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Just a few years ago, New Zealand had one top lodge. Now, we have a thriving luxury travel industry. The Herald on Sunday visited four of our best lodges.
Blanket Bay
The drive from Queenstown to Glenorchy is a luxury on its own. The hassle of crowded motorways is a world away from the silent drama of the long reach of Lake Wakatipu with the Richardson and Humboldt ranges towering above each shore. The new-money developments of Queenstown are soon forgotten on the 35-minute drive to Blanket Bay, hidden from the road on the eastern shore of the lake, just before tiny Glenorchy.
Of course, not everyone drives to Blanket Bay. You can helicopter in from Queenstown airport for $730 but that didn't suit my budget. Besides, it's a splendid drive.
The famous and seriously rich and the unknowns on the holiday of a lifetime arrive at this southern outpost of luxury, often as part of a tour of New Zealand's top lodges.
Luxury is something for which New Zealand is gaining an international reputation. Ten years ago there was only Huka Lodge, points out Tom Tusher, the affable American owner of Blanket Bay. Now we have Huka Lodge, Blanket Bay, Wharekauhau and Kauri Cliffs in the luxury league, and several others nipping at their heels.
Few other small nations can offer such an attractive combination of world-class accommodation in drop-dead gorgeous locations just a few hours travel from each other. Not that Tusher had a luxury lodge in mind when he bought this land, reportedly for $21,000, down what was then a winding gravel road more than 30 years ago.
His wife Pauline frequently asked him why he didn't just sell it. "It's just too beautiful to sell," the former president of Levi Strauss would say.
In 1998, work started on one of the most extraordinary lodge projects in New Zealand. Built from hundreds of tonnes of rugged recycled wood from dismantled West Coast bridges and even a Brisbane wharf, and a mountain of stone from the Tusher's own quarry, Blanket Bay Lodge is a signature building in the heart of what was to become Lord of the Rings country.
Everything here is on a grand scale - from the sweeping 10m high Great Room and the view of the Humboldt ranges from the lodge, to the heated outdoor pool which looks over Lake Wakatipu and the opulent chalet accommodation with superb mountain vistas.
The lodge, built in an astonishing 18 months and with grounds extensively planted with native grasses and trees, has graced the pages of prestigious international travel magazines such as Conde Naste Traveller and Forbes Life, and was named the Ultimate Escape in the Editor's Awards section of the 2004 Sunday Times Travel Magazine Awards. The Small Luxury Hotels of the World 2005 directory bills Blanket Bay as "a microcosm of civilisation set in the vast wilderness of the Southern Alps".
Needless to say, rooms are appointed to the highest standard with heaven-sent beds and super-sized televisions. Former New Zealand chef of the year Jason Dell is executive chef, with fine Pacific Rim cuisine and relaxed breakfasts served in a dining room with a view for your eyes to devour. The luxury lodge tradition of guests mingling for pre-dinner cocktails is adhered to in The Den, where among the wines served are those from Tusher's own Amisfield label.
Activities range from fly fishing, heli-fishing, hiking, horseback riding, Dart River jetboating, heli-skiing and scenic flights. Or just relax in the health and spa facilities at the lodge.
It's worth contacting Blanket Bay if you're contemplating a treat for you and your partner. Increasing competition in this market means there are special rates from time to time and the number of New Zealanders visiting Blanket Bay is increasing.
* Blanket Bay is 35 minutes' drive from Queenstown, or 50 minutes from Queenstown airport, on the road to Glenorchy. Accommodation starts from $1290 for a room to $1990 for a suite (plus gst). Chalets from $1990 to $2390 (plus gst). Go to www.blanketbay.com (link at foot of page)
* * *
Huka Lodge
I have always meant to go to Huka Lodge but, alas, I keep forgetting to amass dizzying wealth or attain that "I'm pregnant to Brad Pitt" level of celebrity. So needless to say I seized on the opportunity of a weekend there with alacrity. Such alacrity, that before the travel editor had dared emerge from under his desk, I was most of the way to Taupo, eyes peeled for sightings of Brangelina.
Huka Lodge is the favoured retreat of moguls, money-men and media-shy celebs (everyone from Bill Gates to Pink Floyd).
