text:
From the Departments of Surgery (Drs Cabioglu and Gunay), Medical Biology (Dr Seyhun), and Anesthesiology (Dr Esen), Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, and the Division of Immunology, Institute of Experimental and Medical Research (Drs Cabioglu, Deniz, and Turna and Mss Bilgic and Aktas), University of Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey. Dr Cabioglu is now with the Departments of Cancer Biology and Surgical Oncology, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston.
Background High levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) α messenger RNAs and interleukin (IL) 8 have been reported in leukocytes of patients with sepsis.
Hypothesis Assessment of leukocyte intracytoplasmic levels of proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines might be clinically more relevant to determine prognosis in patients with severe sepsis.
Design Cohort study.
Setting Surgical intensive care units of a university hospital.
Patients and Interventions Leukocyte suspensions obtained from 16 patients, 6 during early sepsis or septic shock and 10 during late sepsis or septic shock, were incubated with anti-CD14 and anti-CD2 or anti-CD3 monoclonal antibodies and then with intracytoplasmic anticytokine antibodies staining for interferon-γ, TNF-α, IL-2, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, and IL-12 and analyzed with a flow cytometer.
Main Outcome Measures Mann-Whitney test and Spearman correlation test were used in statistical evaluations according to the 28-day all-cause mortality rates and multiple organ dysfunction and sepsis-related organ failure assessment scores.
Results Higher serum IL-6, IL-8, C-reactive protein, and procalcitonin levels were found in patients with high multiple organ dysfunction and sepsis-related organ failure assessment scores (greater than or equal to the median values [8 and 11, respectively]), in contrast to decreased T-lymphocyte–associated IL-6 and TNF-α and monocyte-associated IL-10 and IL-12 proportions. Furthermore, in 28-day all-cause mortality analysis, there were higher levels of C-reactive protein and procalcitonin in nonsurvivors (n = 9) than in survivors (n = 7), while T-lymphocyte–associated IL-2, IL-6, IL-10, and TNF-α and monocyte-associated IL-10 and TNF-α proportions decreased in the nonsurvivors.
Conclusion These results suggest that diminished lymphocyte- and monocyte-associated proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokine levels are associated with worse prognosis in patients with severe sepsis.
VARIOUS proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines have been implicated in the pathogenesis of the sepsis syndrome.1- 3 Increased production of proinflammatory tumor necrosis factor (TNF) α, interleukin (IL) 6, IL-8, IL-12, and anti-inflammatory IL-10 have been found to be correlated with increased Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II and III scores and mortality, despite discrepancies in results of studies regarding the prognostic significance of IL-1β and interferon (IFN) γ levels.4- 7 However, the relationship between the absolute plasma levels of cytokines and sepsis appears to be inconsistent and variable. The short plasma half-life of these cytokines, such as IL-1β, with a rapid disappearance, and increased plasma levels of cytokine inhibitors such as soluble TNF receptors I and II, IL-1 receptor antagonists, or soluble IL-1 receptors may result in discrepancies among previous reports describing the incidence and kinetics of cytokine blood levels during sepsis.8- 11 The reticuloendothelial system, consisting of Kupffer cells (liver), alveolar macrophages (lung), etc, also plays an important role in sepsis as a potential source of cytokines.12,13 As a consequence, plasma levels of cytokines represent the "tip of the iceberg," and investigations at the cellular level can provide more relevant information.14
Therefore, peripheral-blood leukocyte–associated cytokines have been investigated in sepsis in the past decade, and contradictory results have been obtained in these studies. High levels of leukocyte-associated IL-8 were observed in septic patients,15 while reduced TNF-α and IL-6 expression was reported in sepsis by Ertel et al.16 However, the prognostic significance of these intracytoplasmic cytokine expressions remains to be answered. In the present study, we investigated the prognostic value of spontaneous expression of the monocyte-associated (TNF-α, IL-6, IL-8, and IL-12) and T-lymphocyte–associated (IL-2, IFN-γ, TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-10) proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines and also their serum levels in addition to procalcitonin (PCT) and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels as the main acute-phase proteins.
Between November 1, 1998, and December 31, 1999, 16 patients with sepsis syndrome, severe sepsis, or septic shock in the surgical intensive care units of the Departments of Anesthesiology and General Surgery, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, University of Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey, were eligible for this study, according to criteria of the American College of Chest Physicians/Society of Critical Care Medicine Consensus Conference.17 Sepsis syndrome was defined by fever or hypothermia (temperature >38°C or <36°C, respectively), tachycardia (>90 beats per minute in the absence of β-blockade), and tachypnea (respiratory rate >20 breaths per minute or the requirement of mechanical ventilation). Severe sepsis or septic shock was defined as clinical diagnosis of sepsis syndrome plus organ dysfunction, hypoperfusion, or hypotension (systolic blood pressure <90 mm Hg or a 40–mm Hg decrease below baseline systolic blood pressure), or the use of vasopressor drugs to maintain blood pressure; and/or by clinical signs of altered organ perfusion resulting in mental disorientation, oliguria, or elevated lactate levels. Patients who were younger than 18 years or older than 70 years, and with any immunologic disorder, pregnancy, any organ transplantation, or any immunosupressive therapy (eg, use of corticosteroids) were excluded.
Six patients were considered to have early sepsis or septic shock and 10 patients to have late sepsis or septic shock, with early and late sepsis or septic shock defined as symptoms earlier or later than 72 hours. All patients underwent mechanical ventilation for respiratory problems and were also invasively monitored and followed up to study completion at day 28 or death. A blood sample was obtained from each patient on day 1, 2, or 3 after admission to the intensive care unit. Patients were categorized as having low or high multiple organ dysfunction (MOD) and Sepsis-related Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) scores,18,19 with low scores defined as those less than the median value and high scores as those equal to or more than the median value, and as survivors and nonsurvivors according to the 28-day all-cause mortality.
After assessment of the APACHE II,20 MOD, and SOFA scores, 20 mL of peripheral blood was collected for immunologic, hematologic, and biochemical analysis. Blood samples for determination of the specific cytokine, CRP, and PCT levels were spun at 3000 rpm for 10 minutes, and serum was frozen at −80°C. Blood, tracheal, and urine cultures and cultures from the suspected source of infection (eg, incisions and abdominal drains) were also obtained.
Peripheral-blood mononuclear cells were isolated by standard Ficoll-Hypaque density gradient centrifugation and washed twice in phosphate-buffered saline. A cell fixation/permeabilization kit (Cytofix/Cytoperm; Pharmingen, San Diego, Calif) was used in the intracytoplasmic cytokine determination. Aliquots of the cell suspensions (100 µL) were first incubated with 5 µL of anti–CD2–fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) (DAKO Diagnostika GmbH, Hamburg, Germany) and anti–CD14-FITC (DAKO Diagnostika GmbH) monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) for the phycoerythrin-labeled cytokines and anti–CD3-phycoerythrin (DAKO Diagnostika GmbH) and anti–CD14-FITC mAbs (DAKO Diagnostika GmbH) for the FITC-labeled cytokines or corresponding isotypic control antibodies (DAKO Diagnostika GmbH) for 30 minutes at room temperature in the dark. After being washed twice in staining buffer, the cells were incubated in 100 µL of Permeafix (Pharmingen) (phosphate buffered saline containing 4% paraformaldehyde and 0.1% saponin) for 20 minutes at 4°C and washed 2 times in Permwash solution (Pharmingen) (phosphate buffered saline containing 0.1% saponin). The pellets were suspended in 50 µL of Permwash solution and incubated with pretitrated amounts of cytokine-specific mAbs and corresponding control antibodies for 20 minutes at 4°C (anti–IFN-γ, anti–IL-6, anti–IL-8, and anti–IL-12 mAbs were FITC-labeled and anti–IL-10, anti–TNF-α, and anti–IL-2 mAbs were phycoerythrin-labeled [all antibodies were purchased from Pharmingen]). The cells were washed twice in Permwash solution and stored after suspension in staining buffer containing 2% paraformaldehyde at 4°C in the dark before analysis.
List mode data were acquired on a flow cytometer (FACS Calibur; Becton Dickinson Immunocytometry Systems, San Jose, Calif) and analyzed by means of CellQuest software (Becton Dickinson Immunocytometry Systems). After appropriate instrument settings and spectral compensations were achieved, the instrument settings were not changed and a minimum of 10 000 events were acquired in the gating window computed in list mode by means of log-amplified fluorescence signals and linearly amplified side scatter and forward scatter signals. Two-parameter dot plots showing cytokine staining were created according to lymphocyte and monocyte gates, respectively, and quadrants were then placed according to the staining of negative controls. Estimated median values were presented as positive net percentages in the figures.
Commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits were used for the measurement of IFN-γ, TNF-α, and IL-2 (ELISA kits; Immunotech, Marseille, France); IL-10 and IL-12 (Medgenix Combo IL-10/IL-12 kit, BioSource Europe SA, Nivelles, Belgium); and IL-6 and IL-8 (CLB PeliKine Compact Human ELISA kits; CLB, Amsterdam, the Netherlands) cytokine levels. The sensitivity, defined as the lowest concentration significantly different from the zero standard with a probability of 95%, was 0.08 IU/mL for IFN-γ and 5 pg/mL for TNF-α and IL-2, whereas the sensitivity of IL-6, IL-8, and IL-10, defined as the mean calculated zero signal + 3 SDs, was 0.2 pg/mL for IL-6 and 1 pg/mL for both IL-8 and IL-10. Furthermore, the minimum detectable concentration, defined as the IL-10 and IL-12 concentrations corresponding to the average optic density of 20 replicates of the zero standard + 2 SDs, was estimated as 3 pg/mL for both IL-10 and IL-12.
