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It just doesn't get much easier than these Grilled Zucchini and Sausage Kabobs! |
(For Phase One Fridays I feature Phase One Recipes from the past that have been my personal favorites, and this recipe for World's Easiest Grilled Zucchini and Sausage Kabobs is something I've made over and over with beef, chicken, or turkey sausage.)
It's time to be breaking out the grill, and unless you're brand new to my blog, it's probably pretty obvious that I love grilling. But some nights you just want an easy dinner, so I hope you enjoy this updated recipe for kabobs that I've used many times with different types of sausage, and truly, these have to be the easiest kabobs in the world. There are a few ways you can do the kabobs, depending on how much time you want to invest, but even if you just stick the sausage and veggies on skewers, brush with Italian salad dressing, and grill, this is a pretty good tasting easy dinner.
World's Easiest Grilled Zucchini and Sausage Kabobs
(Instructions to make as many kabobs as you'd like, recipe created by Kalyn.)
pre-cooked pork, beef, chicken, or turkey sausages, 1 per person
medium-size zucchini, 1 per person (use zucchini that's close to the same diameter as the sausage if possible)
Optional: red bell pepper pieces or red onion pieces to alternate with the sausage and zucchini
Italian salad dressing with soybean oil or olive oil for marinating kabobs or brushing on as you grill (choose dressing with not more than 2 carbs per serving for South Beach Diet)
Instructions if you're marinating vegetables:
Instructions to cook kabobs:
South Beach Suggestions:
Nutritional Information?
I chose the South Beach Diet to manage my weight partly so I wouldn't have to count calories, carbs, points, or fat grams, but if you want nutritional information for a recipe, I recommend entering the recipe intoCalorie Count, which will calculate it for you.
More Tasty Ideas with Kabobs on the Grill:
(Recipes from other blogs not always South Beach Diet friendly; check ingredients.)
Grilled Veggie Kabobs on Dirty Rice from Gluten Free Goddess
Grilled Curried Chicken Skewers with Spicy Peanut Sauce from Kalyn's Kitchen
Chicken Caesar Kabobs from Taste and Tell
Hamburger Kebabs from Kalyn's Kitchen
Lemon-Garlic Chicken Kabobs from One Perfect Bite
(Want even more recipes? I find these recipes from other blogs using Food Blog Search.)
Blogger Disclosure:
Posts may include links to my affiliate account at Amazon.com, and Kalyn's Kitchen earns a few cents on the dollar if readers purchase the items I recommend, so thanks for supporting my blog when you shop at Amazon!


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Restaurants in Miami
In Miami, there's a world of cuisine, from Asian fusion to classic all-American diners. Expensive establishments cluster around South Beach's Collins Avenue, including upmarket sushi restaurant Blue Sea. In Little Havana, you can find affordable Cuban coffee, late-night cocktails and ethnic menus from Cuban to Haitian. The up-and-coming Design District brims with laid-back restaurant-lounges. Most Miami restaurants close surprisingly early but there are late-opening bars along South Beach. Around 15% tip is expected.
Blue Sea
Designer sushi
The Starck-designed décor at Blue Sea, in South Beach's landmark Delano
Hotel, matches the equally designer sushi on offer. Sitting just off the
hotel's gleaming lobby, 18 sought-after seats perch around a pristine marble
counter, over which expensive delicacies fly. Caviar and ultra-fresh oysters
are washed down with cocktails from the Rose Bar next door.
E-mail this item
Opening Hours
Tue-Thu 7pm-12am; Fri-Sat 7pm-1am
Delano Hotel, 1685 Collins Avenue, South Beach, Miami FL 33139
+1 305 674 6400
Fusion food
Some of the best food in Miami is served at Azul in Brickell Key's Mandarin
Oriental. Chef Clay Conley provides exquisite Asian and Mediterranean
dishes; signature dishes include oysters wrapped in carpaccio and
harissa-marinated lamb. Combine this with sommelier Cynthia Betancourt's
formidable wine list, with emphasis on Spanish wines. Booking is a must.
E-mail this item
Opening Hours
Mon-Sat 7pm-11pm
Mandarin Oriental, 500 Brickell Key Drive, Miami FL 33131
+1 305 913 8358
GreenStreet Café
Weekend brunch favourite
Queues form around the block for GreenStreet Café's classic weekend brunch.
All the American staples at this Coconut Grove restaurant are there:
burgers, Caesar salad and steaks as well as a tempting selection of pastas,
wraps and soups. In the evening, prices rise for a similar menu, with pizza
and salmon as welcome additions.
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Opening Hours
Daily 7am-11pm
3468, Main Highway, Coconut Grove, Miami FL 33133
+1 305 444 0244
Joe's Stone Crab
Seafood paradise
Joe's Stone Crab is a Florida institution. Founded in 1913 while Miami was
just a small backwater town, this restaurant in the south of Miami Beach is
now famous all over America for its signature dishes - crab and key lime
pie. Come early as Joe's is first come-first served and can get extremely
E-mail this item
Opening Hours
Tue-Sat 11.30am-2pm; Mon-Thu 5pm-10pm; Fri & Sat 5pm-11pm; Sun 4pm-10pm (May-Aug open Wed, Thu & Sun 6pm-10pm; Fri & Sat 6pm-11pm)
11, Washington Avenue, Miami 33139
+1 800 780 2722
Classic Cuban cuisine
The takeaway window at Little Havana's Versailles is permanently crowded with
locals downing strong coffee. Inside Cuban beans and rice and fried fish are
served under kitsch chandeliers and murals. Late-night opening makes this
the perfect pit-stop after exploring Little Havana.
E-mail this item
Opening Hours
Mon-Thu 8am-2am; Fri 8am-3am; Sat 8am-4.30am; Sun 9am-1am
3555, South-West Eighth Street, Miami FL 33135
+1 305 444 0240
Metrobus route 8 to SW 8th StreetIn Little Havana.
Tap Tap
Haitian specialities
Every part of buzzing Tap Tap in Miami Beach is painted, from the chairs and
tables to the walls. Haitian specialities conch, stewed goat and grilled
fish are cooked in a charcoal oven for authentic flavours and there is live
Caribbean music most nights. The bar provides one of the best mojito
cocktails in town.
E-mail this item
Opening Hours
Mon-Thu 5pm-11pm; Fri-Sat 5pm-12am; Sun 5pm-10pm
819, Fifth Street, Miami Beach, Miami FL 33139
+1 305 672 2898

subset: commoncrawl


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Brandi Frazier has been a military wife for 18 years, the same amount of time she has been married to Rosedale native Captain Allen Frazier with the United States Marine Corps.
Two years ago, she became executive director of the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society at the Naval Submarine Base in Kings Bay, Ga. to support her husband and fellow sailors and marines.
NMCRS is an international nonprofit organization that provides financial, educational and program assistance to members of the Naval Services of the United Stated and their families.
"Not a lot of people know about the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society," said Frazier. "What's unique about us is that we operate with a staff that is 90 percent volunteers and everything we provide comes from donations."
In 2012 alone, the King's Bay branch raised over $350,000 that was distributed to active members, veterans and qualifying family members.
Over 250 NMCRS offices worldwide provide financial assistance for a number of resources, including basic living expenses, health and dental, visiting nurse services food, rent, utilities, emergency transportation, education and more.
"This is the most meaningful work I've done in my entire life," said Frazier. "It feels great to give back and pay it forward."
Frazier said a typical day is nearly impossible to plan as she and her staff of 22 volunteers help their clients in any way possible.
And she understands many of the problems her clients face, having been a military wife for many years.
"I have empathy for our clients every day," she said. "I know about the challenges of deployment."
Cpt. Frazier, who had one tour in Iraq and has been stationed throughout the Middle East and United States during his service, is extremely grateful for his wife's leadership with the NMCRS.
"The services her society provides the Marines and Sailors are unprecedented," he said. "I've personally sent numerous Marines and Sailors to her office to seek assistance.
"She has done an outstanding job, made a tremendous difference in how the society operates and is well known throughout and beyond the society.
"I'm very proud of her."
The Fraziers have also bounced around to at least eight bases throughout the years.
Luckily, he is currently stationed in King's Bay and is not deployable with his present position.
"He goes to work right down the road and it's great to have him here," said Frazier. "It helps a lot considering we raise a family of three boys."
Making adjustments is part of life for families with service members, said Frazier, but one thing she'll never let go of is her Delta roots.
"At all the places we've lived, I've tried to describe what it means to be from the Delta," she said. "It's a culture and a way of life I carry with me everywhere I go."
And she always makes sure to have a stash of Delta pecans sent from home.
The NMCRS is currently working at its busiest time of the year collecting money for its active duty fund drive.
The annual drive, from April 1 until the end of March, is the primary moneymaker to provide clients with resources throughout the year.
Those interested in contributing to the campaign can contact the NMCRS Kings Bay branch at 912-573-3928.
Contributions to the society are fully deductible under Section 170(b)(1)(a) of the IRS Code.
The organization forever remains committed to ensure that all available resources are used to achieve financial self-sufficiency and find solutions to emergency needs.
Cpt. Frazier and the family will soon be moving to a base in Okinawa, Japan where Brandi hopes to continue working with the organization.
Learn more about the NMCRS at www.nmcrs.org.