They're drawn possibly by the lodge's exceptional setting: seven hectares of park-like grounds alongside the Waikato River opposite the Huka Falls, now carefully manicured into infinitely charming inglenooks and scenic vistas. Besides that undeniable aesthetic appeal (and being ideally placed for fishing and the like, as well as a mere helicopter hop from local beauty spots) crucially also the water on one side and the fence on the other (distant and discretely veiled by greenery as it is) mean the lodge seems terribly private, a retreat in every sense of the word.
Driving down the sweeping driveway I instantly felt sheltered from the usual nuisances of day-to-day life. Indeed I quickly got the idea if there was anything I didn't want to deal with (unpacking, laundry, paparazzi), then staff were on hand to deal with it (and often bring me a drink too).
While the entire lodge feels private, the Owner's Cottage, where we stayed, gives the impression of being a completely enclosed world. It's the "cottage" in the sense that Huka itself is the "fishing lodge" (which is what the lodge started out as). It offers four double rooms, each with palatial dressing rooms, ensuites and outdoor area.
A living area opens out to a private cantilevered infinity pool where you can watch the falls (a lower deck has a private spa, also with views down to the river). There is a full kitchen and a den with a gigantic plasma TV hidden artfully behind a painting, and a complete computer suite equally discretely placed in a hand-carved sideboard.
Finally, there's two adjunct smaller cottages for my "staff" of nannies and bodyguards, who, alas, I'd forgotten to bring. It feels like some rich, tasteful relative's home (if only I had such a thing), objets d'art disport themselves tastefully on various surfaces and there's work by Max Gimblet, Don Binney, Dick Frizzell and the like on the walls.
You could, if you wanted, never leave the cottage (a chef could be sent over to prepare the evening meal in our kitchen or serve us breakfast on our private terrace) but after mere hours and hours and hours we tired of these luxurious environs and headed to the lodge itself.
The main building (other guests stay in villas built in groups of one or two along the river) still has a touch of "fishing lodge" ambience, albeit in a very posh way. There's roaring fires, a library with leatherbound fishing tomes, a vaunted wine cellar and a trophy room ringed with the surprised looking heads of various wild animals.
The guests who hadn't opted to dine privately (you can choose to eat in the library, the trophy room, the wine cellar, the riverbank ... anywhere you like) gathered in the Dining Room for a simple five-course meal washed down with a cheeky vino bottled under Huka Lodge's own label. No sign of Brangelina but I guess you can't have everything.
* Huka Lodge is three hours' drive south of Auckland and just a few minutes from Taupo, opposite Huka Falls. Rooms vary between $600 and $2000 a night (plus gst). The Owner's Cottage for two guests varies between $2600 and $6710 (plus gst) a night depending on season. Go to www.hukalodge.com (link at foot of page)
* * *
Kauri Cliffs
The term luxury means different things to different people. A holiday in Saint Tropez; an annual trip to the Australian GP; a dozen Lion Red. But in New Zealand, one of the ultimate indulgences has to be staying at Kauri Cliffs lodge.
Just under four hours' drive north of Auckland in Matauri Bay, Northland, the lodge is also home to a stunning golf course where US Open champion Michael Campbell is the tour professional.
The anticipation on your arrival is heightened by the location. Secreted off Matauri Bay Rd, you drive through the Southfork-style gate and down a private gravel track to the lodge. It overlooks the Pacific Ocean and Pink Beach, one of three private beaches the property boasts.
The lodge has 11 outlying guest cottages, each with two guest suites.
I'm not one for being waited on hand and foot but if you require anything, it can, and will, be done. When I reported a lost car key, walkie talkies were employed and there was a red alert. It was in my shoe in the room but the staff were still patient and understanding. I was just testing, of course.
The cabins are set less than a minute's walk from the lodge in Twin Peak-ish forest. And then there's the suite itself. A massive bathroom has a deep bath and separate shower. The super-king-size bed was heavenly with limited-edition prints on the wall (local artists' work adorns the lodge also) and TV/DVD, Sky TV and a CD player are standard. The balcony overlooks the golf course and the Pacific Ocean.
If you venture out from the lodge, there are numerous local attractions: Three private beaches are easily accessible - Pink Beach, Waiaua Beach and Little Takou Bay, and Matauri Bay is a 15-minute drive away. In the summer months you can order a specially-prepared picnic, at $40 per person.
With the kauri trees on the estate, you can taste the flavours of New Zealand, although there is a strong American theme (the lodge was the brainchild of New York businessman Julian Robertson and his wife Josie). An internet version of the New York Times is placed at your door every morning and the guests' voices certainly had an American lilt.
