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A method, computer system, program product is provided for enhancing interaction with a hypertext document rendered by a browser on a touch screen. A navigation button is displayed corresponding to a displayed link in response to a predetermined event, such as changing the displayed portion of a hypertext document or touching the screen, especially if outside of all displayed links. When a plurality of links are present, prioritization of navigation buttons displayed is contemplated, based on those closest to the area touched and on a maximum allowable number of navigation buttons.
1. A method of displaying a hypertext document on a computer display of a computer system, the method comprising:
(a) rendering on the computer display a primary input region for a hypertext link defined in the hypertext document;
(b) in response to first user input received after the primary input region is rendered on the computer display, displaying a supplemental input region associated with the primary input region wherein said supplemental input region is separate from said primary input region; and
(c) activating the hypertext link in response to second user input directed to the supplemental input region.
2. The method of
(d) removing the supplemental input region.
3. The method of
4. The method of
5. The method of
6. The method of
7. The method of
8. The method of
9. The method of
10. The method of
11. The method of
(i) for each primary input region, determining the shortest distance to the touch screen input;
(ii) creating a list of primary input regions within a threshold distance from the touch screen input; and
(iii) displaying a supplemental input region for each primary input region in the list.
12. An apparatus comprising:
(a) a memory; and
(b) a program resident in the memory, the program configured to generate display representation data for a primary input region of a hypertext link defined in a hypertext document; to generate display representation data for a supplemental input region associated with the primary input region in response to first user input received after display representation data for the primary input region is generated wherein said supplemental input region is separate from said primary input region; and to activate the hypertext link in response to second user input directed to supplemental input region.
13. The apparatus of
14. The apparatus of
15. The apparatus of
16. The apparatus of
17. A program product comprising:
(a) a program configured to generate display representation data for a primary input region of a hypertext link defined in a hypertext document; to generate display representation data for a supplemental input region associated with the primary input region in response to user input received after display representation data for the primary input region is generated, wherein said supplemental input region is separate from said primary input region; and to activate the hypertext link in response to user input directed to supplemental input region; and
(b) a signal bearing media bearing the program.
18. The program product of
19. The program product of
20. A method of displaying a hypertext document on a computer display of a computer system, the method comprising:
(a) rendering on the computer display a plurality of primary input regions for a plurality of hypertext links defined in the hypertext document;
(b) in response to user input directed to a position on the computer display, determining which of the plurality of primary input regions is within a threshold distance from the position of the user input, and displaying a supplemental input region for each such primary input region that is within the threshold distance; and
(c) activating a hypertext link among the plurality of hypertext links in response to user input directed to the supplemental input region associated with the primary input region for the hypertext link.
21. A method of displaying a hypertext document on a computer display of a computer system, the method comprising:
(a) receiving a hypertext document from a source that is remote to the computer system, the hypertext document including a hypertext link for which a primary input region is defined when the hypertext document is rendered on a computer display;
(b) rendering at least a portion of the hypertext document on the computer display, including rendering the primary input region for the hypertext link on the computer display;
(c) displaying a supplemental input region associated with the primary input region on the computer display, wherein the supplemental input region is not defined in the hypertext document that is received from the source that is remote to the computer system and wherein said supplemental input region is separate from said primary input region; and
(d) activating the hypertext link in response to user input directed to the supplemental input region.
22. The method of
The invention is generally related to computers and computer software. More specifically, the invention is generally related to a manner of interfacing with user interface controls displayed on a computer display.
Hypertext linking has become an extremely popular manner of interfacing with a computer due to its intuitiveness, simplicity and efficiency. With hypertext linking, a user is permitted to navigate between documents and/or between different locations in the same document simply by moving a pointer over a hypertext link and selecting the hypertext link by depressing a key or button (a process known as "pointing and clicking").
Hypertext links often include text embedded within a text string that is highlighted to identify the text as a hypertext link. As such, a user is often able to navigate by directly selecting the text from a portion of a text string. For example, a text string such as "the winner of the 1973 Kentucky Derby was Secretariat" might have a hypertext link defined for the word "Secretariat," such that a user might be able to view a separate document with Secretariat's career racing statistics simply by pointing and clicking on the word "Secretariat."
A principal use of hypertext linking is in retrieving information from the Internet, and specifically, a portion of the Internet known as the World Wide Web ("the Web"). Moreover, due to the ever-increasing popularity of the Web, many private networks, as well as other applications local to a users workstation, now use hypertext linking to access and navigate between documents. Documents are typically formatted using a standard language known as the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), and are viewed using a computer software application known as a web or hypertext browser. Browsers typically display all or a portion of a particular document in one or more graphical windows.
Typical browsers and hypertext documents viewed on browsers are generally optimized for hand manipulated pointing devices, e.g., trackballs, touch pads, mice, etc. These pointing devices generally have two attributes: (1) feedback to the user as to current position of a cursor controlled by the pointing device; and (2) discrete selection of a coordinate on the display. In other words, the user can reposition the cursor until the cursor exactly points to a display object of interest. Selecting the object by clicking a button on the pointing device corresponds to a very specific point.
The typical hypertext document is designed for the screen size and resolution of a typical desktop or laptop computer with the density of links displayed presupposing the accuracy of typical pointing devices. Users encounter problems interacting with hypertext documents, however, due to various limitations. Human error, poor vision or poor coordination makes selecting links problematic on a browser rendered hypertext document The computer system may include a small display or an overly-sensitive pointing device, for example, that complicates selecting links. In addition, some hypertext documents are poorly designed by having very small links placed close to one another that are inherently difficult to select.
Selecting the wrong link or missing all of the links is a problem because it delays and frustrates the user. Due to the time often required to navigate to a link, the user may be unaware of the error for a period of time. Then the user has to retrace his steps, going back to the original portion of the hypertext document and trying again. The user may repeatedly miss the desired link if the human, system or document design limitations are severe.
These difficulties in selecting hypertext links are even more pronounced for touch screen pointing devices incorporated into computer displays, thus making hypertext navigation difficult. Small touch screens, such as on a palm-type computer, make the links appear small and difficult to select. On touch screens such as kiosks, even though the screen may be large, the user may have difficulty selecting links. The typically thick glass of the display and orientation of the display can induce a parallax effect, with the link appearing offset. Also, the user may be less familiar with such interfaces, increasing human error. In addition, some touch screens process the touched area input by selecting a single coordinate to represent the input. This approximation introduces an error when the user overlaps the desired area but the computer system treats the input as a coordinate outside the desired area
Other types of user input devices may also introduce errors that make it difficult to accurately select hypertext links. For example, some touch screens are implemented using infrared sensors oriented a short distance in front of a conventional display screen. Also, some virtual reality interfaces, for example, utilize instrumented gloves or other three-dimensional pointing devices to position a pointer within a three-dimensional space. In each case, factors such as human error and parallax effects can adversely affect pointing accuracy.
Efficient navigation of hypertext document by accurately selecting hypertext links is of growing importance as this form of navigation becomes pervasive. Current operating systems, such as Windows 98, for example, integrate the browser intimately. Thus, finding and viewing locally stored documents may be done in a browser environment. In addition, applications, such as many word processors, allow simplified creation of hypertext documents. Thus, users may have increasing amounts of browser navigable content available. Also, commerce and communication is being done increasingly on the Internet, making efficient navigation on hypertext documents critical. Moreover, many portable digital communication devices are incorporating limited browsing capabilities.
Existing alternatives for accurately selecting links, especially on touch screens or on devices that employ other similar "coarse" pointing devices, are inadequate. Increasing the size of the portion displayed would make selecting a hypertext link easier; however, this option is generally not preferred or available. First, the browser and computer operator system may make increasing the size difficult. Second, the hypertext document may be rendered difficult to use if forced to focus on very small portions. Scrolling back and forth may be insufficient for viewing sections meant to be viewed in their entirety. Substituting other, more accurate pointing devices may also be inappropriate in many instances, e.g., in a consumer kiosk where user simplicity is preferred, or in a palm-type computer where size and portability are paramount concerns.
Therefore, a significant need continues to exist for a manner of simplifying the selection of user interface controls, and in particular, the selection of hypertext links, with a touch screen or similar pointing device.
The invention addresses these and other problems associated with the prior art by providing a computer system, program product and method in which a supplemental input region is displayed in response to displaying a primary input region for a hypertext link, This supplemental input region may comprise a navigable button appropriately sized and referenced to the print input region to make selection with a touch screen input easier.
In addition, with some embodiments of the invention, this displaying of the supplemental input region may be triggered by a predetermined event. One such trigger could be the user selecting a portion of the display outside of any primary input region for a hypertext link. Another such trigger could be selecting a portion of the display that is within two primary input regions, especially for touch screen pointing devices that provide a plurality of input coordinates to the browser in response to user input. In yet another, the trigger could be selecting any portion of the screen, even if solely within one primary input region, especially if the browser is configured to avoid inadvertent selection of a hypertext link by requiring more than one screen touch. Also, the predetermined event could be user selection of a control such as a dedicated browser button, or pop-up or pulldown menu item. Further, selecting another portion of a hypertext document or a different hypertext document to view could be the predetermined event.
Without limiting the invention to a particular implementation, it may be desirable in some embodiments to visually associate a pair of primary and supplemental input regions by color or patterns, especially if such association would be discernable on a monochrome screen as well as color screen.
In some embodiments consistent with the invention, the supplemental input regions are in the form of navigable buttons. A first illustrative embodiment places navigable buttons in a row at the edge of the displayed portion of the hypertext document. Alternatively, the buttons could be floating adjacent to their corresponding primary input region or link, perhaps opaque so that overlapped hypertext document content would be visible. As yet another alternative, the buttons could be inserted into a local copy of the hypertext document and the document repaginated so that the buttons do not overlap content in the hypertext document. Other alternatives will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art.