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So, annoying as I am, I have here the latest update on the fringer supplement I'm constructing.
I have done most conversions myself - although other people here on the forums have inspired some of it and others have given feedback on some of the stuff. They should be included, although if you feel left out, I either apologise or encourage to participate
Please comment if you feel like telling me if I missed the mark on some of these things. New to this version is a lot of weapons - I'm one of those pesky people that like named models and small variances. Yes. I'm sure some are against this stance, that's fair and please do voice your opinion - although I do not care much about the discussion of "if" this is necessary or not. If I didn't think so and feel that if informed and improved my game, I wouldn't have done it.
There are some attachments in there as well, some of which is very much Boehm's work - I have only streamlined and packed stuff together - these I want commentary one in particular (thank you Boehm for supplying me with ideas!). I have also a version of the retractable/attachable stock - I can't find the thread it was discussed in so this is from what I remember and from the SE take on it. I think it looks ok, if not great. Also, the weapons, please comment, here or there.
EDIT: Should be the correct file now.


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30 Ways To Save Money Over Winter Break
Between buying gifts, traveling home for the holidays, and finding the perfect New Year's dress, the holidays can leave you broke! Limit the damage to your bank account with these awesome money-saving tips.
By Emily Laurence
Throw A Wii Game Night
Instead of going out, stay in and challenge your friends to a video game battle! Whether you have a Wii, Guitar Hero, or old-school Nintendo, you'll have an awesome time without spending money. Bonus: it's the perfect way to flirt with that cute guy from your high school you always had a crush on!


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The season is over. The Dodgers beat the Giants 5-1 and now Theo Epstein And Other Losing GMs Whose Names I Can't Remember are going into their war rooms/man caves/boring offices and getting ready to tackle the offseason.
Not Sabean. Not us Giants fans. The horchata ice cream is on steeping right now – horchata is a cinnamon rice drink from Mexico and it's divine – and I am celebrating. Because these playoffs, silly extra wildcard and all, are going to be pretty damn exciting. There was serious drama in Oakland this afternoon with the A's stealing the division title from the Rangers at the last moment and Emily, in the car, turning on her radio right before the last out and promptly, oh, slamming it off.
Still, it will be interesting for the Rangers. They've lost in the World Series two years in a row… something had to change. This could be just the shakeup they need, you know?
(Positive affirmations FTW.)
Anyway, as some of you (a few of you? Yeah? Maybe even one?) might remember, last year on the final day of the regular season, I made a list: 162 Things I Loved About 2011 in San Francisco Giants-Land. I will go on the record as saying that was insane. It took me a couple of days vegetating in bed and a few more days of H&M retail therapy to recover. So, this year, I've decided to be do something a little… different. 5 Things I Loved 2012 in San Francisco Giants-Land! (America's youth is no longer ambitious. You have proof.)
5. The Marco Scutaro. When Sabean picked up Scutaro, there was more than a little headshaking and whispering in this fandom – hey, you did it too, don't even try to deny it – and then he began to hit and that was pretty much it. The Marco Scutaro is spectacular.
4. The Bullpen. Believe it or not, Brian Wilson went down this season, even though it feels like ages ago now. And this bullpen has stepped up big time. Sure, there were bumps in the road, but overall? I feel good about 'em going into the postseason. And that's huge.
3. The Buster Posey. 'Nuff said. Also, huge congrats to him winning the batting title. Hunter Pence is keeping secret what present the Giants got him, but I sure know what I would get him if someone would, um, donate the funds.
2. The Matt Cain. Who pitched a perfect game. (Hey, that rhymed!) Not only did that provide us bloggers with endless jokes about his perfection, all season long, but it also was, you know, a perfect game. So there's that.
1. Making the playoffs. There's a foggy year in there somewhere (every year is a foggy year in San Francisco, but you know what I mean), but the Giants have bounced back big time and I think they're seriously, seriously poised to do some damage in the coming weeks. And if possible, I like this team even better than 2010. Playoffs, here we come.
Also, antlers, here I come!
Diamond Girl


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Menstrual cycles that vary more than a few days in length from month to month are considered irregular.
Most menstrual cycle intervals occur about every four weeks, with the normal range between 24 and 35 days. To measure your menstrual cycle, start counting from the first day of your last period and stop counting on the first day of your next period.
Don't worry if you have one or two irregular cycles; all women have variations occasionally. True irregularity persists over several months so if you do notice wide fluctuations in your cycle, speak to your doctor about it.
With the help of Robert Jansen, M.D., a clinical professor of reproductive medicine at the University of Sydney in Australia. Dr. Jansen is also head of the Department of Reproductive Endocrinology & Infertility at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney, the medical director of Sydney IVF, one of Australia's leading fertility clinics, and the author of Overcoming Infertility: A Compassionate Resource for Getting Pregnant. You can learn more about the book or search Dr. Jansen's extensive glossary of infertility terms at http://www.jansen.com.au


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From Mild to Wild: A Kayak Adventure's Guide to the Sanctuary Coast
By Roger Schumann "Renowned for its world-class scenery, the Nor Cal coast spans three national marine sanctuaries, two wilderness areas and a national seashore. It's no accident this area has received so much protection—it is among the most spectacular and wildlife-rich marine habitats on the planet." – Guide to Sea Kayaking Central & Northern California. Continue Reading »


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International Peace and War Summit
October 24-30, 2010
International Peace and War Summit Registration
October 25-30, 2010
Upon arrival to CWRU, please check-in at the Inamori Center, ground level of Crawford Hall to receive your packet of information and meal/event tickets. Parking for those with Handicap stickers, will be available in Crawford Hall lot (enter gate off Euclid Avenue). All others will park across the street at Severance Hall.
Please note: Displays which are free and open to the public throughout the day during Summit week:
- Reflections on May 4th Quilt Exhibit
Inamori International Center Library, Crawford Hall - Speak Peace Vietnamese Art Display
Featuring pieces on-loan from the Vietnam War
Remnants Museum, Kelvin Smith Library
Registration is now closed. Thank you for your interest in the 2010 Inamori International Peace and War Summit.


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Select () or exclude () categories to narrow your recipe search.
As you select categories, the number of matching recipes will update.
Find exactly what you're looking for with the web's most powerful recipe filtering tool.
Born in Scotland, brought up travelling, settled in RSA and brought up my family here, an IT son and 2 horsey daughters!
Assorted animals, currently two dogs, a cat, a Bearded dragon, two corn snakes, multiple fish, and two Bengal finches. Oh, and a horse :D
Work fulltime; in my spare time (if I'm not running around with youngsters) love to cook, often use the weekends to cook for the week. Love to entertain. my husband is a sports fanatic, enjoys helping in the kitchen and absolutely loves to eat the results!! I was a late starter, in my 30's when I started cooking, so I have brought my children up to Cook from an early age! And they all cook very well :D
Also love to read, garden, browse fleamarkets, esp. antique markets, love to sit in the sun with a cappucino and a good book! Want to retire to the coast.....one day.....
I'm vegetarian, but I cook anything and everything, family favourites for weekdays are pasta of all description, but especially carbonara, risotto, using whatever I have to hand, soups, esp. pumpkin or potato and leek, my husband is crazy about Thai Curried fish, so I try to make it quite often...at weekends, I experiment, and I bake for the family lunchboxes.
I really enjoy the Zaar tag games, and regularly experiment with new dishes, sometimes DH says 'can we just eat our OWN food for a while ':lol:
personal favourites, pasta, blue cheese, spinach, preferably all three in the same dish. Favourite pizza, Death by Cheese....


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'Response.redirect ("http://www.dailydividends.com") %>
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There's absolutely nothing to purchase, we'll keep your email address private, and you can cancel at any time. You truly have nothing to lose, so take advantage of this no-hassle, risk-free offer today!
Click here to subscribe now.


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I've been absent for too long. To break the ice, here are some photos of things I've made since I was last here. There's a bit more, but it's not easily convenient and I'm posting this right away so it actually happens.
So that's what I've been working on. I'll dig up some more or maybe even do some more detailed posts soon. I'm taking a weaving class on Wednesdays now, which is extremely fun. I also finished school. I'm supposed to be studying for my boards which is… challenging. I want to learn all crafts.


