennessee e alcune in Alabama. Godere di tramonti mozzafiato, con le luci della città brillanti dopo il tramonto e una nube riempito a valle al mattino.
Valore della struttura
23 Recensioni
4,6 su ottobre 18, 2014
Our stay at Alpine House B&B was amazing!! The beautiful view of the foothills of the Applachian mountains combined with a luxurious room made for a wonderfully romantic getaway! The hospitality is second to none. We hope to go back again soon!!
5 su ottobre 14, 2014
My wife & I stayed at Alpine House recently and have nothing but praise for this wonderful B&B. The view from atop Sand Mountain is hard to beat as you look down on the Tennessee River, three towns in the valley, and more distant mountains. Our room was beautifully decorated and included a hot tub & comfortable bed, which is always great after a long drive. We enjoyed engaging conversations with our host and an excellent southern breakfast. All that, plus a very affordable price, and it's easy to see why we give Alpine House B&B our highest recommendation. Jim & Betty Jo Columbus, MS
5 su ottobre 07, 2014
Alpine House is the perfect getaway! Close enough to enjoy Chattanooga's sightseeing, yet far enough away for peace and quiet. My girlfriend and I have been to several bed and breakfasts and this one is our new favorite. The innkeepers were delightful. Eulene's homemade biscuits are wonderful! We also enjoyed hearing about the history of the beautiful home.
5 su ottobre 01, 2014
The Alpine House Bed and Breakfast offers clean, nicely decorated rooms and a view from above that calms the soul. Tucked in the northeast corner of Alabama, not far from Chattanooga, the getaway allows guests the opportunity to access a downtown atmosphere while staying away from the fray. Morning clouds roll by in the valley below while spectacular sunsets end in the day with an array of vibrant colors. A perfect, affordable getaway.
5 su agosto 11, 2014
from the time we arrived at alpine house , it was nothing but fabulous southern hospitality. The hosts were super friendly. the food was delicious. the views were spectacular. I could not have asked for a better experience. thank you alpine house!
5 su agosto 11, 2014
From the time we got there I was in ahh from the amazing views. The hospitality of the hostesses was outstanding and I immediately felt comftorable and at home. I will be sure to tell all of my friends and family about this North Alabama gem.
4,8 su marzo 16, 2014
My family of four stayed here for a night and my son didn't want to leave! He wanted to live there if that tells you anything. The southern hospitality of these sweet ladies cannot be beat. They welcomed my family with open arms and we felt right at home. The view was one of the most amazing one we had ever seen and the community was the most friendliest that we have met! You must stay here if you are planning to come to the area. Make sure you grab a bite at Js Hole in the Wall. Absolutely delicious!
5 su gennaio 03, 2014
The Alpine House is a lovely historic home lovingly restored with a breathtaking view and warm, generous hosts. We stayed in the Blue Room and loved the view and porch. The jacuzzi and gas fire, as well as decor made it feel luxurious and cozy at the same time. Breakfasts were scrumptious with lots of good Southern cooking hospitality. The hosts entertained us with the home's history and local flavor. Descendants of the home's original owners live nearby. Picturesque towns nearby are fun to explore and Chattanooga is a short ride away for those seeking more activities. We enjoyed just being on Sand Mountain, soaking up the history and hospitality. We highly recommend Alpine House and look forward to returning soon!
5 su ottobre 21, 2013
Lovely historic home, spacious rooms, amazing view topped off with a mouthwatering southern breakfast and gracious owners who make you feel like family. This place is a gem! We will definitely be back. It's the perfect place to stay if you want to enjoy the outdoor life in Chattanooga yet avoid the bustle of downtown.
5 su ottobre 15, 2013
Came across this little gem on bed and breakfast website. Looking at random for a place to spend our 1st anniversary, who knew that such an elegant and heartwarming place existed in our own backyard. From the time we arrived and were greeted by the neighbor next door, sitting around the breakfast table, making new friends, and dancing under the moonlight on our own private balcony, we were in heaven. Food was outstanding and the accommodations were from a romantic period of days gone by. Whether you are traveling 50 miles or 500 miles don't you dare let this place slip through your grasp. Reasonable priced for memories and friends that will last a lifetime.
Fiume, Campagna, Montagna, Piccolo Paese
Huntsville, AL (HSV-Madison County)
Parco divertimenti, Shopping Antiquariato, Acquari, Concerti, Cene da gourmet, Interessi Storici, Lago, Musica dal vivo, Cinema, Musei, Parchi Nazionali/Statali, Zona Naturale, Nickajack Lake, Teatro, Area Picnic, Servizi religiosi, Fiume, Azienda vinicola, Zoo
Bed and Breakfast
BBQ , CD player, Computer, Fotocopiatrici, Scrivania, Dispositivo Fax, Radio, Telefono, Lavatrice/Asciugatrice , Angolo cottura con lavatrice / asciugatrice e frigorifero
Aria condizionata, Sveglia , Accappatoi, Giochi da tavolo, Ventilatori, Attrezzature per Caffè/Tè, Data port, Asciugacapelli, Jacuzzi, Accesso a internet , TV via cavo/satellite, TV, Wi-Fi
Osservazione Uccelli, Scenari
Kristie Holland
Eulene Cloud è ritirato dal USPS. Portava la posta da Alpine House sulla sua rotta di posta elettronica per 15 anni sempre sognando un giorno di vivere a Alpine House. Il suo sogno si è avverato nel 2010, quando ha acquistato la storica casa. Kristie Olanda, l'albergatore è sua figlia.
A basso contenuto di grassi
, Restrictive


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Hi Steve,
Yeah fine thanks.AS you say Oslo was a special time being the 1st time i saw JCF. I tend to be more active on the various facebook sites than here but do check in from time to time.As you say there is always hope.The UK always seems to be the poor cousin, but i guess it comes down to logistics and finances.