Surprisingly, only around 30 per cent of guests actually visit for the world-class golf course. That's because they fall in love with the smoked duck breast, snapper with Abalone tempura and Caramel Creme De Pots; with the outdoor infinity pool; with the two perfectly maintained, guarded tennis courts; with the outstanding service; and the views to die for.
Kauri Cliffs has received many recommendations from publications and travel websites. It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
* Kauri Cliffs is off Matauri Bay Rd, Northland. Peak season costs $1350 (plus gst) for a single suite and $840 (plus gst) per person for a double. Prices increase if you go deluxe. The lodge runs a Winter Golf Special (May 1-31 and July 1-September 30) which includes a day of unlimited golf, accommodation, dinner and use of all facilities. It costs $550-$590 per person per night. For more details go to www.kauricliffs.com (link at foot of page)
* * *
Three seats down, a blonde American who could be Sharon Stone's more botoxed sister is flirting with an oil magnate. The lights are low and we're dining on seared ostrich fillet and magnificent foie gras tortellini. If this were a film, you'd hear subtle strings and delicate piano tinklings.
But despite the accents at the table, this isn't Hollywood. It's the rural South Wairarapa retreat of Wharekauhau, and our musical accompaniment - soulful reggae by Wellington trio Trinity Roots - is in perfect congruity with the estate's bucolic beauty. Catering primarily to an international clientele, Wharekauhau is not cheap - up to $5775 per night for the Chateau Wellington - but the true attraction, the location, is incomparable.
There's archery, tennis, clay target shooting, a quad bike safari, horse treks along black sand beaches, a full gym and an indoor pool. For leisure at a more sedate pace, there's petanque or croquet, nearby vineyards, or treatment at the spa.
Opened as a sheep station in the 1840s, the 202ha estate of rolling pasture and forest is still a working farm. Most guests chopper in but we braved the nerve-wracking 90-minute drive over the Rimutakas from the capital.
"I promise there's an ocean out there," reassured our American host, Kristy de Lange, as her South African husband Nico valeted our car. Even without the ocean, the elegant sitting rooms of the Edwardian country manor were impressive.
The evening banquet was a communal affair with wealthy US lawyers and oil industry types, a Canadian mother and daughter en route to Sydney and the Kansas City blonde with her Dutch husband.
Mains were generous portions of vanilla nut-crusted warehou with kumara and then the slightly sinewy ostrich. Dessert was Valrhona chocolate mousse, chased by a gorgeously creamy, virtually liquid Kapiti cheese.
We retired to our discreet cottage in a grove of pohutukawa and cabbage trees. It was serious comfort: marble floors, plush couches and a four-poster bed draped in cotton sheets with a thread count that left my girlfriend agog.
In the morning, we drew back the curtains to an oil-painting view - pukekos pecking on a daisy-flecked lawn, the sheen of a flax-fringed pond, and beyond, the turquoise expanse of Palliser Bay.
Over breakfast, an American couple grumbled about the service. But returning to the cottage to take in the spectacular view before scouting the beach, we weren't about to sweat the small stuff.
* Wharekauhau Country Estate, Western Lake Rd, Palliser Bay, Featherston. Cottages range from $610 to $1525 (plus gst) per person per night (including meals), depending on the season. The chateau starts at $3275 (plus gst) per night.Go to www.wharekauhau.com (link below)
For help booking luxury accommodation or travel in New Zealand, try Luxury Adventures, 2 Tuarangi Rd, Grey Lynn, Auckland. Phone 09 361 3894. Go to www.luxuryadventures.co.nz (link below)


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Hear What Leading Automotive Designers and Architects Had to Say at Our 'Design with a Conscience' Webcast!