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Women in Foodservice
Women in Foodservice
featured articles
industry headlines
Women's Foodservice Forum (WFF) returns to the White House to honor extraordinary women veterans who are making a difference in communities across
Starbucks Coffee Company announced it has appointed Sharon Rothstein as global chief marketing officer.
Cintas Corporation, a leader in fire-protection services, announced that Annaji Sailer, a Cintas employee-partner, has received the prestigious "Ve
The application period for the fifth-annual Les Dames d'Escoffier International (LDEI) Legacy Awards is now open.
Women's Foodservice Forum (WFF) is pleased to welcome three new members to its Board of Directors: Karen Bowman of Deloitte, Twila Day of Sysco, an
The National Restaurant Association (NRA) and the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation (NRAEF) announced they have elected office
On Wednesday, February 20, 2013, the Women's Foodservice Forum (WFF) brought over 30 women executives from the foodservice industry to the White Ho
On February 20, 2013, Women's Foodservice Forum (WFF) board chair Lorna Donatone and president and CEO Fritzi Woods led a delegation of more than 3
Liquid Nutrition is proud to announce the appointment of Anna Datri to the role of vice president marketing.
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"Now we're going back into them."
In October, the grower-shipper will begin producing arils from its own fruit in a new facility.
"We're working on some postharvest techniques and we want to go year-round with California product," White said.
"We're excited because we have so many pomegranates and we need to be as vertically integrated as possible."
White said Trinity's Juicy Gems retail pack will be available in a variety of sizes, including 4.4 and 5.3 ounces.
World Variety Produce sees aril growth
Robert Schueller, marketing director of Los Angeles-based World Variety Produce, said sales of packaged arils have grown about 11% a year since the company found an ideal package offering a 14-day shelf life.
"The Chilean season was fabulous," Schueller said.
"This was the second season they've had the equipment to pack arils."
Arils are the only form of pomegranate allowed into the U.S. from India, he said.
The company planned to start packing California arils from the wonderful variety in September.
"We pack wonderfuls mostly because you know you're going to get a consistently sweet seed and get better pulp to seed ratio," Schueller said.
"The early foothill doesn't seem to get as sweet as other varieties, and it doesn't get deep red."
The company's 5-ounce package contains the seeds of two pomegranates, he said, and retails for $3.99-4.99.
"It doesn't have any preservatives, so there's no difference in taste," he said.
Youngstown Grape boosts organic
Reedley, Calif.-based Youngstown Grape Distributors Inc. plans to pack organic California pomegranates and arils again this year from late October through December.
About 30% of Youngstown's pomegranate crop is now organic, said president Mike Forrest.
"We've been doing organics for three years, and the demand is growing steadily every year as we've increased our product offering," said Forrest.
Youngstown sells most of its organic fruit to natural food stores, he said, adding that organic arils are only slightly more expensive than their conventional cousins.


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See other Hong Kong properties
Hop Inn
2A Hanyee Building, 19 - 21 Hankow Road,
Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong,
Hong Kong, Distance from city centre: 12.7km
Real Reviews
Real reviews from fellow travellers
These are trusted reviews from guests who have actually stayed here. We hope you find them helpful.
Note: we only give a property a rating once it has received a minimum of 3 reviews.
- Page:1/1
- " Nice but small. "
- 20 May 2013 Anonymous Ireland
- " We found our twin room an excellent, though small accommodation with a stunning view of the city below. The decor was charming our room was decorated with cray-pas caricatures of goldfish and the desk help was warm and friendly. I'm not crazy about the "your shower is your bathroom" set-up, but it is what it is. The bathroom is clear glass within the room, but a shower curtain proffered the necessary privacy for toilet and shower use. All in all, a delightful experience. "
- 29 Jan 2012 Ann Marie


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Home » Books » SUN RA: The Immeasurable Equation
SUN RA: The Immeasurable Equation
After 6 years promising, the project to collect and publish Sun Ra's poetry and prose writings, now taken over and completed by Hartmut Geerken winds up at 533pp, larger than A5 size, with introductory essays, photographs and facsimiles. It will be fairly definitive. And in limited supply. Serious weight means we have to add postage to this - sorry 3.45 UK, 5 Europe, 9.5 World. Blame the postal services! That's the cheapest..
Code: sunRaImmeasurable
Price: £42.00


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Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, June 29, 2013, at Christian Union in Drew. Burial will follow in Drew Cemetery with Minister Marlene Merrell officiating.
Visitation will be from 2-6 p.m. on Friday, June 29, 2013, at Byas Funeral Home in Ruleville and one hour prior to the service on Saturday.
He is survived by his mother, Ceola Causey of Drew; daughter, La'Shonya Willis of Drew; brothers, Melvin Causey of Detroit, Mich., and James Causey of Atlanta, Ga.; sisters, Katherine Ratliff of Suisun City, Calif., Shirley Causey, Mary Williams, and Yvonne Causey, all of Drew, Debra Causey of McDonough, Ga., and Beverly Causey of Katy, Texas; and wife, Elizabeth Patterson of Lincoln, Neb.


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Teachers strike enters its 3rd day with two sides 'kilometers apart'
BY STEFANO ESPOSITO, FRAN SPIELMAN, LAUREN FITZPATRICK AND ROSALIND ROSSI Staff Reporters September 11, 2012 7:51AM
Chicago Teachers Union Contract Talks by the Numbers
1987 = last CTU strike, 19 days.
350,000 = students affected (50,000 others in charter schools not impacted).
30,000 = CTU teachers & educational personnel on strike.
144 = CPS strike-contingency schools offering food & activities (8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.).
11,000 = CPS athletes whose fall sports could be impacted.
- Brown: GOP candidates side with Emanuel on strike
- Marin: Emanuel picked fight with teachers
- Steinberg: Teachers walk out, so I step in ...
- Editorial: Teachers risk losing a lot if strike drags on
Article Extras
Related Stories
- 47% of Chicago voters back teachers
- Frustration mounts for parents on second day of strike
- Thousands march on Michigan Ave. in support of striking teachers
- Video: Day 2 of teachers strike
- Map: Schools, churches, other sites open for students during strike
- Strike camps spring up around Chicago to give kids place to go
- Can teachers strike over evaluations? 'Yes and no,' experts say
- Labor leaders supporting striking teachers invoke 9-11 terrorist attacks
- How will CPS pay for a new contract after strike ends?
Updated: October 14, 2012 1:23PM
The head of the Chicago Teachers Union suggested the two sides remained "kilometers apart" as the strike entered into its third day Wednesday.
While Mayor Rahm Emanuel suggested there were only two major issues remaining to work out, union President Karen Lewis noted they had agreed on only six of nearly 50 issues.
"To say that the contract will be settled today is lunacy," she said while at a rally that brought thousands of teachers to the downtown streets Tuesday afternoon. She later said she was "extremely frustrated" when a news reporter commented that it didn't appear likely that the strike would be resolved even by the end of the day Wednesday.
Board of Education President David Vitale later fired back, saying that other comments that Lewis made while at the rally suggesting she had to return to the "silly part" of her day negotiating with Vitale and encouraging teachers "to have fun" were an insult.
"This is not the behavior of a group of people who are serious about the interests of our children," Vitale said as negotiations ended Tuesday night. "It's time for us to get serious."
Vitale said the board also agreed to freeze health care rates for teachers, something the union had pushed for.
But he agreed the two sides could not come to terms on a new teacher evaluation system despite negotiating on it for most of the day.
"I would not say we came to an agreement on the fundamentals," Vitale said. He said the district gave teachers a written proposal — one that Lewis was not present to receive — but said he would return to the table "when we receive a written response or a written proposal" from CTU.
CTU attorney Robert Bloch said Lewis returned to the table Tuesday night and saw the proposal.
CTU officials later said the two sides plan to meet at 11 a.m. Wednesday.
In an interview with WGN-TV Wednesday morning, Board of Education Vice President Jesse Ruiz appeared to suggest the next move is up to the union.
"We need a concrete counterproposal back," Ruiz said.
The dueling statements from leaders on both sides came as the district said the hours of 147 contingency schools open for half days during the strike would be extended by two more hours, from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., starting Thursday, to meet parent demand. So far, attendance at those schools — which teachers have picketed in force — has been much lower than expected.
Although some parents expressed frustration over missing work for a second consecutive day as the vast majority of schools remained closed, a new poll suggested registered voters, by a 47 to 39 percent margin, supported the strike — a poll city officials dismissed. In addition, Chicago Talent Development Charter High School, said it would be closed this week because it shares Crane High School's building at 2245 West Jackson and officials said they want to "maximize the potential for a productive and positive working relationship among all adults in the building."
While teachers increased their pickets at the contingency schools, thousands again flowed into the streets outside the board's downtown headquarters near Clark and Adams. The teachers and their supporters marched through the Loop, closing down busy streets during rush hour, including the southbound lanes of Michigan Avenue.
The teachers ripped Emanuel, and expressed anger over how the city diverts property taxes from the schools to give tax increment financing to some of the city's biggest companies, like those in the financial district downtown.
"Silly rich guy, TIFs are for kids!" one sign read. Another: "Tax Wall Street."
At the rally, Lewis ridiculed suggestions the strike could end Tuesday. With national labor leaders at her side, she hinted the battle was about more than just local issues.
"The revolution will not be standardized," she said. "The assault on public education started here. It needs to end here."
It was there that she told teachers, before they marched to Buckingham Fountain, that she was returning to negotiations with Vitale.
"I'm going back to the silly part of my day, dealing with the boss. You continue to have fun," she told the jubilant crowd of teachers dressed largely in red.
Those remarks were clearly upsetting to Vitale.
"I understand that there was some public talk of silliness about what was going on in this building today, that this was a silly season," an annoyed Vitale said after about nine hours of talks with the union. "Many of you who may have known me over time know that I'm not a silly person. . . . I spent the entire day here today. It wasn't part of my day," he said — referring to that Lewis was not in talks for the entire day.
"It's also my understanding that there's a large group of people with red shirts on over by Buckingham Fountain, and they were told to keep going and have a party and have fun — have fun while 400,000 kids are out of school that they should have been teaching. This is not the behavior of a group of people that are serious about the interests of our children. It's time for us to get serious."
Earlier, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Vitale declared what they saw as the two major roadblocks — teacher evaluations and teacher re-hiring — as "non-strikeable" issues. But said they would much rather settle the dispute at the bargaining table than in a courtroom.
"My view is to work these issues out at the table," the mayor said at a Southwest Side school where he enlisted support from principals who want to retain the right to choose their own teachers.
"[But], the legal answer is, they're not allowed to be strikeable on it. Those are the two final issues that we're dealing with of significance."
Emanuel offered no hint as to how quickly he might pull the trigger in seeking a court injunction to stop the strike. He was too busy enlisting principals in his fight to allow them to choose their own teaching teams.
"It's just like holding a coach accountable for a team's results. They create the team. They create the culture. They create who's the best fit," the mayor said.
Ethan Netterstrom, principal at Skinner North, couldn't agree more.
"I was very blessed to open up the school four years ago and I got to hire every single staff member who works for me. And that's really made all the difference in our school in building a climate and a culture that's been very positive and has had really good academic and social results," Netterstrom said.
Legal experts disagreed on whether teachers could indeed strike on the evaluation issue, but Lewis — emerging from contract talks later Tuesday evening — said the two sides nevertheless were nowhere near an agreement on it despite negotiating on it for much of the day.
"There has not been as much movement as we hoped," she said.
The board's proposed new evaluation system ties teacher ratings to a score based on the observation of their classroom and student growth on standardized tests as well as a "performance task," such as singing a song in music or doing a complicated word problem in math.
A key sticking point, said Bloch, is CPS' proposal to create a teacher rating category that, based on projections from a pilot, would land 28 percent of teachers in the second from the bottom category of four possible categories. Teachers in that category whose scores do not improve after a year would be automatically moved to the bottom category, where they face dismissal if they don't improve within 90 days.
The CPS cutoff scores make the second to the bottom category far too big, Bloch said.
"Thirty percent of teachers shouldn't be on the bubble for discharge. That's not a fair system," Bloch said. "This is not reform. It's simply mass firing of teachers in the hope that a new crop will somehow be better."
Teachers are also concerned that their evaluation scores could fail to improve due to a host of factors beyond their control — a sudden increase in class size, the injection of more behavioral problems into their classroom, new principals who grade teachers more harshly than their predecessors, or an end-of-the-year heat wave that creates oppressive learning conditions in schools without air-conditioning. And, they say, if they don't teach a tested subject, part of their evaluations will be based on schoolwide test growth in a subject they don't even teach.
CPS spokeswoman Becky Carroll contended teachers in the second-from-the-bottom category are safe, as long as their overall evaluation scores improve. Guidance based on the extra detail in the evaluation format should help them improve, Carroll said. And, teachers would serve on a committee that will make adjustments to the plan as needed, Carroll said.
However, one CTU delegate who asked for anonymity said teachers feel they can't rely on their voice to be adequately heard on any joint CPS committee.
"This is a culture of distrust. We don't trust them," the delegate said.