Perhaps promoters are running shy or JCF maybe thinking absence makes the heart grow fonder.A social networking campaign may help.
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Home » Opinion » Columns
Fergus Cullen: How Stella helped the NH GOP get its groove back
Corporations understand the importance of protecting their brand, their image in the public's eye. One rat in one kitchen in a chain of 5,000 restaurants undoes decades of good will, destroys trust, and hurts sales for years, not just in the offending store but everywhere the company does business.
The Republican Party, both nationally and within New Hampshire, tolerated too many brand-killing rats in recent years. When midwestern U.S. Senate candidates Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock made offensive comments about rape, voters expressed their disgust, in part, by taking it out on Republican candidates running for down ballot offices as far away as New Hampshire. That's what happens when a political brand gets damaged. One Republican somewhere says something stupid and every Republican everywhere pays for it.
Closer to home, a small number of Republican office holders in Concord, most of them political novices identified with the Tea Party, did considerable damage to the New Hampshire Republican brand in 2011 and 2012 by espousing conspiracy theories and fringe policies. Too many other Republicans in positions of responsibility turned deaf ears to crazy talk instead of speaking out against it.
Last fall's election, like those of 2006 and 2008, was not like Passover, when blood on the door spared the virtuous Republicans and only the deserving were killed. Centrist voters concluded all Republicans were either crazy or enabled crazy. Nearly every Republican caught outside a safe seat got slaughtered. That's the high price of a badly damaged brand.
New Hampshire Democrats used to have a brand problem of their own. Support for an income tax was the party's brand and that anchor drowned them electorally for decades. Tired of losing, Jeanne Shaheen and other party leaders took action and marginalized the income taxers. Today Democrats take The Pledge and win. They fixed their brand.
The chorus of Republican voices condemning Rep. Tremblay's views is an encouraging sign that party leaders are determined to repair the New Hampshire Republican brand. This was an act of some political courage for House Minority Leader Gene Chandler, who had to call out a member of his own caucus, and for State Republican Chairwoman Jennifer Horn, whose job it is to elect Republicans. Republican National Committeeman Steve Duprey backed them up by calling on Tremblay to resign.
Earlier, Chuck Douglas, who served eight years on the New Hampshire Supreme Court prior to his election to Congress, wrote an important op-ed calling out the self-credentialed constitutional experts who populate the Tea Party movement for invoking the Constitution in vain. Not every policy disagreement amounts to a constitutional violation, Douglas chided.
Chandler, Horn, Duprey, Douglas and others are doing the politically unpleasant but necessary work of reclaiming the party's brand. They are following the lead of William F. Buckley, who viewed his job as separating the right wing from the fringe so a sustainable conservative movement capable of winning elections and implementing policy could take root.
Next year's Republican candidates need them to continue reclaiming the party's brand. For the first time since 1980, New Hampshire Republicans seek candidates for all four major offices - governor, U.S. Senate, and both congressional seats - without having an incumbent in any of them. As yet, the party doesn't exactly have a surplus of candidates champing at the bit to run.
In part this is because potential candidates are studying the long range political weather forecasts. After the blowouts of 2006, 2008 and 2012, they want some assurance that 2014 is shaping up to be the kind of year in which a decent Republican candidate running a decent campaign has a decent chance of winning.
They also want evidence that the party's brand isn't so damaged that voters won't give them a fair hearing. Candidates can't do much to control the weather, but they could join the other leaders in speaking out to repair the brand.
Fergus Cullen, a freelance columnist, is a former chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party. He can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com.
- Thomas Sowell: The legal system exists to prevent mob 'justice' - 3
- Another View -- Cass Sunstein: A salute to the graceful silence of George W. Bush - 7
- David Harsanyi : Run, Liz, run! - 19
- Another View -- Bill O'Brien: Ask your state rep. to vote for transparency in the House - 43
- Another View -- Harold Meyerson: The right underestimates Elizabeth Warren's appeal - 39
- Jonah Goldberg: There was a time when we stood up to threats against free speech - 2
- Why I voted against the 'CRomnibus' spending bill - 20
- Another View -- Devon Chaffee: Why interrogators believe America should never torture - 2
- David Harsanyi: GOP establishment, stop whining - 0
Charles Arlinghaus: The fiscal mismanagement in Washington is a choiceREADER COMMENTS: 30
- Pinkerton community excited about relationship with Google - 1
- OKC outguns Bonner, Spurs - 0
- Schaller sent back to minors - 0
- Mount Sunapee plan opponents want more hearings - 0
- Former Colonial Theatre finance director indicted - 0
- Circut Court Judge refuses to recuse himself from hearings - 0
- Pipeline push gets a second wind - 2
- Newbies welcome on NH slopes - 0
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Murder suspect fit for trial?READER COMMENTS: 0
Pipeline push gets a second wind
Murder suspect fit for trial?
'Interview' buzz spreads to NH
Pipeline push gets a second wind
'Interview' buzz spreads to NH
Murder suspect fit for trial?