These and other advantages and features, which characterize the invention, are set forth in the claims annexed hereto and forming a further part hereof. However, for a better understanding of the invention, and of the advantages and objectives attained through its use, reference should be made to the drawings, and to the accompanying descriptive matter, in which there is described various embodiments of the invention.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a computer system consistent with the invention.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an exemplary software environment for the computer system of FIG. 1.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating the program flow for the main routine of the browser of FIG. 2.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating the program flow of the update input regions routine of FIG. 3.
FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an input region list data structure consistent with the invention.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating the program flow of the handle touch screen input routine of FIG. 3.
FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating the program flow of the determine input regions within touch screen assist region routine of FIG. 6.
FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating the program flow of the assign corresponding navigable button routine of FIG. 6.
FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary hypertext document displayed in a window on the computer system of FIG. 1.
FIG. 10 is a simplified block diagram of the hypertext document of FIG. 9, with a user selecting a portion of the document.
FIG. 11 is a depiction of the determination of distance between the area touched and the primary input region of FIG. 7.
FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating a first exemplary hypertext document displayed in a window on the computer system of FIG. 1 after touch screen assist has modified the display.
FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating a second exemplary hypertext document displayed in a window on the computer system of FIG. 1 after touch screen assist has modified the display.
FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating a third exemplary hypertext document displayed in a window on the computer system of FIG. 1 after touch screen assist has modified the display.
Turning to the Drawing, wherein like numbers denote like parts throughout the several views, a computer system 10 consistent with the invention is illustrated in FIG. 1. Computer system 10 is illustrated as a networked computer system including one or more client computer systems 12, 14 and 16 (e.g., desktop or personal computers, workstations, etc.) coupled to server system 18 through a network 20. Network 20 may represent practically any type of networked interconnection, including but not limited to local-area, wide-area, wireless, and public networks (e.g., the Internet). Moreover, any number of computers and other devices may be networked through network 20, e.g., multiple servers. Furthermore, it should be appreciated that the principles of the invention may be utilized as well by standalone computers and associated devices consistent with the invention.
Computer system 16, which may be similar to computer systems 12, 14, may include one or more processors 22 such as a microprocessor, a number of peripheral components such as a computer display 24 (e.g., a CRT, an LCD display or other display device); mass storage devices 26 such as hard, floppy, and/or CD-ROM disk drives; a printer 28; and various user input devices (e.g., a mouse 30, keyboard 32, and touch screen 34), among others. Computer system 16 operates under the control of an operating system and executes various computer software applications, programs, objects, modules, etc. (e.g., a browser 36) as is well known in the art. Moreover, various applications, programs, objects, modules, etc. may also execute on one or more processors in server 18 or other computer systems 12, 14, e.g., in a distributed computing environment.
In general, the routines executed to implement the illustrated embodiments of the invention, whether implemented as part of an operating system or a specific application, program, object, module or sequence of instructions will be referred to herein as "computer programs" or "programs." The computer programs typically comprise instructions which, when read and executed by one or more processors in the devices or systems in networked computer system 10, cause those devices or systems to perform the steps necessary to execute steps or elements embodying the various aspects of the invention. Moreover, while the invention has and hereinafter will be described in the context of fully functioning computer systems, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the various embodiments of the invention are capable of being distributed as a program product in a variety of forms, and that the invention applies equally regardless of the particular type of signal bearing media used to actually carry out the distribution, Examples of signal bearing media include but are not limited to recordable type media such as volatile and nonvolatile memory devices, floppy disks, hard disk drives, CD-ROMs, DVDs, and transmission type media such as digital and analog communications links.
Those skilled in the art will recognize that the exemplary environment illustrated in FIG. 1 is not intended to limit the present invention. Indeed, those skilled in the art will recognize hat other alternative hardware environments may be used without departing from the scope of the present invention.
FIG. 2 illustrates one suitable software environment for computer system 16 consistent with the invention. A processor 22 is illustrated as coupled to a memory 38 as well as to several inputs and outputs. For example, user input is received by processor 22, e.g., by mouse 30 and keyboard 32, among others, Other suitable user interface devices may include, for example, a remote control, a trackball, a joystick, a touch pad, and an Accupoint input device. Among others of particular interest to the present invention are inputs to a touch screen 34, especially when the touch screen 34 is the only pointing device. Additional information may be stored to and/or received from mass storage 26. Processor 22 also outputs display data to display 24. It should be appreciated that computer system 16 includes suitable interfaces between processor 22 and each of components 20, 24, 26, 30, 32, and 38 as is well known in the art.
An exemplary embodiment of the invention is implemented within a hypertext (or web) browser application 36, e.g., similar to the Internet Explorer browser from Microsoft Corporation and the Navigator browser from Netscape Communications. It should be appreciated, however, that the invention may also be implemented in other applications that utilize user interface controls, and specifically hypertext links, as well as directly within the operating system or other support software of a computer system consistent with the invention.
Browser 36 is illustrated in FIG. 2 as being resident in memory 38. However, it should be appreciated that various components of the application may be stored on network 20 or mass storage 26 prior to start-up, and in addition, that various components may be resident at different ties in any of memory 38, mass storage 26, network 20, or within registers and/or caches in processor 22.
It should also be appreciated that other software environments may be utilized in the alternative.
A browser 36 generally renders hypertext documents for display. Codes within the hypertext document typically provide for (1) placement or other display attributes for content in the first hypertext document; (2) inbound links for bringing in objects such as other hypertext documents to be displayed with content in the first hypertext document; and (3) out-bound links for navigating from the first hypertext document to another hypertext document.
The exemplary embodiments of the invention generally operate by enhancing a user's ability to act upon an out-bound link by providing a supplemental input region in addition to the primary input region typically rendered by browser 36. Selecting or activating the supplemental input region performs the same function as acting upon the primary input region. In the illustrative embodiment this supplemental input region has a display representation as a navigable button.
The way in which conventional browsers render hypertext documents and especially their links is of importance to the present invention. First, the way hypertext documents could be designed so that touch screen inputs could lead to ambiguous inputs (i.e., not selecting one and only one link) or prone to error (e.g., the browser resolves a touch screen input to an unintended coordinate). Second, some of the embodiments consistent with the invention associate the supplemental input region with the primary input region by similar display characteristics such as color and placement.
A primary input region for a hypertext link is used to receive input for selecting the link for further browser actions such as viewing property information, or navigating to a hypertext document referenced by the link. Typically, the primary input region of a hypertext link includes the extent of the actual text and/or image data forming the display representation of the hypertext link. While the invention is not limited to a specific hypertext link format, one particularly useful application of the invention is in conjunction with hypertext links defined in an HTML document such as an Internet document. Principally three types of hypertext links are defined by the HTML protocol. A first type of hypertext link is defined by a text string including a plurality of alphanumeric characters that are typically highlighted (e.g., through underlining and a unique color) to set the characters off from surrounding text, whereby the primary input region thereof is the boundary of the display representation of the text string. A second type of hypertext link is defined by a graphical image having a border that defines the input region thereof. Yet another type of hypertext link is defined by a predetermined input region specified within an image map. In this latter type of hypertext link, multiple links may be defined in a common graphical image by defining coordinates, and optionally, a shape (e.g., a rectangle, a circle or a polygon) within the graphical image. With this latter type, the input region is coextensive with the boundary defined in the definition of the image map. A primary input region for a hypertext link thus is typically, but not necessarily, coextensive with a display region of the display representation of the link.
A supplemental input region, like a primary input region, also receives input to select a hypertext link associated therewith However, a supplemental input region is visually distinct from, and often separated from, both the primary input region and the display region of the hypertext link. As discussed above, a supplemental input region may be visually represented as a navigable button, although other representations may also be used.
FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary program flow for a main routine 50 executed by browser application 30 of FIG. 2. Routine 50 is shown implemented in an event-driven representation. However, other programming models, e.g., procedural, may be used in the alternative.
Routine 50 generally operates in an endless loop that waits for events at block 52, checks for certain specified events, processes those events, and returns to block 52 to wait for additional events. A number of events generally related to the use of a touch screen consistent with the invention are illustrated at blocks 54 and 56. Additional events conventionally handled by a browser application, but which are not relevant to an understanding of the invention, are handled in a conventional manner in block 60.
One event handled by routine 50 is a refresh display event, which is detected at block 54. This event may be initiated in any number of circumstances, e.g., whenever the browser wishes to generate a new document that has been retrieved via a hypertext link, when a user has scrolled up or down in a document, or in response to a specific command to refresh the display, among other operations.
The refresh display event is handled in block 62 by refreshing the display, a process that is well known in the art Generally, refreshing the display encompasses rendering the source HTML information from a document into a display representation generated via the control tags embedded in the HTML document.
Once the display is refreshed, an update input regions routine 70 (discussed below) is called to build a list of input regions for the various hypertext links defined in the currently-displayed HTML document.
Another event handled by browser 30 is a screen-touched event, which is detected at block 56 and handle touch screen input routine 100. This input includes a discrete spatial area at a specific time interval.
FIG. 4 illustrates update regions routine 70 in greater detail. Routine 70 begins in block 72 by clearing an input region data structure, e.g., by deallocating the space reserved for such a structure, or other manners known in the art.
