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Oh the Obsessive, Compulsive, Lusting Nature of Deep Desire.
I went to a party a few weeks ago.
A man sat down beside me.
We talked. And we talked. And at some point, I looked into this man's eyes and thought, 'Damn, you're an intelligent, witty bastard.'
That's always the first step for me.
Desire can never arise unless a man is smart and sharp and somehow knowing.
But that's not all that there needs to be.
I've known intelligent, sharp, witty men before whose company I really enjoyed. I knew they were attracted to me. I knew they wanted more than friendship. But I didn't know. I wasn't sure.
So I got drunk and tried it out—the sex that is.
How is it that at my age, with my experience, that I still haven't (or still hadn't) learned to trust my own desire, or lack of it?
Oh, I know—because I desperately wanted it to be what it wasn't.
I wanted to be in that place of deep desire—so I took a gamble on halfway there. Foolish, but another step in understanding and undoing a lifelong pattern around men, desire, fantasy, projection and madness.
No—for there to be real desire, not only does a man have to be smart and sharp and somehow knowing, he also has to embody a certain kind of physicality.
He has to be in his body, own it almost. He might be dancer—slender, or muscle-bound thick, or musician—lanky… but he has that embodied quality.
At this party, a few weeks back, watching this same man wander dripping wet into the kitchen from the hot tub to fetch another bottle of red wine, I was hit by a wave of desire. Lust. Wanting. Call it what you will.
'Oh my god,' I thought. 'That's it! There's no mistaking that.' You know that. It's right there, palatable and real and aching and hot damn.
That's the second part of desire.
But easy to forget, especially when years can go past with no sign of it.
You forget what it feels like, what it aches like, what it drives like, and then you start to second guess yourself. This guy is intelligent and interesting and interested in me. Maybe I do feel something for him. Maybe I'm biased against him because he's this or that and I'm being shallow. Maybe, maybe, maybe.
Bullshit, all of it. When you're attracted to a man, you're attracted to a man.
There's no second guessing, there's no not knowing, there's no anything except the surety of the desire pulsing through my veins.
Once arisen though, that desire takes on a life of its own. It invades my mind and spins fantasies and projections and wanting and ideas and oh my god. Take a step back. Breathe. What's this going on then?
I want. And I want badly.
Wanting's okay. Nothing wrong with wanting. Wanting is a force of nature that helps us to know what we… want. Want with all your might and all your force and all of your everything.
But hold lightly to that there wanting cowgirl.
Hold lightly…. don't act on the wanting arising from the inside driving you forward to do crazy, stupid, mad things. No, see it all for what it is—projection and fantasy and objectification and lusty addiction.
Yes, the trick with the wanting is to see it, know it, and let it go.
Release it gently outward and don't do anything. Wait until something happens on the outside and then respond to that. That's the trick.
Trick, trick, tricky trick, tricky.
But we don't—we respond to what's going on inside of us—the thoughts and ideas that our wanting is spinning as we try to make our desires come to fruition. We don't listen and see what's happening on the outside and respond to that, regardless of what it is we want.
At least, I never have. I've been a shocker throughout my life.
When I want something, I want it with every fiber of my being and I throw all my force into making it happen.
This is a strength when it comes to things like building websites out of no budget or writing and self-publishing a book in less than six months. I can make something out of nothing effortlessly.
This is a major weakness when it comes to romantic relationships.
My deep wanting and ability to make things happen has had one of two effects when it comes to men.
Either I scare them off completely because my wanting is all about turning them into an object so they can satisfy my lusting addiction for the high of desire and all that comes with it. (Who says women can't objectify men?)
Or, I spin a fantasy relationship that eventually collapses under the weight of its own illusion. That's a broad-brushstrokes description of all the long-term relationships I've had to date.
At it's ultimate, this old character trait was a contributing factor in the psychosis I experienced in 2004.
My fiancé broke up with me after my first LSD-induced episode of psychosis. I loved and wanted this man deeply, deeply, deeply in every fiber of my being.
Intellectually, I knew he was going to leave me and I had rationalized it as okay. I didn't allow myself to feel the emotional depths of my sorrow. And my mind—knowing that deep wanting I couldn't acknowledge and release with sorrow—did its best to look after me and make everything alright by spinning complex scenarios involving mountaintop weddings and helicopters.
Unable to face the reality of break-up, instead I drove myself right into madness by believing we were not only staying together but getting married that weekend.
That's the madness of holding tightly to desire at its extreme—of listening to the script in our head and ignoring the reality in front of us.
It's nothing more than the usual fantasy and projection that our minds spins taken to the nth degree.
Recently, I encountered this pattern, albeit a milder version of it, in someone else—a man I'd briefly almost met in person who connected with me on Facebook.
As our interactions went on, I realized that he wasn't responding to what was actually happening between us but to ideas and projections he had in his head. He was reading from a script and had forgotten to give me a copy. I was fascinated. Wow! So that's what it looks like! Needless to say, it freaked me out and made this man anything but attractive. I couldn't see him for his thoughts and ideas.
It was a brilliant piece of mirroring. I looked at him and thought, 'I've been you.'
Now, a few weeks later, I'm on the other end again. Thanks to this sexy man I recently met, I had an opportunity to observe my own patterns around desire. I had an opportunity to break those patterns once and for all.
I had an opportunity to develop a healthy relationship to desire.
How easy it is to fall back into old patterns though. I caught myself on the weekend, falling. Acting from the desire to make something happen rather than responding to reality as it was. Doh! Careful girl. And then I laughed at myself.
It's no wonder that many religious or spiritual paths advocate or encourage celibacy. The energy that rises from desire is the strongest I've come across. It has the most possibility to drop me down into delusion again. Better to just cut it off—turn away and not allow it to enter at all.
Not me. I'm opening to the full force of desire and letting it have it's way with me. Without acting. Just observing.
It's an incredible feeling—a deep wave of wanting arising from the depths of being and propelling one forward. The trick is not to attach it to the trigger on the outside. The two things are actually separate.
This desire I'm feeling has nothing to do with the man I met. It lives inside me. It is me. My mind may attempt to engineer this or that so he can trigger the desire again, but I know better.
That's the practice, right there, to sit in the fullness of desire without the compulsion to act on it.
To allow it to be.
In doing so, I stop objectifying and unconsciously manipulating the gorgeous men I meet into a starring role in my romantic dramas. Instead, I can meet them as they are, and see them as they are—full human beings with their own needs and wants, and their own desires.
From this ground of being a ground of deep reality, a real relationship may, or may not, have the opportunity to arise. I don't know. All I know is that in a single meeting with a beautiful man, I've seen deeper into a life long pattern than ever before.
And that right there is a gift, if nothing else.
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Ed: B. Bemel
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31 Responses to "Oh the Obsessive, Compulsive, Lusting Nature of Deep Desire."
Wow! That was fun to read. I know the life force you describe very well and I have tried to come to terms with it. It hasn't ruined my life for a long while, but deep down I know it could and I know that I would probably let it if it became strong enough and I felt it was going in the right direction. There is something undeniably powerful about desire. I believe it is my only teacher and I do listen.
Somehow, I don't really believe that you can manage it as you suggest in your final few paragraphs. I too have these good ideas and intentions but I know that in the end, if I'm feeling aligned and motivated enough, this force will take over and I will have to just hold on and see where I end up. Cheers!
Hey MatBoy,
There is something incredibly powerful about desire, especially when paired with clear seeing. That's not about good ideas or intentions per se, but about constantly observing the machinations of the mind and letting go all those thoughts that arise which aren't grounded in reality. Yes, it's a strong practice. Yes, it's entirely possible.
I'm not sure what you mean by "if I'm feeling aligned and motivated enough, this force will take over" – at least, in the context within which I'm exploring desire in this article. What is there for the force od desire to 'take over'? Explain please, I'm curious!
Okay, I experience two part: the organic desire and my conscious management, planning and thought processes. On the thinking side, if I look at the organically arising desire and then conclude it is aligned with my imagined 'general direction' it is easier for me to trust it (once burned) and go with it. I rarely experience total surrender, I'm always monitoring events and desires as they come up and continually making decisions as I move forward. If there is a misalignment, I'll tend to resist and slow things down and proceed more cautiously.
Hey MatBoy,
Ah… I understand more now. Thanks for clarifying.
oh my god!guuurrrrl!!!!!!!!!!reading this was like reading a piece of myself…i act on desire ALL THE TIME. especially when i know that it is not recieved on the other end, and i come up with ways to put myself out there time and time again…to try and be seen…by the lover, who will give it to me…but only on this time. i spin stories about how one day he will fall for me… how can he not, im so awesome. but the TRUTH of the matter is,he does not return my email, call, or text…only when its convenient to him.i always feel as though i am left hanging, and yet jump up for him as soon as he chooses to get a hold of me. currently, i am away from this lover for 2 months. i have been trying to gather up enough strength to take my desire head on, when i am back in close proximity to him. so see him and know that i have strength to not jump his bones. becuase my truth, is i have a relationship where bones can be jumped, dates can be had, emotional connection is 100% present and available. everyone deserve that. its time i stop settling. THANK YOU for writing this. Me stumbling upon this article was another way from the universe, giving me the strength i need. so much love!!<3
Hey Angela,
Sounds like you know all about the dangers of desire run wild. Hold that center!
Wonderful and beautifully written. Finally someone speaks out on desire with authenticity. Brava! More please….
Thank you – more coming, promise.
This was such a timely wake-up call for me.
I've been doing my own dance around these dynamics and relentlessly masturbating in an effort to clear my mind and heart and body of that need, that need, that need…and I guess masturbating 3 times a day isn't exactly doing the trick, as it's not letting go of desire, and is very much stoking the fire I feel toward an inaccessible and incompatible man that hangs about the periphery of my life like a firefly that I don't want to catch, but sorely wish would land in my palm…and
it's not a "need," I tell myself, but a want…a want that you perfectly described here. I'm all too familiar with the way women can be predatory…I can smile very sweetly, but I can feel the salacious leering burning in my eyes and it isn't who I want to be, this lusty lady making plans for conquest. So, I'm trying to figure how to transmute that fire, shift it to art or work or play with people with whom I've made no designs, with whom I fabricate no stories about gentle kisses in damp fields or animal postures in the nude…damn, there it is again.
I do think that sometimes, mad love can be catalyzing, though catalysts can be destructive or creative. I have been asking myself, is this nourisihing me or is it keeping me from doing what I need to be doing…why do I want this fellow so, so much and what have I made him a symbol of? Is this about him or is this about me?
Tonight, when I lay down with myself, I'll just be with myself and that will have to be enough…because, out of respect, I'm not going to involve this fellow in this story I've made, in which we collide and all good things may come of it…because, you're right, it's just a story that a lonely woman made up to keep herself occupied while she waits for something that might, finally, be real and lasting.
I appreciate your bringing in the relationship between psychosis and holding onto to myths that we create for ourselves.in my mind, the multiverse wants this man to love me, and that just isn't necessarily true.
It's just madness. The multiverse wants me to get my work done and not be confused in heart. I have been mishearing this lyric in a song for a while. The actual lyric is "the opposite of love of indifference" but I heard it as "the opposite of love is the need for it" – which makes me realize that we all have abundant and unstoppable love in our lives and that when we get caught up in want, we fail to have gratitude for what we have or may miss what might be trying to show up in our lives. (The Lumineers, Stubborn Love)
Thanks again…may much real love be with you.
Hey Faith,
Wow – loved reading your comment. Sounds like you were working through a few things there for yourself.
What an incredible article. It felt like you were reading my mind or at least my journal. I've never really stepped back to take a objective look at my desire for relationships and the sometimes manic obsession that begins to happen when I am attracted to someone and create a fantasy in my head. I know that it has caused issues in my dating life but never have I been able to look at it from an outside perspective. Your article gave me a new perspective. Thank you for being so open and honest about something many people would not freely admit to habitually doing.
I agree that owning one's desires and responding to the reality of the situation happening on the outside is key and can prevent many an awkward and painful situation. I also appreciate your mentioning that this "ability" to spin an attraction into a lifel long connection, even if only one sided, can be a sort of a positive in a world where people are constant seeiking connection but are often to afraid to allow the vulnerability that can usher in the love they seek.
Thank you.
Hey Nik,
It's taken me a long time of observation to finally get to this place of clarity around this particular pattern of mine – it can be so insidious and so intoxicating. I'm glad it's been of use to you too.
You must be a Scorpio. I'd recognize that thought process from anywhere.
Incredible work
Ha! Scorpio ascendent…
Beautifully written and what impeccable timing for my personal life. Thank you for sharing.
My pleasure, always.
Thank you for sharing your innermost feelings.
You have given me a lightbulb moment on times in my life and thrown a different light on them for me.
I love that we can keep on learning, every day.
Peace and real love. xx
Yeah for the lightbulbs – shine on.
This article provided sooo much needed clarity for me. I literally saw myself in it. Thank you for the needed wisdom…
I really enjoyed your humor and honesty so please write more…
Hey Heather,
Sweet- thanks for the comment and encouragement. There will be more, promise.
Thank you!! This encapsulates something that I'm attempting to do with a new relationship. I can feel that intense wanting–I actually will go around the house sometimes and stomp my foot and say "kitten wants" like a six year old. I give her expression. But then I practice holding onto myself and letting things unfold rather than making everything happen or trying to control it all. The fantasy is perhaps the hardest thing to manage as my imagination is active.
A previous poster (Angela), mentioned "gentle kisses in damp fields and animal postures in the nude". That's how my brain works! And I like that about my brain–it's interesting and a fun place. I want to keep the playfulness of it while also having a grasp on reality…
Anyway, thankful for a relationship that lets me play and understand these dynamics more. I have no clue if there is longevity in it, but I'm teaching myself a great deal.
Wonderful post.
Hey Paula,
Oh yes – my "I want" feels like a young pouty girl as well, maybe aged about 4 or so. How interesting is that?
Very interesting. I try to bring her "out to play" in ways that serve instead of destruct. She's really pretty adorable! She's just not running the show anymore.
WOW!!! This hits home/the heart for me. Definitely word for word my experience . . . Thank You!
oh my god!! thank you!! so true, next step! thank you!
HELL YES. You just completely summed up exactly what I'm experiencing…and have been experiencing my entire life. Thank you for sharing it so succinctly and unabashedly. I was beating the shit out of myself for this pattern I find myself in, and to read someone else explain it in a way I can totally relate to is so freeing…you just allowed me to stop bashing myself in the face for becoming a part of that spin cycle again. I'm gonna try this whole being enveloped by desire thing, and letting it go and let it unfold rather than trying to control it; to see the reality of it rather than what I want – fuck the script. That's fucking brilliant.
OMG I needed this today, I am so grateful for you writing this! It can be at times so overwhelming that we feel acting is the only solution… Well thats how Ive felt anyway! Thank you for this little gem, I needed it more then you will know! xoxo
Ohhh man I really loved this! I just wrote something very similar and you nailed the thought. It's US. Thank you thank you thank you
Described perfectly and while very effective in all other areas of our lives , not so much in the relationship dept. For me its the difference between the me at 21 and the me now at 41. I can see someone, feel that and think thank goodness Im no longer the 21 yr old who behaved that way. Today anyway. 😉