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main index
Dead or Alive series (seven whole years!).Nearly all the fighters of the previous game (except Leon) were back, as well as two newcomers named Rig and Mila. The game had a deep graphic upgrade from DOA4 (not surprisingly, since it had been 7 years since then) and an aesthetic redesign that showed more realistic characters, with smaller and less anime-like eyes, the same to what was shown in Ninja Gaiden 3. Special mention to the girls, who have more realistically proportionate bodies, although the Jiggle Physics were still in full display. In collaboration with Sega, Dead or Alive 5 also features Guest Fighters from the Virtua Fighter series. Akira Yuki, Sarah Bryant, and Pai Chan are the chosen Virtua Fighter representatives to Dead or Alive 5. The games was release for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, plus a port to Play Station Vita half a year later.The game's playable roster includes:
Dead or Alive 5 provides the following tropes:


text: HomeTVDays of Our LivesSPOILERS: Stefano Creates a Dangerous Situation on Days of Our Lives! Melodie February 3, 2014 Days of Our Lives, Days of our Lives Spoilers 10 Comments Daniel/Nicole/Dr. Chyka/Stefano: Daniel and Nicole (Arianne Zucker) discover Dr. Chyka's (Michael Benyaer) hideout, and corner him. As soon as Dr. Chyka begins to speak, Stefano's (Joseph Mascolo) goons rush in. After this, the situation gets pretty treacherous. Watch for Daniel and Nicole to be in old school Salem Superhero mode! Abigail/Adrienne: Abigail (Kate Mansi) has it out with Adrienne (Judi Evans) over all the gossip about her and E.J. (James Scott). Will Adrienne realize where there's smoke, there's fire with your hot-to-trot niece? JJ/Theresa: J.J. (Casey Moss) receives some disheartening news. His hearing has been postponed! Meanwhile, Theresa (Jen Lilley) falls into JJ's trap. However, she will not go out quietly. Brady: Brady (Eric Martsolf) has a few drinks alone in Daniel's (Shawn Christian) apartment. Later, Theresa rips him a new one. Kate/Jordan: Kate (Lauren Koslow) warns E.J. and Gabi (Camila Banus) about some possible trouble. She also finds something shocking at Jordan's (Chrishell Stause) place. Sami/EJ: Sami (Alison Sweeney) arrives in Salem a little early from her business trip. E.J. scrambles to hide the truth from her. Eric: Brother Timothy offers Eric (Greg Vaughan) another alternative to solve his problem. Lucas: Lucas (Bryan Dattilo) screws up so badly it could destroy his mother. Gabi: Gabi's downward spiral continues. John Black: The Pawn returns to make ammends. Will Doc (Deidre Hall) and Brady forgive him? 10 Responses cinicic February 3, 2014 I am just, from now on, replacing "Daniel" with "Bo" in my head. These should be Peter Reckell's storylines. Even if it means he is cheating on Hope. :p Log in to Reply sillytee February 3, 2014 good point cin..but i never had problems with daniel..never even saw the show when he was with jennifer.id love to have Bo back.. why cant they just negotiate or recast him???? .these spoilers seem pretty good to me.. but i wish they would hurry along with 'who is jordan?'..unless she's a lesbian, a demira, or a tranny, i'm not invested in it.. abby and ej in the shower!! hot hot hot!! Log in to Reply Patchworks February 3, 2014 Wow, Lucas has a storyline that affects someone on the canvas! Yay! Log in to Reply sillytee February 3, 2014 harlee, yes he is.. i can't recall where i have seen him before though Log in to Reply harlee490 February 3, 2014 Good spoilers indeed, all sounding interesting and peaking my curiosities for all the stories. Dr. Chyka is sexy! Yummy! J) >) Log in to Reply ChrisGa February 4, 2014 [quote=harlee490]Dr. Chyka is sexy! Yummy! J) >)[/quote] Yeah, I've been thinking that for awhile but I thought I was the only one. The one thing that doesn't interest me is the return of John. I would've much rather seem them try to move heaven and earth and get Bo back on the canvas but it's obvious there are no plans for that since they've been chem testing Kristian and Cosgrove(which has actually turned out pretty good so far I think). EJAbby are the HOTTEST thing in daytime right now. All I can say is those two better not EVER stop what they're doing. Log in to Reply harlee490 February 4, 2014 Oh yeah, Chris….John Black returning isn't really buzz worthy in opinion just reading the posts. He hasn't been any excitement about his return maybe sparsely on die hard fans but in general it has fallen flat compared to Kristen's return. I don't want him and Marlena together again, they need a fresh love interest for the Doc. They should had brought back Bo but as you said they are chem testing Hope with Cosgrove, which I too found good. But I'm one that doesn't mind Cosgrove. He was a great Bill Lewis. I wish they do some chem testing with Mark Collier's character w\Hope but right now they are w\Jennifer. Log in to Reply ChrisGa February 5, 2014 [quote=harlee490]I wish they do some chem testing with Mark Collier's character w\Hope but right now they are w\Jennifer.[/quote] When they first announced that Collier was coming aboard as "Liam", I thought it might've been a smoke screen for a recast Bo(even though Collier is a good 15 years younger than Peter Reckell). I think he and Kristian would have phenomenal chemistry together but sadly his hotness is being wasted on Missy Reeves and personally the only male on this canvas I think she has anything resembling chemistry with is Eric Martsolf. Log in to Reply akbad806 February 5, 2014 I want Michael Park to come in as a recast Bo Brady and see what chemistry he would have with KA. Also, I think keeping Collier around for when KD debuts is a good idea so we can have a Eve/Liam/Jennifer triangle. Remember Eve and Jennifer had beef back in the day because of Frankie which could amp up that rivalry again. Also, Eve would side with her half-sister Theresa in the war against Princess Horton-Deveraux. Meanwhile, if Sami catches Abby and EJ in that shower, she gon pull out her blade. DON'T BELIEVE ME JUST WATCH!!!!! (in my Trinidad James voice). Oh, this is the story that DAYS is keeping my attention with right now, other than the craziness that is Nick Fallon. Abby got went IN on her auntie Adrianne yesterday and I was like, "This fast bitch got her nerve. Get sum DiMera D and think she can talk to folks any kind of way." Speaking of Nick, now he got Percy, the weird birdwatcher dude, as his sidekick ready to go work for Kate at MadWorld. But you think Ms. Roberts and her strand of blue hair is ready for that hunni. HELL TO THE NO!!! She say she ain't havin it…. Lorraine Broderick is my saving grace, I swear to Soap Jesus. Y&R is getting better and I'm tuning in sporadically, but DAYS is where my heart is now. One more thing, Brady is so gay and bitchtastic when he drinks or snorts coke off the Kirakis coffee table. Who agrees??? Log in to Reply ChrisGa February 5, 2014 [quote=akbad806]One more thing, Brady is so gay and bitchtastic when he drinks or snorts coke off the Kirakis coffee table. Who agrees???[/quote] I do. Absolutely no offense whatsoever to Eric Martsolf, who I think is smokin' hot and has been doing phenomenal work for the last year or so, but he's ALWAYS come across as a little gay to me, no matter what the situation. That said, he's right up there with my beloved Kate Roberts as the snarkiest, most wise-ass bitch in Salem (although Theresa Donovan and Anne Milbauer aren't far behind). When he was addressing Theresa at that AA meeting a few weeks back as "Bitch" I died. Log in to Reply Leave a Reply Cancel Reply You must be logged in to post a comment.