Any number of data structures may be utilized to store input region information for a plurality of hypertext links defined within a hypertext document. For example, FIG. 5 illustrates a linked list data structure 90 including a plurality of records 92, each of which is assigned to a particular hypertext link defined in a hypertext document. Each record 92 includes a field 94 within which is stored the extents of the input region. The extents may be defined, for example, by coordinates, by shape and/or by a combination thereof. Moreover, the extents may be defined in absolute coordinates or in relative coordinates (e.g., relative to the coordinates of the display region of a particular hypertext link definition).
Each record 92 also includes a field 96 including a pointer to the associated link for the record. This permits quick access to the link to be activated in response to a user operation performed while the pointer is disposed within an input region.
Each record 92 also includes a field 98 including a pointer to the next input region within the linked list data structure 90. The end of the linked list is determined by a record 92 having a NULL pointer stored in field 98.
It should be appreciated that other data structures may be used consistent with the invention.
Returning to FIG. 4, once the input region list is cleared, control passes to block 74 to initiate a WHILE loop that is executed until each hypertext link within the current document, or displayed portion of the current document, has been processed. As long as additional unprocessed links exist, control passes to block 76 to retrieve the next hypertext link. Next, in block 78 a new input region record 92 is created, e.g., by creating a new input region object. Next, in block 80 a pointer to the current link being processed is stored in field 96 of the new input region record 92. In the alternative, the actual URL or other address information may be stored directly in the field.
Next, in block 82, the extents of the input region are determined and stored in field 94 of the new input region record 92. Determination of the input region may be performed in a number of manners based upon the shape and relative or absolute coordinates utilized to define an input region For example, for an alphanumeric hypertext link, one suitable manner of defining the input region may be to determine the leftmost, rightmost, topmost and bottommost coordinates of the display region of the hypertext link, and then adjust these values by a predetermined amount in each direction to define an input region that extends in all directions a predetermined amount beyond the display region.
Once the input region extents are stored in record 92, the new record is added to the input region data structure 90 in block 84, typically by locating the last record in the list and setting the next input region field 98 thereof to point to the new record. Upon completion of block 84, control returns to block 74 to process additional links in the document until all such links have been processed, whereby routine 70 is then terminated.
Referring to FIG. 6, the handle touch screen input routine 100, mentioned in FIG. 3, is illustrated. First, the touch screen input is resolved with respect to active regions (block 101). Many operating systems such as the Microsoft Windows 3.1, 95, 98, etc., have a graphical user interface wherein various areas of the screen activate different objects. Assuming that the touch screen input is directed to a display for the browser routine 50, block 101 compares the touch screen input to all active input regions, including all primary input regions and any supplemental input regions that may have been previously displayed. Generally, input regions are mutually exclusive and touch screen pointing devices return a single coordinate, so determining what input region, if any, is designated is straight-forward. However, for touch screen pointing devices that return a plurality of coordinates, such as the entire area touched, block 101 could determine that the touch screen input is within a plurality of input regions.
Block 102 determines whether the touch screen input specifies one input region that is for a hypertext link (either a primary or a supplemental input region). If so, the browser 36 removes any displayed navigable buttons (i.e., any previously displayed supplemental input regions) (block 103), navigates to the hypertext document (block 104), and routine 100 is complete (lock 106). If not, however, then the primary input regions within a touch screen assist region are determined (block 110), and are each assigned to a corresponding navigable button (block 132), and routine 100 is done (block 106).
Alternatively, the determination of whether one hypertext link was selected in block 102 may be replaced with a determination of whether one navigable button (supplemental input region) was selected. Thus, the touch screen region assist would be made the only method of navigating to the desired hypertext link. In yet another embodiment, the determination in block 102 may be that two or more links are close enough to the region touched that an ambiguity exists. If no ambiguity, then processing proceeds to block 103. These embodiments would mitigate inadvertent actuation due to parallax or user error.
Referring to FIG. 7, the determine input regions within a touch screen assist region, mentioned in FIG. 6, is illustrated. This illustrative embodiment determines a list of links to be displayed as a function of distance from the touch screen input and the maximum displayable number of supplemental input regions. First, the extent of the area touched is accessed (block 112). Then, for each primary input region displayed (block 114), the distance is calculated to the area touched by accessing the extent of the primary input region (block 116), determining the shortest distance to the area touched (block 118), and adding the distance information to a list of links (block 120), and returning at block 122 for any additional primary input regions.
Once all of the distances have been calculated, the list of links are sorted by increasing distance (block 124) and the list is truncated to those within a predefined distance threshold (block 126), This threshold could encompass all links displayed or be set to a small radius. Then, the list may be further truncated by a maximum number of displayable supplemental input links (block 128), and routine 110 returns (block 130).
Referring to FIG. 8, the assign corresponding navigable buttons routine 132, mentioned in FIG. 6, is illustrated. First, unique colors are assigned to each primary input region (block 134). The colors ideally would have a different gray tone when displayed on a monochromatic display or when viewed by a color blind person. Alternatively, a different shading pattern could be utilized to differentiate on monochromatic displays. Next the primary input regions are redrawn in their assigned colors (block 136). For hypertext links, the font color and underline color would be switched to the assigned color. For geographic shapes, the outline or other portions of the shape would be changed to the assigned color. Then supplemental input regions in the form of navigable buttons are drawn along the bottom of the screen in the color assigned to the associated primary input region (block 138) and routine 132 is done (block 140).
As an illustrative example of tie operation of browser 36, a display representation 200, having displayed therein a hypertext document 202, is presented in FIG. 9. Three hypertext links 210, 220, 230 are shown displayed with hypertext document 202.
Next, as shown in FIG. 10, a simplified depiction of these three hypertext links 210, 220, 230, each having a primary input region 212, 222, 232 respectively, is shown along with illustrative touch inputs 240, 242, 244. Each touch screen input 240, 242, 244 may be converted by the touch screen 34 into a single coordinate input 241, 243, 245 receptively. Touch screen But 240 would be an unambiguous selection of one hypertext link 210. Touch screen input 242 would be a selection outside of all primary input regions. Touch screen input 244 would be a selection which is within two primary input regions due to the coarseness of the touch screen input capability. Moreover, the touch screen 34 could assign one coordinate input 245 that fell within primary input region 232 or primary input region 222 rather than outside of both regions as depicted.
Referring to FIG. 11, the determination of the shortest distance between the area touched and the primary input region (block 118), mentioned for FIG. 7, is depicted in several variations. Two primary input regions 260, 262 are shown. A first touched area input 264 is shown for embodiments in which the touch screen input is a plurality of coordinates. One way of determining distance 268 to input region 260 and distance 270 to input region 262 is facilitated by approximating this input 264 by a square touch region 266. The second touched area input 272 corresponds to the general situation in which the browser is provided a coordinate input 274 from which to determine distance, even if the original user input was an area
Referring to FIG. 12, a first illustrative embodiment is shown of displaying navigable buttons 280 in a row along the bottom of display window 200. These buttons 280 could be hidden or inoperative and gray prior to touch screen region assist activation. As shown, a first navigable button 281 is colored to match the first hypertext link 210. A second navigable button 282 matches the second hypertext link 220. A third navigable button 283 matches the third hypertext link 230. The user can therefore select from the more friendly and unambiguous buttons 280 to take the desired link.
Referring to FIG. 13, a second illustrative embodiment is shown of displaying opaque floating navigable buttons 281′-283′wherein each button 281′-283′ is adjacent the associated primary input region 210′, 220′, 230′, respectively.
Referring to FIG. 14, a third illustrative embodiment is shown wherein the buttons 281″-283″ are inserted into the hypertext document so that the buttons 281″-283″ do not overlap other items in the document 202″. Again, buttons 281″-283″ are colored to correspond respectively with input regions 210″, 220″, 230″.
Various modifications may be made to the above-described embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. For example, operations other than actuating a hypertext link may be performed in response to user input received while a pointer is disposed within an input region, e g., opening a pop-up menu, among others. In addition, various aspects of the invention may be utilized in conjunction with user interface controls other than hypertext links, e.g., push buttons, pop-up buttons, radio buttons, edit boxes, combo boxes, list boxes, counters, check boxes, and other graphical user interface (GUI) controls known in the art. In particular, the ability to provide secondary operations for additional user interface controls when a pointer is disposed within the input region of one control may provide significant productivity gains, particularly when multiple user interface controls are closely packed together in a particular area of a computer display.
Moreover, it should be appreciated that other user interface devices, including various numbers and combinations of buttons and the like, may be used to initiate predetermined operations consistent with the invention. Furthermore, the boundary of an input region may or may not be displayed on the computer display.
Other modifications will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art. Therefore, the invention lies solely in the claims hereinafter appended.
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Hunter shuffled some paper across his desk and tried to pretend he wasn't watching his partner. By the studious way she was also shuffling paper and refusing to glance his way, he knew he was not terribly successful in hiding his worried gaze. McCall kept her head bent, but he imagined he could still see the faint bruising on her neck. Or maybe he was just remembering from before, when the angry purple fingerprints took more than a month to fade away, and longer even, to finally lose their grip.
His phone rang, startling them both, and he quickly grabbed it off the hook. "Hunter."
"I need to see you a minute." Captain Devane sounded tired and grim. Hunter turned around in his chair and craned his head to look into the Captain's office. Charlie had already put down the phone and was waving him over.
Hunter replaced the phone and glanced at his partner, who was watching him now with a questioning look. "Problem?" she asked.
He shrugged and let out a short breath. Whatever the trouble was, it could hardly be worse than what they had been through already this week. "Save my seat," he said as he stood, trying for casual, but he could feel her gaze following him as he went to the Captain's office. Not that he could blame her. She already knew they had been up half the night talking about her, so she was probably bracing for another round. Hunter steeled himself for the same. "Captain?" he said as he entered.