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- Infowars - http://www.infowars.com -
Baa, baa robot! Drone controlled by computer will be able to track and round up sheep and cows
Posted By yihan On May 27, 2013 @ 5:58 am In Featured Stories,Old Infowars Posts Style,Police State,Tile | Comments Disabled
UK Daily Mail
May 27, 2013
The bond between shepherds and their loyal sheepdogs is a rural image portrayed on television shows like the BBC's One Man His Dog.
But now the face of hill farming may soon change forever with the introduction of a battery-powered airborne robot to track and round up flocks.
The drone, developed by Frenchman Marc-Alexandre Favier, costs a few hundred pounds and could eventually be controlled by smartphone.
It uses cameras and image recognition software to find sheep and cows even in remote areas.
Article printed from Infowars: http://www.infowars.com
URL to article: http://www.infowars.com/baa-baa-robot-drone-controlled-by-computer-will-be-able-to-track-and-round-up-sheep-and-cows/
Click here to print.
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subset: commoncrawl


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"I'm very honored to have been chosen as the director for public safety for Grand Haven," said Hawke, who was surrounded by his wife, Lisa; and daughters Sam, Sophie and Ella.
Hawke, 47, was most recently a public safety instructor at Mecosta Osceola Career Center. He also served as the public safety department director in Cadillac from 2002 to 2010, when he retired. He began working at the Cadillac department in 1986. He worked through the ranks as patrol officer, sergeant and captain.
"He has seen it all as he's worked his way through law enforcement," Grand Haven City Manager Pat McGinnis said.
McGinnis also said Hawke has experience in special assignment areas — including school liaison officer, K-9 handler, detective with the Traverse Narcotics Team, evidence technician, and firearms and chemical agent instructor.
One of two finalists for the job, Hawke was selected over Curtis VanderKooi, a 56-year-old patrol commander with the Grand Rapids Police Department.
"I'm looking forward to working with a great staff at the Department of Public Safety, and have already had some great experiences in Grand Haven in the last week," Hawke said.
Hawke added that he has activities planned today to meet more of the community and get to know people.
Mayor Geri McCaleb said today's ceremony was the beginning of many positives for the department.
"I think this was a very impressive ceremony and got everyone kicked off to a good start," she said. "I wish Chief Hawke the best."
Prior to Hawke's selection, the city had been searching for a new public safety director since the dismissal of Dennis Edwards in February 2011. Edwards was put on administrative leave in late 2010.
Yonker has been the interim chief since December 2010. He said he didn't have any aspirations or desire to become the new police chief when the job was posted last year.
"I enjoyed my opportunity to fill in at the time and did the best I could," Yonker said.
To see more photos from the ceremony, click here.


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Within Southfield Township's boundaries you will find the Villages of Beverly Hills, Bingham Farms and Franklin. Each village provides its residents with along winding streets, tree-covered lawns and unique shopping districts. Located minutes from several expressways Southfield Township maintains a rural atmosphere in the shadow of a metropolitan area.
Southfield Township18550 West 13 Mile RoadSouthfield Township, MI48025Phone: 248-540-3420
Birmingham Public Schools550 West Merrill StreetBirmingham, MI 48009Phone: 248-203-3000
Known as Ossewa Township for its first 17 days, Southfield Township came into existence on July 12, 1830. Franklin Village, extablished in late 1828, was an early community.
The breakup of the original 36 square miles of Southfield Township began with the incorporation of the City of Lathrup in May of 1953, followed by the Village of Franklin in November and finally the Village of Bingham Farms in 1955 and the Village of Beverly Hills in 1958. The City of Southfield was incorporated on September 16, 1957.