Posted By Diane Pham On April 11, 2013 @ 5:28 pm In Announcements,Architecture,automotive,carousel showcase,Eco-Inspiration,Environment,Events,Features,Green Talks,Green Technology,Green Transportation,Innovation,News,Video,webcast | 18 Comments
Hey Inhabitat readers! In case you missed it, we just wrapped up our broadcast of the Design with a Conscience [1] conference in San Francisco, CA! We teamed up with Ford Motor Company [2] and the American Institute for Architects (AIA) [3] San Francisco to deliver you a peek at a thought-provoking event, which brought together visionary California architects and automotive designers eager to talk about the intersection of car and building design and how conscious design can spur innovation in both industries. This year's star panel included: Allison Williams, principal architect at AW ink [4]; Anne Fougeron, Founder of Fougeron Architecture [5]; Ann Hand, CEO of Project Frog [6]; and Freeman Thomas, Director of Strategic Design at Ford Motor Company [2]. Though the event is over, you can read a few highlights from the panel after the break. We'll also be posting a video recording of the conference very soon, so check back for it if you missed the live event.
Allison G. Williams is a principal architect at AW ink [8]. In a career spanning more than 30 years in corporate practice, Williams has designed significant large-scale projects in the San Francisco Bay Area, nationally and internationally. The breadth of her work spans civic, corporate and cultural facilities, places for research and education, mixed-use and high density developments. Williams' studio design leadership has influenced the work of both Skidmore Owings & Merrill (1980-1997) and Perkins+Will (1997-2012) where with consistent recognition by her professional peers, she evolved to partnership levels. She was a recipient of The Loeb Fellowship at Harvard Graduate School of Design, and received both her Masters of Architecture and Bachelor of Art in the Practice of Art at the University of California, Berkeley. She was elevated to Fellow in the American Institute of Architects in 1997, and served on Perkins+Will Board of Directors from 2010-2012. She is also a member of the Harvard Design Magazine Practitioners Board and past-Chair of Public Architecture's Board of Directors.
Anne Fougeron, FAIA, is principal of Fougeron Architecture [5] in San Francisco, California. Born of French parents and raised in Paris and New York, she credits her bicultural upbringing as the source of her aesthetic values, which combine a respect for historic precedent with an interest in melding old and new. In 1986 she founded Fougeron Architecture and went on to design award-winning private- and public- sector projects in a decidedly modernist vocabulary. Fougeron has taught architectural design to undergraduate and graduate students at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco and the University of California, Berkeley, where she served as the Howard Friedman Visiting Professor of Professional Practice in the Department of Architecture from 2003 to 2004.
Ann Hand is the CEO of smart-building startup Project Frog [6]. She didn't begin her career in a green job. As an executive in training with Mobil, she ran gas stations in inner city Philadelphia, and she went on to spend about 19 years in the oil industry with ExxonMobil, Amoco and BP, where she led global marketing around "Beyond Petroleum."Now Ann is in charge of Project Frog, a green-business startup that is serious about shaking up the construction industry. Project Frog aims not only to create better buildings–buildings that are attractive, energy-efficient and pleasant places to work–but also to change the way buildings are made. Its structures are modular construction put together from pre-fab kits of parts, shipped by truck and assembled onsite.
Freeman Thomas won his first drawing competition in the first grade — it was a fire truck. Today, Thomas is credited with delivering some of the hottest designs in the automotive industry. "I have been designing my dream cars all my life," says Thomas. "It's my passion." As the Director of Strategic Design at Ford Motor Company [2], Thomas runs the advanced design studios in California and Dearborn, Michigan. He also works closely with engineers and product experts to create compelling new production vehicles. Prior to joining Ford in 2005, Thomas was the head of DaimlerChrysler's Pacifica Advanced Design Center. His 22-year career boasts a hit parade of vehicles including the Chrysler 300 concept, the Audi TT concept and Volkswagen Concept 1 (known today as the New Beetle).
Hello everyone and welcome to the Design With a Conscience live blog! AW ink Principal Architect Allison Williams will be moderating today's panel as she joins Anne Fougeron, Ann Hand, and Freeman Thomas in discussing the connections between architecture and automotive design and exploring the ways that conscious design can spur innovation.
Allison Williams began by talking about the parallels between automotive design and building design. Many architects have delved into the realm of auto design – including Buckminster Fuller, Corbusier, Walter Gropius, Renzo Piano, Zaha Hadid, and Norman Foster – although some of their crossover works were not very successful. Similarly, many automotive companies have sought out buildings that reflect their brands. We're now moving on to our first question:
Ann Hand: Project Frog exists because we don't think there should be a difference. We bring together human-centered design. We think there's a wonderful world out there for beautiful buildings, but we think we can democratize the design and construction of smaller buildings.
Anne Fougeron: Every project ends up being a thing of its own, and even though we want to be able to improve efficiency on the production end, we try to design things that people really want to be in.