Charlie gestured behind Hunter with his chin. "Close the door."
"What's up?" Hunter asked as he did as requested. "Is this about McCall? Because she seemed to think everything is settled." He sat down, his long legs creaking. Late nights and early mornings were harder than they used to be.
"Her job is safe, like we discussed. Fredericks is dead and I see no point in detailing what happened prior to his arrest at McCall's place. It's a risk. We could all potentially lose our jobs if the story got out." Charlie rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. "But it was the department's idea to make her a sitting duck, and when that went bad, I think the department gets to cut her some slack. We all bear some responsibility here, so we all get to live with the consequences."
"Yeah." He thought of his partner last night, crumpled and sobbing against him. "So what's next? You have something new for us?"
Charlie snorted. "As if. Like I am sending you two back into the field right now. You've got bags under your eyes that would make Hefty proud, and a stiff breeze would take out McCall." He shook his head. "No, it's the opposite. I don't want to see either of you for a week. Take your things and go home."
"Captain, listen..."
"No. No arguments. I had to pull some serious strings to make this happen. It's paid leave so it doesn't get deducted out of your vacations. Think of it as a thank you from L.A.'s grateful citizens for a job well done."
"I'd really just prefer to keep doing my job. So would McCall."
"Yes, I realize that," Charlie said slowly and patiently, as if speaking to a cranky toddler. "But she hasn't exactly been using her best judgment lately, and so I am substituting my own."
Hunter sat back, defeated. He glanced out the office window but couldn't see McCall through the partially opened blinds. His partner had two broken ribs, a concussion and psychic injury that was no doubt still hemorrhaging. It had taken her nearly two months to return the last time. She'd clawed her way back out of the hole, and now here they were again.
"She'll need to pass a psych evaluation," Charlie said quietly, as if reading his thoughts.
Hunter returned his attention to the Captain. "I don't see why. We've agreed that...that the incident with Fredericks never happened."
"Doesn't matter. The call is out of my hands this time. She opted out after she was shot last year, and I backed her on that. Now she confronted a homicidal rapist in her home, and then he was gunned down in front of her, right here in the station. We're lucky the department doesn't want all of you shrinked up for having witnessed it."
"It's because of her history, isn't it?" Hunter knew he sounded a little hot, but he didn't care. "Because of what happened before."
"I don't know. Maybe."
"That's not fair."
"Of course it's not," Charlie said, angry now too. "I'm pretty sure if you looked up 'rape' in the dictionary, you wouldn't find one word about 'fair'. Look, I hate that this happened. I hate that it happened on my watch, and now I am just trying to do my damnedest to get us all out the other side."
"It just seems like punishing the victim. If she didn't have a history, there's no way the department would be mandating a psych eval, given what's on record about this case."
"Maybe not," Charlie said evenly. "But you and I both know that the official record only has part of the story. It's not the worst thing in the world for her to take some time off, Hunter."
He shook his head. "You send her away now and she might not come back."
"Then that's all the more reason she needs to go." Charlie's voice was kind. "Take the week, both of you. Get some rest. Turn off the news and try not to think about Unger or Fredericks or any of it."
Hunter sighed. "It doesn't seem like I have a choice."
"Nope." Charlie picked up a pen and signed a form on his desk. Then he signed a second one. "Here's the paperwork," he said, ripping the bottom copies off and handing them to Hunter. "If you send McCall in, I will break the news to her about the psych evaluation."
Hunter shook his head and hoisted himself out of the chair. "I'll do it. She'll take it better from me."
Charlie didn't even try to hide his relief. "Okay, thanks. I'll see you both back here in a week, then."
Hunter looked down at the leave papers. "I hope so," he said softly.
Her head hurt, her ribs felt like knives, and the knot of dread in her middle tensed up again as she saw Hunter leaving the Captain's office. She tried to read his face for some clue to the outcome, but mostly she saw lines of fatigue. He forced a smile as he reached their desks. "What was that about?" she asked.
"Get out of jail free cards," he said, waving some papers at her.
He scooped his suit jacket from the back of the chair. "Come on, I'll buy you lunch and explain."
"I'm not very hungry. Can't you just tell me here?"
He frowned and appeared to be thinking a moment. Then he came around and crouched down beside her, putting them nearly eye-to-eye. "When was the last time you ate?" he asked gently.
"I had a bagel this morning."
"That bagel?" He nodded at the edge of her desk, where a wheat bagel sat on a thin, departmental paper plate. It was missing just two bites. She said nothing, and he squeezed her knee. "Lunch," he repeated firmly. "My treat."
She still did not move, nor did she look at him. "Did the Captain change his mind?" she asked, closing her eyes against his answer.
"No, nothing like that. We just have a little vacation coming to us." He stood up. "Effective now."
She opened her eyes and shook her head. She had declined vacation once already, but she didn't have the strength to argue it further at the moment. Hunter was still standing over her, waiting, and she could feel other eyes on them as well. Anyone who looked closely would see a bullet hole in the file cabinet against the far wall, and the room still smelled of bleach from where the industrial cleaners had mopped up after Fredericks's murder. Her office was a crime scene. Her home was a crime scene. Suddenly lunch sounded like a pretty good idea. "Okay," she said, "I'm coming."
She braced herself on the desk and stood up slowly. Pain lanced through her, but she almost welcomed the distraction. Hunter caught her wincing. "You all right?"
"Fine," she said automatically. "Let's go."
Hunter automatically slowed his gait to match hers, a habit he had perfected over their years together and she was grateful for now, given her slower pace. He punched the elevator button and she leaned against the wall. She caught him looking past her, back toward the bullpen, with a troubled expression. "What?" she asked, turning around to see what had caught his attention.
"Nothing," he replied as the elevator dinged its arrival.
But she saw it then, a line of high-velocity splatter, dead red on the institutionally white wall. She hurried into the elevator and pushed the button for the lobby several times. There would be no removing the blood from the walls now that it had dried. Sure, painters could cover up the evidence, but on some level, Lloyd Fredericks would always be with them.
Outside, the LA sun was at high noon, making her squint against the light. It was cool for November, following an unusually early rainstorm. The wind had blown the smog off to the mountains, leaving behind a pale blue sky. It was generally true that nobody walks in LA, but the exception was lunchtime in the city, when people emerged from the concrete jungle in search of whatever fast-food eatery would get them back to their desks in under half an hour. Hunter eyed the foot traffic over the rim of his sunglasses. "What do you feel like? Anything in particular?"
Normally he brought his lunch; something like an orange and a bowl of kale, at least that is what it looked like to her from across the desk. But she guessed he'd had little time for lunch preparations that morning, having been up with the Captain most of the night. She shrugged and immediately regretted it. "Whatever you want is fine."
"Hot dog?" he asked, indicating the nearby cart. It had a line that was already ten people long.
"I must look about half dead," she said, "if you're offering to buy hot dogs."
She meant it as a joke, but Hunter didn't smile. "Get us one of those benches, will you?" he said. "I'll get the food."
She did as he asked, happy for the opportunity to sit in the sun and not think about anything for a few minutes. She leaned gingerly against the back of the hard bench and put her hands in her coat pockets to keep them warm. Across the way, Hunter turned around to look at her, and she ducked her head, dodging his concern. It had been exhausting and painful, lying to him, but the truth was hardly better. He was waiting for her to fall apart again, and she was determined not to let that happen. It had taken months to get their equilibrium back as professional partners the last time. Crying in his arms helped her feel better in the short-term, but the long-term costs were high.
"Here you are, my dear," he said, handing her a hot dog and a soda. She noticed he had taken up with his old love, the chili dog. She also noticed he sat as far away as he could from her, at the opposite end of the bench. Clearly, she was not the only one with ambivalent feelings about their situation.
She looked at her hot dog but did not eat it. "So I understand why Charlie wants me gone for a while," she said. "But why you?"
He chewed for a minute before answering. "Stress of the overall situation, I guess. The thing with Stacie Tyler, Fredericks…"
"Uh-huh. I got the boot because I'm a liability, and you got it so that I have a baby sitter." He opened his mouth in protest. "Oh, don't even try to deny it. That's exactly what happened. I don't know what they're afraid of – that I might go down to the morgue and shoot Fredericks again?"
"I'd give you a ride," he said, and she actually smiled. "We could even use the siren."
"Some baby sitter."
"Eat your food."
"See? Now that's much more authoritative." She took a bite and swallowed, but the food just seemed to lodge in her chest. She opened the soda instead. "So what do you plan to do with your tax-payer supported vacation?"
"I dunno. I thought I might have a house guest," he said, squinting into the distance.
"Oh? Who?"
She froze with the soda can in mid-air. This was an invitation she longed for and dreaded in equal measure. Her heartbeat picked up as she tried to formulate a proper response.
"Just for a few days," he said. "Until you get the new security system installed."
The company was coming in two days to install a state-of-the art alarm system, no expenses spared. It was the only way she could see that she might ever be able to sleep there again. As it was, she had spent the past two nights in a motel. She had deliberately not shared this information with Hunter for fear he might make the offer he was making now. "I don't know if that's a good idea," she said so quietly he bent over to try to hear her.
"Well, I think," he started to say, and then shut his mouth. A second later, he tried again. "Why do you say that?"
And just like that, hot tears pricked her eyes. This was why she wanted to say yes. Her friend, her partner, the man who had been so committed to helping her last time that he'd visited the rape counselor with her and read all the literature. She could practically see him dredging up the old training as he fought back his natural instinct of asserting his own opinion and instead let her take back some power in the conversation. That he already knew the right things to say and cared enough to do them made her want to grab hold of him and not let go.