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Monday, February 11, 2008
I have had multiple myeloma since October 2001 and have had two stem cell transplants, the most recent in April last year. The peripheral neuropathy in my feet and fingertips continues to worsen. I have tried Lyrica (pregabalin), Neurontin (gabapentin) and Cymbalta (duloxetine). The psychotic side effects of Cymbalta were frightening. Lyrica seemed to help a bit, but not much. I also have been on B vitamins, L-carnitine – the standard cookbook of supplements. Before my second transplant in April, I received heavy doses of DCEP (dexamethasone, cyclophosphamide, etoposide and cisplatin) and Doxil (doxorubicin). I am also getting acupuncture, but it's not a big help. The symptoms continue to worsen. Walking becomes increasingly difficult. Please offer me some advice.
Unfortunately, peripheral neuropathy remains a significant problem for many patients with multiple myeloma, as many of the available drugs to treat myeloma are associated with this side effect. You have received most of the commercially available medications.
You and your doctor might consider looking at the National Cancer Institute's registry of clinical trials to see what clinical trials are available for patients with chemotherapy-induced neuropathy in your area. You and your doctor might also consider consultation with a pain management specialist to determine if a spinal cord stimulator might help control your symptoms.
Last Updated: 2/11/2008


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Bartow, Florida--Cecil Campbell and his neighbors are very worried after police say a 13-year-old girl was raped Thursday morning in their East Bartow neighborhood.
"We just hope this person gets caught - the sooner the better," said Campbell, himself a grandfather of three young children.
"The dangers are just so much increased in these times. Perilous times," he said.
The victim tells police she was playing outside her house around 11:30 a.m. on Thursday when a man approached - and without saying a word, sexually assaulted her.
"In our interview with her, no words were exchanged between the two of them other than her screaming," said Bartow Police Sgt. Dave Wyant.
Detectives say the suspect took off on foot.
The girl, babysitting her younger siblings, says she ran back into the house and called her parents who were at work. They then called 9-1-1.
"We retrieved physical evidence that supports her story, so we believe it's a true incident," said Wyant.
The girl describes her attacker as a stranger: a black male, between 26 and 29 years old with short hair and a thin mustache. She also adds that he is about 6-feet tall and weighs 160-180 pounds. She also thinks she'd seen him before, a couple of days earlier driving a newer-model white Ford sedan.
Other children in the neighborhood, still on winter break, say they've now been warned to watch out for strangers and keep an eye out for the suspect's vehicle.
"They said watch for white cars," said an 11-year-old neighbor.
"Don't play outside alone," another girl says her mother warned, "That's why grown-ups got to walk with their children."
Bartow police say they were checking with other local police agencies to see if the description or details match any other recent cases.
They're also going over their list of registered sex offenders and running physical evidence collected from the victim.
They askanyone withinformation about the case to call Bartow Police.


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- Filed Under
American Central Transport Inc. (ACT) honored owner-operator Mike Kahre for coming to the aid of a fellow motorist while on duty.
On Dec. 17, Kahre spotted a car with a blown-out tire stranded on the side of the road just outside of Lamar.
Its driver had attempted to retrieve the spare tire from the trunk, only to find that it, too, was flat.
No one else was coming to her aid as she stood alone on the side of the road in freezing temperatures.
Kahre pulled his rig over and offered assistance. Taking the spare tire, he refilled it with air and put it on the driver's car for her.
"I can't just drive past someone who needs help," said Kahre, "I have a wife and three daughters and I would want someone to stop and help them if they ever broke down."
ACT found out about Kahre's good deed by chance. As Kahre was working, ACT President Tom B. Kretsinger Jr., just happened to drive by and take note of the ACT truck number.


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Youth baseball: South Fort Myers Little League starts its 2013 season
FORT MYERS - Major League Baseball's season starts March 31, but area Little Leagues are beginning to hit the fields this month with their own opening days.
South Fort Myers Little League kicked off its season last Saturday. South's opening day included a free instructional session provided by Minnesota Twins' minor league coaches and players, league games and an afternoon ceremony that honored the teams championship teams from 2012. Teams honored included the Junior Twins (county champs), Junior All-Stars (district champions), and the 9-10 All-Stars and 11-12 All-Stars, both of which reached the state tournament after winning district and sectional championships.
South Fort Myers Little League president Howard Gold presided over the opening day ceremonies, which also included County Commissioner Cecil Pendergrass and Florida Little League District Administrator Mert Leeman.
"We had a nice opening day," said Gold, who is in his 12th year as league president.
South Fort Myers Little League has more than 400 players this season. Notable alumni from the league include current professional players Chris Johnson, John Tolisano and Hudson Boyd. Johnson was recently traded from the Arizona Diamondbacks to the Atlanta Braves.


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Traveler: New Haven
(S01E03) I don't know that any of us can ever really understand the machinations that go into making the network schedule. After watching the first three episodes of Traveler though, I'm left scratching my head wondering just what it was that kept this one tucked away for so long. I'll give in where The Nine is concerned, because the pilot was very good. But how this one got passed over for Six Degrees, Men In Trees, and the collection of little sit-coms that couldn't is beyond me.
With what is really such a simple premise, "Who is Will Traveler?", they have managed to hook me. And the more light that shines on the mystery, the better it gets. Part of that could just be that I'm a sucker for a good conspiracy theory. From the first time we saw Neal McDonough as the kind of creepy Homeland Security agent, I was sold on that part of the story. They do need to give up a name though, so I can quit referring to him as McNorris in my head.
I'm still at a loss as to just how he figures in to the whole conspiracy, but we did get a taste of just how deep into it he is tonight. Not only did his men kill Ellington, with a slow bleeding gunshot wound no less, but they were also watching Kim close enough to be there to swipe the picture of Will as soon as it was developed. The relationship between Kim and Agent Chambers is interesting. When he told her that they were going to be working on the same side, I had to wonder if that was a hint that Chambers is going to come around and take up the fight for Jay and Tyler at some point.
I am assuming that notMcNorris' henchmen were also behind the document shenanigans at Nell's place. Floor plan of the Drexler, printouts on explosives, casualty estimates, blast patterns, and 100 page anti-government diatribes. Given everything else we've seen that they put in place to sell this conspiracy, that didn't come as any great surprise. The more interesting part of that is Nell. Is she really innocent and looking to help them? Or was her stall on the FBI not about giving Jay and Tyler time to get away, but instead about keeping the FBI from catching them so the other guys can? The fact that someone clearly had access to her place, and her reaction to Will in the library make me question her honesty.
Speaking of the library, how about those steam tunnels? The Scooby Doo secret bookcase passage did give me pause. Come on now, this is Yale. That's kind of a stretch. But then I remembered that we are watching a show where it sure looks like Homeland Security just blew up a museum as part of some evil plot. So it's best to go with an all things are possible theory and see where it takes you. The giant footprint on the desk in an otherwise cleaned out office was along the same lines. Again, ok with it, because it moved the boys along the path. Next stop, Deer Harbor.
The big showdown between Carlton Fog and Agent Chambers was also very good. I've always really liked William Sadler, and he's very good as Carlton. It was great how the two of them were both trying to assert their dominance. The veiled threat against Chambers' daughter was a little creepy. Carlton has been set up very well. There has been just enough hinting both ways that it's still unclear whether he has anything to do with the bombing plan. I'm very curious about his other son as well.
And finally, Will is alive! Well, of course he was. They did call the show Traveler, so I didn't have much faith that they would kill the title character off in the first episode. Not only did he make it out of the museum, he also got some souvenirs. The fact that he is asking questions about them makes you wonder just what his part of the plan was. Was he never supposed to get out? Coerced into doing it? I suspect that we will get a reunion of the three amigos at some point, and I am very curious to see how that plays out.
All things considered, it was another nice chapter to what is quickly becoming a very fun summer story. There are still far more questions than answers, but it's early. They've earned a little time.


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Archive for the 'Al Robinson' tag
Race announcer Al Robinson gets help from car guys
Al Robinson, the longtime racing journalist, broadcaster, announcer and PR chief at Dover International Speedway and for NASCAR, was leveled by a massive stroke in May of 2011, and had been confined to an upstate New York nursing home ever since. He wanted to go back to his childhood home, ironically in the same town as the nursing home, Waverly. But he needed some help.
Key among the needs was making the house disabled-accessible. That's where the people in his orbit stepped up. One of them was Carol Houssock, who took over for Al as track announcer at Shangri-La II Motor Speedway in Owego, New York, after he was stricken. Carol is also director of the Chemung Volunteer Action Corps. One mission the corps takes on is building portable access ramps for disabled people's homes. They do the labor free of charge if the homeowner pays for the materials. That was a problem until Carol appealed to the crowd and racers at a Race of Champions date for Modifieds at Shangri-La II. At the end of the night, they'd covered the $600 cost of materials for the ramp and then some, easily. Another attendee offered to do needed plumbing work at Al's house at no cost. As one donor and former racer put it, "I don't know the man, but he's been around racing his whole life, and that's good enough for me."
The photos show Al's ramp being built a couple of weeks ago; Al is the guy in the wheelchair. Leaning on the sawhorse is his pal Jim Burleigh, chief starter for the Race of Champions circuit. Al is part of our world: He's announced the 24 Hours of Daytona (the overnight shift, which inspired his nickname, "The Prince of Darkness") and the U.S. Vintage Grand Prix at Watkins Glen. Al's late father was one of the first photographers at the Glen, and a factory shooter of delivery photos for American La France in Elmira, New York. With Carol's help, he has returned to journalism, transcribing episodes of his racing memories for National Speed Sport News, and Carol recently returned him to the announcer's microphone at Shangri-La II.
Help one of auto racing's best friends
Full disclosure: Al Robinson is one of my best friends in the world of auto racing, a mentor and walking encyclopedia of history (on everything) who helped out people like me when we were starting out behind a keyboard. Al managed public relations for years at Dover International Speedway and then handled NASCAR's then-Busch East touring series. He was regarded as America's busiest professional race fan, attending 100 or more events a year while doing his promotion, plus announcing.
That was all sidetracked last May when Al suffered a debilitating stroke that has left him confined to a care facility in his hometown of Waverly, New York. That's expensive, and he needs help. His friends have set up a two-day fundraiser at Shangri-La II Motor Speedway in Tioga Center, New York, where Al was track announcer. Race car displays, pace car rides, and a silent auction are planned. The event will be Friday and Saturday, May 11 and 12. For information, or to donate either cash or auction items, contact the Spalding Foundation for Injured Drivers, c/o Betty Sherwood, 1074 Sulphur Springs Road, Owego, New York 13827. The photo shows Al at his best: being a raconteur, in this case interviewing Gary Putnam when he was about to serve as crew chief for NASCAR road course ringer Ron Fellows at Watkins Glen. Gary had been crew chief for Rod Spalding, a New York driver who was severely hurt in a 1988 Modified race, and for whom the foundation is named.
Rounded racing relic
Not every archaeological find in the world of cars, racing or otherwise, has wheels and a body. Al Robinson, the longtime racing announcer, journalist and historian from Waverly, New York, snapped this image around 1989 in Charlotte on one of his innumerable racing road odysseys. It was the last tangible evidence that this spot, west of downtown and Charlotte Douglas International Airport, was once the home of Holman-Moody, the fabled Ford NASCAR team. Note that the grass around this weathered oil tank was still being mowed at the time. Holman-Moody fielded its final race car in 1973, at the Riverside 500 for Bobby Unser. This would make a tremendous Ford collectible today, if it still exists.
Al's late father, Dick, was once the track photographer at Watkins Glen, we published a portfolio of his work in Issue 43 of Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car. As to Holman-Moody, its predecessor was DePaolo Engineering, established by 1925 Indianapolis 500 winner Pete DePaolo. Dan Strohl has assembled a profile of DePaolo, an early pioneer of American high performance, coming in Issue 67 of Hemmings Muscle Machines.