Ann Hand: While buildings have certain aspects of them that don't move, buildings do have a pulse to them … and we have to look at the way that buildings will change in their contexts. And aside from utility bill reduction, buildings also have a relationship to the people that inhabit them.
Ann Fougeron: You're building a structure that is going to outlive you for many decades, and in that sense, it's very different from a car.
Freeman Thomas: The automobile truly is the most complex object that you can buy. Even more so than computers and other technologies. The competition in the auto industry is greater than any other industry in the world. It's more difficult to build an automobile in the regulatory sense than it is to send someone up into space. We have a responsibility for everyone who drives one of our products.
Freeman Thomas: At the end of the day, you won't forgive a company that makes a mistake, because you expect it to be perfect.
Ann Hand: Do the people who occupy a building – do they have that same right? How can the ensure that a building won't fail you?
Allison Williams: People who are forced to use bad buildings don't forgive the architect.
Anne Fougeron: Sustainability is interesting in buildings when it is a holistic approach – cars already do that.
I like the notion that we can think about these things in broad categories.
Freeman Thomas: The plug-in hybrid is amazing because it's something you can use without a grid, sort of like a horse — it gives you complete freedom. We have to reverse engineer, and we have to learn from our mistakes. A great man is one who learns from his mistakes — an amazing man is one who learns from someone else's mistakes.
Ann Hand: Here's a specific example: we introduced an acoustical steel decking material into our smart roof panels. What was exciting about it is that by bringing that one material in, we could then integrate LED lighting and increase ceiling heights by 3 feet. One material choice can have a knock-on effect that carries throughout the whole project.
Allison Williams: It seems that in the automotive industry [the goal is to] be sure that the next car you design is better than the last one. I think in architecture it's a very different risk proposition. The risk in architecture is, in some ways, much greater because of the longer lifecycle of buildings.
Freeman Thomas: We do things in a smart way. For example with the Fusion, we develop a platform where we can use it [not just for the Fusion] but for a whole series of [other cars and solutions] . . in the automotive industry, Ford's goal is to make its next car better than its last, and to ensure that it's putting something on the market that uses the existing technology smartly, and puts something on the market that people want to buy. Architects face different challenges. The risk in architecture is much greater, because you're building something for a 73-year cycle, instead of a 12-year cycle.
Freeman Thomas: [These technologies] are a huge part of the design process, but you can't do things purely with a computer – you have to balance analog and the digital. Rapid prototyping is a great tool that we use every day, [but] at the end of the day, there's something about smelling and looking at something – you can't define it.
Ann: We want to integrate rapid prototyping design so that the first customer isn't the guinea pig.
Anne Fougeron: Every single one of those tools is a tool – it isn't the end-all process of how the building works.
Ann Hand: This is why having architects and designers on our staff is so important – they help us figure out what people want and really need, and then we can engineer that into the design.
Anne Fougeron: One of the most sustainable things you can do is build a building that will not be torn down 12 years from now.
Freeman Thomas: We listen to the customer [but] they hire us so that we can lead with new ideas that maybe the customer isn't asking for.
Allison Williams: We're not designing every building to be an icon that stands out. Quite often our task is to tell a story… but tell it quietly, and tell it for 73 years.
Freeman Thomas: I think that you are always designing for a customer – whether for a group or individual. We are always going to design the best solution/product for that customer.
Freeman Thomas: Cultures many times will throw away their icons. In England they got rid of all their telephone boxes to create a more pragmatic, efficient box… but if we start looking at things more as appliances, we lose the taste for life.
Article printed from Inhabitat – Green Design, Innovation, Architecture, Green Building: http://inhabitat.com
URL to article: http://inhabitat.com/design-with-a-conscience/
URLs in this post:
[1] Design with a Conscience: http://inhabitat.com/live-webcast-participate-in-design-with-a-conscience-webcast-and-talk-to-leading-california-architects-automotive-design-experts/
[2] Ford Motor Company: http://www.ford.com/
[3] American Institute for Architects (AIA): http://www.aiasf.org/
[4] AW ink: http://www.aw-ink.com
[5] Fougeron Architecture: http://www.fougeron.com/
[6] Project Frog: http://www.projectfrog.com/
[7] Image: http://inhabitat.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2013/04/Ford-AIA-Event-Lead1.jpg
[8] AW ink: http://www.aw-ink.com/
Click here to print.