For the determination of CRP levels, we used a kit (Dade Behring, Marburg, Germany) with a lower detection limit of 2.5 mg/L. Levels of PCT were determined by an immunoluminometric assay (LUMI test PCT, BRAHMS Diagnostica GmbH, Berlin, Germany). The PCT sequence consists of 3 segments: katacalcin, calcitonin, and an N-terminal residue. In this test, the PCT molecule is sandwiched between 2 mAbs, 1 of which has a luminescent label. The test ultimately produces a luminescence signal directly proportional to the PCT concentration of the serum. The functional assay sensitivity (ie, the lowest value measured with a precision of 20% maximum interassay variation) is approximately 0.3 ng/mL. The analytic assay sensitivity (which is the value that can be discriminated from 0 with a 95% confidence interval) is 0.1 ng/mL.
The SPSS 10.1 software package (SPSS Inc, Chicago, Ill) was used for statistical analysis. The Mann-Whitney test was used to evaluate differences between groups according to the low and high MOD and SOFA scores and the 28-day all-cause mortality. Furthermore, the relationships between the variables were assessed by Spearman correlation test. All analyses are 2-tailed, and P≤.05 was considered significant.
The median age of the patients was 58.5 years (range, 33-70 years); 10 patients (62%) were male. Patient characteristics and clinical outcome are shown in Table 1. The 28-day all-cause mortality rate was 56.3%.
Nonsurvivors were found to have higher CRP and PCT levels than survivors (P = .048 and P = .05, respectively). In contrast, nonsurvivors had decreased percentages of lymphocyte-associated IL-2, IL-6, IL-10, and TNF-α (P = .05, P = .02, P = .03, and P = .009, respectively) and monocyte-associated IL-10 and TNF-α (P = .048 and P = .03, respectively) compared with the survivors, as shown in Figure 1.
Intracytoplasmic cytokine profile of unstimulated monocytes (A) and lymphocytes (B) and serum levels of cytokines, procalcitonin (PCT), and C-reactive protein (CRP) (C) from survivors (S; n = 7) and nonsurvivors (NS; n = 9) according to the 28-day all-cause mortality analysis. Results showing the median values were compared with the Mann-Whitney test. Asterisk indicates statistically significant changes (P<.05). Procalcitonin values are in nanograms per milliliter. IL indicates interleukin; TNF, tumor necrosis factor; and IFN, interferon.
The median APACHE II score of the patients was 21 (range, 11-31), whereas the median MOD and SOFA scores were 8 (3-14) and 10.5 (4-16), respectively. Accordingly, all of the immunologic measures were analyzed according to low (<8) and high (≥8) MOD scores and low (<11) and high (≥11) SOFA scores. In patients with high MOD and SOFA scores, serum levels of CRP (P = .18 and P = .009, respectively), PCT (P = .06 and P = .10, respectively), IL-6 (P = .009 and P = .007, respectively), and IL-8 (P = .002 and P = .02, respectively) were found to be increased. However, lymphocyte-associated IL-6 (P = .03 and P = .08, respectively) and TNF-α (P = .04 and P = .03, respectively) and monocyte-associated IL-10 (P = .04 and P = .13, respectively) and IL-12 (P = .10 and P = .03, respectively) proportions were determined to be decreased, as shown in Figure 2 and Figure 3.
Intracytoplasmic cytokine profile of unstimulated monocytes (A) and lymphocytes (B) and serum levels of cytokines, procalcitonin (PCT), and C-reactive protein (CRP) (C) of patients with severe sepsis (n = 16) according to low (n = 7) and high (n = 9) multiple organ dysfunction scores. Results showing the median values were compared with the Mann-Whitney test. Asterisk indicates statistically significant changes (P<.05). Procalcitonin values are in nanograms per milliliter. IL indicates interleukin; TNF, tumor necrosis factor; and IFN, interferon.
Intracytoplasmic cytokine profile of unstimulated monocytes (A) and lymphocytes (B) and serum levels of cytokines, procalcitonin (PCT), and C-reactive protein (CRP) (C) of patients with severe sepsis (n = 16) according to low (n = 7) and high (n = 9) sepsis-related organ failure assessment scores. Results showing the median values were compared with the Mann-Whitney test. Asterisk indicates statistically significant changes (P<.05). Procalcitonin values are in nanograms per milliliter. IL indicates interleukin; TNF, tumor necrosis factor; and IFN, interferon.
The statistically significant Spearman correlation coefficients are presented in Table 2 to show the relationship of serum levels of acute-phase proteins, cytokines, and leukocyte-associated cytokine percentages with MOD and SOFA scores. Serum PCT, IL-6, and IL-8 levels positively correlated with MOD and SOFA scores by different P values, while a reverse correlation was found between MOD and SOFA scores and both lymphocyte-associated IL-6 and TNF-α and monocyte-associated IL-10, IL-12, and TNF-α percentages.
Activation of inflammatory pathways, including the cytokine network, is considered to play a major role in the pathogenesis of sepsis. The particular type of immune response is determined by the differentiation of naive helper T (TH0) cells into TH1 and TH2 cells, which can be induced to express the TH1 phenotype by exposure to the cytokine IL-12, whereas exposure to IL-4 induces the TH2 phenotype.3 Interleukin 12 is produced predominantly by monocytes and macrophages. The TH1 cells predominantly produce IFN-γ, IL-2, and TNF-β, and are responsible for both humoral and cell-mediated responses. The TH2 cells produce predominantly IL-4, as well as IL-5, IL-6, IL-10, and IL-13, and provide help for humoral responses, including IgE isotypes and mucosal immunity. Several other proteins are secreted both by TH1 and TH2 cells, including IL-3, TNF-α, and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor. Furthermore, IL-6, IL-10, and TNF-α are also major monocyte products. The cytokine network produced by these effector cells is proinflammatory, which are mainly TNF-α, IL-1, IL-12, IFN-γ, or IL-6 with both proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory properties, or anti-inflammatory, which are IL-4, IL-10, and IL-13. Both types of TH cells regulate the immune responses through these different cytokines with antagonistic interactions in septic patients.
Numerous studies1- 11 have been published on serum or plasma concentrations of cytokines in patients with sepsis. In general, proinflammatory cytokines can be detected only in a subset of patients, whereas anti-inflammatory cytokines and soluble inhibitors can be found in the vast majority of patients with sepsis. However, the results regarding the relationship between circulating cytokines and APACHE II and III scores and mortality are showing great variability. In comparison with other cytokines, IL-6 (a mixed proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokine) was most consistently reported in the circulation of septic patients, showing a positive correlation with mortality.21 These discrepancies may be due to patients having different stages or severity of sepsis syndrome, timing of samples relative to the onset of sepsis or septic shock, high interindividual variation, and methods.22 Our results also did not show any difference in the circulating cytokine levels in terms of 28-day all-cause mortality analysis, while CRP and PCT levels were found to be significantly elevated in patients with poor prognosis. However, there was a significant positive correlation between MOD and SOFA scores and serum IL-6, IL-8, and PCT levels in concordance with some reports,23- 25 while CRP levels did not show any significant correlation. Rau et al26 also reported higher levels of IL-8 and PCT in patients with infected pancreatic necrosis than in those with sterile necrosis, whereas there was no difference in levels of CRP. Furthermore, PCT was found to be increased earlier and returned to the normal range more quickly than was CRP in children with infectious disease, and also was a more specific and sensitive marker of IL-6 and TNF-α secretion than was CRP in septic patients.27,28 However, additional large studies are needed to determine whether PCT is superior to CRP in differentiating between inflammation of infectious and noninfectious origin and also in evaluating the severity of sepsis or multiple organ dysfunction.
Measuring cytokine levels in the circulation should be viewed as an inadequate exploration of the tip of the iceberg. Short plasma half-life of circulating cytokines, soluble cytokine receptors or inhibitors, and peripheral-blood cells such as erythrocytes or leukocytes trapping excessive exogenous cytokines via their specific receptors can cause a reduction of these individual cytokines, resulting in misleading results. Erythrocytes were shown to bind to IL-8 and other chemokines via the Duffy antigen.29,30 It was also observed that a larger amount of IL-8 could be found in cell-associated form in comparison with its plasma levels after activation of leukocytes including monocytes and polymorphonuclear neutrophils of septic patients, as determined in cell lysates by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay technique.31- 33
Taking these findings into consideration, there has been a tendency to investigate leukocyte intracytoplasmic cytokines separately from their corresponding serum levels. With a recently developed technology for intracellular detection of cytokine synthesis on a single-cell level, a powerful diagnostic tool has become available to discriminate a shift of functionality in T-cell subsets via their individual cytokine profiles by performing flow cytometric analysis.34 In this study, we used this flow cytometric approach, which allows for the determination of the functional potential of T cells and also monocytes for mediator synthesis to evaluate the participation of these subsets in the immune response of patients with severe sepsis in terms of MOD and SOFA scores and survival analysis. In the study design, we aimed to investigate the unstimulated spontaneous cytokine expression in the peripheral-blood lymphocytes and monocytes under the influence of septic conditions, comparing the results with their corresponding serum levels and also CRP and PCT. It was previously reported that intracytoplasmic cytokines were almost undetectable within unstimulated cells in healthy volunteers.35 However, in the present study, we demonstrated higher percentages of lymphocyte-associated TNF-α, IL-2, IL-6, and IL-10 and monocyte-associated TNF-α, IL-10, and IL-12 in septic patients with a better prognosis. Our results suggest that both TH1- and TH2-cell responses are necessary for the survival of the septic patients, most of who have intra-abdominal sepsis after major visceral surgery. However, diminished or absent TH1 and TH2 responses characterized by immunologic anergy resulted in poor clinical outcome.