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Chernise Yvette
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For RF I'd suggest setting two boxes up in IR, getting them to work separately, THEN converting each to RF. I'd also suggest calling their support folks.
I tried it, it doesn't work. Trust me if you go to turn on DirecTV RF you can only use it on ONE unit and it assigns that RF code to EVERY DirecTV device so that you can't even use one RF and one IR. Please don't assume what I did and did not try and make me out to be some sort of liar. I tried everything possible with the remote to get RF to work on more than one unit and RF to work with another unit in IR, it's not possible.


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Customer Reviews
- Worth Every Penny Review by Emma
Quality Price Value For medicated acne cleanser that works so well, this is a knockout price. Having had acne my entire life, I like to call myself an acne expert - not in a good way really. But I do know what ingredients to look for in over the counter acne treatment and cleansers. I've always been told by dermatologists to stick with ones like Clearsil or gentle cleansers, but after my mom got me this for Christmas I truly think it's worth every penny. Salicylic acid in a cleanser isn't a norm for me, but I found this product so gentle that I didn't worry about it. I use it once a day, keeping another cleanser in my shower other than this one. But since I am a lazy college girl with acne, I find the fact that the instructions say to put the cleanser on dry skin and then wash off omits my excuses. I always hate the process of making a watery mess when washing my face, and a cleanser that is applied dry cuts that water mess in half. It might be all in my head and I'm sure the product works with a moist face, but I think I wash my face better when forced to work the cleanser into dry skin. I had an employee at Sephora tell me too that I could use this as spot treatment or light overnight mask as well. Haven't tried that, but I would love to use it as that when my acne is more moderate and doesn't need the hefty power of a serum or the sulfur mask. Overall I think this cleanser is great, and works wonderfully with the other Ain't Misbehavin' products!
- Love this stuff!! Review by Elle
Price Value Quality For the past two years, I was strictly a ProActiv user. It worked really well then suddenly stopped working on me. I tried a few things but it always left my skin extra dry. I had no idea what to go. I wandered into Ulta and was looking for something new when an associate told me to try this cleanser. I was skeptical because everyone always has their wonder product but it never works for me. I declined until I ran out of my PA. I went in the next week to grab it. Pricey maybe for just cleanser but I was desperate. This stuff works. It has healed my skin in just a week. It feel soft and vibrant. There is less redness and swelling. I don't have the urge to pick or pop pimplese because they're tiny or not there. I love it!
- Would rate 10 Stars Review by Brandon L
Price Value Quality I have struggled with acne since I was a teenager and my dermo would have me try new creams and even Accutane. Sadly nothing helped and I either had oily skin with blemishes or red skin with blemishes.
After YEARS of struggling with my skin, I went to Ulta to buy a Clarisonic. One of the wonderful team members stated that a Clarisonic would only cause more damage and whatever I was using wasn't helping. She walked me around the counter and showed me the Ain't Misbehavin' Line and I purchased the cleasner, the acne serum, and the sunblock.
Half way home I got worried that I just blew $100 on another product that would fail......
Three-months later, I still have the original three product bottles and I use them twice a day and I have to say
If you follow the instructions (no water until you wash it off), use sun screen, and remember that irritation will occur when you first start using this, you too WILL be AMAZED.
LOVE this and have shared Ain't Misbehavin' with my family and friends. You invest in this product and you will have invested in yourself - WONDERFUL Review by Joanne
Price Value Quality This is literally the best thing that has ever happened to my face. I have been suffering from cyclic acne for the past 2 years and nothing has seemed to work, at all. Nothing my dermatologist gave me to help my acne helped, and I thought I was a lost cause. It was so bad that it hurt it even sleep! I found this miracle worker on complete accident and decided to give it a try. I've been using this a little over a month and my face is almost acne free. No more huge cysts like there were before, just a few spots here and there. I would recommend this to ANYONE suffering from cystic acne. Even though it is a bit pricey, it's 100% worth it.
- Amazing Review by Sarah
Price Value Quality I have tried so many different washes for acne, and this was the first that actually worked and KEPT working. I have used one or two in the past that cleared up my skin and worked for a couple of months, but then the acne would come back and it was like the face wash wouldn't work any more. I have been using this for over a year and it is amazing! My skin is sensitive and pretty oily, and this has helped the oil dry up a little ( I still get pretty oily, but not as soon), and I hardly ever break out. When I do it is usually small and goes away fast, and usually because I fell asleep with my makeup on (oops). I absolutely love this face wash, and recommend it to anyone fighting acne!
- AMAZING FACE WASH! Review by Katy B.
Price Value Quality This is the best face wash i have EVER used. Since i was 12 i have used every possible type of face wash to calm my acne and i never had good results. As an adult its not as bad as it was when i was a teenager but still got acne all over my chin. This stuffed work and it worked pretty darn quick. I use it in the am and pm. I have never been so happy with results. I highly recommend it. The smell isnt awesome but i dont smell it after i wash it off.
GREAT STUFF - So glad I tired it!! Review by Sunflower
Price Value Quality I've been battling cystic acne for a year now! Changing birth control really made my face go crazy! Finding a good birth control took some time and I was finally seeing my face clear up. However, I was still getting those horrible under the skin cystic bumps! Got to the point where I was so depressed and didn't want to leave my house. I had tried so many different face washes when a friend of mine suggested Dermadoctor and I'm so glad she did! I've been using it 3 weeks now and my skin hasn't look this good in forever!! The first two weeks all the bumps under my skin came to the surface and were gone within a day or two. Just be patient and wait it out!! It's doing it's purpose and killing those cystic nightmares!! I use it twice a day and at first it did dry out my skin a little but after continue use it no longer dries my face out. It did sting/burn when I first started using it but again, it's doing it's purpose and after a while it didn't sting anymore. You might be tempted to stop using it but just get through those first 2-3 weeks and you'll be so happy you did! After I wash my face at night I use the medicated acne control serum. Used together I've seen amazing results! Even my esthetician was in shock! And I'm pretty pale so I am also using organic Emu oil on the left over red marks from the cystic acne, which is working great!
- by far the greatest cleanser in the world for acne suffers Review by stone
Price Value Quality never in my 30 plus years of purchasing product after countless product for acne prone skin have i found such a wonderful cleanser as dermadoctor ain't misbehavin' acne cleanser. my problem like so many other suffers is that most drug store over the counter acne products are very drying which leads one to have to buy more product to counteract the cleanser, thus irritating the skin more. This cleanser heals as well as prevent. Aha and Bha all in one, who would have thought? Dermadoctor did. Listen closely people, don't waste your time and money going up and down the aisle looking for the right drug store acne products....THEY DON'T WORK. Believe me once you use this product, the 27.00 dollars they ask for pales in conparison to the results you will get. It will seem like pennys that you will gladly pay. Thank you Dr. Kunin for staying in school and more school!
P.S. You can use it in the shower, I didn't like the whole completely dry method, so i tried my own, just lightly towel dry your face and hands so it is damp, then use the product, just don't wet your face or hands until your done. My results are terrific. - The TRUTH Review by txgurl75
Value Quality Price I'm a 39 year old African-American woman who has suffered from severe acne and hyperpigmentation since 12 years old. I'm scared to think about the amount of money spent over the years, searching for a treatment. It doesnt help that I'm also a self proclaimed product junkie. Anyway, I was convinced that hormonal acne is something that I would just have to learn to live with. Fast forward, I purchased this product on December 30th because of the reviews...really had no real expectations. I noticed a subtle change in my skin wirhin the 1st few weeks or so. On Feb 13th, for the first time in many, many years...my face was free of pimples, cysts and deep below the skin nodules!!! Now, I can focus my efforts on getting rid of the post acne marks...I feel like I'm in a dream..but I'm not! This is finally my reality! Dermadoctor products are a life saver as well as a life changer!! My search is finally over for what works for me. I urge any acne sufferers to make this purchase...and thank me later!!!! Lol
- Finally hope for a lifetime cystic acne sufferer Review by Mollymayhem
Price Value Quality I had horrible acne as a teenager... Huge, under the skin, painful cystic acne which later turned into scabs and scars. I had gotten a prescription as a teen and that worked wonders... And I enjoyed beautiful clear skin for about 5 years, save for the odd one that would pop up here an there.
When I was in my mid-20's the cystic acne came back with a vengeance and this time I even got a permanent pitted scar beside my mouth.
I went to the doctor about a year ago who prescribed me benza clin topical cream that turned my skin into alligator skin... No amount of moisturizer could stop my face from looking scaly... I couldn't wear foundation because it just highlighted how dry my skin was. She also said she could prescribe me antibiotic pills that I would have to take for as long as I would like the cysts to stay away (which is forever!!!)
I tried every "natural" remedy out there from coconut oil and baking soda (which actually is a nice exfoliant), honey, apple cider vinegar, you name it...I used Dermalogica Clean Start system and nothing will stop these bumps from hell.
I'm a gym rat so I sweat every day and no matter if I wash my face as soon as I finish my workout a new painful bump will greet me the next day. Ugh
I've read amazing reviews on this product and I received my order today and I used it as soon as I opened the box...
I can FEEL it working as soon as I put it on my skin. I let it sit there for about a minute before rinsing and I immediately noticed how much brighter, cleaner feeling and soft my skin looks. Obviously too early to tell how much it will impact my cystic acne but for the first time I am optimistic at finally controlling my awful skin problems. I'm 30 and sick of looking like an acne prone teenager! I thought good skin was one of the benefits of aging! This product will hopefully be the ticket to clear skin. :)
Ps you get a HUGE bottle of it so it seems expensive but you get a lot of product.