She wiped her eyes with the back of one hand. "I don't want to go backwards," she said finally. From the way he stiffened, she knew he felt at least somewhat the same. Just because he'd picked up her broken pieces last time did not mean he welcomed the chance to do it again.
"It's not backwards," he said. "It's more like southwest."
She forced a smile at his poor humor, but shook her head. She could hold it together in his presence at work, with something outside herself to focus on, but alone with him and nothing but the hours between them, he was bound to see all the cracks.
As usual, though, he was already in her head. "We can order Chinese and watch bad television. We don't have to talk at all if you don't want to."
This was the problem. She wanted to. She just had to hang in there for two more days, when her home would be fixed, and Anita, her counselor, would be back from vacation. Exhaustion threatened to overwhelm her reasoning. "Maybe if it's just for a couple of days…" she said faintly, and Hunter leapt to his feet.
"Great, it's settled. Why don't we go get some of your things and head over now?"
She nodded and swallowed the lump in her throat, wondering already whether she was making a mistake. "Yes, okay." She finished the soda and waited until his back was turned to toss the hotdog in the nearest trashcan.
He slung an arm around her shoulders. "It'll be all right," he said. "You'll see."
As he pulled away again, she nodded, mute. She wondered whom he was trying to convince: her or himself.
He waited behind her on the front stoop while she fiddled with the key. It was so new she didn't have the motion down smoothly yet, and she'd initially tried to insert it upside down. The new locks had been no deterrent at all to Fredericks; he'd simply smashed the back window and lain in wait for her. Hunter had higher hopes for the security system, but seventeen years on the job had taught him that no one was ever perfectly safe. If you really care about her, said the little voice in his head, you'd encourage her to quit.
Hunter ignored the voice and followed McCall inside. Her gaze went immediately to the bullet hole in her wall. "Your suitcase is in the hall closet, right?" Hunter said a bit too loudly.
She nodded, and he moved to retrieve the bag. "I can carry that," she said as he started up the stairs to her bedroom. He was relieved to hear a tinge of annoyance in her voice.
"I've already got it." Upstairs, McCall packed a few personal items while he wandered around. He'd been in her bedroom several times before, but it wasn't as familiar to him as the downstairs territory. He didn't snoop intentionally; it was a hazard of the job. He smiled at a few of her pictures and picked up some sort of miniature ceramic monkey from her dresser. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a prescription pill bottle on the bathroom counter.
"I'm almost ready," she said, brushing past him into the bathroom. She returned a minute later without the bottle.
Curiosity got the better of him and he ambled over to check it out: Vicodin. He'd been prescribed it enough himself to recognize the generic name. The label indicated the prescription had been written by Dr. Beth Paxton five days earlier, but the bottle seemed to be unopened since then.
"All set," McCall said from behind him.
He turned and shook the pills at her. "What about these?"
"I don't need them."
He had endured broken ribs before, and in his recollection, the pain killers were the only way he got any sleep for about three weeks. McCall had turned her attention elsewhere, so he slipped the pills into his jacket pocket, just in case. Without a word, he took the suitcase from her again and headed back downstairs. He paused partway down when he realized she wasn't following. He glanced back and saw her stopped at the very top of the stairs, her hand on the wall. "This is where he was hiding," she murmured. "I could smell him from where you're standing."
Hunter suppressed a shudder. "Let's get out of here, okay?"
She was quiet on the drive to his house, and he didn't mind this because he had no idea what to say. He relaxed as his modest beach home came into sight; its familiar shingles and sandy walkway seemed especially comforting after a tense couple of days away. He had not actually made it home at all last night; a couple of hours of sleep at the station were all he'd been able to manage.
It was only once they had stopped to get out and McCall was staring at his place as though she had never seen it before that he remembered why she was here: her home was no longer welcoming. "Mi casa, su casa," he said lightly as he led the way inside. When they reached the threshold, it was his turn to freeze. "Uh, I might have to do a little straightening up," he said.
She peered around him. "You're lucky the guys from the robbery division aren't here. They'd think your place had been tossed."
"I haven't been home much to clean," he replied as he walked around, retrieving shirts from the furniture as we went. "But make yourself at home."
"I'll tackle the kitchen, then," she said, rolling up her sleeves.
He stopped. "No, I didn't mean..."
She waved him off. "Please. I need something to do."
So she tidied his dishes while he cleaned up the living room and put new sheets on the bed. When he went to find her again, she was stopped in front of the big kitchen window with a dishrag in her hand, watching the sun slowly sink into the Pacific Ocean. "The days are getting shorter," he remarked as he joined her.
She gave a gentle smile. "Sometimes I get why you choose to live down here amid the crabs and the sea gulls. It can be beautiful."
He gathered her against him and kissed the top of her head. "I'm glad you agreed to come," he said as she carefully returned his hug. "The place looks great."
She laughed and winced. "I see your true motives for the invitation are exposed."
When she didn't pull away, he rested his cheek on her warm hair and stroked her back. You're safe here, he tried to tell her without words. She relaxed under his touch and was quiet for a long time. Then he heard her stomach rumble.
"Aha! I knew it," he said. "Police sergeants do not live on coffee alone."
"Okay, okay," she said, swatting at him. "I'll eat. But not tofu." She paused. "Or whatever that is growing in your refrigerator."
So they ordered a half-dozen different kinds of Chinese food, and he stuck Casablanca in the VCR. This part felt normal and familiar, and McCall, having changed from work clothes into jeans and a sweater, seemed more at ease. She ate at least half the food on her plate.
He waved a piece of Szechuan tofu at her with some chopsticks. "There is still time to get in on this action," he said. "Unless you are too full with deep-fried pig parts in orange sauce, or whatever it is you call that dish."
She made a face. "No, thank you. How you got so big eating rabbit food, I'll never know."
"You can't question these results." He gestured at himself. "My body is a temple."
"My body is a temple too," she replied. "I just choose to worship at In-n-Out."
They watched the movie in silence for a while, and Hunter found himself repressing a yawn. Fatigue had also turned him into a lightweight. Two beers and he was already nodding off. He tried to remember the last time he'd gotten more than four hours of sleep, and he guessed it was probably more than a week ago. He decided to switch to water and glanced toward McCall to see if she might like some too. She had curled up with one of his big cushions and gone to sleep. It didn't look like the most comfortable position for someone with cracked ribs, but she seemed peaceful enough. He rose quietly and covered her with a blanket. After fetching his water, he stretched out on the other end of the sofa, legs on the coffee table, and closed his eyes as well. Just for five minutes, he promised himself, while Ingrid Bergman threatened Humphrey Bogart with a gun.
The next thing he knew, he startled awake to a darkened room. McCall was gone and the food had been cleared away. The blanket he had covered her with was now draped over his middle, and he smiled as he removed it. In the back of the house, he could hear the shower running. He bit his lip. This part, he remembered too well. She had showered three times a day and still not felt clean. He sat and listened to the water running, debating his next move. The clock on the VCR read half past midnight. It was too late to start coffee. Truth be told, he mostly just wanted to crawl into bed and sleep for about a week.
The water stopped and Hunter went back to the bedroom. It was dark except for a shaft of light coming from under the bathroom door. He quickly changed into sweatpants and a T-shirt as he considered possible sleeping arrangements. There was no way he was going to let her stay on the couch. Just then, she emerged with a cloud of steam. She was dressed in pajamas and a robe. "Oh," she said in mild surprise, "I hope it's okay…"
"Fine," he cut her off. "Of course it's fine." She seemed embarrassed to be caught mid-ritual, so he did not press. "The bedroom is all yours."
"Oh, I couldn't."
"McCall, I insist. I'm not the one with two broken ribs. The couch will be fine, okay?" He moved to grab some extra pillows.
She hesitated. "We could share it."
"You're okay with that?"
"It wouldn't be the first time."
"There is that." He chose the side of the bed opposite from where she was standing. "Consider me convinced."
"I'm just going to dry my hair."
He dozed off again to the sound of the blow dryer, only to wake when she joined him under the covers. He could just make out her form in the inky darkness. Outside, the ocean wind battered the house, but inside, there were warm, clean sheets and the scent of her shampoo.
"Thank you," she said, "for letting me stay."
He groped around until her found her hand, which he squeezed. "Don't mention it." He rolled over onto his back and blinked at the ceiling, suddenly more awake. "I should have been there." The pillow rustled as he turned to look at her. "I shouldn't have just trusted the surveillance." This was somehow easier to confess under cover of darkness. He had been there, sleeping at night on her couch, and then he'd gone home. That was the opening Fredericks had needed.
"I thought about that," she answered quietly. "Whether it would have made any difference."
"Of course it would've."
"For one night, maybe. But not forever." She reached over and ran her hand down his arm. "It's not your fault. We didn't know he'd made the tail."
"We knew how dangerous he was. That should have been enough."
She let out a tired sigh. "We stopped him. That will have to be enough."
"We didn't stop him. You did."
"I believe that honor actually goes to Clare Fredericks." She was quiet for a minute. "She did what I couldn't do; she pulled the trigger."
"And destroyed her life in the process," Hunter reminded her.
"Yes. And maybe saved mine." The bed shifted as she rolled over. "Good night, Hunter."
The next time he awoke the bedroom clock read three-thirteen. He could tell immediately that he was alone in the room. The bathroom door was open and the light was off, so McCall was elsewhere in the house. He sat up to listen but didn't hear anything. Nothing like the nights he'd awoken to her screaming from the other room. The silence piqued his interest, and he found her on the couch with a mug of tea. She had turned on one small lamp and appeared to be lost in thought. He was trying to decide if he should say anything, when she turned to look at him. "I hope I didn't wake you."