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from my post on Mom Spark...
When tragedy hits, people band together, but when times are uneventful, people gossip, backstab, and hate. It happens in the workplace, families, and, of course, the blogging community. I often feel discouraged and disappointed from it all, and often wonder why we indulge in tearing others down?
The blogging world is extremely susceptible to this destruction because…
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The North Face Mountain Lumbar Pack Black
Improve how much you can carry with you on all your adventures, with The North Face Mountain Lumbar Pack Black. This lumbar pack from The North Face comes with high quality materials to make it durable enough to survive all your adventures, in the great outdoors. It features an airmesh back panel to make it breathable, so that you feel more comfortable with it on. You can put a lot of things in its large main compartment. You get side, mesh, water bottle pockets so that you can have your water close at hand. Its front compartment gives you a place for other small items. You can cinch it down quite easily with its top compression straps. Its padded hip belt with compression, adds to its comfort level. Plus, you get a removable shoulder strap if you want to carry it that way. Enjoy all your adventures with The North Face Mountain Lumbar Pack Black.
This product can only be shipped to U.S. addresses.


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|Macon Softball Loses to Greenbrier
|Thursday, April 11, 2013
The Macon County High School Softball Team traveled to Greenbrier on Tuesday the 2nd. The Lady Bobcats won the contest by a final score of 3-1.
The Tigerettes only managed 5 hits in the game. Sara Kittrell, Mary Belton, Chelsea Carter, Becca Ballou, and Brandi Garmon had hits while Chelsea Carter collected the only RBI on a home run. Pitching Carter gave up 3 runs on only 4 hits and had 2 strike-outs.
Macon County is scheduled to play Westmoreland at home on the 9th and travel to Sycamore on the 11th of April.
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Meridian Health Plan Awarded CMS Innovation Grant
DETROIT, Feb. 26, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Meridian Health Plan earned a grant from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Innovation Center to support the Strong Start for Mothers and Newborns initiative. Meridian will partner with Allegiance Health in Jackson, Michigan to implement the initiative which aims to reduce preterm births and improve health outcomes for newborns and pregnant women. Meridian is one of 27 awardees announced on February 15, 2013.
"We are delighted to be partnering with Meridian Health Plan on this important initiative to lead to improved outcomes for mothers and infants that we care for within the Jackson community," said Jenny Wren, MBA, BSN, RN, Director of Women's and Children's Services at Allegiance Health.
Premature births are a growing public health problem with significant consequences for families and society, costing an estimated $26 billion each year. This equates to more than 500,000 infants in the United States each year, a number that has grown by 36 percent over the last 20 years.
"As a major segment of our membership, improving the health of pregnant women and newborns is a priority for Meridian," said Shery Cotton, COO of Meridian Health Plan. "It's a national concern, but we're focused on working with our local partner, Allegiance, to implement an effective model that creates positive change. I'm proud of the team who worked to make this grant a reality."A total of 182 healthcare facilities across the country will support the four-year Strong Start for Mothers and Newborns initiative that seeks to determine approaches to decrease the anticipated total cost of medical care during pregnancy, delivery and over the first year of life for children born to mothers in Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
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The Social Photographer (Part 2.1): How to write concise and engaging messages
In Part 1 of this series, you have learned about the basics of social media for photographers: How your social media efforts should be driving traffic to your photography website, the nature of the different social networks out there, and the importance of having great content and being willing to share it.
This second part is called Getting Your Message Across. Due to the volume of information, it is spilt into two sections, published in separate posts. This first one teaches you How to write concise and engaging messages while the second one will be about Campaign building.
Great content alone is not enough. Having great content and being able to get people excited about it are two fundamentally different things, and you need skills in both areas. As a matter of fact, people who are very good at getting their message across are often more successful than those people who are shy and have superior content. You need to be able to sell what you have, and this is surely a question of your character. If you are outgoing, extroverted and eloquent, you will find it relatively easy to convince people. But there are also a few rules that can help you in getting your message across, no matter which type of character you are.
In this section, you will learn how to write effective posts that engage your readers. This includes tips on structuring your messages, getting the wording right and an hitting the right tone. In many examples, I will show you the Do's and the Don'ts.
For the purpose of this discussion, let us coarsely differentiate between three types of messages. We will discuss how these types relate to each other further down. For now, it suffices to know that there are
- Personal messages: messages that relate to your personal life, experiences and questions. For example, a funny photo of you and your friends at a restaurant could be the subject of a personal message.