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Latest update : 2011-09-19
A weekly interview with a personality from the world of business or economics. Every Thursday at 4.45 pm Paris time.
2015-01-29 cyberspace
Eugene Kaspersky: Cyber attacks on critical infrastructure 'just a question of time'
Eugene Kaspersky is the chairman and CEO of Kaspersky Labs, one of the biggest cybersecurity companies in the world. FRANCE 24 caught up with him in Davos. Two months after the...
2015-01-24 world economy
Sir Martin Sorrell: Brexit referendum would be 'very damaging for UK economy'
Sir Martin Sorrell is concerned about the outcome of the British general election. Sorrell, the CEO of WPP, the world's largest advertising company, believes that holding a...
2015-01-23 Davos forum
Jean-Pascal Tricoire, CEO of Schneider Electric: 'France is on a better track'
Schneider Electric CEO Jean-Pascal Tricoire is in Davos at the annual World Economic Forum. Even though he is located in Hong Kong and most of the revenues of his group come from...
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Adi Godrej: New Indian government's actions are 'very positive'
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Income inequality is 'brake on growth', Oxfam chief warns Davos
The World Economic Forum brings together some of the most powerful - and richest - people in the world. It may seem like an odd place to discuss poverty and growing income gaps....


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What programs are available at our San Jose campus?
Medical Programs
Dental Programs
Administrative Programs
Veterinary Programs
The Carrington College San Jose campus is ready to help you pursue professional success through education. We provide hands-on training that can prepare you to enter one of today's fast growing careers*.
Our campus is designed to be inviting and inspiring. You'll be taught in modern classrooms and will have hands-on experience using facilities like:
- Simulation labs for programs such as Medical Assisting and Veterinary Technology
- Dental Hygiene clinics open to the public where students can learn how to work on real patients
It's invigorating and empowering to accomplish something first-hand rather than just reading about it in a book. Whenever possible, we give you opportunities to demonstrate all that you are capable of achieving.
Our faculty is a team of qualified and passionate individuals, all of whom are professionals in their related fields. This ensures that you can learn practical techniques currently used in the real world today.
There's no substitute for learning from, and working with, those who have a true passion for what they do. We believe in our work and we believe in you. Make the time to visit us, and experience for yourself all that we have to offer. We look forward to meeting you and can't wait to talk about the opportunities that await you at Carrington.


text: Jordon McClain, also known as Jdawgg or Superstar McClain, is the President of a small indie game company called Steel Cyclone Studios. Currently Jordon is in school and is teaching himself Game Art, Design and Development on the side. Jordon is currently working on the Cyclone Game Engine which is a 2D/3D game engine created entirely from scratch built upon the XNA Framework. Jordon's ultimate aim is to make it into the videogame industry and join the greats of videogame designers. In the meantime, Jordon is trying to hone his skills and learn as much as possible about this wonderful and constantly evolving industry. WARNING!: Mr. McClain is insane in the brain! :-D