He shook his head. "The wind," he lied as he lowered himself next to her on the couch.
"I'd think you'd be used to it by now."
"What's got you up?" She seemed calm and collected, not like someone battling nightmares, but the lines on her face indicated exhaustion. "Anything I can do?"
"Not unless you have some magical power to heal broken bones." She stretched out carefully to set down her empty mug.
"That's what the pain killers are for," he said. "I brought them over." He stood to get them, but she grabbed his hand.
"No," she said. "I don't want them."
"Why not?" He was now totally confused. He knew she'd had plenty of medication last year when recovering from surgery. It wasn't a matter of an allergy. He sat back down again and searched her face. "I don't understand."
She wouldn't look at him. He tried to think: was this some sort of self-punishment? "Dee Dee? Explain it to me. Why won't you take the pills?" She shook her head again, and he took her hands. "Tell me. It can't be that bad."
"I'm afraid," she managed at last.
He squeezed her hands. "Afraid of what?"
"That if I take something that makes the pain go away, I won't know when to stop taking it." She raised her head and he saw the tears in her eyes. His own eyes welled up in return. "I know it sounds crazy," she continued. "But right now the fact that I hurt is the only thing keeping me sane. It gives me something to push back against, to keep fighting… if it just disappeared…I might disappear too." She pulled free to cover her mouth against a sob, and then doubled over with a painful gasp.
"Okay," he said, gathering her up. "You're okay."
She shook slightly as she tried to contain her tears. "Crying, though, that's a bit much," she said against him. "Ow."
He rubbed the tears from his face with one hand as he held her with the other. His t-shirt was damp from her cheeks. "I'm so sorry," he said.
"I wanted to call you after it happened. So much. But I just couldn't. I couldn't tell you." She wasn't making a whole lot of sense any more. "I couldn't tell you."
"You can now."
She sniffed and burrowed a little closer. "You already know."
"No, not…not everything." It occurred to him that possibly she was the only one who knew the details at this point. Fredericks was dead. The LAPD had decided to pretend the attack had never happened. There was no official report, nothing written down, no trial or hearing of any kind. "You can tell me," he said again. He would be her secret sharer, no matter how reluctant.
She pulled away slightly. "It's not the same this time, you know."
"What do you mean?"
"Mariano, he shot you. We were victims together in a way. This time it's just me."
He had no answer to this but felt the truth of it immediately. There was a separateness to this experience that hadn't been there before.
"I see it when I look at you," she continued. "You're expecting I'm going to lose it again. Hell, I'm expecting it too." She leaned back against the couch and closed her eyes. "Maybe… maybe you even resent me a little for it."
"No," he said a little too quickly. God, this weirdly brutal honesty was nothing like the last time. He found himself wishing for nightmares and crying jags.
"If you had a male partner, this wouldn't keep happening."
"I don't want a different partner." On this point, he was sure.
McCall still had her eyes closed. "I'd just hung up the phone with you," she said, "and I was going up to my bedroom. I got partway up the stairs and smelled his cologne - it was just like the first time he was there, only much stronger. I knew immediately that he was in my house. I started down to get my gun, but suddenly, there he was."
She drew a shaky breath and opened her eyes. She looked at him, almost through him, and continued:
"He had a stocking mask on. The house was mostly dark. I couldn't see his face." Her hand fluttered to her neck. "He...he started choking me."
Hunter forced himself to sit still and not react.
"We fell backwards down the stairs," she said, her voice little more than a whisper now. "That's when I broke my ribs. The pain was instant, and I couldn't scream or even breathe. My head was swimming but I knew if I passed out, it would be over. He kept trying to force my legs apart." She swallowed with difficulty. "My pants were ripped. I couldn't get free. I could feel I was losing the fight. He was just so big and there was no way to get out from under him. I just kept thinking, God, how could this be happening to me again? Then there was a siren outside, maybe a block or two away. He thought he'd been made, so he ran right out the front door. I…I couldn't follow at that point. I could barely move. I just lay there with my door hanging open for I don't know how long, until finally I could get back off the floor..."
"I am so sorry," he said.
She wasn't tearful or angry, just sad. "You work so hard to build a fragile peace after it happens. Everything starts to seem okay again. And then here it is, the rerun from hell. I think…I think that's why I keep focusing on the physical pain. At least that is knowable. I can't tell what will happen when I try to process the rest of it - will it be easier this time? Harder? What if I never get that peace again?"
He gently hugged her to him, and she came willingly, all the fight gone out of her. "You will," he said.
"You don't know that."
"I know you."
They sat huddled together for a long time. When he spoke, his voice was scratchy from a lack of sleep. "We should get some rest," he said, shifting away from her a bit.
From the way she was blinking, he could see she had already been dozing, and he kicked himself mentally for waking her. "You go ahead," she said.
"No, come on." He took her hand and led her back to the bedroom. "You need sleep. Probably about three days of it." He fished the Vicodin from his jacket pocket and got her a glass of water. "Try half a dose. Just enough to take the edge off so you can rest."
He saw her hesitation in the half-light from the bathroom, but apparently she couldn't argue anymore. She swallowed the pill and got into bed with him. This time, he held out an arm for her, and she cuddled in next to him with a small shudder. He stroked her back. "See?" he said lightly. "Can't do this with a male partner."
He felt her smile against him. "Good night, Hunter," she murmured, and he closed his eyes and slept.
She awoke as if being pulled slowly from the underworld, blinking in the gray fuzzy light. The blinds were drawn but the bedside clock read nearly noon. She shifted carefully and found Hunter had already arisen, but he hadn't been gone long: his side of the bed was still warm. She put her palm on the spot and allowed herself a few last moments of quiet before braving what was left of the morning. Getting up and lying down were still the most difficult movements to manage, and she hissed as the sharp pain lanced through her again. Once she was upright, the ache was manageable, and she went to the bathroom to change.
She found Hunter in the kitchen, burning something on the stove. He was already dressed in a blue faded button-down shirt and jeans, but his feet were bare. "Morning," he said when he saw her, and checked his watch. "For at least four more minutes. Come have a seat - I'm making pancakes."
She eyed the blackened, misshapen lumps he had created so far. "Are you sure? I think the victims may be beyond identification here."
"That was my test batch," he said, licking his thumb. "I've got it down now."
"Why don't I take it from here?" She grabbed the spatula from him and peered into the bowl to see if there was a way to rescue the batter. "You handle the coffee."
Ten minutes later, they had fluffy brown pancakes and hot coffee. "This here is the irony," he said between bites. "You can cook real food. You just choose not to."
"It's no fun cooking for one."
"So where did you learn how to do it?" he asked. "My grandmother tried to teach me a few times, but needless to say, the lessons didn't stick."
"Steve taught me."
He raised his eyebrows at her. "Steve?"
"Oh, yeah. I never told you this before? When we got married, he was the one picking out all the kitchen stuff to put on the registry. I think he looked at four hundred different types of knives, or maybe it just seemed that way. He was very particular about his knives." She picked up her coffee mug with both hands and took a sip. "But he was right about the quality. I still have them. And his cereal bowl."
"His cereal bowl?"
"We had a longstanding argument about this bowl. It was huge and orange and not very attractive, but he loved it because it would an enormous amount cereal. The man could eat half a box at a time, I swear to you. But then he would not wash it. It would sit in the sink for days until I got tired of looking at it and cleaned it, or until he wanted more cereal. Then he would wash it, eat a bowl, and it would be sitting in the sink again." She paused. "After he died, it sat there for a good few months. My mom finally cleaned it and put it away when I wasn't looking. Now when I see it, I remember him crunching away on the sofa, trying to tell me some story around a mouth full of Apple Jacks."
"I guess the bowl is like a reminder, huh? Don't sweat the little things."
"Oh, no. If he'd lived, that bowl was coming to a bad end. I don't believe in the idea of ignoring 'little things' in a marriage, or at least I don't think that way now. Sure, I could have just washed his bowl to make him happy, but he could have just as easily not left it there to make me happy, you know? There are only a few 'big things' in a marriage. It's mostly all about the little things."
"Yeah, I suppose that's true." He looked thoughtful. "I'm glad Brad and Kathy are back together."
"You and me both. I was not looking forward to participating in that divorce. I hope they make it."
"Think you and Steve could have gone the distance?"
She considered. Steve had been gone seven years now, more than twice the length of their short marriage. Sometimes he seemed abstract and far away, like a character from a novel; other times, she swore she heard his footsteps in the house. "I don't know," she said slowly. "I'd like to think so. It's hard to imagine it now with all the intervening years. That young thing who married Steve, she's long since disappeared. His death forced me to grow up, but that was going to have to happen sometime, right? Whether we would have grown together or apart, I guess I'll never know."
She tried to conjure a vision of her life if Steve had lived: kids, certainly. Probably she wouldn't be on the force, and she certainly wouldn't have made Detective. No commendations, no bullet wounds. No Raul Mariano or Lloyd Fredericks. But also no Hunter. Her relationship with Rick was at least as defining as her brief marriage, a singular friendship she knew instinctively she would never have with anyone else.
"I've got the dishes," he said. "Do you want any more coffee?"
"No, I think I'm going to take a walk." She rose stiffly and stretched her sore muscles.
"You want some company?"
"No, thanks. I just need some time to myself for a while."
He paused with plates in each hand to give her a real smile, one that crinkled the edges of his eyes. "Take all the time you need. I'll be here when you get back."