The term anergy is defined as a state of nonresponsiveness to antigen, and it is used in the clinical literature to describe a condition characterized by the lack of delayed-type hypersensitivity response to skin-test antigens. In concordance with our results, Puyana et al36 reported a higher mortality rate in anergic patients after trauma, whereas a significant inverse correlation was found between T-cell proliferation and APACHE III or MOD scores. There was a global reduction of T-cell lymphokine production, including IL-2, IFN-γ, IL-10, and IL-4 secreted by TH1 and TH2 cells, and a significant direct correlation between depressed IL-4 and IFN-γ levels in anergic patients. These findings are also in concordance with previous studies reporting strongly reduced TNF-α and IL-6 messenger RNA expression in peripheral-blood mononuclear cells harvested from lipopolysaccharide-stimulated whole blood of patients with severe sepsis16 and decreased T-cell proliferation and production of IL-2 and TNF in patients with lethal intra-abdominal infection as compared with survivors and healthy controls.37 In contrast, persisting levels of unstimulated monocyte-associated TNF-α were determined in surviving septic patients.38 In addition to "T-cell anergy," monocytic deactivation was found to be associated with a higher mortality.39 These monocytes were characterized by a markedly reduced HLA-DR expression, a loss of antigen-presenting capacity, and a profound reduction of their ability to produce lipopolysaccharide-induced TNF-α, IL-10, and IL-12 in vitro.39- 41 Nevertheless, a recent study demonstrated that postoperative sepsis was associated with immediate monocyte defects that affected both proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokine secretion, and sepsis survival correlated with the recovery of the proinflammatory, but not anti-inflammatory, response.42 Our findings regarding the inverse correlation between MOD and SOFA scores and monocyte-associated higher percentages of proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines, including IL-10, IL-12, and TNF-α, support the necessity of adequate monocytic capacity with a predominance of proinflammatory cytokine expression for immunologic surveillance in sepsis. Furthermore, IL-12 therapy significantly increased survival in mice with intra-abdominal sepsis induced by cecal ligation and puncture by enhancing TNF-α and IFN-γ production.41
In conclusion, the development of both types of TH-cell response with a predominance of proinflammatory cytokine expression, especially by monocytes, is suggested to play a major role in survival of severely septic patients. Nevertheless, both T-cell and monocyte anergy characterized by low intracytoplasmic cytokine expression in this study is found to be a poor prognostic factor. Immunomodulatory agents like IL-12 that might correct this immunologic dysfunction are to be further studied in severe sepsis.
This study was supported by the Research Fund of the University of Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey (project No. G-1117/010598).
This study was presented at the 14th European Immunology Meeting, European Federation of Immunological Societies 2000, September 25, 2000, Poznan, Poland.
Corresponding author and reprints: Neslihan Cabioglu, MD, PhD, Departments of Cancer Biology and Surgical Oncology, Box 173, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Holcombe Boulevard, Houston, TX 77030-4095 (e-mail: email@example.com or firstname.lastname@example.com).
Thank you for submitting a comment on this article. It will be reviewed by JAMA Surgery editors. You will be notified when your comment has been published. Comments should not exceed 500 words of text and 10 references.
Do not submit personal medical questions or information that could identify a specific patient, questions about a particular case, or general inquiries to an author. Only content that has not been published, posted, or submitted elsewhere should be submitted. By submitting this Comment, you and any coauthors transfer copyright to the journal if your Comment is posted.
* = Required Field
Disclosure of Any Conflicts of Interest* Indicate all relevant conflicts of interest of each author below, including all relevant financial interests, activities, and relationships within the past 3 years including, but not limited to, employment, affiliation, grants or funding, consultancies, honoraria or payment, speakers' bureaus, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, royalties, donation of medical equipment, or patents planned, pending, or issued. If all authors have none, check "No potential conflicts or relevant financial interests" in the box below. Please also indicate any funding received in support of this work. The information will be posted with your response.
Some tools below are only available to our subscribers or users with an online account.
Download citation file:
Web of Science® Times Cited: 16
Customize your page view by dragging & repositioning the boxes below.
Care at the Close of Life: Evidence and Experience Causes of Fatigue
All results at JAMAevidence.com >
Enter your username and email address. We'll send you a link to reset your password.
Enter your username and email address. We'll send instructions on how to reset your password to the email address we have on record.
Need assistance?
Athens and Shibboleth are access management services that provide single sign-on to protected resources. They replace the multiple user names and passwords necessary to access subscription-based content with a single user name and password that can be entered once per session. It operates independently of a user's location or IP address. If your institution uses Athens or Shibboleth authentication, please contact your site administrator to receive your user name and password.


text:
So I'm sort of stuck there pumping gas, and someone came up and said, "This has never happened to me before, but I'm almost out of gas and just need enough to get home. I've got my daughter in the car and don't know what to do. Can you help me?? They seemed legit, and I went in and paid a few dollars to the attendant instead of handing it to them, and they thanked me, and end of story. The problem is this has happened twice more! So 3 times in one month! I drive a nice car and true enough, I usually have a few dollars in my wallet. How would you handle this situation?
I usually do what you did... or even give them the cash, if that is what strikes me to do. My theory is that 1) it is not easy to ask. 2) even if I am being taken, I prefer to be the one who will help when I can rather than not be. For me, it is about me and the person I like to think I am. If they are being dishonest, that is about them, not me. Congratulations for being someone who makes it better.
For me, we are talking 3 out of the last 4 times if I remember right, so not sure if I want to keep paying this.
Scams are always most effective if they appeal to your good nature. This IS a scam of course - who drives a car with a kid in it so far away from home without a credit card or any cash?
I'd err on the side of scam and wouldn't give them anything. I heard this from a couple of people IRL by now, and in one case, when the person drove past same gas station several hours later, the scammer was still there, asking customers for money.
well...in truth, as a formerly scatterbrained mom, I could see myself doing this...I once left for my lessons in indy without my purse ...and got half way there and realized it and didn't have enough gas to get there...thank God, because I am truly pathetic, I had 20 bucks in CHANGE in the bottom of my dance bag to get the rest of the way there...i had to borrow 100 bucks from a fellow student to spend the night and eat and gas up to get home...and had to pay my pro a week late... all of that being said, I would rather err on the side of being scammed than on the side of cynicism
I'm with you, fasc. I'd rather be scammed than leave a person in need. I have three stories that pertain. I hope I have time to type all three. 1.Years ago I went to Target and a homeless guy was sitting outside. As I walked in he asked me for $0.50 to buy something to eat. I thought about all the horror stories of people panhandling then spending the money on booze so I said no. Then I went into Target and bought a couple hundred bucks worth of stuff. As I checked out, I was in the next line over from the homeless guy, who was in line buying a candy bar. Somebody had given him fifty cents and he bought something to eat, just like he'd said he would. 2. One time several years ago, I took DS out for pizza. As we walked back to our car, a desperate-looking lady walked up to me and asked me for a few bucks. She said that she'd been saving up to leave her abusive husband. She'd saved $42 which was enough for her to get out. That morning, when she went to her stash, it turns out that her abusive husband had found the money and stolen it. But she just couldn't make herself stay any longer. So she left and begged people on the street. She said she was just trying to get a hotel room for the night, until she could find a way to contact her family. I don't know why, but there was something about her. I opened my purse and took out every bit of cash I had. I gave it to her and watched as she walked to the hotel across the street. 3. Once, not long before MY abusive now-ex husband left, he had absolute and complete control over our finances. I had zero money. Zero. But I had to go get DS to school. So I scrounged up some loose change (turned out to be $3) and used the fumes in my car to drive to Wal-Mart. My plan was to put the money on a gift card and buy gas. (Sam's/Walm-Mart gas station doesn't accept cash.) Problem? There's a $5 minimum on Wal-Mart gift cards. I just about burst into tears right at the cash register. Without a word, the lady behind me in line reached into her purse and handed me five bucks. I have no idea who she is and I'll never see her again, but she saved me that day. Yes. There are a lot of rotten scammers out there, BUT you truly never know what people are going through. That's not to say you should be gullible. I just think you should be aware.
I think a greater idea that people should entertain is how they can volunteer or contribute to good causes where they know they are helping people. There are many good works to be done and we all can play our part. Now, I will say this about NOT giving. You can sometimes can contribute to a problem becoming worse or dangerous to others. There are some places where people can literally get surrounded by people asking for help and the people asking can be dangerous. I understand in some places in Los Angeles it can be illegal. Sometimes there are people who not only want you to pull out your wallet, but also want to take it from you or see where you keep your money. Obviously, you need to use good judgement when deciding how to help people, and there is always more you can do with an organized operation like a charity.
Yes. I learned this the hard way. (I'm just full of stories, aren't I? lol.) The first time I visited the slave castles on the coast of West Africa, I got jumped. I had just come out of one of the castles -- Elmina, IIRC. While I was stunned and raw and trying to recover, a cute little boy came up to me and asked for money. I wasn't thinking, so I reached into my little pouch and handed him the equivalent of a dollar or two. All of a sudden, a man lunged at me, seemingly out of nowhere. He was physically impaired and dirty and smelly and (I eventually figured out) he was saying, "I beg you. I beg you." I have never been so terrified in my life, partially because I was so emotionally raw over what I'd just seen, but partially because I could have been in real danger. If this strange man had intended me physical harm, I would have been physically harmed. Period. He had me. The irony, of course, is that I "helped" the cute, clean, obviously well-fed little boy and I was repulsed and frightened by (and therefore didn't help) the homeless, dirty man who really needed help. *sigh* Agreed. I would add whether and when to how. Even if you do see someone in what seems to be in real distress, keep your wits about you. Opening your purse or wallet when it's dark, in an isolated spot, when you're alone, when they're not, when you don't have clear visibility, when you're distracted, etc... might just be a bad idea. And, when it comes to charities, I would also add a couple things. One. I like to research charities before I give, just to make sure that the maximum amount of money possible is being applied to intended cause. And, since I work for a corporation that does matching gifts for 501c3s, I take advantage of that whenever I can. I may not have a lot to give but, as long as what I'm giving is not zero, doubling whatever I have to give is a good thing, I think.