- Pitch messages: messages in which you are pitching an idea, a product, an event, new content on your website etc. Essentially, a pitch message is any messages by which you want to get people to do something.
- Curation message: message by which you share other people's thoughts, ideas and work.
The distinction between these message types may not always be that clear. Sometimes, the boundary is a bit blurry, and a message may have elements of two or even all of these types. Actually, merging them in the right way can be very effective for building a relationship with your contacts in a social network and for selling something at the same time. Let's look at each of these message types in turn.
Personal Messages
In your personal messages, you are quite free with respect to the wording and the format. However, you have to keep in mind that people will not really differentiate between you the private person and you the photographer. You have to be consistent across both of these roles. Otherwise, you will lose credibility. Being offensive, cracking dirty jokes or sharing photos of the intoxicated you doing silly things are obviously not appropriate.
If you have interests or hobbies besides your photography, go ahead and make them the subject of your personal messages. In this way, people really get to know (at least a part of) your personality. This shows that you are not a one-trick pony and that there is more to you than snapping pretty pictures.
There is one thing concerning personal messages that is especially important for photographers. If you attach a photo to such a message, it should still be a decent one. Obviously, those photos are not the ones you put into your portfolio, but if a photographer attaches tons of really bad smartphone pictures to their personal posts, it signals to the public that they don't care.
Pitch Messages
The difference between a personal message and a pitch message is that in a pitch message, you want to make people take some action. That is the primary goal when you are pitching something. However, that does not mean that you cannot give it a personal touch. You should actually always put something personal into your messages. Don't become a sales robot without a soul.
Hard selling (direct messages with the sole purpose of selling something) does not work too good on social media. If you're only in it for the selling, people will quickly realize that and leave. In many cases, the stuff that you are pitching does not and should not translate directly into a monetary gain. If your goal is indeed to sell a product for money, you should use social media to attract people. This can be done by offering something valuable connected to your product (e.g. an eBook or a tutorial) for free.
Don't expect anybody to take the next step and actually buy something – just provide them with something useful and show them that there's more if they want more. Those that take the gift and leave would never have bought anything from you anyway. Those that stay and invest money appreciate that you leave the decision entirely to them.
In the example below, my goal was not to sell anything but to grow a community.
Curation Messages
Curation messages are a bit like pitch messages. However, the content you are pitching is not your own. It could be a blog entry, a website, a video or a photo from somebody else that you think is interesting to your contacts. Usually, the text you are writing is much shorter than for a pitch message. Curation is a very important element of a good social media strategy for the following reasons:
- It helps shape and convey your brand identity. The range of topics you share and your personal opinion about them are a part of your identity that you can communicate via curation.
- It establishes you as an expert in your field and as a source of interesting and useful information.
- It help you build trust and relationships with those peers whose work you share. This also increases the chance that those people will share your work in the future.
- It helps you attract more followers. Many people will simply follow you because you keep them informed and present them with interesting content. Of course, these people will also see your pitch messages.
General Considerations
If you want to convey your messages effectively, there are some tips to keep in mind. In the following, I will present you with a few general guidelines that help you write and build messages effectively in a systematic way. If you take these guidelines and adapt them to your personality and to your needs, they help you in being consistent in the way you communicate on social media. This, in turn, will help you build your brand.
Let's begin with some general things.
Keep It Brief and Simple
Brevity and simplicity are key whenever you need to get information across to your readers. The longer and the more complex your post is, the more time and energy your readers need to invest to absorb it. Remember that most people are busy and have a short attention span. Experienced readers usually apply a specific technique to quickly grasp the contents of a message and to judge if it's worth reading. In general, this technique may look similar to this one:
- They check out the visual elements of your message (attached images etc.).
- They read the first sentence(s).
- If that gets them interested, they quickly scan the rest of the text.
- If they are still interested, they may read the full text.
If your readers don't understand within 3-5 seconds what the essence of your message is, they normally lose interest and go to the next message. 3-5 seconds, that's all you have to entice your readers. Remember: It's social media, and every one of your followers probably has dozens or more messages waiting in his stream. Thus, they will quickly scan them and select which ones to concentrate on.
Being brief does not sound too bad, does it? After all, if you have to write less you need less time, right? Well, yes and no. Mark Twain once wrote in a letter: "If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter." You will find that conveying the same idea precisely with fewer words is difficult and sometimes indeed takes longer.
Don't Be Too Brief
Being too brief is also not good. On Facebook and Google+, for example, you will find a lot of people who share photos (sometimes many in a short time span) and links without writing a single word about it. Some of them simply dump stuff into their social media channels. They are too busy, or they simply don't care.
Any of these reasons will turn people off. Why would I bother to like, +1 or comment on one of your photos if you signal clearly that you don't care? And why would I want to build a relationship with you if you are obviously not interested in it? I wouldn't! I would shake my head and leave.
If you think your English is not good enough, it is still much better to make the best of your language skills and write something. People will understand this and appreciate that you engage anyway.
Don't Give Away Everything
If you are pitching or curating something, you usually have some external content and an action you want people to take. E.g. you want them to go to your website and read your latest blog post. Thus, you should not give your readers everything in your post. Make them curious and give them a clear link to click on to get them where you want them to go to.
For example, if you link to an entry on your blog, you can put an excerpt (a few sentences) of into your social media post. Do not post the whole text of the blog entry.
Use Markup If Possible
If the social network allows you to use a markup language to format your messages, you should make use of it. Google+ lets you render your text bold and italic (among other formats), and this is usually all you need. Use bold and italic text for headlines and to emphasize important elements (like your call to action). But use markup sparingly. Writing your whole post in bold face is not useful and comes across as being spammy.
Facebook and Twitter, for example, do not allow you to format your text in any way. Flickr allows you to use a subset of HTML in the descriptions of your images.