Later, when looking back on it, Hunter would realize that things started to go wrong at the movies. Dinner was fine; friendly conversation and bar food. McCall had slept most of the afternoon away, and the rest had been good for her. The color was back in her face and she actually seemed to have an appetite. The movie itself was also harmless; some mildly amusing romantic comedy he'd agreed to because it seemed very unlikely to contain any references to rape or murder. It had been running for a while, so the theater was mostly empty.
Maybe it was the fact that he'd never been with her to the movies. They'd watched television and sports programs, sure, and that was fine, but there was no preset script for "Hunter and McCall go to the movies together." He was forced to ad lib, and therein lay the problem. Or maybe he should have ordered snacks. That would have at least occupied his hands.
Instead, they sat with their legs touching and watched the movie. At least McCall watched it, or seemed to. Maybe she was doing the same thing he did, which was to stare at the screen but spend most of the time lost in his own head.
He was having a hard time shaking what she'd said the night before, about him resenting her for the assault. Her words shoved forward some uncomfortable feelings that he didn't know what to do with. Of course he was angry about what happened to her. He would have gladly shot the SOB himself – hell, he'd proved that before. But there was something else, too. McCall wasn't wrong that he wanted this tidied up as quickly as possible. Patch 'er up and get her back out there before anyone had time to think too much.
He chewed the inside of his lip and glanced sideways at her. She felt him looking and turned to smile. He forced himself to smile back so she couldn't tell what he was thinking. For added measure, he took her hand and squeezed it. She returned the squeeze and looked away again.
God, could he really be that low? Could he be angry with her for being a victim again? He searched his memory to see if he'd felt anything like this the last time and came up empty. He had wanted her well, of course, and would have given anything to take away her pain. That much was still true.
He stroked the papery skin of her hand with his callused thumb, choked with a sudden surge of affection. No, he couldn't be angry with her. He was afraid, maybe, that she would walk away this time. That would make sense, right? He was definitely too old to be starting over with a new partner. Satisfied that he had identified his odd feelings, he relaxed back into the seat, determined to ignore any lingering doubts.
He'd watched ten or fifteen minutes of the movie before he realized they were still holding hands. This was a bit unusual but not out of bounds for them. He had been joking with her the night before about the benefits of a female partner, but the truth was, they had a fairly physical friendship. The contact wasn't romantic, but it was sensual, and he enjoyed it more than he liked to think about. Still, they'd been able to negotiate the boundaries without any explicit conversation, waxing and waning the number of hugs, shoulder rubs and chaste kisses, depending on where they were in relationships with others.
So they had held hands in the past, albeit briefly and usually in private. Anyone looking at them now would assume they were out on a date.
His ears warmed and he jerked his hand back, but McCall didn't seem to register any distress on his part. Thankfully, the film was ending, and he dismissed his strange emotional blip as a remnant of their stressful week.
"Well?" she asked as he held the door for her. "Did you like it?"
He shrugged. "It was no Hepburn-Tracy picture."
McCall rolled her eyes. "You know, Hunter, for someone who likes his modern conveniences, you sure spend a lot of time romanticizing black and white movies."
"Hey now, those are certified classics." They walked out together into the chilly night air and took the central sidewalk across the parking lot.
"I'm not saying they're bad movies. I just find it interesting that your taste is so fixated on a bygone era."
He considered. "Maybe I prefer it when the bad guys and good guys are easier to spot," he conceded as they reached the car. "You know - everyone wears the proper colored hat." He stepped down onto the asphalt to open her door, which took about six inches off their height differential. Add in McCall's boots and, it gave the odd effect that they were nearly eye-to-eye. She looked somber.
"I don't think it was ever that easy," she said, "not even back then."
"I suppose not," he said, leaning on the car door. "But allow me my fantasy, would you?"
She gave him a tender smile and touched his face. "I think you would look quite fetching in a white hat, actually. Maybe something in a fedora, or perhaps a..."
He did not get to find out what other fashion advice she had for him, because suddenly, he was kissing her. It was almost nothing at first, just the barest touch of his lips on hers. He felt the surprise in her sharp intake of breath, but it melted into a sigh as he kissed her again. And again. She opened her mouth under his, and he was lost. He cupped the side of her face and her hands bunched folds in the front of his coat. Dimly, he was aware of alarm bells buzzing at the back of his brain, thanks to years of conditioning that she was strictly Off Limits. But at that moment, she was warm and soft and amazing, and so he ignored the warning in favor of more kissing.
"Hey, get a room, would ya?" A car full of laughing teenagers roared past in the parking lot, honking at them, and the spell was instantly broken.
"Oh my God," he said with a ragged breath, backing up as far as the car would let him. "I am so sorry."
She was staring at him with huge, round eyes, one hand clamped over her mouth. He thought he saw her tremble. Or maybe that was him.
"Really," he said again. "I - I don't know what happened. I'm sorry." He tried to figure out where exactly he'd gone wrong, but the throbbing in his pants made it difficult to think.
She cleared her throat. "We should get out of here."
"McCall, I…"
She pushed past him and got into the car, so he shut the door behind her. He leaned against the roof in agony for a few more minutes. The idea that he would make a move on her, and after she had been assaulted less than a week prior... well, his actions were baffling, even to himself. He couldn't imagine what she was thinking.
He rounded the car and forced himself to get in, although he could not bear to look at her. He could tell she was shaking, and his self-loathing swelled again. Then he heard a giggle.
"Oh, ow," she said, as the laughter escaped her. She hugged her middle to brace her ribs but kept right on snickering.
"What? This is funny?" He was so confused.
"I don't think I've been honked at by teenagers for making out in a parking lot since I was fifteen myself," she said, wiping her eyes.
"Well, glad I could take you back," he muttered.
She coughed and winced, then leaned against the door so she was slightly facing him. "And your face," she said. "I've seen you look less horrified at the scene of a triple homicide."
"What I did was wholly inappropriate," he said, and that set her off again. He was starting to feel pretty alone in his shock and dismay.
"I'm sorry," she managed at last. "Clearly this is troubling to you."
"But apparently not to you."
She sighed. "I guess I don't have the emotional energy left right now to overanalyze it. It's been kind of a long week."
"I know, and that's why I'm trying to apologize."
"Hunter, if you say you're sorry one more time, I might start to get a complex here. Was it really so terrible?"
He gaped at her. "Terrible? No, I mean… I just…"
"What?" she asked, not unkindly. "Given the amount of time we spend together in emotionally charged situations, it's kind of surprising it hasn't happened before, don't you think?"
"Well, I was surprised," he said as he turned on the car. "Never in a million years did I expect that to happen."
"There you go with the flattery again."
Okay, he had to admit: her determination to find this amusing was starting to make him feel slightly less awful. He put the car in reverse and started home. It was a short, quiet drive back to his place, and he glided the car to a stop in the darkened driveway. "Look," he said, turning toward her, "I'm not blind, you know. It has not escaped my notice all these years that I have the most attractive cop on the force as my partner."
She closed her eyes and shook her head.
"Dee Dee. You've been undercover as a model – twice."
"You'll forgive me if I'm not feeling especially modelesque right now." She was refusing to look at him again, and his heart broke a little.
"I know, and that's a big part of why I'm sorry." Tentatively, he reached over and took her hand. She gripped him with surprising strength. "I have watched for years as guys at the station make ham-fisted passes at you, with their sleazy little remarks."
"It's mostly just talk," she said. "I've learned to ignore it."
"You shouldn't have to ignore it. And I vowed pretty much immediately that I was never going to be that guy."
She looked up then. "Hunter, you would never…"
"That was a long time ago," he continued. "Before I even really knew you. Once I realized I not only had the most attractive cop, but also the best partner, well, then there was just too much at stake. I would never want to risk it...risk losing you."
She nodded and took a long, shuddering breath. "No, I get it. I do. I say we chalk it up to a weird moment and we just put it behind us."
"Agreed." It sounded so easy when she said it. He extended his hand to shake hers, and she accepted it.
They got out of the car and headed up the windy walkway. "You really think I'm attractive?" she asked as they walked.
He glanced back to see if she was kidding around again, but she seemed to be searching his face for the truth. "I'm a trained detective," he said. "I can pick up the clues." He opened the door and flicked on the lights, allowing her into the house first. "And yes, the evidence assures me that you are indeed attractive."
"But I'm hardly your type."
"I don't have a type."
She shot him a look. "Blonde, twenty-five, legs that go all the way to the floor," she said, and he opened his mouth in silent protest. "I'm a detective too, you know."
She left him standing there as she went to make the coffee. They drank it together like always, and spoke no more of their kiss, but that night, Hunter made up the couch for himself and she made no argument in return.
To be continued...

subset: commoncrawl


text:
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Thread: ca's digest?
July 16th, 2005 #1Registered User
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ca's digest?
with limited net access i find it difficult to check out all the nice stuff on ca.
i know ca is getting ravamped and stuff, but i was wondering if there is a kind of ca digest in the works? like a section where mods or whoever selects the nicest stuff on ca...
just a thought while i use up my weekly hour of internet
- Similar Threads
- SketchBook: SSG Digest
July 16th, 2005 #2


text: recipe Classic Beef Stroganoff Prep these beef stroganoff ingredients, cover the pot, and go! Simmering and braising beef stroganoff for a long time at a low temperature yields extra-intense flavor with little effort. The method is super convenient; whether you use a slow cooker or the oven for your beef stroganoff, you won't have to tend to the pot. sharePinterestFacebookTwitterGoogle+ Email


text:
Photo by Romulo Yanes
YIELD: Makes 4 (main course) servings
ACTIVE TIME: 1 1/4 hr
TOTAL TIME: 1 1/4 hr
Wash rice in several changes of cold water until water is almost clear, then drain in a sieve. Bring rice and water (2 cups) to a boil in a 1 1/2- to 2-quart heavy saucepan, uncovered, then reduce heat to low and cook, covered, until water is absorbed and rice is tender, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand, covered, 10 minutes, then stir rice from top to bottom. Keep warm, covered.