Someone once asked me for a lift at a gas station! I obliged because she seemed quite desperate/worried. It later transpired she had missed her train (I figured out what she was upto when we reached the destination! lol). Don't think I would do that again, it was kind of a gullible thing to do as I didn't know her at all - total stranger. I just wanted to help but felt used and it knocked my trust in other people a bit - if she had been honest fromt he start. Sigh.
I've seen one too many silly slasher movies to ever be comfortable letting someone in my car. I wouldn't call it gullible, though. Risky, yes. Empathic, yes. Gullible, no.
lol, i love 80s horror films... actually.... I remember feeling a little unnerved with her there ... I was late for a meeting too but in a way happy I could help someone
I would say most likely the OP had experienced was a scam, 3 out of 4 times in a month? Isn't it obvious? Same excuse- kid sit in a car and parents have no cash or credit cards? Probably best to snap a pic of the guy and report to local police? This does smell fishy to me. I agree that should use one's judgement and be aware though. If I were OP, I would probably help for maximum first two times, and this sort of thing keeps coming to me, it seems possible that the scammer even recorded OP's car license plate and just keep using different people in the group to get money out of same victims. Really should be aware. A friend of mine had been approached by a street bum asking her for some change for food, after she gave, she noticed that street bum was calling someone by using an expensive phone, that expensive cell phone was that kind of most expensive one on market at that time. My friend was so pissed that she worked so hard and still hasn't saved enough to buy that kind of pricey phone, but that street bum easily could afford a luxury phone by his "work". Also another time a cab driver told me a story of a street bum jumped on his cab, asked him to drive to bum's home for change of clothing, the driver found out the bum lived in a luxury house with his wife and kids, he changed out of his bum clothing into nice suits, told the driver,"today is my days off, I'm changing into something nice and I'm visiting my kids." !!!! That cab driver commented that ever since he witnessed that, he told every person he met not to give changes to anyone begging on street or at subway, better to give to charity directly. My parents and other relatives from China also told me in Chinatown or Shanghai, there are such group of scammers who will drug people and took all their money afterwards- they would approach victim, pretending be lost, show you a map asking for direction or show you something, after you reading the stuff they put in front of you, you either pass out or would listen to their instructions, then they would ask you to give all your money to them and you would just obey, after you wake up, they would all be gone! Really creepy! In NY Chinatown and Shanghai, there were victims had given lots of money to such scammers. Really have to be aware! When my parents visited Shanghai for vacation, mom's sister advised her not talk or maintain eye contact with any strangers, just keep walking straight. Now they are warning me about these scam too, really crazy type of scam! Better be safe than sorry!
I agree with this 100%, most of time I don't feel comfortable of pulling money out of my purse when someone begs at subway or street is because I really hate others see where I keep my money. NYC subway or street definitely aren't good places to show where you keep your cash! Safety first!
Eh, I dunno. I'm pretty jaded. I give at work (payroll deduction) directly to charities. But directly to people? Not so much. First of all, I practically never have cash on me. (Even if i did, it would be in my wallet, and no way in hell am i stopping and digging out my wallet--just not smart.) I used to carry change for when I walked to work, specifically to give to the homeless people, but I stopped that; I should start again though. Mostly I go by feel--if it feels like a scam (the guy with nice shoes and clean hands asking for money when you walk up to the ATM, or the guy with the bizarre convoluted story involving a map you have to get closer to read--btdt) then no. But if it seems legit, and I am able, then...yeah. It's not consistent, just more of a vibe at the time thing. Shrug. That said...one time a guy asked for money for food. He had the whole sob story--please help, very hungry, just wanted to get something to eat. I remember it was right before Christmas and it was very cold. I didn't have cash on me, but I had been planning to buy myself something to eat o the way home...so I also bought a sandwich and soup for the guy. I brought it back to him...and he refused it. He wanted money, and got angry at me for not giving him any like he had asked. Kind if turned me off to giving, truth be told. That said, another time I walked past a guy begging with a sign. Homeless vet, hungry, please help, yada yada. I thought it was a scam. Too well dressed, too clean, just didn't feel right. ...and then I watched the guy walk over and pick up a piece of sandwich or something that pigeons had been fighting over and eat it. I still feel guilty for ignoring him, or not buying him something to eat. OTOH, I walk past about the same half-dozen homeless people every day I go to work. Do I give to all of them? One of them? Rotate? The one who no one ever seems to give money to? I don't know.
I rarely give money, but I will give food. It was kinda funny when I was in Guatemala... there was a scrap of young boys and a dog following us. Of course they were set out by their parents to beg from the "rich Americans" and of course we were told millions of times to ignore them. Well they just kept following and saying "un quetzal, un quetzal? un quetzal por tortilla?" endlessly, with their tiny little hands outstretched and hungry hungry looks on their faces. We went into a cafe and had lunch and when we exited I brought a stack of tortillas. Instead of handing them money I gave the tortillas that they had so desperately needed the money to buy. They took the tortillas and immidiately threw them on the ground, and went to the next person. "un queztal por tortilla?" Even the dog ignored the tortillas.
That reminds me of the time twin sis and I visited the temple/ruins in Cozumel, Mexico ( a definite must-see, if you ever cruise that part of the Caribbean.) A little boat dealie (a catamaran?) took us from the ship to the shore near the temple. As the passengers disembarked, we got swarmed by dozens of adorable kids who were selling miniature packs of five chicklets for a penny each. Our guide warned us not to give them money. I almost gave them money anyway. The thought of five and six year old kids selling chewing gum tugged at my heartstrings. BUT those were some darn clean and well-dressed beggar kids AND I was ticked that they weren't in school on a midweek morning. What the heck. Their parents were pimping them out to sell gum rather than sending them to school. I decided not to support that kind of child exploitation.
would be more appropriate to call being drugged + robbed. Not a good thing. I'm not kidding you, a few months ago at NY 6th Avenue near 47th Street (the Diamond district), an Asian guy dressed in monk clothing approached me with a sinister smile and tried to hand me a booklet sort of thing, I screamed out loud "Don't touch me" and kept walking straight and he did not follow me, thank god. I was really freaky out and still remembered the evil smile on his face. I think I did the right thing to avoid eye contact and kept walking straight, nothing gonna to be good happening to me, even though he wasn't trying to drug me, why the heck he tried to hand me things? I bet he either tried to ask me for money or sell me things? I don't have time to stop for scammers.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
hello thanks for the great review is this v6 much better than the old v8??
Dear forum members,
We are delighted to inform you that our forums are back online. Every single topic and post are now on their places and everything works just as before, only better. Welcome back!


text:
Amenities Playground, hike and bike trails, fireplace and picnic tables.No reservations accepted. Use is on first-come basis only.
Restrictions No smoking or alcohol. Noise ordinance is enforced.
Description Indian Creek Ranch Park is located at 1645 Coyote Ridge.
The City of Carrollton, Texas is not responsible for the content of external sites. Thank you for visiting the City of Carrollton, Texas website.


text:
Expert photo restoration and fine photography galleries. Click on the camera to find out more |
"A walk around the Walls of Chester! Now, then, for a choice téte-a-téte with the past! Away with the commonplace nineteenth century! Away with the mammon-loving world of today! The path we are now treading, high above the busy haunts of men, has a traditionary halo and interest peculiarly its own." Thomas Hughes: The Stranger's Handbook to Chester 1856 |
• 4th February 2015: The latest regarding Dee House, which sits on top of Chester's much-abused Roman amphitheatre, is here. • Your guide invites you to visit his brand new GoodHiding leather goods shop on Etsy- a great place for original gifts! • For all of you fascinated by the history of this remarkable city, when you've finished exploring our website (and not before!) we strongly recommend a visit to the newly-relaunched, and exceedingly excellent, Chester Wiki. What a few of our visitors have said: 'Chester: A Virtual Stroll Around the Walls' is an excellent and informative site which provides photographs of Chester's famed historic city walls... The site provides varied information on Chester from Roman times, the history of the city, its architecture and topography. There is information here of interest to both the casual tourist and inhabitant of Chester alike. Facts about Chester's long history are presented in a lively and interesting way. The site provides reminiscences and updates about other buildings of historic importance in Chester, as well as a gallery of images of Chester, old Chester and of the famous Mystery Plays. The paintings of Chester by Louise Rayner together with a biography of the artist can be seen on the site". Stephen Mosley, Member of Parliament for the City of Chester: July 2011 "Dear Sir, as a student of old London and the British Empire, I applaud your website! It far exceeds any I have seen, and I pour over it constantly. If I am not careful, hours will dwindle away until something interrupts me! As an entertainer, I have plenty of time to explore your site, and I wanted to take the time to "Thank You" for all your hard work and let you know how much I enjoy it! BRAVO Sir and keep up the great work! "My very sincere congratulations on the development and presentation of your fantastically outstanding web site. For the last four hours, tears have stung my eyes at the sight of old familiar places that rekindled half forgotten emotions and memories both sad and happy. I have felt anger too at the vandalism of the developers, aided and abetted by councillors apparently, that have destroyed forever irreplaceable history in the name of progress and the accumulation of wealth. But I mustn't get political; I really just wish to thank you for a most memorable afternoon, a time that I will no doubt repeat again and again in the future. "Hello, I'd just like to congratulate you on being the owner and author of the most wonderful site about Chester which I have encountered. It's bursting with information, images and enthusiasm and is incredibly detailed - fascinating and very useful! "I'd like to thank you for your wonderful web site. I discovered it last year while preparing to visit Chester. I actually printed up your guide to the walk around the wall and brought it with me! I am looking forward to revisiting Chester- and spending more time there- with my wife and son at the end of July. Thank you again for your efforts on behalf of your beautiful city and thank you for your wonderful, informative web site!" "Your website is wonderful. I have used it to answer various questions and just for interesting facts about the city. I and my colleagues have found it invaluable, very well organised and very easy to find information on it". "An absolutely brilliant site about Chester and a sterling almost single-handed effort. Well deserving of funding (cos this is the sort of thing that attracts tourists, business etc)" "This virtual strolling tour around the walls is beautifully photographed, the narration is detailed and interesting, and it doesn't shy away from some of Chester's darker sides. You will be hard pressed to find a more informative, or enjoyable, guide to the city and it's history." "I remember going onto your website a long time ago and being impressed then, but this is quite something else!! WOW!!! Very cool". Read what some of our other visitors have had to say.. |
We open with a 'contents' page to help you find you way around our site and plan your visit. If you're looking for something specific, visiting
our index (a work in progress!) first
Google at the bottom of this page to search either this site or the entire internet. New material is constantly being added- if you're a regular visitor, you may be viewing a page stored in your browser's cache, so it's worth occasionally hitting the 'reload' button... |
Want to know more? You can search the entire site using Google below or browse our index (a work in progress!) A similarly-incomplete bibliography of inspirations & source materials may be found here. May we also recommend: British History Online's comprehensive History of the County of Chester | Wikipedia's Chester Pages | The Chester Wiki | Our Chester Links pages | About the Author |
• Take a moment to read what our advertisers have to say- they help to keep us online and growing.