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Below is a list of forms required for some uplifts, to register as a new producer of clinical or radioactive waste as well as flow charts and decommissioning documentation.
These can also be found the the respective areas within the Waste & Recycling website and on the Waste & Recycling wiki.
This article was published on Dec 23, 2014


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Enrollment and diversity increase; 16 more National Merit Scholars enter freshmen year
RENO, Nev. – The University of Nevada, Reno welcomed 18,227 undergraduate and graduate students to campus this fall. This reflects a 1 percent increase over the fall 2011 enrollment of 18,004 students, and continues the trend of steady enrollment growth.
The University also welcomed more than 80 new Presidential Scholars and 16 new National Merit Scholars this semester, the largest amount of each scholar type welcomed in a semester and bringing the University's total to nearly 50 National Merit Scholars enrolled. The University received sponsorship status by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation in spring 2009.
"The University of Nevada, Reno continues to grow the number of students we serve, continually adding to the number of National Merit and Presidential Scholars while increasing access for students of limited means," University President Marc Johnson said.
Undergraduate student enrollment increased 2 percent this year from 14,415 last fall to 14,675 this fall. Graduate student enrollment decreased 1 percent from 2,935 students to 2,894.
Johnson is also pleased with the University's progress in creating a more diverse campus. Enrollment of students of color for first-year students is 40 percent, and undergraduate and graduate students of color now comprise 29 percent of the University's total enrollment, up 13 percent from last year, the highest percentage ever.
"Having a diverse student enrollment contributes to the overall education experience and prepares students for increasingly diverse workplaces and the global economy," Johnson said.
One of this year's new National Merit Scholars, Shay Daylami, is a graduate of Wooster High School in Reno and is now a history and English major. She chose the University of Nevada, Reno over other options because of its programs.
"I always felt that I was going to go to UNR because it's in town and it's one of the best schools in the country," said Daylami, who is also participating in ROTC. "I like the location, and it's just a good school."
In addition to increased enrollment, the University recently learned it was again placed in the top tier of the best national universities in the latest U.S. News & World Report college and university rankings. This is the University's third consecutive year in the top tier.
"We are a quality University and we are providing a quality educational experience right here in Nevada," Johnson said.
# # #
Nevada's land-grant university founded in 1874, the University of Nevada, Reno has an enrollment of 18,000 students and is ranked in the top tier of the nation's best universities. Part of the Nevada System of Higher Education, the University has the system's largest research program and is home to the state's medical school. With outreach and education programs in all Nevada counties and with one of the nation's largest study-abroad consortiums, the University extends across the state and around the world. For more information, visit www.unr.edu.
Media Contact:
Natalie Savidge
Senior Media Relations Specialist
University Media Relations
University of Nevada, Reno/108
Reno, NV 89557
775-784-4611 phone
775-784-1422 fax
Media newsroom: http://newsroom.unr.edu


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Los Gatos Dishcrawl!
Starting At $39.00
San Jose, CA
Tue. Jan 24, 2012 7:00 PM
About this Event
Additional Information
Are you ready for the delicious restaurants of Los Gatos to be discovered? We sure are!
Join us as we stroll explore local favorites and meet the faces behind the food (and wine) of this amazing town.
Restaurants are kept a secret til the day of, but if you follow us on Twitter (@dishcrawl) or Facebook (facebook.com/dishcrawl), we might drop a couple hints. :)
As always, we will have a vegetarian option, but for for all others, please email hi (at) dishcrawl (dot) com accommodations!


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DUBLIN, November 22, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --
Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/6gr8mq/companion) has announced the addition of the "Companion Biomarkers in Drug Development" report to their offering.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130307/600769)
Companion biomarkers are diagnostic tests that are specifically linked to a therapeutic drug either during its development or in the clinic. This linkage can be an important component of the drug development process; alternatively, the companion biomarker can be useful in ameliorating the regulatory process for the drug, or acting as an aid to therapeutic use in the clinic.
Market opportunities for companion biomarkers are focused in drug development targets, drug development efficacy and clinical end points in four main therapeutic areas: oncology, cardiovascular, neurology and autoimmune. Using companion biomarkers yields safer and more efficacious drug products, reduces clinical trial and development costs, improves post-marketing safety profiles and salvages therapies that otherwise would not be granted approval.
This report focuses on the role of companion diagnostic tests in drug development. It provides an in-depth discussion and analysis of the application of companion biomarkers to drug development and targeted therapeutics, as well as their use in clinical trials and the regulatory forum. The examination emphasizes new and developing technology platforms meant to aid in development of drugs for therapeutic use, and sometimes to be available as companion tests for these drugs in the clinic. Detailed tables and charts with sales forecasts and marketshare data are als
|SOURCE Research and Markets
Copyright©2012 PR Newswire.
All rights reserved


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Newsletter - Week 9
Welcome To Week 9
Your Baby: Gender Differences
The growing embryo is about 1 inch long (25.4 mm). As its embryonic tail disappears and the face rounds out, the embryo is looking more human in shape. On the outside, hands and feet that looked like paddles just a week ago are now forming fingers and toes. On the inside, the pancreas, bile ducts, and gallbladder have formed, and the reproductive organs are starting to develop as male or female.
Your Body: Worries, Concerns, And Fears
Most pregnant women - regardless if it's baby number 1 or baby number 9 - are anxious about the child growing inside. Will he be healthy? Will she have 10 fingers and 10 toes? It's perfectly normal and understandable to be concerned. After all, life takes on a new meaning when you're pregnant.
Statistics are on your side! According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, infant mortality is 6.8 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2005 (from 9.2 deaths per 1,000 births in 1990).
Every mother-to-be worries to a certain extent. But if you're so worried that it interferes with work, sleeping, or eating, you should take action. Try talking with your spouse, confiding in friends, consulting your doctor, or reading up on pregnancy and parenting. If none of these provide the comfort you need, you should consider seeking professional help.
On A Different Note:
Peek-a-boo, I See You.
Ever wish you could be on the outside looking in? With this interactive tool, you can take a visual tour of the female reproductive system and better understand what's going on inside your body - baby and all.
Weekly Tip
After talking with your health care provider, try to incorporate an exercise routine into your daily agenda. It might be as simple as taking a walk around the block on your lunch break or as subtle as doing 50 Kegel exercises at your desk (tensing the pelvic floor and vaginal muscles). Do whatever you have the time and energy for, but keep it up. In the long run, you'll feel better and it will help your postpartum recovery.
Last reviewed 12/1/2010 by Zev Williams MD, PhD, FACOG, Reproductive Medicine and Infertility, Weill-Cornell Medical Center, New York, NY. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.
- The information provided herein should not be used during any medical emergency or for the diagnosis or treatment of any medical condition.
- A licensed medical professional should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any and all medical conditions.
- Call 911 for all medical emergencies.
- Links to other sites are provided for information only -- they do not constitute endorsements of those other sites.
©1997 - A.D.A.M., Inc. Any duplication or distribution of the information contained herein is strictly prohibited.