Wash spinach well and cook in a 4- to 5-quart pot of boiling salted water , stirring, until just wilted, 15 to 30 seconds. Transfer with tongs to a large bowl of ice and cold water to stop cooking, reserving cooking water. Drain spinach and squeeze small handfuls to remove as much moisture as possible. Return spinach-cooking water to a boil, then add bean sprouts and cook, stirring, until just tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Drain in a colander.
Holding each carrot at a 45-degree angle to slicer, cut carrots into thin (1/8-inch) matchsticks. Cut skin and firm flesh of zucchini lengthwise into long strips using slicer, avoiding center core with seeds (discard core). Rinse and drain fern stems, then cut off and discard any dark or hard pieces. Cut ferns crosswise into 2-inch pieces.
Heat 2 teaspoons vegetable oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over moderately high heat, swirling to coat, until hot but not smoking, then sauté mushrooms, 1 teaspoon garlic, and 1/4 teaspoon salt, stirring, until mushrooms are tender, about 3 minutes. Stir in 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil and transfer to a small bowl. Wipe skillet clean with a paper towel. Working with each vegetable separately, sauté carrots, zucchini, bean sprouts, fern stems, and spinach, each in 2 teaspoons vegetable oil with 1 teaspoon garlic and 1/4 teaspoon salt, in same manner, then stirring in 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil for each. Transfer each vegetable to its own bowl as cooked and season with salt. Stir 1 teaspoon sesame seeds into spinach.
Wipe skillet clean and heat remaining 2 teaspoons vegetable oil over moderate heat until hot but not smoking, then crack eggs into skillet and fry until whites are cooked and yolks begin to set, 4 to 6 minutes.
Divide rice among 4 shallow bowls, mounding it into a dome. Arrange vegetables on top of rice and place 1 egg on top of each rice bowl. Spoon 1 tablespoon hot-pepper paste over each serving, then sprinkle with nori and remaining teaspoon sesame seeds.
Cooks' notes:
·Vegetables can be cooked 1 day ahead and cooled completely, then chilled separately, covered. Bring to room temperature before serving.
·The eggs in this recipe will not be fully cooked, which may be of concern if salmonella is a problem in your area.


text:
The month of April and the middle of spring brings with it new beginnings.
That's the case for former East Oktibbeha County High School girls basketball player April Sykes.
Sykes has spent the last several months in rehabilitation and training from a broken bone in her left tibia and is now ready to begin the next chapter in her Women's National Basketball Association career.
After starting with the Los Angeles Sparks, Sykes leaves today for Phoenix and has an opportunity with the Mercury.
Phoenix head coach Sandy Brondello was an assistant in Los Angeles and that's where she met Sykes.
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Join OkCupid
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matching system
—% Match
—% Enemy
38 • Stockbridge, GA • Man
I'm looking for
- Women
- Ages 25–43
- Near me
- Who are single
- For long-term dating, short-term dating
My details
- Last online
- Jun 5
- Orientation
- Straight
- Ethnicity
- White
- Height
- 5′ 11″ (1.80m)
- Body Type
- Average
- Diet
- Mostly anything
- Smokes
- No
- Drinks
- Socially
- Drugs
- Never
- Sign
- Aries, but it doesn't matter
- Education
- Graduated from university
- Job
- Science / Engineering
- Status
- Single
- Type
- Strictly monogamous
- Offspring
- Doesn't have kids
- Pets
- Likes dogs and likes cats
- Speaks
- English (Fluently), Latin (Poorly)
My self-summary
Write a little about yourself. Just a paragraph will do.
Well, its almost 2015......lets update this bad boy and see what shakes loose. A self summary. Well, to summarize myself, I would say that I'm a hard working guy who likes to play hard too. I burn the candle at both ends a bit, but find a lot of satisfaction in staying busy with friends and on my own. I was raised near Savannah so I'm a southern gentleman. I take a lot of pride in the honor that title holds and the chivalry it demands. I have worked hard to get where I am in life and really am looking for someone who has had the same experiences in some aspect. I'm a caring person, extrovert and enjoy spending time with my friends doing things that we all enjoy. I enjoy working for an international charity that I've been a part of for about 8 years and respect the work they do in making kid's wishes come true. I like to take an occasional vacation and let the stress go away. I like to exercise on occasion, but I'm not a gym freak (but am trying more). Overall, I'm on a path to be completely self actualized and I've got a good jump on it. That's me in a nutshell! I'm also an ESTJ on the personality scale. Just throwing that out there. I'm an only child, so that comes with its own set of challenges. I'm into cooking and am very proud of my new 10" stainless steel saute pan. ;)
What I'm doing with my life
Don't overthink this one; tell us what you're doing day-to-day.
I work in forensics as a career. I like a good show at the FOX theater. I collect movie props and replicas. Yes, this means I fall into the geek/nerd category. It's part of who I am and I make no apologies. Some call it a strange hobby, but I'll bet money you don't know someone else who owns Excalibur! Don't worry, most of it is contained to one room in the house (the Prop Room)......well, mostly. ;)
I'm really good at
Go on, brag a little (or a lot). We won't judge.
Thousands of things! Well, only a few really. I'm good at cooking. Mama taught me that. I can clean. Mama taught me that too. I'm also good at listening to folks and being a dang good shoulder. I'm good at picking a great restaurant, conversation, moving heavy things, making breakfast in bed and removing small critters from the house. However, that doesn't include spiders which demand high explosives and a flame thrower! I've been told I'm a good kisser. Just throwing that out there.
The first things people usually notice about me
I'm an empty essay… fill me out!
Most people notice my extroverted personality immediately. After that comes my southern accent, my inquisitive nature and I've been told I have nice eyes (which I try to cover in most of my pictures with sunglasses.) ;)
Favorite books, movies, shows, music, and food
Help your potential matches find common interests.
When it comes to these things, there's really no way to single it out to favorites. I like the Meg series by Steve Alten. I would have to say I'm a fan of many movies, but some of my top films would have to be Indiana Jones, The Matrix, Inception, The Thomas Crowne Affair, Gremlins, Jaws, Star Wars, V for Vendetta and Jurassic Park. As for shows, if we are talking TV then it's the Big Bang Theory, The Strain, The Walking Dead and South Park. I'm also a fan of Mythbusters (met most of them in person) and Good Eats (Alton Brown is a food god). If we are talking the theater, then Wicked, Phantom of the Opera and Spamolot. Music for me kind of varies. I like most anything except hard core rap and really boring opera. I listen to some talk radio mostly and then whatever is in my MP3 player, which could include soundtracks to movies, Lonely Island and a little Stephen Lynch (bonus if you know who he is). Food, well that's easy......seafood, sushi and a great steak. I also have recently discovered Chow Baby. Booca Lupa, 4th and Swift, One Midtown Kitchen and The Vortex all earn a pretty good mark on my list. I will be going back. Care to join me?
The six things I could never do without
Think outside the box. Sometimes the little things can say a lot.
1. A never ending quest for wisdom!
2. Diet Mountain Dew.
3. A stimulating conversation.
4. My mind.
5. Friends.
6. Family.
2. Diet Mountain Dew.
3. A stimulating conversation.
4. My mind.
5. Friends.
6. Family.
I spend a lot of time thinking about
Global warming, lunch, or your next vacation… it's all fair game.
I spend a lot of time recently thinking about my life, where I've come from and where I'm going. Life's been a whirlwind the past couple of years with a lot of self discovery and new things to try out. I also spend a lot of time thinking how best to be a good friend, son and companion.
On a typical Friday night I am
Netflix and takeout, or getting your party on — how do you let loose?
It all depends really. I'm usually hanging out with friends, grabbing a movie or at the house working on a project or just relaxing. I've been known to go out and I've been known to stay in. Friday's aren't that eventful for me. However, that could change. Care to help?
The most private thing I'm willing to admit
I'm an empty essay… fill me out!
I sew. Admitting to anything else requires copious alcohol! ;)
You should message me if
Offer a few tips to help matches win you over.
You should message me if you are looking for someone who treats women like ladies, is self actualized and you want to grow with a person. If you like movies, museums, good wine and a good dinner out, then we might click. If you can quote a line from A Beautiful Mind, Star Wars or V for Vendetta, you might score some extra points. Please understand that if you have children, I'm not looking for a ready made family, so I'll kindly pass. I'm also not looking for games, emotional baggage or a one night stand. Overall, if you want to get to know me a little better, just shoot me a message. I'll respond, yay or nay. You deserve that.
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text:
The Toronto Transit Commission has ordered another 60 Rocket cars from the Thunder Bay Bombardier plant.
The contract is on top of the original contract for 420 Rocket cars already being built in the city and it will secure 180 jobs, said Bombardier Transportation spokesman Marc-Andre Lefebvre.
"This new contract will represent continued work for our Rocket employees up until 2015," he said.
The $160 million contract represents the increase in demand for public transportation in Toronto, said Lefebvre.
Unifor Local 1075 president Dominic Pasqualino was pleased with the additional order
"Without these additional 60 cars, probably by the end of the year we would have completed (the original order)," he said.
"It would have meant layoffs by the end of the year."
Pasqualino added he hopes this extension will give the plant more time to acquire new contracts.
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