The Structure
The worst thing you can do is to write a single large blob of unformatted text. No matter how eloquent and fascinating that text may be, people will not bother to decipher it. Structure your message, and cut it into easily consumable paragraphs. The structure of your messages should be such that it helps your readers to quickly understand what you are trying to say and what you want them to do.
There are a few common elements and principles that help you achieve this. Please note that it is not mandatory that all your messages look as explained below. They also do not all have to look the same. This is not a blueprint but a collection of useful concepts that you should adapt to your need and to your personality.
The Headline
Every message should have a headline – a line of text that characterizes the message and makes people read on. Often, the headline is not a full sentence. It should be short enough such that there is no line break in it. The headlines of your messages are similar to the headlines in a newspaper. If it is possible, you should also format them differently from the rest of the text – e.g. in a bold font.
The nature of a headline can be different. Sometimes, directly stating the subject of your message works best. On other occasions, you may pose a question or state some surprising fact to start your message with. Sometimes, this stirs a lot of interest and makes people read on. Don't get too fancy or philosophical in your headlines. Be brief and get straight to the point.
For example, let's say you have written a blog post where you compare JPGs vs. RAW images. Your conclusion is (of course) that people should shoot in RAW mode whenever possible. Here are some good and bad examples of headlines you could choose.
Examples – Bad headlines
|»JPG has lossy compression, RAW doesn't«
|Focuses on a detail not on the actual topic of the post
|»If it had not been for the JPG format, the digital photography revolution would never have taken place at all«
|Long and winding making it hard to get the point
|»RAW images«
|Too little information
Examples – Good headlines
|»Shoot in RAW format – JPG Sucks!«
|Provocative and polarizing. People will feel tempted to object and will naturally read on.
|»Do you still shoot JPG?«
|Direct personal question with a twist: "still" indicates that the reader is late to the party
|»8 out of 10 Photographers Still Shoot JPG? What about you?«
|Surprising fact coupled with a direct personal question
The Summary
If your message will be longer, you should add a small summary right below the headline. The summary consists of 1 – 3 sentences that give your readers and overview of your message. Many readers will actually only read this summary and either take the action you call for or move on. After the summary, you can add a longer description if necessary. In many cases, the summary is the sole content of your message.
The Call to Action
In a pitch message, you want people to do something – e.g. go to a website, register somewhere, stay alert for upcoming information etc. This is commonly called a call to action. You should formulate your calls to action as directly and as clearly as possible. Make sure you give your readers all the information they need to actually take action. In most cases, this is only a link to some website. Include that link and mark it clearly. Don't make them search for it.
Use action-oriented verbs ("learn", "join", "read", "check") in your calls to action and make them as brief as possible.
Examples – Bad calls to action
|»It would be great if you could perhaps go to my website and read the full article. [LINK]«
|Much too long, reads as if not even you are convinced
|No indication of what is behind the link
Examples – Good calls to action
|»Learn more about processing RAW photos at [LINK]«
|Positive action verb, explains what the reader can expect, with a clear link
|»Join the community at [LINK]«
|Positive action verb, invitation
The Fold
In classical print media, the paper of a brochure, for example, has to be folded to fit into envelopes and to facilitate the handling. Thus, you will first see the part of the brochure above the fold, and you will only bother to unfold it if that part gets you interested. In the Internet (and in particular in social media) there is also a fold. In social networks like Facebook and Google+, messages are collapsed to make them all the same size and improve the browsing experience when people go through their streams. Your readers have to actively expand your messages to read them fully. This means that you need to get your message across above the fold. That is the most important space where your headline, your summary and your call to action need to live. Usually, the fold is around the 400 character mark but it's different on different networks.
Even if there is no fold, experience shows that the further down something is, the less likely it is to be read or acted upon. Thus, put the important items at the top.
What's In It for Your Readers?
Remember, your readers will not take action because it's good for you. They will take action only when there is something in it for them! This is closely related with the sharing argument made in Part 1 of this guide. To write a good headline, summary and call to action, you need to have a clear idea of who you address with your message ("Know your audience") and what these people will get when they follow your call to action.
Bad Example
|»Buy my eBook on shooting in RAW format!«
|Why should I buy it? Surely not because it's your eBook
Good Example
|»Learn how to use RAW format more effectively in my new eBook. Get a set of free RAW images to practice.«
|Aha, I will learn something. Your eBook will make me more effective, and there is a free set of images on top. I am sold!
The Details
In messages that contain more information than fits above the fold, you should give the additional details in a separate section below the fold. Interested people will expand your message and read on. This is where you can put the long story and where brevity is less important.
You may still want to keep things brief in the details. If your message spans more than a single screen, you may be better off converting it into a blog post and linking to it.
The Second Call to Action
Above the fold, you should obviously have a clear call to action. Sometimes, however, the people who expand your message to read the whole story may forget about that call at the top. Therefore, it is good to repeat the call to action again at the very end of the message, maybe with a different wording.
The Resources
If you feel that you have more information for people who found your message interesting, you can add those items in a Resources section after your actual message. Usually, this is a bullet list with brief text items and clearly marked links. A Resources section is not only good for stimulating additional traffic to your website, it also shows your readers that you have more interesting stuff in store, even if they don't visit any of the resources.
But don't just put random stuff in there! Make it fit the topic of the message. Also, don't count on people actually clicking on the links in your resources. Remember: the further down something is in your message, the less likely people will notice it.
Visual Content is King
You know the old saying: A picture is worth a thousand words. This is especially true in social media where your message competes with hundreds of other messages for the reader's attention. Attaching an eye-catching picture to your post increases the chances that people will read it and act on it. Thus, visual content is key, and a message that has no picture attached to it is essentially a lost message. The picture could be a photo, a screenshot, a diagram or an illustration.