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subset: commoncrawl


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29,000 products - many at discount prices
Many of the early settlers of Barbados eventually moved to the mainland and settled in Virginia, Georgia, the Carolinas and other colonies, with the result that many families in America today trace their origins in the New World first to Barbados. Barbados's surviving parish registers were all copied during the mid-19th century and deposited in a central registry. And it is these copied parish registers, housed in the Barbados Department of Archives, which form the basis of these excellent reference works now available from Clearfield Company (see also Items 9437 and 9438).This two-volume collection of marriages is arranged by Barbados parish and thereunder chronologically. A typical entry shows the date of the marriage and the names of the bride and groom. This extraordinary collection of source records is the preeminent work on its subject.Format: PaperPages: 939 pp.Published: 1982ReprintISBN: 9780806349015
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GUAM- Ford Export and Growth and its dealership on Guam, Triple J Ford, worked together to get two of the island's police cars back on the road at no cost to the police department or taxpayers.
Accidents have rendered a number of the island's police vehicles inoperable, and the police department's maintenance shop works hard to keep other vehicles in the aging fleet on the road by using parts from cars that have been damaged beyond repair.
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The police department is in line for funds for new cars, but it will likely be months before the purchase is made, making it important to get road-worthy vehicles back in service.
Guam Senator Brant McCreadie said in a letter he's grateful Ford and the dealership offered their help and expertise. "Guam is fortunate to have corporate citizens such as Triple J. . . . it is encouraging to see companies like yours who have been willing to provide this awesome service to the people of Guam."
It's estimated the donated parts and labor saved the police department approximately $3,000.
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Hello all, my wife Bxs is just over 7 weeks pregnant with quads. I wonder if you would be good enough to read through this short thread where I began the discussion before being directed here so you see where we are coming from
Am I right to be worried about things and has anyone here had a successful featal reduction at 12 weeks maybe down to 2 or possibly 3. I am getting so stressed because after wll we have been through, if she were to lose all of them now, I don't know how we'd cope. All we want is at least one healthy happy baby. Any advice will be mush appreciated
Hi Mike!
Welcome to the multiples board! And welcome to the start of a very amazing journey :)
I'm 30 weeks with identical twin girls. It was a shock at first, and physically the pregnancy hasn't been all that easy, have had severe morning sickness the whole way through, and at times I've felt so lousy I've got really bummed about having two, thought about how much easier it would be to just have one, BUT now the end is in sight, and we've passed that amazing 28 week viability checkpoint, my Partner and I are so excited to be having twins. He was stoked the whole way through bless him, it was just me that had a harder time dealing with it! I would have hated to have lost one, we would have always been haunted by the child that should have been.
Reduction was never something we had to worry about, but in researching twin pregnancies, looking at the risk factors, some of the issues we might face etc, it is something that I've now read a lot about. Because my girls share a placenta it's labelled a high risk pregnancy. You get told about things like Twin to Twin Transfusion (TTTS) and getting to the magic 28 weeks seems like an impossibility and a far off dream. So many of the ladies on the board have been on the same journey, that massive shock of having mutliples, and then the huge burdon of worry you feel as you read all the statistics. But as the weeks went on, and I spent time on this board, and I saw more and more Mums delivering healthy multiples at good gestations, with little or no problems during the pregnancy, you realise that it really isn't so big and scary as it first feels. Yes mutliples will come early, but the technology they now have availible to help little ones is so increadible, that they can come at 28 weeks, 3 months early, and face no serious problems, just small hurdles in SCBU while they put on weight and grow, is truly increadible.
I read on the other thread that your going to see the specialist about reduction, and obviously he's the best person to advise you, but remember when your hearing all the terrible statistics, that babies are fighters, they've already got this far, and the most likely outcome is that you'll face no major problems :)
Look forward to hearing more of your journey and getting to know you both more.
Hi Mike,
Well, all I can say is wow! I thought being told Im expecting twins was a shock enough, but that now seems a walk in the park after reading your story.
I can't advise on the risks of quads or reduction at all, I'm afraid that's going to have to be a hugely personal decision, and one that is going to be so difficult. See what the dr says when you see him and in the meantime make sure your wife does nothing but eat and sleep!