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Police Shooting
- Cop Killer Brandon Daniel Now On Death Row
- Padron's Family And Friends React to Death Sentence
- Complete Brandon Daniel Sentencing And Family Statements
- Brandon Daniel Sentenced To Death
- Jury Hears Testimony To Put Brandon Daniel To Death
- Sentencing Begins Monday For Brandon Daniel
- Jury To Consider Sentencing Brandon Daniel To Death
- Daniel Found Guilty Of Capital Murder
- Jury Begins Deliberations in Brandon Daniel Murder Trial
- Ex-Girlfriend Testifies In Daniel Murder Trial
- Padron Autopsy Evidence Presented In Daniel Murder Trial
- Interrogation Room Video Played During Daniel Trial
- Daniel: 'Can I Get Lethal Injection?'
- New Testimony In Day 2 Of Brandon Daniel Murder Trial
- Daniel Defense: 'We're Not Saying He's Not Guilty'
- Capital Murder Trial Begins For Man Accused Of Killing APD Officer
- Trial Starts Tuesday For Accused Austin Cop Killer
- Accused Austin Cop Killer's Jury Selection Continues
- Accused Austin Cop Killer Pleads Not Guilty
- Austin Officer's Name Added To National Police Memorial
- Austin Officer's Name Added To National Police Memorial
- Defense Lawyer Withdraws From Accused Austin Cop Killer's Case
- Accused Austin Cop Killer May Appear In Court
- Accused Austin Police Killer Brandon Daniel To Face Death Penalty
- Alleged Austin Cop Killer Brandon Daniel In Court
- Suspect In North Austin Police Shooting Indicted For Capital Murder
- Austin Police Honor Brave Walmart Workers
- APD Hosts Benefit Concert and Memorial Ride for Fallen Officer Padron's Family
- Services Held For Fallen APD Officer In San Angelo
- San Angelo Prepares For Arrival Of Fallen Austin Police Officer
- Jaime Padron's Funeral Procession Traveled Through Austin
- Officers Travel From Across Texas To Honor Fallen Officer
- Thousands Pay Tribute To Officer Jaime Padron
- Fallen Austin Officer Jaime Padron Remembered In San Angelo
- Roommate Describes Police Shooting Suspect
- Fallen Officer Was 'Best Of The Best'
- Suspect In North Austin Police Shooting Booked Into Jail
- APD: History Of Heroism
- Officer Jaime Padron Was Veteran Law Officer
- Austinites Sound Off Over Police Officer's Death
- How To Help Officer's Family
- City Memo About Fallen Officer
- Austin Officer Shot, Killed Identified
Daniel Found Guilty Of Capital Murder
Updated: Monday, February 24 2014, 12:13 PM CST
Brandon Daniel was found guilty Friday of capital murder for the killing of Austin Senior Police Officer Jaime Padron.
It took a Travis County jury a little over an hour to reach the verdict.
Daniel shot and killed Officer Padron at a Walmart in North Austin in April 2012.
Daniel pleaded not guilty to murder but his lawyers never contested the fact that he pulled the trigger and fatally shot Padron through the throat when the officer tackled Daniel, who was suspected of shoplifting.
In surveillance and interrogation footage shown at the trial the former software developer freely admitted to killing Padron, a veteran officer and father of two young daughters.
With little doubt about his role in the shooting, his defense appeared to try to convince jurors that he had no clear understanding of his actions the night he killed Padron because of an addiction to Xanax.
The punishment phase begins Monday at 9 a.m. Daniel faces life in prison with no parole or death by lethal injection.
Full video of defense closing arguments: http://www.keyetv.com/news/features/raw-news/stories/daniel-trial-defense-closing-arguments-187.shtml?wap=0&
Full video of prosecution closing arguments: http://www.keyetv.com/news/features/raw-news/stories/daniel-trial-prosecution-closing-arguments-188.shtml?wap=0&
Fallen Austin Officers
Amy Donovan, 37, Oct. 31, 2004
Officer Donovan was chasing a suspect on foot in East Austin. Her partner put the patrol car in reverse and tried to block the man's escape route. During the chase, the patrol car struck Donovan and pinned her next to a utility pole. Donovan had been a police officer for five months. She was survived by a husband and four children.
Clinton Hunter, 22, Nov. 29, 2001
Officer Hunter was on the I-35 access road near Onion Creek waiting to deploy a stinger, a device used to puncture and flatten tires, to stop car during a chase. The car hit and killed Hunter. He had been an officer for 14 months. Hunter is survived by a wife and two children.
Drew Alan Bolin, 25, June 2, 1995
Officer Bolin was directing traffic at an accident site on I-35 when a drunk driver hit and killed him. Bolin had been an officer for five months. He was survived by his parents and fiancee.
Robert Martinez Jr., 26, February 25, 1989
Officer Robert Martinez Jr. died when his patrol car struck a tree. Martinez, who was en route to assist another officer, swerved to avoid a pick up truck that had pulled into his path.
Lee Smith, 28, December 15, 1979
Officer Smith was chasing a suspect on MoPac when he lost control of his motorcycle. He died from his injuries several months later.
Ralph A. Ablanedo, 26, May 18, 1978
Officer Ablanedo was shot to death during a traffic stop. The passenger in the car, David Lee Powell, had a warrant for his arrest. He shot Ablanedo with an AK-47. Powell was executed for the murder in 2010.


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According to previous estimates of how long life will last on Earth, all living creatures should be gone 1 billion years from now. But a new research comes to show that the "deadline" may be 2.3 billion years away, which means that the planet might be inhabitable for almost half of the Sun's life cycle. Caltech researcher King Fai Li and colleagues believe that the key to this "longevity" is the fact that the planet's atmospheric pressure varies, but that it could slightly decrease in the future, adding some 1 billion years to life's lifespan.
The "Earth will be identifiable as an inhabited planet for nearly half the total lifetime of the Sun, an important point to consider in the search for life on extrasolar planets," said the authors in a new scientific paper, published in the latest issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The find could also be extended to other planets with biosphere, and could significantly aid the process of finding extraterrestrial life, the experts added.
The percentage of time in which an exoplanet may be inhabited is a very important factor in determining its chances of supporting basic or complex life. The longer the time, the higher the chances. In fact, some evolutionary biologists say that life on our planet became possible because it also had a lot of time to adapt to the conditions of its world. Despite five mass extinction events, life managed to find a way to endure because it had the Sun and the atmosphere's help.
Astronomers predict that, over the next hundred millions years, the Sun will become increasingly hotter, and will continue to get so until everything on the surface boils down to non-existence. But predictive models have thus far shown that this would happen within 1 billion years from now, whereas the new research highlights the fact that the importance of atmospheric pressure in the calculations has been largely left unnoticed. Lower pressure means lower infrared absorption power, and lower amounts of heating.
"I am glad that Li and colleagues have raised the issue of how overall variation in atmospheric pressure may have affected past and may affect future climate. This could be relevant for understanding climate change on the billion-year time scale," Ken Caldeira, Stanford University ecologist, told Wired in an e-mail.
"So, the assumption that we've always had an atmosphere of the same pressure as now is widespread but there's no justification for it. The reason that everyone just assumes an atmosphere of roughly current pressure is that it is exceedingly difficult to measure in the past. The weight of the atmosphere doesn't leave much record in geology," concluded University of Washington astrobiologist Roger Buick, who was also a part of the research.


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Check out the latest Klassix news on the Klassix Blog.
The Klassix Band is a group of musicians who share a love of "oldies" music. We specialize in music from the 50's, 60's, 70's with some "beach" and classic rock/blues thrown in as well. If you remember the days of drive-in movies, sock-hops in the gym, the days when Elvis was king and the songs were meant for dancing, dating, or just hanging out at the Dairy Queen, then we think you'll enjoy our music. We certainly enjoy performing at birthday, anniversary, and retirement parties, class reunions, music festivals, and corporate events.
We have performed at Mayfest in Pilot Mountain, Cruise-Ins in Mount Airy, fund-raising events in Dobson and Pilot Mountain, and corporate parties. None of us does this for a career; we all have day jobs but we take the music seriously and try to do it justice while we have more fun than you can imagine. Check out our song list under the music section.