If you are posting a link, Facebook and Google+ will automatically add a thumbnail image and an excerpt from the linked website to your post. This is better than having no visual content at all. However, if you attach a screenshot of the respective website, it will be represented in the post much bigger and, thus, it will get more interaction. You can put the link to the website inside the text.
Please make sure that you give proper credits if you use other people's images. You should under all circumstances avoid giving the impression that the attached image is your own if it isn't.
The Wording
The way in which you approach your readers and the wording have a big influence on the success of your social media work. Let's look at the obvious first: Unless you are specifically writing for a local, regional or national market, you should write your posts in English. Any other language will severely limit the number of people you will be able to reach.
Approach your readers directly and individually. Write in first or second person (I, we, you) and use active voice. Remember, you are addressing your readers personally, and they are following you because of that. Let's assume that you have an eBook that your readers should download:
Bad Examples
|»The eBook can be downloaded at…«
|Passive voice
|»The eBook is available for download at…«
|Passive voice again
Good Examples
|»You can download my new eBook at…«
|Active voice approaching the reader directly (keywords are you and my)
|»Download my eBook at…«
|Alternative to the above; still active voice but shorter; no personal approach, however
Use informal language. For example, in written English, contractions (e.g. "I've" instead of "I have") are usually considered bad style. When you use them in your social media campaigns, however, they introduce a casual style. In many situations, this is a good thing as it reduces the distance between you and your readers. Being too formal makes you appear inaccessible.
However, you should avoid abbreviated Internet slang as much as possible. You should write "you", not "u" and "thank you", not "thx". You may use these terms when you comment and discuss with others, but when you are trying to sell your ideas, using proper language signals that you are serious about it.
Finally, please check the grammar and spelling of your posts. If you consistently post text with a lot of errors, you signal to your readers that you don't really care, or (worse yet) that you don't know better. The least you can do is to copy your post texts into a word processor software and run a spell checker before you post them.
The Tone
How do you want your readers to perceive you? As the serious, authoritative guy, as the funny creative guy, as a professional sales person, or as something in-between? Apart from the mere wording you are using, there is also a tone in which you write your posts. For example, humor and irony can be powerful tools. Don't take yourself too serious. Give your readers the feeling that it's a friendly, warm-hearted atmosphere where you come from and they will follow.
Don't be too aggressive with your words. There is a fine line between being convincing and being aggressive. The former will make people follow you while the latter may make them shy away.
Bad Example
|»What are you waiting for? Go ahead and buy my prints now!«
|You pressure people and make them feel uncomfortable
Good Example
|»I have lots of prints in store for you at [LINK]. The metallic ones are my favorite.«
|Moderate hint with a personal touch and a recommendation. People will not feel guilty if they don't buy a print.
Leave your business parlance at home. If you have ever watched a teleshopping channel for a few minutes, you know how annoying it can be to be bombarded with phrases like "order now", "buy 1, get one free" or "But wait Bob, there's more…". People will smell the slightest hint of this and unfollow you if you pester them.
A Final Word
Maybe you feel overwhelmed after reading all of this, and it may appear that there are too many pitfalls to avoid. But don't feel intimidated. Take these points as best-practice guidelines. Over time, they will help you improve your social media activities. And most importantly, stay yourself. Don't use any phrases you find here just because I told you so. Shape them so that they match your personality.
Summary of Part 2.1
In this part of The Social Photographer, you have learned systematic ways of getting your message across to your readers. You saw that there are different types of messages that you should approach differently. Simplicity, a good structure, the right wording and an enticing tone are very important. Not only do they help you convey your point, but they also shape your brand identity over time.
What's Ahead in Part 2.2?
The title of part 2.2 is Campaign Building. Your social media activities should not only consist of individual one-shot messages. Sometimes, you want to take your readers with you on a longer journey. Maybe you have a long-term project, a photo contest, or you want them to join you in the making of a new product. That's where you need campaigns – series of messages that build on each other and lead to a well-defined goal. In Part 2.2, we will take a closer look at how such a campaign can be set up.


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Hi, Sparkland. I've been a bit absent of late. Life has knocked the $hit out of me, once again. Recall my oldest brother died on April 10, 2012 at age 56. Six months later, on October 18, 2012, my father died. He was 83 and had a long, full life. I spent 5 nights with him in hospice saying my goodbyes. That was a gift. Now, five months later, my remaining brother, age 52, died on Monday March 25 of acute myelogenous leukemia. It came on fast. He was admitted to the hospital last Tuesday, where he'd gone because he felt very fatigued and weak. They did a CBC and suspected chronic myelogenous leukemia. They did a bone marrow biopsy and got the results on Monday. It was not chronic, it was acute. Monday afternoon we got the call that he'd taken a turn for the worst, had been moved to ICU, and had been intubated. He wasn't expected to make it. I left work, went home, pulled myself together, and threw some things in a bag. I drove to Houston heading straight for the hospital. My brother died 15 minutes before I got there.
My heart will stop aching eventually. Or so I'm told. But for now, I'm just hanging on. I'll still be logging in, hopefully have some fitness minutes to track, but it's going to take some time before I feel okay again. Thank goodness for kitties.
It's been a rough 11 months.
Ventana Canyon
Here's the view from the top of my hike. Two days in a row. My dogs are tired. What a spectacular way to earn those fitness minutes.
Yes, I allowed my eating (and drinking) to get a bit out of control the past two weeks. Yes, I slacked off big time on the exercise. But guess what? I'm going to be okay. Even if I've gained a few pounds, they'll come right back off. So, moving on to my 2013 goals.