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My PlaceAutobiography; author brought up in Perth in ignorance of her Aboriginal background; process of discovering her Aboriginality; includes autobiographical narratives of maternal grandmother and grandmother's brother; they were Baljgu born on Corunna Downs Station. |
What people are saying - Write a review
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Review: My Place
User Review - Lauren - GoodreadsDreaded finishing this, as I knew I'd bawl my eyes out. But then I've lost count the amount of times I teared up during the rest of the book, so really, it wasn't going to be a huge change of pace ... Read full review
Review: My Place
User Review - Emmeline - GoodreadsI read this book in year 11 for Literature. It is a 440-page tome, but the extent of our analysis was: �So this is a memoir. How much of memoir is true and why does it matter?� I was a bit ... Read full review
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Inaugural Racer's Chili Challenge Ready to Reach its Boiling Point This Saturday |
Friday, 20 February 2009 | |
(Fremont, OH) The smell of methanol will have to wait for nearly another month to kick off Ohio's 2009 dirt track racing season, but that won't stop the local racing community from getting together on Saturday, February 21st for the Inaugural Racer's Chili Challenge presented by BK Sears Motorsports, Hoserville Ohio , & the Fremont/Attica Sprint Title (F.A.S.T.). Melt away your cabin fever with a hearty bowl of chili and get ready for the 2009 racing season in Northern Ohio with some bench racing with friends and drivers. Proceeds from this event will be divided between the Hoserville Ohio Injured Driver's Benevolent Fund, Make-A-Wish Foundation, Racer's Racing for A Cure, & the 2009 F.A.S.T. Points Fund. "Without the help of many individuals from the local racing community in and around the Fremont area this event would not have been possible," said FAST on Dirt, Inc. President Bryan Autullo, "Without Darin Dukeshire, Crissy Carrothers, Scott Porter, Jenny Leimann, Tera and Kellie Sears, Kurt Humbert, Craig Mintz, Lindsay Bowe, Ross Paulson, and Duane Hancock this event would not have been possible. We're looking forward to a successful event to promote local racing and we hope to see a lot of chili consumed." You can count on the heat of chili peppers to fill the air inside the Flower Building located in the Sandusky Country Fairgrounds in Fremont , Ohio (Fremont Speedway) as 23 chili teams will be serving up their favorite chili recipes to the hungry masses. 3J Motorsports, Robenalt Racing 98, Top Gun Enterprises 09, BK Sear Motorsports 20X, & Hammer Motorsports 24H will be competing in the 410 Sprint Car Division. Wilson Motorsports, Double J Racing 23, Britt Racing/ Fremont Water Blasting, Colvin Racing #9 will be competing for the 305 Sprint Car crown. Chuck Roelle Racing, KCD Motorsports, & Schwochow/Awesome Racing will be competing in the Dirt Truck/ Late Model division. The Fans & Media Division collected the most entries with 11 teams getting their chili on with Fairwinds Fans, Humbert Trucking, Fan of Cricket (Craig Keel), HotrodHon, Fremont Shell/ Hy-Miler, Schiets Motors, 4th Turn Freaks, Joanie's Trash to Treasures, Cricket's Race Fans, Black Swamp Chili Group, and Racing World all joining in on the fun. Seven unique chili pot trophies will be up for grabs with one being rewarded to best chili of each division (410 Sprints, 305 Sprints, Trucks/Late Models & Fans/Media Division). Also trophies will be awarded to the "Best Appearing Team" and the grand prize trophy to the "Chili Chief Champion" with the general public crowning "The People's Choice" winner as well. The taste buds of sprint car racing legends and special guest judges Brad Doty, Kenny Jacobs, Jim Linder and Darl Harrison will have the difficult task of deciding many of the winning teams. Judging starts at 2 pm and the winners will be announced at 4 pm to conclude the chili portion of the afternoon. The Racer's Chili Challenge will be hosted by Fremont Speedway & Attica Raceway Park track announcer Brian Liskai. Interviews with local racing drivers will be held throughout the afternoon to help fans learn about the upcoming plans of the stars and cars that compete weekly at Fremont and Attica. The Sprint for Wishes 2009 Pedal Car presented by BK Sears Motorsports /Team 20x for the Make-A-Wish Foundation will be on display. This special promotion runs during the entire race season and the drawing date will be September 12th on Kistler Engine & Season Championship Night at the Fremont Speedway. This will be the first time for this years event tickets will go on sale to the public. Bobby & Kellie Sears, along with the help of the entire Make-A-Wish Foundation of NWO, hope to make another special dream come true for an area child. Raffle tickets for the pedal car will go on sale for only $1 each or six tickets for $5 making it affordable for everyone. Several other events will be taking place to keep fans entertained throughout the afternoon, like several driver autograph sessions featuring the special guest judges along with the tentative scheduled appearances of Byron Reed, Craig Mintz, Craig 'Cricket' Keel, Mark Keegan, Phil Gressman, Mike Linder, David Harrison, Chris Andrews, Cory Ward, Jake Trevino, Stuart Brubaker, DJ Foos, Zach Kramer, Cory Ward, Chuck Roelle, Curtis Deisenroth and more. Also, a Rock-Paper-Scissors Tournament hosted by Ross Paulson of Computer Man, Inc will feature a kids bracket (17 & under) and adult bracket with the bracket winners meeting to determine the overall champion and trophy winner. Contestants can sign up and find out more information at the Computer Man Inc's display table once the doors open. Hoserville Ohio will host its first-ever Charity Texas Hold'em Poker Tournament as well. Contestants must be 21 years of age or older with identification on hand. Poker registration is set to begin at 2 pm and will close after the first 100 players sign up. We will be shuffling up the cards and dealing at 3 pm sharp. Tim?s Racing Simulators will be on hand to give fans the opportunity to get behind the wheel inside a real sprint car chassis and virtually tear up the dirt around Fremont Speedway and Attica Raceway Park . A 50/50 raffle will also take place to benefit the Make-A-Wish foundation. In addition to the cash prize, several door prizes will also be handed out including hats, t-shirts, tote bags, and much more! Everyone involved in making the Inaugural Racer's Chili Challenge would like to thanks our gracious sponsors: Alliance of Construction Professionals - www.ACP1.com, Gressman Powersports, Fremont Speedway, Schiets Motorsports, Hy-Miler/Shell of Fremont, Ohio, Golden Graphics, Arthur Treacher's Fish & Chips, Wendy's of Tiffin, Linder's Speed Equipments, Dale's Towing, Aaron's Sales & Lease, DPM Automotive, Tireman, North Coast Security, Hasselbach Meats, Level Performance, Computer Man Inc., Fremont Fence Company and Real-Geese. Come out and support one of the most affordable forms of family entrainment in 2009 - dirt track racing! Doors to the first ever Racer?s Chili Challenge are set to open to the public at 1 pm and only costs $5 for adult general admission. Children 12 years of age and under will get in free with a paid adult. Everyone will get a sample cup to take around to the various chili teams to sample their chili for FREE and larger portions will be available from any team for only a dollar. Also hot dogs and refreshments such as pop and water will be available at the concession stand. More information can be found online at www.fastondirt.com. |
Last Updated ( Friday, 20 February 2009 ) |


text: Just Hoodia is an exciting new Hoodia supplier; we do exactly what we say on our tin... we sell Hoodia & Hoodia only. All of our products are 100% genuine & 100% pure with absolutely nothing else added. If you are looking for Hoodia in a hurry & cannot wait for our new site give us a shout firstname.lastname@example.com |


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By the Numbers
< MyNorthwest
10 favorite Seattle food trucks
From fish tacos to pulled pork to handmade ice cream, there's no shortage of delicious food being served up around the Seattle-area from our ever growing food truck scene. Check out some of the favorites from the staff of MyNorthwest.com and KIRO Radio.
3 of 10 |
Maximus Minimus - You can't miss the pig, an armored porker of a truck that looks like high-school shop class project gone awry. But the food at Maximus Minimus is considered among the best in town thanks to the the same team that brought you Beecher's Handmade Cheese, Bennett's Pure Food Bistro and Pasta & Co. The pulled pork sandwich is their specialty, with either the spicy Maximus or sweet Minimus. For some extra heat, add a little bit of Hurt, if you dare.
Photo by Maximus Minimus
Photo by Maximus Minimus
3 of 10 |
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11 of the best things Seahawk Michael Bennett has ever said (that we know of)
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The 12th Man was amped-up following a nail-biting NFC Championship victory. Here's how the Internet responded to the epic win. -
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As the Seahawks get set to play the Green Bay Packers for the NFC Championship title, show your pride Blue Friday by celebrating the postseason with your fellow 12s. -
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Vertical Urban Camping Offers Unique Vacation Experience
Antwerp-based firm Import Export Architecture. Their multi-tiered mobile urban camping unit is designed to be implanted right into the heart of any city center for a truly unique camping experience. Import Export Architecture says that they see their pop-up, prefab accommodations as a place "where adventurous city wanderers can stay overnight, meet other campers and find a safe shelter with basic designed practical facilities."