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Issue 2011-05 (May 11, 2011)
- WSU Awarded $1M NIH Grant for Research on Sleep and Decision Making
- Study Expands Time Window for Facial Nerve Rehabilitation
- WSU Study to Examine Fatigue and Distraction in Police Driving
- SLIDESHOW: Photos of 2011 Commencement Ceremony
- Passion for Latino Learning: Friends Earn Education Doctorates Together
- SLIDESHOW: White Coat Ceremony
- Phone Coaching Tried for Rural Diabetes Patients
- VIDEO: WSU Researcher Studies Female War Veteran Transition To Civilian Life
- Tribal Students Encouraged to Pursue College Education via STEM Pipeline
- Jensen-Byrd Warehouse Offered for Sale—Proceeds to Benefit Medical Expansion
- Mary Sánchez Lanier to Lead Pre-Health Sciences, STEM Education
- Milestones
- Community Connections
- Personnel and Staffing Changes
- Way to Go!
- Where We're Networking
- Find It on the Web
WSU Awarded $1M NIH Grant for Research on Sleep and Decision Making
By Judith Van Dongen
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) have awarded researchers at Washington State University more than $1.1 million in grant funding over a three-year period to study the effects of sleep deprivation on decision-making.
Through a series of experiments that will start this summer, the researchers will look at what goes wrong with cognitive functioning when a person is sleep deprived. To pinpoint the exact processes implicated in decision-making error, they will examine separately the different components of cognition, including information intake, information processing in working memory, and decision execution. This will be achieved through specially designed decision-making tasks administered to study participants before, during, and after a period of 62 hours of sleep deprivation.
"This research is relevant for individuals with medical conditions, many of whom face sleep problems," said Gregory Belenky, director of the WSU Sleep and Performance Research Center and co-investigator on the grant. "Sleepy patients are more likely to make health care decisions that are not in their best interest, and the experiments will reveal what goes wrong in the brain when that happens." The study will also have implications for decision-making performance in a variety of safety-critical settings, such as transportation and law enforcement.
The funding stems from a collaboration spanning two WSU campuses, involving research professors Hans Van Dongen and Gregory Belenky of the Sleep and Performance Research Center in Spokane and professors Paul Whitney and John Hinson of the Department of Psychology in the College of Liberal Arts in Pullman.
Principal investigator on the grant is postdoctoral research fellow Melinda Jackson, also with the Sleep and Performance Research Center in Spokane.
"This grant award exemplifies the supportive research environment at Washington State University," said WSU provost Warwick Bayly. "Few other institutions have senior scientists who give a junior researcher the opportunity to bring in a project of this caliber."
The study builds on NIH-funded work on the cognitive effects of sleep deprivation, brought to WSU by Van Dongen in 2005, which was also the basis for a recent collaborative study by Van Dongen, Belenky, Whitney and Hinson on the effects of sleep deprivation on executive functioning.
"Obtaining NIH funding is considered very prestigious among researchers seeking fundamental knowledge relevant to health and disease," said Bryan Slinker, vice provost for health sciences. "With this grant, WSU faculty step up their contributions to a thriving research environment and a solid basis for expanding medical education in Spokane."
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Study Expands Time Window for Facial Nerve Rehabilitation
By Judith Van Dongen
A research study conducted at Washington State University Spokane offers hope to those suffering from facial nerve damage. According to the study, which was published online today in the journal Developmental Neurohabilitation, muscle weakness resulting from facial nerve damage incurred during childhood can improve with intensive facial exercise, years after injury.
"Our study shows that there isn't just a one-year window for facial rehabilitation, which has commonly been assumed in the field," said Nancy Potter, an author on the study and an assistant professor of speech and hearing sciences at WSU Spokane.
The article, "Effects of Strength Training on Neuromuscular Facial Rehabilitation," was authored by Emily Perry, a former graduate student of Potter's, who served both as a researcher and as the study's single subject.
|Perry (left) and Potter at the 2010 International Conference on Motor Speech. Photo courtesy of Emily Perry.
As a child, Perry had been involved in a serious motorcycle accident that left her with serious injuries. Among them was facial nerve damage, which resulted in a right-side facial droop that was not treated at the time as it did not negatively affect her speech.
Thirteen years after her accident, Perry worked with Potter and others to design a facial exercise program that involved seven weeks of intensive strength exercises (Phase I) followed by a moderately intense 16-week strength training program (Phase II). The program targeted four different muscle regions in her face, using a device normally associated with increasing and measuring tongue strength in patients with swallowing disorders.
Another tool used to measure progress was the Perry Appliance, a custom-designed device consisting of a tape measure attached to a dental whitening tray. It served as a visual aid to several volunteer graders in scoring photos and video footage that showed the extent of facial movement throughout the exercise program.
The results showed a significant increase in strength in all four impaired muscle regions throughout the seven-week intensive exercise program in Phase I. Strength was maintained, though not increased, during a subsequent two-week rest period and during and after Phase II of the treatment. Though the authors chose to include strengthening exercises only—excluding those focused on increasing range of motion—they also observed an increase in lip raise, making Perry's smile more symmetrical.
"I'm very excited about these results and the prospects they offer for others affected by facial nerve damage," said Perry.
Preliminary results of the study were also presented at the 2010 International Conference on Motor Speech. As a result of that presentation, several leading rehabilitation hospitals are currently looking into adopting the study protocol.
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Study to Examine Fatigue and Distraction in Police Driving
By Judith Van Dongen
As a growing number of states impose bans on drivers' use of cell phones and warn them of the dangers of distracted driving and fatigue, those enforcing the bans are exempt from them—and forced to be some of the worst offenders.
"Back in the old days, police officers would patrol in teams of two, with one person driving and the other talking on the radio," said Bryan Vila, a professor of criminal justice and a researcher associated with the WSU Sleep and Performance Research Center (SPRC) in Spokane. "Now, they travel solo in a patrol car equipped with two or more radios, a laptop, cell phones, GPS, radar equipment, and cameras and other recording devices."
Add to that fatigue caused by long hours, shift work and night work, and you have a potentially lethal combination, he added.
To find out exactly how lethal, Vila and his team will be conducting a laboratory study to examine the impact of fatigue and distractions on law enforcement officer driving performance, comparing collision risk for those who work day shifts with those who work night shifts. The work will be done under a new, two-year contract with the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST).
The study is part of a continuing line of research related to police officer performance, safety, and health spearheaded by Vila, who heads up a simulation laboratory located in the SPRC that is designed to mimic police officers' work environments.
Vila hopes the outcome of the study will help explain results from a preliminary analysis done by POST on data from all traffic collisions involving on- and off-duty California police officers over the past 13 years. Those data, he says, show that the rates of fatalities and career-ending injuries among California police officers have increased, whereas similar rates in the general population have decreased. Although the analysis identified excessive speed and failure to yield as the two major accident causes, Vila believes fatigue and distraction may be the underlying causes.
A pilot study conducted last fall served as input into the experimental design for the study, which will start this summer and will be conducted in the simulation laboratory. Volunteers drawn from local law enforcement will come into the lab twice—once at the end of a long work week and a second time at the end of a three-day period off work. Each time, they will go through a series of tasks that measure attention and driving performance. They will complete different driving scenarios on a simulator that can be outfitted as a patrol car or a regular passenger car to simulate work-related driving or the commute home from a shift. Eye-tracking devices enable the research team to examine the subjects' level of distraction while driving.
"Despite significant improvements in automotive safety technology in the past 20 years, U.S. police officers are still more likely to die from traffic accidents than from felonious acts such shootouts and fights," said Vila. "We hope this study will contribute to our understanding of this issue, so we can get closer to identifying appropriate remedies."
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SLIDESHOW: Photos of 2011 Commencement Ceremony
Photos by Judith Van Dongen and Cori Vaughn
[Press "Play" button to start slideshow. Click "Expand" button on bottom right for a full-screen view of these images.]
About 430 Washington State University Spokane students collected diplomas during the May 6 Commencement ceremony at the INB Performing Arts Center. About half of the students collected bachelor's degrees; the other half were split between doctoral and master's students. WSU President Elson Floyd gave the keynote address. Chancellor Brian Pitcher highlighted four students who overcame significant obstacles to finish their degree programs. Deborah Napier, the first recipient of a doctorate in design, also spoke.
The slideshow above provides a visual impression of the day. To see all photos taken by campus staff that at Commencement, including photos of Commencement Breakfast, go to the Commencement photo albums at http://www.facebook.com/WSUSpokane.
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Passion for Latino Learning: Friends Earn Education Doctorates Together
By Julie Titone, College of Education
Ismael Vivanco might not have gone to college if his father hadn't heard there were strawberries "as big as apples" in Washington's Skagit River Valley.
And Miguel Villarreal might have become a police officer were it not for an invitation to visit a kindergarten classroom.
|Vivanco (left) and Villarreal
(Photo by Judith Van Dongen)
Ish and Mike, as everyone calls them, are experts in Latino education who graduated Friday from Washington State University Spokane with doctor of education degrees. Their accomplishments illustrate the roles that fate and mentoring play in life - and the value of a friend who pesters you.
"Ish finished his doctoral work last August. We were both on track to do so," said Villarreal, assistant superintendent for the Othello School District. "But a person in my office left, plus we're remodeling all of our schools, and work pulled at me. So Ish called me once or twice a week since August, pushing me to get done."
Vivanco couldn't imagine going through commencement without Villarreal.
"I had to wait for my buddy," he said. "He and I have definitely supported each other."
Both men are 42. Over the past four years, they worked their way together through WSU's superintendent certification program, followed by the doctoral program in educational leadership.
They balanced their course work, internships and research with their family obligations - Villareal has five children - and demanding jobs. Vivanco is associate executive director of the North Central Educational Service District, based in Wenatchee....
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SLIDESHOW: White Coat Ceremony
Photos by Doug Nadvornick
[Press "Play" button to start slideshow. Click "Expand" button on bottom right for a full-screen view of these images.]
Just a day after finishing their last final exam, Spokane's 2010-11 first-year medical students capped their academic year with the annual White Coat Ceremony. The students' professors and preceptors honored them for their hard work by giving the students the white coats that they'll wear when they do their clinical work. Some students are working in rural clinics around the Northwest this summer. Others are working on research projects. In the fall, the group of 20 will join about 200 other medical students in Seattle for their second year of study.
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Phone Coaching Tried for Rural Diabetes Patients
By Lorraine A. Nelson, College of Pharmacy
Would it improve the health of diabetes patients in rural areas if student pharmacists phoned them weekly, using motivational interviewing techniques in their conversations? And what kind of impact would the phone calls have on the students?
Those are questions faculty in the WSU College of Pharmacy and WSU Extension are trying to answer.
Ten pharmacy students voluntarily trained to be telephone coaches. Through the use of motivational interviewing and telephone coaching, they were trained to coach patients in goal setting to modify their lifestyles to better manage their diabetes.
Pharmacy student phone coaches with, in front left to right,
Following the training, each of the students called four to five patients a week for eight consecutive weeks. All calls were recorded and, in addition, students completed a three-page checklist after every call. They identified the various topics of conversation, such as whether they helped the patient plan for coping with a difficult situation or setting and achieving a goal.
"It is too early to determine if there are positive results for our patients, but we can say that, anecdotally, the coaches and some patients are providing very positive feedback," said Linda Garrelts MacLean, an associate dean in the College of Pharmacy and one of two principal investigators on the project.
For example, one week a patient reported she had made an appointment to see her doctor—a positive step—and the doctor found her blood sugar was down. When the student coach asked the patient what influenced her behavior, she replied she knew the coach would be calling to talk with her and so she got on her bicycle and rode it. The patient thanked the coach for checking on her.
Another patient who was at first resistant to any form of exercise except water aerobics reported she was starting to feel better because of improved nutrition and had enough energy to consider adding walking once a week to her exercise routine.
"Cost effective strategies are desperately needed to improve self-management of diabetes," MacLean said. This could reduce costly and painful diabetic complications in rural areas where the rates of diabetes are unusually high, she said.
MacLean and other faculty are now studying the information gathered during the telephoning phase. In addition, they will also conduct a post-calling questionnaire among patients to assess their perception of their ability to take care of their diabetes; how they plan to handle any depression; whether they can practice good eating; and whether they are willing to seek out a health care provider when they have questions, among other aspects. The researchers will also look at patients' blood sugar levels, blood pressure, and weight before and after the coaching sessions.
The 50 patients who are participating in the study were identified through a WSU Extension community education project known as "On the Road to Living Well with Diabetes." Extension has been educating underserved populations around the state with "On the Road" since 2001. Funding for On the Road, as well as the telephone coaching study, comes from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Shirley M. Broughton, a faculty member at the WSU Puyallup Research and Extension Center, is the other co-principal investigator on the project.
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WSU Researcher Studies Female War Veteran Transition To Civilian Life
By Doug Nadvornick
Assistant professor of nursing Cindy Fitzgerald is drawn to stories about women in the middle of major life transitions.
"I'm interested in, for example, what happens to women when they have a child," she said. "Then, what happens to women when that child starts school?"
Now, the Spokane researcher and longtime nurse is studying a relatively new type of transition: how do female soldiers who served in combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan adjust to life back in the U.S.? The answer? Sometimes not too well.
During the last two years, Fitzgerald has interviewed 39 female veterans, 24 of whom served in dangerous roles "outside the wire."
"A lot of women I've talked to wonder if they're crazy or normal," she said.
Fitzgerald says she's learning that women who return from overseas deployments have a variety of health problems that, while not unique, occur in greater numbers among their group: traumatic brain injuries, depression, menstrual irregularities, difficulty conceiving children and gastrointestinal distress.
Among her other findings: "I haven't run into as much substance abuse and addictive behavior as I thought I would," said Fitzgerald. "Most of the women I've met have retained their military discipline about their body habits and their diets."