I'm not sure if you've watched the program 'Ouch Sextuplets', but its about an american couple who have 6 healthy sextuplet toddlers. Not an easy journey for them, but it might give you a bit of hope for the eventual outcome. There's also the Americans who had the programme 'Jon and Kate plus 8' who had a set of twins, and then sextuplets. Similar to the previous couple. So muliples can work out well in todays medical world, but I'm afraid I dont know enough on statistics to advise you to say what I'd do.
Good luck and keep us updated.
Again, MANY congratulations!!!
((Mike and Bxs))
Firstly a very quiet congratulations on your pregnancy. It is pretty obvious right now that you are both in major shock, which is not surprising really!! I am carrying Non ID twins as a result of our 3rd fresh ICSI, and carrying 2 is hard work, so carrying 4 will be amazingly daunting for your lovely wife. But it can be done. Please don't make any decisions right now about reduction, yes it can work, but it is also incredibly risky for all 4 babies (yes, you have 4 babies on the way ). Take the time now to let all of this new news to sink in.
I am a neonatal nurse and around 5 years ago we had 2 ladies in at the same time, both having delivered quads. The babies arrived early, but all went home and did amazingly well. The care you are going to continue to get will be incredible, nobody is going to leave you alone, and most women will be in awe of your wife for going through such an amazing journey.
It is still very early days for you both, so I can only advise to make plans so that bxs can take it easy for the rest of the pregnancy. Quads aren't very common, but it is possible....take the time to get your heads around all of this and start looking to the future to how things are going to be. It can be done!!!!
Looking forward to getting to know you both, and following you both through this amazing, if scary, adventure.
I do not know anything on quads but wanted to send my congrats to you both. I would wait till you have been to see the Proffesor before you make any decisions. He will best guide you and help you make an informed descion for the pregnancy. You sound like a fab hubby and Bxs will be well looked after from yourself and the medical profession im sure!
Wow, congratulations! I can imagine how shocked and also amazed you feel right now!
I can also understand how hard it is to have to make these decisions after going through ivf as when you have gone through so much to get your precious baby or babies the idea of then doing something to stop the pregnancy is so hard to contemplate.
I know a tiny bit about reduction because one of my twins came back as high risk after the 12 week nuchal scan and we were told that if we decided to have an amnio and then if it were bad news and we decided to reduce it would be risky to the other twin as well. Apparently there are chemicals left in your body which can affect the other twin although this is def not a definite. We were also told that the earlier you do it the safer it is. We decided against an amnio in the end as I couldn't even bring myself to jepardise the pregnancy in that way and decided to see what happened with more detailed scans. We were told that we could reduce up until 20 - 24 weeks if for medical reasons but that I'd then have to carry a 20 week old baby till the end and that also would endanger the other one. In the end our scans have been fine and no markers have appeared and we've just decided to get on with the pregnancy and hope for the best. But I do understand how scary the idea of a reduction is. On the other hand I have heard of it being done in the first trimester or early second trim and being a less risky process, but I'm sure that's something the dr will explain to you.
Good luck with whatever you decide. In the end you just have to make a decision that works for your family, but as others have said delivering quads these days is perfectly possible and safe and would certainly be an amazing experience! Plus you def sound like the kind of couple who could rise to the challenge! Do let us know how you get on ...
im really sorry... no advice from me but i didnt want to read and not post.... i wish you all the luck in the world with the rest of your pregnancy. xx
Went to see Professor Nikoliadas at the Fetal Medical Centre yesterday.
He confirmed that there are indeed 4 in there, two sharing the sack and possibly placenta. He pointed out the dangers of such a situation and reommended that if they are all still there at 12 weeks then a reduction would really be the only option as there would be a 30-40% of miscarry the whole pregnancy. A situation that for us, just cannot happen as it would destroy us.
Bxs has been reffered to UCLH which I understand has an excellent fetal unit. It is still very early days as she is not yet at 8 weeks. But we find ourselves hoping that maybe nature will take it's course and one or two of them will dissapear before 12 weeks. But then I find myself thinking that it is horrible to think like that.