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Security Notification for SSLv3 POODLE Vulnerability
October 16th, 2014Posted in Industry News, WebSitePulse News
As you probably know, a number of news sources, corporations, and the OpenSSL team reported yesterday 14 October 2014 that version 3 of Secure Sockets Layer (SSLv3) is vulnerable at the protocol level. More information about the vulnerability can be found here - CVE-2014-3566.
To prevent any potential leaks from this vulnerability we have immediately disabled SSLv3 on all our web servers including the API endpoints. Our monitoring agents are not affected by this change and will continue to support SSLv3 for the time being in order to be able to monitor properly servers that do support SSLv3 only. We are urging all customers to disable SSLv3 on hosts interacting with the our services as soon as possible and upgrade to use Transport Layer Service (TLS).
Here are a few samples how to configure your potentially vulnerable services and disable SSLv3.
Change all SSLProtocol directives in your httpd config to
ALL -SSLv2 -SSLv3
and restart the server.
Add/edit the the following text to your server directive
ssl_protocols TLSv1 TLSv1.1 TLSv1.2;
If you can't disable SSL 3.0 entirely, there is TLS_FALLBACK_SCSV patch that can help avoid the attack, if both the client and the server support it.
Vacation Booking Websites Availability and Performance [INFOGRAPHIC]
July 25th, 2014Posted in Monitoring
For DBAs: "Think of backup strategies as restore strategies"
July 24th, 2014Posted in Tech
Andrew Pruski is an SQL Server DBA currently working for Ding in Dublin, Ireland. He's previously worked for Occam-DM Ltd and the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office in England. He's benefitted immensely from the online DBA community, and his blog is an attempt to give something in return.
Aside from the SQL Server, he's keen on running and playing rugby. He can also play the guitar (badly, but it doesn't stop him).
How come you got involved in IT?
I always enjoyed working with computers when I was in school and so it seemed a natural area to study at the university. I enjoyed studying database design so once I completed my BSC in 2005, I started looking for a database developer position.
Whilst working as a junior developer, I realised that the code I was writing took a long time to execute (mainly because of all the cursors I was using). I did some research online and found multiple websites dedicated to SQL Server and opportunities to work as a DBA in particular. I read tons of online articles on websites such as SQLServerCentral.com and the more I read, the more interested I became in that area. It was then that I decided to pursue a career as a DBA.
What are the most common and the most challenging issues you've handled recently?
The most challenging issue I have ever had to perform was a task given to me when I was a relatively inexperienced DBA. A production data warehouse had a different collation to the development and staging versions and I was tasked with bringing the production database in-line with the other environments.
Why not change the collation of the databases in the other environments? Well, as I said, I was inexperienced and looking to prove myself, so off to work I went. The collation of a database can be changed quite simply from the Properties menu. The problem is that the setting only changes the collation for all new objects created. Everything else in the database remains on the old collation.
So after what felt like an age…I came up with the following procedure to change the collation of all the current objects with the database:
- Script out all database objects
- Drop all functions
- Drop all views
- Drop all foreign keys
- Drop all primary keys
- Drop all indexes
- Drop all statistics
- Change column collation
- Change database collation
- Recreate indexes
- Recreate primary keys
- Recreate foreign keys
- Recreate statistics
- Recreate views (and associated indexes)
I tested and tested, and tested, so when it came to deployment, it all ran smoothly. However, I'll always think of this project as one of the most challenging I've worked on, not just because of the technical side but because of the human aspect of it as well. It taught me a lot about relationships within an SQL Server database but it also taught me that part of a DBA's job should be to question why something is being done and to provide alternatives where possible. I should have questioned why the need to change the collation of the production database was felt. It would have been simpler (and a lot less risky) to change the development databases' collation.
The most common issue that I deal with are blocking/deadlocks occurring within production databases. There is monitoring in place which sends out alerts (via email) meaning I can respond quickly to resolve any issues. An SQL Server agent polls active connections to check for blocking and Service Broker utilising Event Notifications has been implemented to generate deadlock alerts. This allows me to capture the offending query and see what action needs to be taken in order to prevent future incidents (more often than not, either rewriting the query or creating an appropriate index).
However, preventative measures are always better than having to react to issues in real time. I work closely with developers to ensure these issues are kept to a minimum by implementing good database design and by writing efficient SQL queries.
Do you use any external tools for database monitoring? Which ones?
I have worked with Nagios, Zabbix, RedGate, Idera and Confio monitoring tools. All are good systems with their own positives and negatives but I strongly feel that any DBA should be able to implement their own monitoring system. I wrote a short blog post detailing my reasons why.
In your opinion, what server status variables should a DBA log and monitor?
I always create my own database in any SQL instances that I administer. This allows me to setup monitoring for the following:
- Blocking
- Deadlocks
- Auto-Growth
- Failed SQL Server Agent jobs
- Backups
- Percentage transaction log used
- Corruption alerts
- Wait statistics
- Index usage statistics
- Index fragmentation
- Error log auditing
- Disk space
- Memory Usage
- Page life expectancy vs. lazy writes
- IO subsystem performance.
What about disaster recovery and prevention? What is your approach?
Every disaster recovery plan should be tailored to each individual system. It is one of the key aspects of a DBA role within the company to work closely with system owners to define Recovery Point Objectives (how much data can be lost it the event of a failure) and Recovery Time Objectives (how long it should take to bring the system back online).
Once the RPO & RTO have been established, a high availability solution can be built and a disaster recovery strategy implemented. High availability covers SQL Server features such as mirroring, clustering and always on. Disaster recovery strategies start with a backup schedule for the databases but can include features such as log shipping or asynchronous mirroring to a DR site.
I attended an SQL Skills training course last year in which Paul Randal talked about how to approach backup strategies. His advice was to think of backup strategies as restore strategies and that DBAs should consider performing many restores to bring the database online in the event of a system failure. This is one of the best pieces of advice I have been given as a DBA. It is all well and good to back up database transaction logs every 15 minutes, but how many of those will need to be restored in the event of a failure? I really do not want to be restoring hundreds of log backups at 3 o'clock in the morning (because this is generally when failures happen for me, for some reason).
Contact him at:
Email email@example.com
Twitter @DBAFromTheCold
Blog dbafromthecold.wordpress.com
LinkedIn ie.linkedin.com/in/andrewpruski/
Facebook suffers global outage
June 19th, 2014Posted in Monitoring, Industry News, Tech
facebook.com went down for aboutt 15 minutes between 4:00 and 4:15 AM EST. Users trying to connect to the site were seeing an error message "Sorry, something went wrong". The issue has been confirmed by multiple locations around the world and as far as we can tell all Facebook users were affected.
The Facebook Platform Status showed a sharp increase in API response times for the time of the outage.
The last information posted by Facebook is
Earlier this morning, we experienced an issue that prevented use of the API for a brief period of time. We resolved the issue quickly, and we are now back to 100%. We're sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.
We are awaiting an official statement and more details from Facebook and we will update this post as soon as more information is available.
Websitepulse's 2014 Mother's Day Performance and Uptime Report [INFOGRAPHIC]
June 4th, 2014Posted in Monitoring
According to a survey conducted by the National Retail Federation, the total spent for Mother's Day this year reached $20 billion.
Considering the popularity of this day, and the growing popularity of online shopping, we couldn't stress more on how important it is for online stores to maintain flawless performance and availability during the weeks prior to Mother's Day. Just like a bad selection of gifts and high prices could turn visitors away from your website, a slow website, inability to perform an online purchase or website downtime could be just as harmful, sending your potential buyers to competitors' websites.
As usual, we monitored 12 of the most popular websites for purchasing gifts and flowers for moms. We were specifically observing their uptime and response time as the most important metrics for the reliability of a website.
Response time varied between 1,4 (personalizationmall.com) and 18,4 seconds (giftbasketsplus.com). This means that some of the websites were not able to bear the heavy traffic during a certain period of time. That, on the other hand, could have resulted in disappointed buyers and revenue loss.
At the same time, uptime varied between 100% (gifttree.com, sees.com, proflowers.com, fromyouflowers.com, beyondblossoms.com) and 99.7% (giftbasketsplus.com) which is quite acceptable.
For more details, look at the infographic above or go to websitepulse.com.


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The Coolest Nails From New York Fashion Week
The clothes might get most of the attention on the runways at Fashion Week, but backstage, it's all about the nails. Check out the coolest manis (past and present!) we can't stop obsessing over!
By Kara McGrath
Alice & Olivia—A/W14
Who: Miss Pop Nails for essie
What: Black nails with gold polka dots
Why We Love It: These aren't your average polka dot nails—the spots almost give off a floral feel.
Tip To Get The Look: If you don't have a dotting tool, use the end of a bobby pin!
Courtesy essie