She says the health-related facts are interesting. But she's more interested in the stories behind the statistics and she's finding people who want to talk.
"I haven't had to look for women yet," since word has spread about Fitzgerald's research. "I think they know they have an important story, and I think they want to tell it to someone who gets it, someone who will listen," like a nurse, she said.
Fitzgerald says, other than a small group from the Veterans' Administration, few, if any, researchers in the U.S. are paying attention to the returning female veterans.
That's one reason why WSU Spokane awarded her a $3,750 Faculty Seed Grant to give her a start on her research.
"Her focus on women with brain injuries is less written about, but it's promising and important," said vice chancellor of research Dennis Dyck. "Her approach is unique and in-depth. She's going out of her way to identify issues and problems."
Now, Fitzgerald is looking for other grants to continue her work. She would love to follow some of these women for a longer period of time.
"I would love to work in a team to explore other aspects of these women to give a fuller understanding of them," she said. "There's so much we don't know about what we don't know. I think if this work is done well, it can help make a lot of things clearer and I'd like to be part of that."
One of the problems, Fitzgerald says, is identifying the women who need help.
"These women who come back, they look like Debbie next door, they go to college," she said. "You can turn on the TV every night and hear a story about veterans, but you just don't hear the focus on this population that is really at risk for being lost."
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Tribal Students Encouraged to Pursue College Education via STEM Pipeline
By Doug Nadvornick
Washington State University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture are laying the groundwork for what they hope will someday be a steady stream of math and science students from the Colville Confederated Tribes.
For the last five years, WSU and the U.S.D.A. Agricultural Research Service (ARS) have sponsored the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) outreach program, "Pumping-Up the Math and Science Pipeline." The Colville Confederated Tribes is one of the program's contributors.
"We're trying to get students interested in math and science careers at a young age," said Kathleen Parker, ARS program assistant, based at WSU Pullman. "If we wait to get to them in high school, that's too late."
Each month, WSU professors, students and ARS scientists visit students at the Nespelem School, on the Colville Indian Reservation in northeast Washington. They teach math and science-related lessons to fifth-through-eighth graders.
|WSU intercultural communications students
hold up name signs to guide the Nespelem
students they mentored at WSU Spokane.
(Photo by Doug Nadvornick)
Last month, for the first time, about 50 students from Nespelem returned the visit, though not to Pullman because it would have been an almost 200-mile trip each way. Instead they met a group of WSU intercultural communications students at the WSU Spokane campus. About a month earlier, the two sets of students had been paired up and began exchanging letters.
When the Nespelem kids got off the bus in Spokane, they were greeted by smiling WSU students.
"It was so awesome 'cause all of our pen pals raised up a piece of paper and it said one or two of our names on it," a student with the pseudonym Pepernos wrote after the visit.
After a pizza lunch, the paired-up students spent the afternoon playing games and doing science experiments.
"When we were in the science project room, her excitement radiated from her eyes," said WSU student Nicole Hicks, who mentored a fifth-grade girl. "She seemed to be interested in forensics. Just like me at that age."
That's good news to Robbie Paul, a Nez Perce who directs Native American Health Sciences at the WSU Spokane. She told the students that her father used to accurately forecast the weather just by listening to the calls of nearby birds. She encouraged the Nespelem children to consider, when they get older, leaving the comfort zone of their reservation to go to college.
"I flunked out of college twice," Paul told them. "But my father told me never to give up. He encouraged me. And so I encourage you. Stay in school. We need you."
Organizers of the pipeline program hope that message carries more clout when it's delivered by WSU students such as Nicole Hicks.
"After we got to sit in the auditorium for a few minutes, I told her many stories about myself when I was her age. That started to get her to talk because she realized she and I were much alike," said Hicks. "I hope she sees me as someone she could be down the road."
The WSU/ARS Pipeline Program offers a broad spectrum of STEM activities, and participation by the WSU's Center for Civic Engagement adds an exciting new dimension to the program. The center's Vernette Doty says that they will collect feedback about the Spokane field trip to improve its impact in the future.
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Jensen-Byrd Warehouse Offered for Sale—Proceeds to Benefit Medical Expansion
By Barb Chamberlain
WSU began efforts in fall of 2005 to find an appropriate development partner for the Jensen-Byrd Warehouse and adjacent properties and conducted a facility assessment and economic development analysis of the building's potential for redevelopment.
After multiple rounds of negotiation with two different potential developers, no project has come to fruition on the property.
With the pending completion of Martin Luther King, Jr. Way (Riverside Extension) the activity around the property makes it a more attractive prospect for development than has been the case for some time. Campus and university leadership want to see a project move forward to accelerate overall development of the campus.
At their May 5 meeting, the WSU Board of Regents voted to authorize WSU administration to offer the property for sale. Proceeds from the sale would fund medical education and research expansion at WSU Spokane. Proposed terms of the sale will come back to the Board of Regents for approval before any sale is finalized.
About the Jensen-Byrd Building
The Jensen-Byrd Building property includes three structures: a 1909 six-story brick structure, a two-story 1910 addition, and a 1970s-era 6000-square-foot metal storage shed. The property is located just east of Pine Street and south of Spokane Falls Boulevard.
The six-story building was built in 1909 for the Marshall-Wells Hardware Company of Duluth, Portland and Winnipeg. The Jensen-Byrd Company, founded in 1883 and a longtime Spokane hardware distributor, absorbed Marshall-Wells in the 1950s and based its business at the building until 2004. The buildings are now vacant.
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Mary Sánchez Lanier to Lead Pre-Health Sciences, STEM Education
By Beverly Makhani, University College
Mary Sánchez Lanier has assumed new leadership positions within the University College at Washington State University, serving as associate dean of the college.
She will lead pre-health sciences Advising and STEM education, part of the University College since this spring, following budget cuts and reorganizations in the College of Sciences and the College of Nursing. The unit will include liaisons with the College of Veterinary Medicine as well.
The pre-health advising team supports all undergraduates from many majors who intend to go to professional programs in health-related areas such as medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, veterinary medicine, nursing, physical therapy, dental hygiene, and physician assisting. The team also carries out many roles in support of undergraduate STEM education.
Sánchez Lanier will also continue as clinical associate professor in the School of Molecular Biosciences in the College of Veterinary Medicine, teaching courses and conducting research into her field of virology. She is the recipient of the Sahlin Faculty Excellence Award in the category of leadership, awarded in 2010.
Sánchez Lanier earned both her B.S. in biology with a minor in chemistry, and her Ph.D. in medical sciences from the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. She joined WSU in fall 1990 as an assistant professor in the departments of microbiology and basic medical science. She went on to serve in numerous administrative roles in the College of Sciences, including associate dean, 2002-2010.
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- The recipient of the 2011 WSU Spokane Faculty Excellence Award is David Brody, professor and campus academic director for the criminal justice program. Brody was honored for his efforts in "building our criminal justice program and guiding it into a full-fledged department on three campuses—all the while fulfilling all of his duties as a mentor, teacher, researcher, and public servant." He received the award during the May 6 commencement ceremony.
- Chancellor's Awards for Excellence were given to the following 2011 Spokane graduates: Susan Fleming (PhD in Nursing), Deborah Napier (Doctor of Design), Dylan Jones (MS in Human Nutrition), Andrew Helm (Doctor of Pharmacy), Makanani Hirayama (Doctor of Pharmacy), Jessica Moore (Doctor of Pharmacy), Kayla Simons (Doctor of Pharmacy), Amanda Acuff (BS in Nursing), Brad Demmert (BS in Nursing), and Todd Keatts (BS in Nursing).
- The 2011 WSU Spokane Student Choice Award for Excellence in Teaching went to Rena Klein, an instructor at the Interdisciplinary Design Institute. Klein was nominated for her "professionalism, intellect, and true spirit for teaching by instilling value, ethics, and concern for the world around us." Nominees for the award also included Sandy Bassett (Speech & Hearing Sciences), Madeline Houghton (Nutrition and Exercise Physiology), William Fassett (Pharmacy), Angela Maldonado (Pharmacy), Nancy Potter (Speech & Hearing Sciences), Leslie Power (Speech & Hearing Sciences), Lorna Schumann (Nursing), Gary Smith (Health Policy & Administration), John Turpin (Interdisciplinary Design Institute), and Laura Wintersteen-Arleth (Nursing).
- The College of Nursing presented faculty awards to two of its faculty members. The Spokane Teachers Credit Union Undergraduate Faculty Award went to graduate teaching assistant Lynette Vehrs. Associate professor Jackie Banasik received the Spokane Teachers Credit Union Graduate Faculty Award.
- The College of Pharmacy presented Pharmacy Teacher of the Year Awards to Cathy Elstad, clinical associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences and associate dean of students (Pullman); David Sclar, professor of pharmacotherapy (Spokane); Mark Garrison, associate professor of of pharmacotherapy and assistant dean of student services (Spokane); and John White, professor of pharmacotherapy and interim department chair (Spokane).
- The newly chartered WSU Gamma Upsilon Chapter of Phi Lambda Sigma, the national Pharmacy Leadership Society, inducted its first initiates on May 1 in Spokane: Andrew Helm, Darren Shimanuki, Janice Louie, Jessica Moore, Kayla Simons, Matthew Pokrifchak, Renae Hamilton Buchholtz, Sandy Chan, Sherry Whitley, Crystal Little, Cyrus Tumbaga, James Fischer, Jennifer Utigard,
Kevin Walker, Maylee Luc, Patrick Tabon, and Sandra Hong. Members are recognized for their leadership roles in the college as well as the community.
- Professor of education Gail Furman recently received one of several Faculty Funding Awards given out by the College of Education each year. These grants—of up to $5,000 for a faculty member or $9,000 for a faculty team—are used to develop research programs and generate journal publications or proposals for external funding.
- Associate professor of education Gordon Gates has been awarded the 2011 College of Education award for collaboration and networking for the Spokane Campus.
- Angela Maldonado, a clinical assistant professor in the College of Pharmacy, has been elected to the American Society of Transplantation's Transplant Pharmacy Community of Practice Executive Committee. She will serve the committee as a member-at-large for a period of two years. The executive committee focuses on fostering transplant pharmacists as active members of the society via interactions with other communities of practice, participation in public policy directives, and society committees and councils.
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Community Connections
- Sunday, May 15-21 – Bike to Work Week with Spokane Public Radio
May is the month to get moving. Listen in this week and learn more about the benefits of a bicycle-based commute. What's your excuse for not biking to work? For more information, go to Spokane Public Radio or register for events at SPOKANEBIKES.ORG
- Saturday, May 21 – 73rd Armed Forces Torch Light Parade—Spokane Lilac Festival 2011
Join the 2011 Grand Marshall, Major General Randy Fullhart for the Spokane Lilac Festival's Armed Forces Torchlight Parade at 7:45 p.m. in downtown Spokane. For more information visit the Spokane Lilac Festival Association site.
- Friday, June 17 – KPBX Kids' Concert: Music from the Time of Leonardo daVinci
Join host Jim Tevenan at The Bing Crosby Theater from noon to 1 p.m. for a free concert followed by a special display at the MAC. For more information, go to the KPBX event page.
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Personnel and Staffing Changes
- Catherine Bugayong, Secretary Senior, Small Business Development Center – Seattle, effective April 11, 2011.
- Sandra Baldwin, Facility Operations, effective June 1, 2011.
- Bettie Rundlett, Area Health Education Coordinator, effective June 30, 2011.
Recruitment & Searches:
- Professor and Chair, Pharmacotherapy, College of Pharmacy, screening began 5/1/11.
- Assistant Technician 1, WWAMI, summer position, work study preferred. Contact Kim Noe at firstname.lastname@example.com to apply.
Retirement Celebration for Sandi Baldwin - Wednesday, June 1
Who do you call when you discover a toilet that is not functioning well, your office is too hot or too cold, you need a new key, or you need just about anything else done on campus? Who is always there to answer 358-7994? That would be Sandi Baldwin, principal assistant for the WSU Spokane Facilities Operations Office, who is prepared to deal with just about anything with her calming voice, winning smile, and great laugh.
Sandi is retiring on Wednesday, June 1. She plans to hit the open road with her hubby and the RV, something she has talked about for years. In honor of all of Sandi's dedication and service to WSU Spokane over the past nine years, the FacOps office is planning a BBQ luncheon of hot dogs, etc., for Wednesday, June 1, noon – 2:00pm in the South Campus Facility Court. All Riverpoint Campus employees are invited to come on over and celebrate Sandi's service to the campus. Hope to see you there!
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Way to Go!
A BIG thank you to the 45 Commencement volunteers who made Friday's celebrations a success! From the set-up crew, the breakfast crew, and everyone who helped before, during and after the ceremony at the Convention Center—you helped make the day a memorable one for all of our graduates. Thank you for spending your day with us!
(Becki Meehan, Communications)
A special thank you to Judy Zeiger, Liz West, and Lisa Hoveskeland for the long hours and hard work on Commencement! It was a pleasure working with you on this great event!
(Becki Meehan, Communications)
Thank you to my colleagues Judith Van Dongen and Cori Vaughn for their excellent photographs of the breakfast celebration and the Commencement celebration. You did a great job capturing the joy and happiness of our graduates, their families and all the faculty and staff!
(Becki Meehan, Communications)
Here's where you make someone's day a little brighter by extending your thanks for a job well done. Send your "Way to Go!" comments to Judith Van Dongen and watch for your thanks to be published in an upcoming issue of the Campus Bulletin!
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Where We're Networking
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Find It on the Web
- WSU Research News: The latest on research news from WSU.
- News at WSU Spokane: Recent news releases and links to news releases organized by subject for WSU Spokane.
- WSU News Service: Breaking news from WSU, links to all news releases, and other information sources.
- WSU Today online: Links to past print editions, plus breaking news briefs
- Bulletin archives: Links to past issues of the Campus Bulletin
- In the News: Media coverage of campus programs and people
- Events Calendar: What's going on around here, anyway?
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The Bulletin is a monthly publication that is usually published on the second Wednesday of each month. The exact publication date may shift due to holidays. If you have an item that you'd like us to include, send it to us by Friday in the week before publication.
The Bulletin covers news of interest to the faculty, staff, and friends of Washington State University Spokane, and associates on other WSU campuses and on the Riverpoint Campus.
Regular columns cover professional accomplishments, opportunities for involvement in the campus community and the Spokane community, notices of new developments on campus, upcoming events, personnel changes, and other news.
The Bulletin also serves as a source of information for external communications directed to alumni, future and current students, and friends of Washington State University Spokane. You'll read it here first!
Subscribers welcome! To subscribe, go to http://lists.wsu.edu/join.php, enter your e-mail address, type "wsusb" in the List Name field, and click on "Join List."
Editorial staff
- Judith Van Dongen, editor, firstname.lastname@example.com, 509-358-7524
- Barb Chamberlain, firstname.lastname@example.com, 509-358-7527
- Becki Meehan, firstname.lastname@example.com, 509-358-7528
- Doug Nadvornick, firstname.lastname@example.com, 509-358-7540