You can help our work and tell the world about your business by advertising with us too- go here for details... The best essay help for students in Chester. MastersThesisWriting.com - get your dissertations written from scratch! |


text:
Shop now and get Free Value Shipping on most orders over $49 to the contiguous 48 states, DC and to all U.S. Military APO/FPO/DPO addresses.
We want to ensure that making a return is as easy and hassle-free as possible! If for any reason you decide that your purchase just isn't for you, simply return the item within 30 days of receipt and we'll cover the cost of return shipping. Learn more about our Return Policy.
Intended to be described as a superb item for almost anybody, we are confident you are going to appreciate the EZ Roll 4in Swivel Caster W Brake 5011122795 . These Lab Safety & Apparel from the expert product specialists at EZ Roll are made by using heavy duty and efficient components, as a way to provide you with product which is going to be effective for countless years. For a very long time, EZ Roll has been helping to make high-end goods, and the EZ Roll 4in Swivel Caster W Brake 5011122795 is proof of their dedication to making sure that you've got the products you'll want to succeed in almost any situation. Right here at OpticsPlanet, we ensure that it is our obligation to make sure you obtain the best product for your specifications, and showcasing the EZ Roll 4in Swivel Caster W Brake 5011122795 is a thing that we're delighted to do. And furthermore, as we won't bill for shipping on orders of $49 or over, there could not be a significantly better opportunity to buy the exceptional EZ Roll 4in Swivel Caster W Brake 5011122795. For an awesome way to be certain that you're dealing with some of the very best that the industry offers, purchase the EZ Roll 4in Swivel Caster W Brake 5011122795.


text:
But the Greatest of These is LOVE
Monday, September 29, 2008
Stock Market
The Dow fell 777.
Coincidence? Maybe.
Maybe not...
Sunday, September 28, 2008
An Update.
I taught the Junior Highers this morning about God's grace and it was such a good morning. I have been praying for couches because we are trying to get the vibe going in J.high, and on Thursday, a lady walked into the church and said, "Hi, I have a free couch, do you want it?" I was so excited. But I was even MORE excited when I saw all the kids faces this morning. It was like Christmas in September! They were so stoked! I will take some pictures and post them up here soon.
I watched "Facing the Giants" this weekend and bawled my eyes out. So ridiculous. If you don't know about this movie, it is basically a bunch of Christians trying to copy a secular football, winning, story. But everything in it is over-dramatically Christian. The same people that made this one just came out with another one this weekend (or so I hear...). My favorite part was when a revival broke out at the school, and everyone started repenting of things, and praying in groups ;) ...the football coach is talking to the players and he says, "We need to start glorifying God all the time...in our relationships...on the football field...in the classroom...and when we are alone at home on the internet..." - then the shot pans to this one guilty faced kid...I was laughing so hard...not that that issue is funny...it was just so randomly out of place.
I picked up a hitch-hiker this weekend. I was on my way home at around 10pm and I saw a young girl standing in the middle of nowhere (on Oso) with a backpack and 3 bags full of clothes. She looked like a run-away so I turned around and asked her if she was okay. Long story short - I gave her a ride to a friends house (she was 20...), and was able to share the Lord with her. I randomly had some extra bibles in my car (seriously, it was random that I had them sitting on my dashboard...thank you Lord) and I gave her one and my phone number. She was suuuper receptive to hearing about the Lord, and it seems like God is really trying to hunt her down because she said that I was the third person this week that had shared the gospel with her (but she didn't say "gospel) ;) Pray for her...
The alkaline cleansing is going reeeally well. I already feel so much better. And I am serious.
Itunes is having a GREEEAT deal on Fernando Ortega tunes right now. They put together a sweet 2-CD set (34 songs!) for only $10! If you haven't started your Fernando collection yet, NOW is the time.
My life is kind of whoozy right now. I don't even know if whoozy is a word, but that's what it feels like. Half of my life is awesome, steady, and consistent. But another half is just completely out of control. I don't think I have ever had a time in my life where I have literally been trying to picture God in the center of my life. People always say, "Keep your eyes focused on the Lord..." Sometimes I used to get annoyed by the statement, but right now I know that there is nowhere else I can look unless I want to fall. If I can just keep my eyes focused on Him, I know He will bring me through this time.
"O to grace how great a debtor
daily I'm constrained to be!
Let thy goodness, like a fetter,
bind my wandering heart to thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
prone to leave the God I love;
here's my heart, O take and seal it,
seal it for thy courts above."
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Alkaline Cleansing?
So, there are these 2 gals who go to my church, and I had dinner with them the other night (thanks for cooking Melissa!). Right away I noticed there was something different about these girls, because they brought everything that were planning on consuming! They had these bottles of water, and tupperware full of organic food. They explained that they only eat organic, and try to keep it to alkaline foods, including their water. The told us how they have this special filter which makes your water alkaline, and not acidic. I was skeptical at first, feeling like I was listening to a scam, but then I became intrigued. They are completely convinced that they will not get cancer because of this special water they drink and alkaline diet. Plus, they are just healthier all around.
Well, I thought, what the heck? I might as well try this thing. So I went to Mother's Market (which I am kind of loving even more than Trader Joe's right now), and bought my poly carbon water bottles, and all natural pills of some sort (they don't believe in taking supplements of any kind), and tonight I am going to head over to their house to fill up my bottles with their "miracle" water as I am going to start calling it.
I told them I was stoked about this because I was definitely planning on blogging the process. That way, if it flops, the whole world will know. ;)
So for the next couple of weeks, I am going to head over to their house every 2 days (because the water expires after 2 days), and fill up my water bottles. For the first week, I am not really going to change my diet and see how the water effects me. Then for the second week, I am going to change my diet to an alkaline based diet (See chart below), and monitor those results. If all goes well, then I am investing in an Alkaline machine. Please let me know if you have heard of this at all, sketchy or not sketchy...I want to hear your thoughts.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Day at The Getty
I spent a lovely day at the Getty on Saturday, with good friends - AJ, Stefanie, Camyron, and Jon - and we had a great time!
It was my first time at the museum, and I had no idea that so much beauty could all be wrapped into one little (FREE!) place. I was very motivated to get out more. I told Camy, "You know, there has to be a reason people want to vacation in Southern California."
I have lived in So Cal my whole life, but I don't think I have ever really enjoyed it. Sometimes I want to move away to a big city like DC or Chicago, just so I can see new things. Well, there are new things all around me here too! I just need to find them! I want to be more dedicated to doing fun things on my days off. I am so committed to this dedication, that I am even making a new label for my blog - "So-Cal Adventures". Hopefully that label will fill up with fun stories and great adventures!!
I highly recommend taking a trip to the Getty if you've never been. From the little tram ride, to the free umbrella's, it's a lovely place to go with friends, on a hott date, or an afternoon alone.
Enjoy the pictures!
Friday, September 19, 2008
Dear God -
"It's falling from the clouds
A strange and lovely sound
I hear it in the thunder and rain
It's ringing in the skies
Like cannons in the night
The music of the universe plays
Singing, You are holy, great and mighty
The moon and the stars declare who You are
I'm so unworthy, but still You love me
Forever my heart will sing of how great You are
Beautiful and free
The song of galaxies
Reaching far beyond the Milky Way
Let's join in with the sound
Come on let's sing it out
As the music of the universe plays
All glory, honor, power is Yours, Amen
All glory, honor, power is Yours, Amen
All glory, honor, power is Yours, forever Amen"
Thursday, September 18, 2008
#1 and #2 on the "To-Do" List.
#1 - Spend more time sleeping.
#2 - Spend more time reading.
These need to happen in no particular order, but they need to happen.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Joe Biden - What a Character.
Umm...Mr. Biden -
Chuck hasn't been able to walk
since he was 16 years old...
Sunday, September 14, 2008
A Bittersweet Symphony This Life.
So I have been a little under the weather lately, which has been good and bad. Bad because I missed out on helping Melissa move yesterday, and Blythe's birthday...bummed about that. And, I missed church this morning, and Kendra's event where she was showing Invisible Children. Plus, I have been locked in the house for almost 48 hours now, and I have officially watched all of the "Bring it On" sequel movies. There are 3 of them. I am so pathetic. I hate how I never want to read when I am sick...is anyone with me on that one?