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Sofia Vergara is one of the funniest and most beautiful women on television; she's also the highest paid. Her secret? She's not afraid to look ugly.
In the United States, women are supposed to be sexy, but there's an unspoken rule that they shouldn't be too sexy. In Colombia, there is no such rule. Sofia Vergara is from Colombia, and as she enters a Westwood café—four-inch platform reptile YSL sandals clicking on the tile floor—the sound of milk being steamed is suddenly the only sound. Sure, people recognize Vergara—she's Gloria on Modern Family, one of the most popular sitcoms on television, a Cover Girl model, the face of Diet Pepsi and the name behind a Kmart clothing line. But fame alone doesn't trigger this kind of hush—not in Los Angeles. The only thing that does is sex appeal—sex appeal that's formidable on-screen and off the charts in person. It suffuses every molecule of Sofia Vergara: the tigerish gleam and focus of her brown eyes, the big, gorgeous mouth and white teeth, the throaty laugh. She wears an outfit—tight AG jeans and a bright green T-shirt—that lets her body be the star of the show.
In a moment or two, people get ahold of themselves, and Vergara, in her famously heavy Spanish accent, orders "a leetle tiny coffee." She makes the international symbol for the desired beverage, drawing her thumb and index finger together so that both her perfect shell pink manicure and the enormous Chicklet-size diamond on her engagement ring are on display. When you compliment it, she says, "It is perfection. If it was bigger, it would be too big to wear," her "its" emerging adorably as "eets." She wrinkles her nose. "But if it was smaller, I would not like."
This leads you to ask if she is indeed engaged, as the media has speculated otherwise. "How can you be engaged then not engaged? I don't understand this," she says. She is indeed engaged to Nick Loeb, her on-again, off-again, now apparently quite-on boyfriend of two years. Having already married and had a big wedding young, she is in no hurry to do either again. "Maybe we will just have a little dinner on Capri," she says. And following said dinner, children? "He is younger than me, 37, and he never had them. So if he wants one, maybe I will have." She is very glad that at 40 she already has a child—her son, Manolo, is 20 and goes to Emerson College in Boston—and is settled with a man. "Turning 40 is horrible," she confides with a trademark raspy giggle. "People that say it isn't are full of shit."
Bluntly funny as Vergara can be, it was almost certainly not her sense of humor that got her noticed by model scouts while she vacationed with her family in the Colombian beach town of Santa Marta in 1990. She soon abandoned a stint in the unglamorous world of dentistry and left behind her dingy hometown of Barranquilla, eventually landing in Miami in 1994, where she had a job with Univision as host of a travel show and then, afterward, a variety show.
There was no master plan. "I just always worked really hard, and I knew that I liked money." It was during her time at Univision that she got the idea for her Kmart line. "I met all these women there who saw all the fun, colorful, comfortable stuff I was wearing and said, 'Where did you get that, it is so cute,' " Vergara says. "And I knew I had access to the designers and I wanted to give the woman who is saving her grocery money for a cute outfit something good that she can afford." Vergara was aware that garment-industry decision makers weren't sitting around thinking, "Hey, let's give a not-very-famous Univision presenter her own clothing line!" Acting was the way to get there. "Truthfully," Vergara says, "I always thought of acting as a way to get a clothing line and as an experiment. I am really excited for my fall line. We have leggings that feel great and are really slimming and jackets that you can wear for day and night."
In 2004, Vergara moved to L.A., where she acted in two Tyler Perry movies and several other films notable only for her presence. Then Modern Family came along. As Gloria, Vergara is required in every episode to simultaneously be an overprotective mom, a playfully manipulative wife and a bumbling stepmother, all of which she does with pitch-perfect hilarity and a firm grip on her essential va-va-voomness. "I know that Gloria is the role of a lifetime," Vergara says. "It is very natural for me to play her." This is a modest assessment of a pretty epic situation: Vergara is up for an Emmy, is the highest-paid woman on television and was also on a recent cover of Forbes magazine. Pretty good for someone who moved to L.A. only eight years ago.
As perfectly as her "experiment" turned out, Vergara insists that she wasn't hell-bent on good results, and that if she had been, things might have gone differently. "I think you can't care too much, or you will get nowhere. You take a woman who is the same as me, the same body, the same face, the same whatever, and we could go to the same audition, and I would get it and she wouldn't because I was like, 'If they want me, they want me, and if they don't, well, that's okay.' But of course you also have to move your ass." True to her Colombian roots, all of Vergara's admonitions are accompanied by a fluttering of the lashes and raising of an index finger.
But certainly there's something else—beyond hotness and a lack of desperation—that separates Vergara from the pack. Perhaps her success is a reward from an all-seeing, benevolent and fashionable god who has rewarded her for never wearing sneakers? "American women are always everywhere in sneakers," Vergara laments. "I wear only for the gym."
Another possibility—well, it seems like a cliché, but there's no other way to explain her incredible appeal: She's just real. She seems incapable of falsehood about things that make her happy or sad. Tell a lot of actresses you love their Chanel bag and they look a little embarrassed or sorry that you can't have one. Not Vergara. She embraces her bag like a child and moans, "I looove luxury. I love yachts. I love planes. I love trips. I can live without all of them, and I have, but I am not going to apologize and pretend I don't love luxury, because I do." When you ask her why she likes her boyfriend, she says, "Because we are fucking professionals at doing nothing. We like to sit around on the beach and drink wine and talk shit." She is at her funniest when talking about her famously bodacious body. "I know [my breasts] have opened doors for me, let's be real. But I so hate when I see Gisele and she is wearing a tiny little tank top with no bra, like, 'Oh, I just threw this on, I look so cute.' If I wore that I would look like I was pregnant or a fat stripper."
Her breasts are on her mind today, as she is going straight from coffee to her first Emmy fitting. "Such a pain in the ass," she says. She will try on 20 or so dresses, always monitoring breast placement. "They have to put in like a special panel for me." When it comes to what she's looking for in an Emmy dress, Vergara resorts to her native tongue. "Espectacular!" she says. "I am not there to look intelligent. I want to show all this off while I still have it. I already know I am going to get a breast lift. Then, maybe one day, when I am done with being sexy, I will just get rid of them." (Although for now, they have their uses: In the upcoming Robert Rodriguez movie Machete Kills, she will be shooting bullets out of them.)
Like any self-respecting cuarentona (a Spanish word meaning "woman over 40," which, Vergara mutters, "is not a nice thing to say"), Vergara has her antiaging dos and don'ts. She drinks a lot of coconut water, uses tons of Crème de la Mer moisturizer, doesn't eat red meat, doesn't pluck her eyebrows and doesn't drink alcohol on airplanes "unless my boyfriend is a bad influence." She also tries to limit sugar—and in the middle of saying so, she suddenly looks stricken. She reaches into her back pocket, her face contorts and she shakes with laughter as she opens her palm to reveal a sad, sticky pile of melted Swedish fish. "I was telling you I like sugar, and that's when I remembered I put these in my pocket so I could eat them later."
Her hand filled with molten candy, Vergara divulges the real secret of her success. "If you are afraid of not looking beautiful, you can't be funny. You will just be like a gimmick of someone funny, or setting up a joke for someone else." Is this easy for her to do? Her usual cat-that-ate-the-canary expression turns serious as she considers this, and she finally says, "I was never insecure of my looks, but I never think, 'Oh, I am so spectacular.' Maybe that is what helps."


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Chad M. Amberg is a senior systems engineer with Black Oak Computer Service and an MCSE. He specializes in new network and Lotus Notes installations.
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Buffa's Cheese Biscuits
No longer available
Seriously Southern. South Carolina-based childhood friends Carlette and Lide paired up to create Buffa's Cheese Biscuits, baked with all-natural ingredients. These bite-sized biscuits will spice up any meal or cocktail party.
4 oz.
Cheese biscuits.
Classic cheddar or jalapeno flavor. See Dimensions + Care for complete ingredients.
Made in Anderson, South Carolina.


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Buffalo State has a proven track record in the area of education in general and mathematics and science teaching in particular. Given its reputation, the college was selected as a regional host campus for the New York State Master Teacher Program—
Applied Mathematics, B.S.
Mathematics, B.A.
Mathematics Education (7-12), B.S.
Mathematics Education (7-12; 5-6 Extension), B.S.
Mathematics Education (7-12), M.S.Ed.
Mathematics Education (7-12), Teacher Certification
Mathematics Education (7-12;5-6 Extention), Postbaccalureate Teacher Certificate
Professional Applied Computational Mathematics, M.S.


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(11-16-2012 06:20 PM)hongkongfooey Wrote: If you were to have the ability to, and in this economy, the balls to, open up a card shop and prevent it from being a failure, how would you keep the doors open and make enough money to be comfortable living on? would you be in a strip mall? shopping mall? flea market? what demographic area would you be located in? i.e. you don't want to be near a retirement community or a college, you don't necessarily want to be in the high income part of town, or do you? what media source(s) would you advertise with? what could you offer the kids that they'll like better than gamestop? what % of your business will be online? how would you keep that from taking priority over walk in customers? (that might sound silly but cavaliercards (same ebay userid, they suck) here in charlottesville, va does NOT care who walks in, they are busy sniping bids on ebay) how would you stay relevant in the community? trade night? athlete signings? yu-gi-oh tournaments? (or whatever the weird kids are playing now) I posted this because I think a lot of places have lost touch with the people who can help them thrive and it'd be fun to see what's important to each person. and if you own a shop, maybe you'll get a fresh idea or 2 to help you in the future.
(11-16-2012 08:15 PM)oneofakindcards Wrote: The LCS has been replaced by regular people selling on Ebay unfortunately. This is too bad because I think the hobby is better without regular people selling on eBay (or anywhere else for that matter) all the time.
(11-17-2012 01:10 AM)Ziveus101 Wrote: A couple of things I'd consider would be: *Making sure another card shop isn't in the same area A lot of other replies in this thread have mentioned this but I think it'll definitely help if you're shop is the only card shop in town. *Have a point card system Basically give the consumer a point card where they get 1 point per 10 bucks or something and once they reach a certain point they get something like 10 bucks off their next purchase or something. However, be warned that some people may fake their points so having some really obscure and rare stamp might be necessary. *Make a name for yourself (or rather your store) online And what I mean by that is not only running a website for your store, but also being active in various cardboard related sites on the net. Be active on sites like here, Blowout, Cardboard Connection etc... Host box breaks on Youtube everyonce in a while advertising both the product and your store (you might attract some customers if you pull an insane hit). Having some auctions on eBay everyonce in a while might help as well. *Offer more than just sports related cards Nowadays kids (or rather the age 7~13 demographic) are into a lot of the gaming cards like Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh and Magic The Gathering. So it might help to sell those cards as well. Chances are you're store might appeal to families since there's gaming cards for the boys and sports cards for the dads. Selling stuff like Playboy cards to appeal to the older males might be an option as well (especially amongst males who just came into the store because they were dragged there by their friend[s]), sex sells after all. *Have lots and lots of base cards (and inserts) ready and organized A lot of people (like myself) go into card shops hoping to pick up some cheap singles to either help complete their PC or to help finish building their sets. Having loads of cards arranged neatly in order of year or company or team will definitely help the customers and might encourage them to come back as soon as a new product comes out. Organizing them all will be a pain, but it'll definitely be worth it. *Have some cash ready for people looking to sell Because baseball cards are looked at as an investment there will be people looking to sell some cards for a quick buck. You could also do some creative stuff such as trading packs/boxes for cards. *Host some nice promotional gimmicks every now and then Buy 2 Hobby Boxes Get 1 Free, Kids Get 50% Off, Kids Who Bring Their Report Cards And Have Lots Of A's Get 75% Off, The One Pack Challenge: Get A Hit In A Loose Pack And Win An Auto - type promos. *Make sure you have different areas set up What I mean by this is that it'll definitely be a huge plus to the customers if you set up tables for people looking to do various things. Such as a table where people can look through all of the singles they need out of the dime-boxes or whatever you choose store the cards in, a table where people who just bought a box of something can sit down, open their box and see what they got (and show it off) and if you're store sells gaming cards, have a table where people can have themselves a little duel. This last one will really help boost sales (singles-wise) if people realise that they have some holes in their stragety and need to buy a card or two to fill it. Now not many of these'll probably help keep a shop from being a commercial failure, but they'll all at least provide the customer with some of the best service they could've asked for.