Last year was a super ginormously $hitty year. But I managed to hit my goal of 12,000 fitness minutes for the year. It was a modest goal, but with the year I had, it was a tiny bit challenging. I also did 438 miles of walking and jogging for the year. That's about 8.5 miles per week. I'm fairly certain I could top that with one hand tied behind my back. I did 5 today.
Here are the 2013 goals I've settled on:
15,000 fitness minutes for the year
700 miles for the year
Here's how it averages:
1,250 fitness minutes a month
288.5 fitness minutes a week (let's call it 290)
41.5 fitness minutes a day
13.5 miles per week on average
At the end of every quarter I'll reevaluate.
Moving on to food. I did pretty well beginning in July last year. I ate between 1000 and 1400 calories a day. I lost 40 pounds. I want to lose 20 more by the time I turn 50 on May 20. (50, Yikes!) That gives me exactly 20 weeks. Which means 1 pound per week. Very doable if I stay focused. I shall repeat what I did the last 6 months (save the last 2 weeks), and that should do it. That means track every morsel, weigh and measure, and keep alcohol to a minimum (even if it fits in my range, it metabolizes differently and knocks me out of whack). I also plan to increase veggies. I've learned if I've got a bunch cut up and bagged, I'll just chow down on them raw. Yum yum. Also key, getting 8 hours of sleep. My sleep has gotten out of whack of late--staying up too late and sleeping too late.
To kick-start the year and get me back on the straight and narrow, I'm going to keep my calories at the low end of my range for the month of January. And get my fitness minutes back up where they should be.
I need to plan a 2013 birthday beach trip as a reward.
The title of this blog post says it all. I have been eating with great abandon. It all started last week with a box of chocolate covered hard toffee sent to me by my financial adviser. The day the package arrived in the mail, I had hefty amount. Since then, I've had a couple of nibbles more here and there. Why just nibbles? Because a few days later a giant box of assorted Dean and Delucca chocolates arrived in my office, including more chocolate covered hard toffee, caramels, cherries, espresso beans, malt balls, and nuts. I ate the toffee the first day and the caramels the second. Then there was the morning someone brought breakfast tacos. And the afternoon that same someone ordered Mexican delivery from Chuy's, complete with creamy jalape�o dip and tortilla chips.
I'm great at avoiding seeking out these temptations--but when they're brought to me, whole nother story.
So I escape the temptations of the office only to be faced with them at home on Friday. I had a party. I made a fish ceviche and a crab ceviche, I was going to make Paula Dean's fried crab balls, but at the last minute, came to my senses and made ceviche. It was delicious. I also had lots of cut up veg, hummus, baba ganoush, guacamole, and smoked salmon. But there was cream cheese for the salmon and a cheese board with red grapes candied walnuts, and truffle honey. And then there was the artichoke dip. Still, not too bad. Then there were the mini cupcakes--red velvet and chocolate peppermint, one dozen of each. You'd think that would have been enough, but when I picked them up I had a Bavarian chocolate, full-size. I rationalized it because I hadn't had lunch,
For drink I bought a case of prosecco and pinot grigio.
Here are a few things my guests brought: chocolate truffles, fudge, iced sugar cookies, homemade peppermint bark, meatballs, beef empanadas, spinach in pastry, Brie with fruit compote, and p�t�.
Yesterday, the morning after the party, I had empanadas and cupcakes for breakfast, nibbled on the cookies and fudge in between naps, and still ate dinner. This morning I had fudge with my coffee.
Today I am packing up to head to Houston for a couple of days. I'm bringing what's left of the sweets (except the toffee that started it all), and leaving it there. I'm also bringing the veggies, ceviche and salmon to snack on while I'm there. I will make garlic mashed potatoes and roasted Brussels sprouts for Christmas dinner. I will go for a walk with my friend on Christmas Eve morning. Which is another thing--I've gotten very little formal exercise the past few weeks. I've been plenty busy, cleaning, bringing stuff down from the attic in two houses, decorating, hanging lights, filling boxes for Goodwill, changing light bulbs and a/c filters. And working. But strength training only once a week and no walking or running. And zero tracking.
I can't wait for this to be over. Next week after Christmas, I have one get-together with the girls on Thursday, and that's it. I have no New Years Eve plans. So after Christmas I lace up my shoes and hit the pavement. No waiting until NY Day. I'm champing at the bit to get back in my groove and hit my stride.
Also, sugar makes me feel very tired the next day. Odd I never noticed before. I've been more hung over from the sugar than the bubbles (also sugar).
I think next year I need a pre-planned strategy. Managing food on the fly didn't work. I feel gross. And fat. And out of control. I don't like it one bit. But the season isn't over yet. Maybe I can do some salvage work over the next week and a half.
Any and all comments or suggestions are most welcome.
Okay, if you've made it all the way through this food orgy, thanks for reading and Happy Holidays.
I saw this on a Spark friend's page and it resonated with me so much, I just had to share.
There is in every true woman's heart, a spark of heavenly fire, which lies dormant in the broad daylight of prosperity, but which kindles up and beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity.
Hat tip CANDOSUE52!


text:
Sanctions placed on Delta State sorority
A sorority at Delta State University has been ordered to apologize to campus leaders and students for an incident during Homecoming where a white member dressed up in "black face" to portray Whoopi Goldberg in a musical number from the movie "Sister Act."
The Bolivar Commercial reported that the theme of the week was "Delta Blues Homecoming" and keeping with tradition, the students participated in different activities, including a lip sync contest on the quadrangle.
DSU President Dr. Bill LaForge, who served as a judge for the event, said in a campus-wide email that he thought the student performing in the musical number was a black member of the Kappa Delta Sorority. He said he later learned it was a white student.
Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.