On the positive side, I have been able to watch a lot of CNN (yes, I do watch CNN and not Fox News...my advice - Watch CNN's coverage of the RNC, it's hilarious), which has been quite eye opening. Plus, I am sick, so I am much more emotionally sensitive to what I have seen. There were three specials that I watched. One on Biden, one of Palin, and one on the hurricane's that hit Haiti. For your sake and mine, I will only talk about Haiti in this blog.
If you don't attend my church, then you you probably haven't had the pleasure of meeting Stephen.
Stephen is a baby who came from Haiti to Southern California to get surgery for
Spina Bifida
. Stephen is currently staying with the Worrell family.
The Worrell's are amazing. Ted and Fayanna are the parents, and Ted sits on our financial board at the church. Ted and Fayanna both sing on the worship team, and Fayanna is very involved in women's ministry, teaching once a month. Aubree, their oldest daughter, is a senior in high school, and she just returned from a mission trip from Germany. She wants to be a nurse...specifically would love to share her skills of nursing in Africa one day. She sings and plays keyboard for the high school worship team, and is a leader in the junior high. Nick and Brody are the boys of the house. They are in Junior High, and Nick plays the drums, while Brody leads worship on guitar, for the high school/junior high/children's worship team.
I am telling you, if there is any family that I would like to imitate my family off of, it would be the Worrell's.
Not that you have to be involved everything to be awesome, but the Worrell's can't help to be involved because it is just genuine fruit coming from their genuine lives. They
love Jesus A LOT. :)
So, the Worrell's took in Stephen, and provided him with everything he needed during his time of need before, during, and after surgery. Stephen is better now, and the surgery was very successful. But now, he is supposed to go back to Haiti. The Worrell's would love to adopt him, and there is another family in Texas that would love to adopt him (long story I won't go in to...), but the rules say he must go back. It has been a roller coaster journey for the Worrell's as they have come to love Stephen so much, and know that they could provide a better life for him here. Fayanna recently sent out an email informing us that the president of
"Mending Kids"
(the organization in which all of this went through) said,
"If you can get the US Embassy in Haiti to agree that this type of adoption is the way to go and that Mending Kids will not be held responsible, I can agree to that."
This is pretty good news!
Aubree and Stephen
Stephen with his doggy after surgery
As Stephen is perfectly safe in his warm bed at night, his family and friends are not in a very good situation a few thousands miles away. Hurricane Hanna, which hit Haiti a week ago, comes as bittersweet news. Bitter because of the massive pain and suffering in that country, and sweet because this could be the event that keeps Stephen in America. There is absolutely no reason to send Stephen back to country that is in total disarray. Here is
an article
that speaks about the most current condition of Haiti. The special I watched on CNN today had me reaching for a box of tissues, as even the news reporter seemed at a loss for words. There is this heavy burden and guilt that overcomes me whenever I see these situations on the plasma screen TV in front of me. Though it is not my plasma TV, and I would most likely never buy one, I can't help to feel overwhelmed by my circumstances. These people in Haiti do not have food. Most do not have homes anymore. They have to wade around in knee high inches of water to go from place to place because they do not have a sewer system.
People wading through the waters
Houses surrounded by water
People trying to get to dry land
Two precious little girls
Men made in the image of God
Looks like three generations to me...
A young family
The hundreds of people who are living nowhere because it's dry
Waiting in line for food
In one of the "Bring it On" movie sequels, the basis of the story was the head cheerleader's parents lost their jobs, and had to move to the "ghetto" of Los Angeles. At one point, the head cheerleader walks into class and realizes that she has to copy a huge amount of sentences off the chalkboard because they can't all have books. She then asks the teacher if she can just "have an email sent to her", and the teacher lets her know that if they could afford computers, they would have books. This young lady comes to the quick realization that she has been pretty lucky all her life. And though this situation should be not taken lightly, because not all schools are as equipped as the Orange County schools (even in America), the not so lucky schools should also be counting their blessings because the majority of kids in this world do not get
education. And even if it was offered, they wouldn't have time to go because most of them are just trying to survive.
I am contuinuily reminded about how I am "the rich". I am the "upperclass" of this world. I may not be the 1% (of which I currently live with...), but I am definitely in the 10%.
So what now? Should we sell everything we have, give it to the poor, and have nothing? Well, I don't think I would go that far. But I do believe that we need to start being waaay more generous than we already are. And I don't want to limit generosity with the giving of money. Though giving money is a great thing, we can also do other things as well. A prime example of this is the Worrell's taking in this young fella. They have a beautiful home, and a lot of love to give, and they are being so generous in starting all over with a brand new baby. Diapers and formula and wake ups in the middle of the night. They thought they were all done with these things, but God had a different plan.
I love that history tells us that the Christians stood out in Rome, back in Jesus' day, because they would adopt babies and not treat them as slaves. Usually if people didn't want to keep their newborn (usually females), they would leave them on the steps of the pagan temples. More often than not, people would drop by and pick up the baby, and raise them to be slaves for the rest of their lives. Well, when Christians came about, they would take the babies and raise them as family members. I can only imagine the "light" this must have been to the world around them.
We can be this modern day "light" too!
Even I am a prime example of a girl who could have grown up in foster care, but was so lovingly taken in by my parents at a young age. Born as a child out of wedlock...out of two people who didn't love each other...only to be raised and provided for, and saved by the Blood of the Lamb.
Please take away a few things from this blog:
1 - Pray for Stephen, and for God to keep him safely in the arms of the Worrell's.
2 - Consider adopting when you are at that stage of your life.
3 - Pray for the people of Haiti. They are hurting so badly.
4 - Check out the link to "Mending Kids". The organization doesn't require you to adopt, only to take care of children as they get their surgeries.
5 - Ask God how you can be more generous with your money, time, and talents. Lets go on this journey together.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Do you miss my voice?
For all my far off distant friends, you can
listen to it here
for a bit...and then correct all my "ummm's" and "like's"...I was too comfortable that night. I need a speech professional to train me! Ah! ;) Because I do want to say, the "umm's" and "like's" aren't that big of a problem for me...I don't know what happened...
I taught the high school kids at my church a few weeks ago and my "tough question" was - "How do you have a pure relationship?" I came up with some "ABC's" for a pure relationship -
A = Accountability
B = Boundaries
C = Commitment to God
But even through all my umm's and like's, I felt the Spirit lead me to an "altar call" at the end of the message. God helped me with the words, and three young people gave their lives to the Lord that night! I am daily amazed at how God can use this broken and sinful vessel (myself).
I love teaching. I have a lot of work to do to refine this "love", and I am blessed to have the opportunity to teach on various occasions.
Memories...(but sing it like the "Cats" song)...
I miss these three...
And Derek, if you're reading this, I am SO excited for the baby shower, I already got the cutest presents ever! :)
Friday, September 12, 2008
Yes, Yes, and YES
This is just too good to be true.
I am so not ready to have children...
So one of the pastors at my church and his wife are going to Honduras this weekend to take a mini "vision trip" for our church. Hopefully we will be able to "adopt" a portion of Honduras, and support everything happening there for the rest of our church life. Well I was so excited for them to go, and Tatum (the wife) was a little nervous about leaving her kids for so long (only 5 days..), so I offered to babysit one of the nights they needed help. Somehow, anytime I end up watching their kids, something crazy happens. For instance, the one time I was watching Cade when she was a baby and I didn't think to
heat up
the bottle of milk. No wonder she wouldn't drink the
ice cold
milk! It's not like I don't know what I am doing. I was ten years old when my twin sisters were born, which meant I learned a lot about little kids for the rest of my life. But I think just being solely responsible for THREE kids, all by myself, can make me nervous. The Normans always give me a hard time about messing things up when I watch their kids. I always reassure them - what could really go wrong when I have so much love for them? Right?.... :)
Weeeell, last night started out fine. The kids were already in bed and I was just hanging out reading. Right around 11pm I heard Cadence start to cry. She had been sick with a fever all day, and Tatum did not want to leave her. I told Tatum that her ticket to Honduras was too expensive to ditch out on. So I run upstairs and give Cadence her medicine and some water, and then she fell asleep again. Thirty minutes later I heard her crying again. But these weren't just any kind of cries, these were like panic attack cries of wanting her mother. I felt so bad because I would have to tell her that her mom was thousands of miles away in a third world country flying on little planes that could possible crash. Okay, I didn't tell her that, but nonetheless, she wasn't happy about her mother being gone. But who would be happy about that?! Even today when I am sick I want my mom to come take care of me. There is absolutely nothing more comforting than your mom's presence when you are sick. Cadence was so sad, she was making me want MY mom. But seriously, I didn't know what to do. I felt so bad. She was sick and crying, and so then I started to cry because I felt so bad! I just kept praying for God to give her comfort. :(
Finally she went to sleep again and then at around 12:30am she started crying again. It went on like this the ENTIRE night. Every time I would try to convince her to come sleep with me so she didn't wake up her sister, but she refused. I asked her if I could sleep on the floor with her (because I was tired of getting up and walking down the hall), but she also refused to let me do that. The worst was at 3am when I had to give her her next dose of medicine. It seriously took like 20 minutes and 20 sips. She did not want to drink her medicine. I was bribing her with everything. Juice boxes, toys, dolls, a twenty-dollar bill...anything. Finally she drank it and fell asleep again. So the half-hour increments kept me up all night, and it was just insane. Finally at 7am I got up and gave her her medicine again. Ryah was already up and so I put a movie on downstairs. I packed Elias' lunch, made him breakfast, and helped him get ready.