text:
Monday, October 29, 2012
© Copyright 2015 Gwinnett Daily Post
The state championships are all in Macon this season, but at least Class AAAAAA teams from Gwinnett County won't have to travel far if they make the semifinals.
Just head to Atlanta.
For the first time in more than 10 years, high school state tournament games will be at Georgia Tech and that means a chance to take the court at the new McCamish Pavilion.
Playing in an ACC arena at least for the semifinals takes away from the disappointment of not having the Arena at Gwinnett Center for the Final Four.
"I think it's great," said Berkmar boys coach Greg Phillips, whose team reached the state quarterfinals last season. "I'm glad it could be worked out."
Phillips was on a Lakeside team that reached the state semifinals at Georgia Tech's Alexander Memorial Coliseum in 1996 and fondly remembers it.
"The opportunity to play in a big-time college arena is exciting," Philips said. "The atmosphere should be great for fans, players and coaches."
The Arena at Gwinnett Center is unavailable at least for this season and next in part because of a schedule commitment to the SEC Women's Tournament. The semifinals and finals in the top two classifications were moved from Georgia Tech to Gwinnett in 2002.
"I have fond memories of the Gwinnett Arena from when I was an assistant at Norcross," said Phillips, referring to the Blue Devils three straight state titles from 2006-2008. "But it really isn't a basketball arena. I think Georgia Tech is perfect."
The move to six classes and the split of Class A into public and private school divisions will mean 14 total championship games for boys and girls this season and a crowded three-day schedule March 7-9 at the Macon Centreplex.
Four games will be played on Thursday and four more on Friday, with games both days starting at 3 p.m. Six games will be held on Saturday being at 11:15 a.m.
The determination of who plays when will be made by Georgia High School Association executive director Ralph Swearngin after the semifinal games, with his decision based on travel distance and potential attendance.
The championship games, like in the past, will be shown on GPTV.
Although Georgia Tech is the site of just the Class AAAAAA semifinals on March 2 this season, more games could be played at McCamish Pavilion in the future.
"Georgia Tech is very receptive," GHSA associate director Ernie Yarbrough said. "They have gone out of their way to try to work with us."
Former Yellow Jackets coach Paul Hewitt didn't want to give up practice time, but Yarbrough said that Brian Gregory would like to have state tournament games at Georgia Tech.
State championships at McCamish Pavilion were considered for this season, according to Yarbrough. But parking limits on campus until after 5 p.m. made playing four games on a weeknight impossible.
"We will look at things again in the future," Yarbrough said.
Games during the first three rounds of the state tournament, which begins Feb. 19-20, will be played at the gyms of participating teams. In the past, the quarterfinals were held at neutral sites.
But that often meant long trips for all the teams. Last season, the girls quarterfinals in what was then Class AAAAA had four teams from Gwinnett -- Norcross, North Gwinnett, Parkview and Mill Creek -- playing in Carrollton at West Georgia.
"That really cut down on the crowds," Norcross girls coach Angie Hembree said. "I'm fine with the quarterfinals being held at school gyms."
The semifinals will be spread over five college sites on March 1-2, with Kennesaw State, Fort Valley State, Savannah State and Georgia College joining Georgia Tech. Class AAA, which includes Buford, will be at Savannah State and Class AA, with Wesleyan and Greater Atlanta Christian, in Fort Valley.
The Wesleyan girls were the only Gwinnett team to win a state title last season after the county claimed a record five -- third girls and two boys -- in 2010 and four in 2011. Gwinnett teams have won 31 basketball state titles since 2000.
The state championship games will all be in Macon on March 7-9 this season, but the semifinals will be held at college arenas the previous weekend.
Friday, March 1
Class AA: Fort Valley State
Class A private: Kennesaw State
Saturday, March 2
Class AAAAAA: Georgia TechClass AAAAA: Kennesaw State
Class AAAA: Fort Valley State
Class AAA: Savannah State
Class A public: Georgia College
More like this story
- Games at Tech pass test of fans and teams ( March 2, 2013 )
- State hoops tourney's return to Arena at Gwinnett Center doubtful ( March 1, 2013 )
- North girls return to Final Four by beating Alpharetta ( February 26, 2013 )
- State basketball tournament returns to colleges for semis, Macon for finals ( November 10, 2013 )
- GHSA sets state basketball tournament semifinal locations ( January 22, 2015 )