Finally I get everyone outside and head to the car. I shut the house door and then quickly realize - I forgot the house key inside. I locked us out! At that point I just wanted to collapse, but quickly realized that I had left the slider door open because I had just let the dog (Denali) outside to pee. Looks like I was going to be hopping the fence when I got back. I load everyone in the car and also realize that the Norman's driver side door is broken. So I climb over the passenger seat into my seat, and we are finally on our way. We drive to school and I am trying my hardest to have Elias explain to me where he needs to be dropped off at. They are not telling me any information other than, "Don't park in the red! There are cops everywhere! My mom gets tickets all the time! Don't park in the red!" I was saying, "Okay! Okay! I am
going to park in the red...just tell me where to go, pleeeease." They don't know what to tell me so I just get in the line of cars that drops off the kids on the sidewalk. I pull up and I see Elias' neighbor friend, and I am like, "Elias, there is your friend, jump out and walk with him." Elias was adamant that he was not allowed to get out at this point. I keep trying to convince him that it's okay, he won't get in trouble, just get out and walk to class (because I can't park because it's red!). People were honking at me and getting all angry because I was sitting in the "drop-off zone" for so long. Ryah was convinced that Elias could get out there, so I believed her. Finally, Ryah said to Elias, "Elias, Carrie is the boss, you have to listen to her!" So Elias was like, "Okay, I will get out...but I have to walk FAR!" And then proceeded to slam the door. Naturally, I didn't believe him, but I yelled out the window, "Don't worry Elias...I will follow you to your class in the car." Oh, did I mention that I was trying to avoid getting out of the car and walking because right before we left Cadence was telling me how she needed to throw up. I really didn't want her to throw up all over me while walking Elias to class.
So of course I end up being wrong, and poor Elias with his recently healed limp foot has to limp all the way around the school. Now, I don't think he reeeally has to do this...I think this is just where Tatum likes to drop him off. He can actually go THROUGH the school, but for some reason, they go AROUND the school gate, all the way up this hill, and down this set of stairs. But still, I felt horrible because I dropped him off sooo far away. I am a horrible person.
So the girls and I get home and we walk around to the side gate which I realize is locked. The dog is freaking out, but I just thought she was excited. No. I quickly discover that she is trying to attack us as intruders when I lift Ryah over the fence and Denali attacks her. She is scratching her and biting her. Ryah is crying and I am just screaming at Denali trying to climb myself over the fence. But I can't leave Cade! Ah! Finally I grab onto Denali, and I am yelling at Ryah to go into the house and shut the door so Denali doesn't follow her. Ryah is trying to get the door open and it won't budge. I just keep telling her to pull harder and finally the door budges. I grab Cade and we start walking back. Apparently Ryah had let Denali out of the house, so she runs (super fast) by us and pushes Cade over on the ground. So now Cadence is crying like a maniac and the dog is running around the street like crazy and so I just get the girls in the house and shut the door because I am scared that Denali will come in and attack us or something (Tatum knows I am scared of this...) ;) and then the girls start crying saying, "Let Denali in...she is out there all alone." I am thinking, what the heck? The dog just attacked both of you! So I open the door and the dog comes running in. I yell at her to get in the backyard, and finally, we settle in again.
By this point I am so exhausted. I haven't slept. I haven't even gotten ready, so I just look a MESS. I make breakfast for the girls, and they eat and watch their show. I make Ryah's lunch and I get ready for school. Then, I have to do it all over again. Except this time I grabbed the house key, and no matter what, I was walking Ryah to class. Dropping off Ryah was easier, though she was adamant about letting her walk herself once her friends were in sight. I let her walk herself, but stalked her until she was inside the gate sitting in line. Ryah gave us a wave and smile and we were good to go. Cadence and I made it back (while climbing over and back over the passenger seat a million times I want to add...), and settled down to watch the Doodle Bops...or whatever the heck those creepy painted people are called. Now I am just waiting for Aunt Joyce to come here and relieve me. Oh what a relief it will be. I am so not ready to have children...
Thursday, September 11, 2008
I wanted to take time today to remember two people.
The first - Lisa Frost.
Lisa was a graduate of Trabuco Hills High School (my high school), and unfortunately she was on one of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Towers on September 11, 2001. She had just graduated college (she was a senior when I was a freshman), and was on her way to San Francisco to start her new job. Her life was just beginning when it was tragically taken from her. You can continue to pray for her family; they reside in Rancho Santa Margarita.
Secondly - Justin Pollard.
Justin was a friend of mine who graduated with me from Trabuco Hills High School. After 9-11-01, Justin joined the army, and two years later was killed while in Baghdad. I often think of him, and how when we were in high school we didn't have a care in the world, and we all just had a great time. Justin went overseas and fought for MY freedom, and through that sacrificial act, he lost his life. I think of him and his sacrifice often. You can also continue to pray for his family; they reside in Foothill Ranch.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Elias Update
You may remember this little guy when
I blogged about him
a few weeks back. He had a traumatic toe injury that required surgery...how crazy is that?!
He is all better now, and got his cast off today!
Here are some pictures I swiped from
his mom's blog
(which has been updated waaay more these days, so you should check it out if you want to see what's in the mind of a pastor's wife...).
Monday, September 8, 2008
I just think it is really strange that right around election time, the oil prices decrease, so we can buy our gas for cheaper prices. Then all the Republican party talks about is drilling in America so we can keep our prices down like this. I must admit, even I have fallen for this! I hate paying high prices for gas!
But I realized something...they are probably just lying! Gas prices are going to go up again as soon as (if) McCain gets elected, and I will go back to hating my car even more. I got 2 tickets and 1 flat tire last week, after already paying about $100 in gas money (in one week alone!). My entire pay checks seem to go towards my car lately. So annoying.
Sarah Palin is great. She really is. I love her. I want to be her. I love that her being elected VP will help me, as a woman, have the ability to succeed even more in a political realm (if I ever wanted to do that).
But I just keep thinking about the last 8 years; they were kind of crummy. And I keep thinking about all the issues that were never brought up at the RNC; it was just a bash fest.
Time for a change?
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Yearbook Yourself
Stumbled upon this little gem of a website -
yearbook yourself
- where you can see what you would have looked like from the 1950's all the way until now. It's super fun, you should try it too!
This last one is modern day and it looks pretty close to my hairstyle...funny.
Newer Posts
Older Posts
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)


text:
Press Room News Releases E-mail updates Speeches & Testimony Multi-Media Library
About Us Mission Leadership History Organizational Chart Programs & Operations Wall of Honor DEA Museum Office Locations
Careers at DEA
DEA Drug Information Drug Information Resources
Law Enforcement Most Wanted Major Operations Threat Assessment Training Programs Stats & Facts Additional Resources
Drug Prevention For Young Adults For Parents Additional Drug Resources
Diversion Control & Prescription Drugs Registration Cases Against Doctors
Drug Policy Controlled Substances Act Federal Trafficking Penalties Drug Scheduling
Legislative Resources
Acquisitions & Contracts
News Release FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 8, 2005 Contact: DEA Public Affairs Number: 213-621-6827
DEA Dismantles Los Angeles Cocaine Trafficking Ring Investigation Resulted in Seizure of over 1.2 Million Dollars
DEC 8--LOS ANGELES, CA – The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Los Angeles Division successfully dismantled a cocaine trafficking organization operating in the Los Angeles area. This 12-month investigation culminated today with the execution of ten search warrants and eight arrests. This investigation targeted a Los Angeles based cocaine trafficking organization responsible for importing and distributing large quantities of cocaine.
"Today's arrests and seizures have effectively dismantled this drug and money laundering organization," said DEA Associate Special Agent in Charge Ralph Partridge. "No matter how and where drug traffickers try to hide and move their money, DEA will find it and bring those involved to justice."
This joint investigation targeted an organization that supplied large quantities of cocaine throughout the United States. In addition, this organization was involved in the laundering of narcotics proceeds through transportation of large quantities of bulk currency. During the course of this investigation, agents became aware that the organization was involved in smuggling cocaine into the United States for ultimate distribution to individuals in the Los Angeles area. The cocaine and narcotics proceeds were smuggled in vehicles and planes to and from Mexico, many of which were equipped with hidden compartments.
"The IRS Criminal Investigation provides financial expertise in narcotics investigations to assist in tracing the illegal income generated and to seize assets from individuals profiting from the illegal activity," said IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent-in-Charge Michael S. Kochmanski.
Today's warrants resulted in the seizure of two vehicles, five firearms, approximately $100,000.00 U.S. Currency and approximately one kilogram of cocaine. The entire investigation resulted in the seizure of approximately 40 kilograms of cocaine and approximately $1.2 Million Dollars of U.S. Currency.
Participating agencies in today's operation included: DEA, Internal Revenue Service, Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, U.S. Marshals Service, California Highway Patrol, Inland Crackdown Allied Task Force, Regional Narcotics Suppression Program, San Bernardino County Westend Narcotics Enforcement Team.
Further information will be disseminated to press outlets when available for release. Please forward any questions to DEA Los Angeles Public Information Officer Sarah Beers at (213) 621-6827.


text:
Series: Stan Lee's Soldier Zero
Writer(s): Paul Cornell
About this Series:
STAN'S BACK! Stan Lee, the most colossal force in the history of comics, teams up critically acclaimed writer Paul Cornell (ACTION COMICS, DOCTOR WHO) and artist Javier Pina (SUPERMAN, BATMAN) for the dramatic, action-packed superhero scorched, SOLDIER ZERO! Half-Human. Half-Alien. All Weapon…and all in this brand new collection! Compiling the highly celebrated first arc "One Small Step for Man," find out Soldier Zero's origin and how wheelchair-bound college lecturer Stewart Trautmann becomes an intergalactic weapon of war. This can't-miss edition features a cover by fan-favorite X-MEN artist, Trevor Hairsine!


text:
Advocates of epistemic deliberative democracy point to deliberations' propensity to track the truth. Could someone please explain to me what truth there is to track on political matters, which by their very nature are political because no one can agree on a truth that would adjudicate the matter? This seems folly from top to bottom.
philoSOPHIA Conference at Emory May 14-16, 2015
I'm helping organize the 9th Annual Meeting of the feminist philosophy society, philoSOPHIA. The lineup is amazing….
philoSOPHIA 2015
9th Annual Conference
The Neolithic to the Neoliberal: Communities Human and Non-Human
Emory University
Atlanta, GA
May 14-16, 2015
Local Hosts:
Cynthia Willett | Noëlle McAfee | Erin Tarver
Keynote Speakers:
Drucilla Cornell | Lisa Guenther & Chloë Taylor | Kelly Oliver
Richard Rorty 1997 on Democracy and Philosophy
When I was a graduate student at the University of Texas at Austin in the 1990s, I was an occasional guest host on a public affairs program of the local PBS station. In 1997 I interviewed the philosopher Richard Rorty.
This afternoon, with the help of Emory graduate student Karen McCarthy, I finally got around to digitizing it. Then we uploaded it to YouTube. It's kind of eery watching it again. So many of the issues Rorty and I discussed are still with us today in the clash of cultures between religion and secularism, attempts at democratization in the Middle East versus the Taliban, and the near-impossibility of finding a way to adjudicate between our differences. Rorty stuck by his position that we can never really get outside our culture and history to adjudicate anything, yet at the same time he appealed to notions of "better" and "worse" that could be understood through stories we tell ourselves. I wasn't satisfied with that then, and I'm still not now. But maybe that is simply because there is no philosophical panacea that could ever be satisfying and, in the end, we are really just left, rather bereft, with our ability to tell compelling stories. Rorty at one point appealed to the occasional geniuses like Jefferson and Jesus and Socrates (a weird troika) who, perhaps struck by a cosmic ray, could move us forward. Then and now this appeal to genius is hardly helpful. But I think I get what he was saying — that the occasional fluke could get us out of our constituting context. At the very end I bring up a piece he had written the year before for the New York Times on what might happen in the future in America, the future, specifically 2014 and 2015. So it is a fascinating kind of time travel to watch this interview now, from here in the future.
Neoliberalism and the Mail
The conservative / neoliberal attack on public sector enterprises, namely the United States Postal Service, has worked so well that now I, a leftie, am hating the US Postal Service. They are clearly understaffed and so I see mail carriers trying to deliver the goods as late as 8 p.m. God bless them. But when I want a package delivered on time — or delivered at all (first world problem) — they are no where to be found And if during a lull time I get through to customer service in under 20 minutes, I get a non-answer. And so, personally, I'll go with a privatized mail service (FedEx or UPS) but they, UPS at least, are notorious for treating their workers horribly. My US postal worker gets treated well, but if Congress won't back this public service then we all fail. Quandary.
On Nothing
Purging all the detritus in my home office, I wonder whether it's time to get rid of my 4-volume Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Surely with the new online Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy this is just taking up shelf space. But I do love this one entry, even though I completely disagree with it, because it is quite funny:
(from The Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Nothing is an awe-inspiring yet essentially undigested concept, highly esteemed by writers of an existentialist tendency, but by most others regarded with axiety, nausea, or panic. Nobody seems to know how to deal with it (he would, of course), and plain persons generally are reported to have little difficulty in saying, seeing, hearing, and doing nothing. Philosophers, however, have never felt easy on the matter. Ever since Parmenides laid it down that it is impossible to speak of what is not, broke his own rule in the act of stating it, and deduced himself into a world where all that ever happened was nothing, the impression has persisted that the narrow path between sense and nonsense on this subject is a difficult one to tread and that altogether the less said of it the better. Continue reading
20th century philwiki rocks a sinking boat
Even as I try to ignore those mean spirits, today I went to a certain blog and found this delightful bit:
More PhD program wikis!
Now we have 20th-century Continental philosophy, started by (brace yourselves) Noelle McAfee. Fortunately, since a wiki is just as good as its contributors it does not matter who started it. As with Philosophical Logic, it's purely informational (who works on what, links to pages etc.), and devoid of crucial qualitative information. Again, students can start with the PGR results on the latter front.
[please avoid clicking here but here's the source: http://leiterreports.typepad.com/blog/2015/01/more-program-wikis.html%5D
Ummm — devoid of crucial qualitative information? Oh, let's see, you could go to the 20th century continental philosophy wiki and quickly see the strengths of PhD programs around the world, see faculty professional webages and PhilPages profiles listing all their publications, or you could go to the PGR listing of 20th century continental philosophy and see what a handful of mostly Nietzsche scholars and hardly any who do work in contemporary French theory think. You'll find 13 programs listed without any detail on who is doing what. Some of these programs show up well on the 20th Century Philosophy wiki. But many who look really great from info on the wiki don't show up at all on the PGR — perhaps because the evaluators don't have expertise in the wide range of work going on in 20th century continental philosophy.
As for the wiki, much more work is needed, especially in listing programs outside the US. So please help pitch in.
New Year's Resolutions
I am trying to resolve what would be a good new year's resolution after this hellacious year for my profession. I'm thinking: rise above and leave the crap behind, give it zero attention. When confronted with a threat to sue, laugh out loud — but push back loudly if need be — and then move on.
The trick is finding a balance between finding a way to lend no power to ignorance and mean-spiritdness and finding ways to overcome them. This is tough. The more one tries to overcome them, the more power one gives them. This has been my quandary this whole past year: ignore or fight back?
After a great year of the profession fighting back, I think the next tact is to ignore. Give no energy to the places that suck our good work and put it where we do good work.
This might be the best resolution I could make. We all have good work to do. So let's do it.


text:
Perfect Petals Perfect Petals Inver Grove Heights, MN 55076 Inver Grove Heights, MN Maximum Capacity: 0 people Capacity: 0 people Specializing in Weddings, Perfect Petals is your first choice when it comes to unique and modern fre... www.facebook.com
Marah Cole Designs Marah Cole Designs Saint Paul, MN 55106 Saint Paul, MN Maximum Capacity: 0 people Capacity: 0 people Marah Cole Designs specializes in providing unique floral bouquets that are both simple and elegant.... www.marahcoledesigns.com
Delta Dawn Floral Delta Dawn Floral Saint Paul, MN 55117 Saint Paul, MN Maximum Capacity: 0 people Capacity: 0 people After years of Event Planning experience, starting as a hobby, I added Floral Design to my portfolio... www.deltadawnfloral.com
Ella Jean Floral Design Ella Jean Floral Design 2628 Cedar Ave, Saint Paul, MN 55110 Saint Paul, MN Maximum Capacity: 0 people Capacity: 0 people Ella Jean Floral Design is a studio-based business specializing in custom wedding flowers. Because ... www.ellajeanfloraldesign.com
Ptacek's Floral Ptacek's Floral 1449 Orrin Road, Prescott, WI 54021 Prescott, WI Maximum Capacity: 0 people Capacity: 0 people www.ptaceksiga.com
Florals & More Florals & More Highway 55, Hastings, MN 55033 Hastings, MN Maximum Capacity: 0 people Capacity: 0 people www.floralsandmore.net
Community featured forum posts Ask a question to the Prescott, WI Community What's the BEST piece of wedding advice you've ever gotten/heard?(8901 views / 23 posts) Last Post by posted 8 days ago Wedding Centerpieces(18553 views / 38 posts) Last Post by etern1398350 posted 13 days ago The First 10 Steps for Wedding Planning(30951 views / 35 posts) Last Post by rkdph801746 posted 20 days ago Just looking for cheap but classy not tacky wedding favours any ideas(17736 views / 46 posts) Last Post by rubyblancoutle posted November 7, 2014 Centerpieces take home or rental???(6435 views / 20 posts) Last Post by info1247111 posted October 28, 2014 start a new discussion see more posts
Top Articles featured event planning article Choosing the Right Providers for Your Wedding Posted by admin Planning your wedding can be overwhelming, but taking the time to choose the right venue, caterer, photographer, DJ, and other vendors will help create an unforgettable experience for you and your guests. Consider these tips as you begin your search and learn from the experiences of other brides. Read More
featured event planning article Party Planning 101 Posted by eventective Planning a party can be a very stressful task and many people don't know where to start. Eventective helps walk you through the process and guide your critical decisions. Read More


text:
Articles by Oscar Jordan
Interview: Marc Rizzo
March 26, 2009
Marc Rizzo talks about his crazy touring schedule, practicing hard and his rig
Read More
Keeley Electronics Mello Wah Mod Review
March 4, 2009
Keeley''s Crybaby mod, the Mello Wah, offers up a variety of useful tones
Read More
Hot-Rodder to the Stars: Inside Performance Guitar
January 26, 2009
Performance Guitar has served rockers since the sixties, from Frank Zappa to Warren DeMartini
Read More
Interview: Yngwie Malmsteen on His New Album & Guitar
December 16, 2008
Yngwie talks about going old-school on Perpetual Flame and his new Fender Custom Shop "Play Loud" Strat
Read More
Carl Verheyen Interview
December 16, 2008
Carl Verheyen is a guitar chameleon whose whose adaptability puts
him in high demand has made him in high demand for everything from
TV commercials to major recordings.
Read More
Digitech Harmony Man Intelligent Pitch Shifter Review
November 25, 2008
The Harmony Man provides classic harmonies without the drawbacks of your average pitch shifter.
Read More
New Amps from the 2009 L.A. Amp Show
November 11, 2008
We''ve got the scoop from Goodsell, Soultone, Blackstar, Egnater, Red Iron and Bogner
Read More
Analog Man DS-1 Pro Midrange Mod Review
September 9, 2008
Analog Mike (aka Mike Piera) of Analog Man Guitar Effects does cool things. Years ago I sent him a BOSS Blues Driver to perform open-heart surgery on. He took
Read More
Pigtronix Polysaturator Review
July 10, 2008
The Pigtronix PolySaturator delivers old-school fuzz
Read More
Keeley TS9DX Flexi-4X2
November 9, 2007
Effects wizard Robert Keeley has taken two of his most popular Tube Screamer mods and put them together in one package. He's modified an Ibanez TS9DX and renamed it
Read More