We are both so confused. Just have to go by the advice of the experts I guess


text:
Platinum Sponsors
The 2007 Ulsan PWA World Cup - Day Six
Light winds torment all but the leaders today. Tomorrow's forecast gives the last glimmer of hope for anyone intent on toppling event leader Kevin Pritchard (Starboard / MauiSails) from his perch. If the wind comes out to play, second-placed Micah Buzianis (JP / NeilPryde) and Antoine Albeau (Starboard / NeilPryde), who sits in third, will go all-out to spoil Pritchard's party. In the women's event, Karin Jaggi's (F2 / North) lead is virtually unassailable; leaving the clash for the runner's-up spot between second-placed Sarah Hebert (Starboard / Naish) and Ayako Suzuki (Starboard / Gaastra) in third.
Similar teasing conditions wrote off yesterday, however the racers were taken by the event organisers on a cultural tour of the Ulsan 'Eco-polis' region to see some stunning local sites of interest.
Included on the tour of the city, national park and surrounds was the beautiful temple of Tong-do, which wowed all the competitors who, despite the lack of wind, had the chance to soak-up some more atmospheres from this, the PWA's newest location on tour.
Even without wind, the Korean event sponsors and organisers here have created an amazing ambience. But, the real focus is undeniably on the scramble for the event title and the 2007 tour lead.
The final day forecast is better than for recent days, representing the last opportunity for Pritchard's challengers, and for Suzuki to displace Hebert in the struggle for second in the women's competition.
Pritchard has spectacularly launched his season's campaign, denting his opponent's hopes in devastating style with this key psychological lead.
Jaggi meanwhile looks more business-like than ever, intent on adding to her already bulging trophy cabinet in ruthless fashion.
One thing's for certain - the finish is set to be intriguing, and the tension un-bearable.
Be sure to check in tomorrow to see the drama unfold. You can follow all the action with our live event ticker, read end-of-day summaries, view the picture galleries and check the results at www.pwaworldtour.com
Or, for more information please contact the PWA office via email@example.com
© PWA / Brian McDowell


text:
Type: Bug
Status: Open
Priority: Major
Resolution: Unresolved
Affects Version/s: None
Component/s: core/index
Lucene Fields:New
A spinoff from
LUCENE-3146. Consider the following two scenarios, according to how 4.0 currently works:
- Field "a" is added w/ norms. Sometime later field "a" is added to a document w/o norms – norms are disabled for field "a", for all docs.
- Field "a" is added w/o norms - norms are disabled for field "a". Sometime later field "a" is added to a document w/ norms – app thinks norms were added, while in fact they are dropped.
This is a bug and case #2 should fail on add/updateDocument - app should know norms were not added. While case #1 isn't great either, it's the only way an app can choose to disable norms for field "a", after instances of it already contain norms, so we should support that scenario.
In order to detect that early, we should track norms info in .fnx, as Mike describes at
LUCENE-3146. Since this changes the index format, we should also update the "file format" page after we do it.
Not sure what's the deal w/ 3.x indexes that are read by 4.0 code. Initially they won't have .fnx file, so no central norms information exist to detect the cases I've described above. Over time, as segments are merged, .fnx will include information from more and more segments, but there's always a chance few segments will still contain the norms for field "a". I'm not very familiar w/ that part of the code, but I think that:
- If .fnx says "no norms for field a", the we ignore any norms information that may or may not exist in segments.
- If .fnx says "norms for field a", then we need to make up some norms values for (old) segments w/ no norms? We need to make up values during segment merge and search?
- All
- Comments
- Work Log
- History
- Activity
- Transitions


text:
Don't feel guilty.
Remember that you're not to blame for someone else's passive-aggressive behavior.
Refuse to play their game.
Because a passive-aggressive personality doesn't know how to respond appropriately to conflict, he or she will most likely deny everything. It's important to express your concerns and anger, but stick to the facts at hand and how his or her actions make you feel.
Confront their dishonesty.
Not confronting the passive-aggressive behavior will only reinforce it. Confront the person immediately and let him or her know you are confused by the behavior. If they value the relationship, he or she has to stop the behavior.
Don't let them get away with bad behavior.
Instead of letting the person off the hook and allowing him or her to continue the behavior, try to create an atmosphere in which he or she might feel more comfortable sharing feelings of anger, resentment, fear, etc.


text:
Data migration tool purchase considerations
This chapter of the Tiered Storage Buying guide focuses on specific considerations for data migration tools.
This Article Covers
Determine how the data migration tool behaves. Data migration tools can differ radically in their operation. For example, some tools will copy data from the source to the destination and then mirror writes to both locations until a final "cutover" occurs. This type of behavior may be preferable if the migration will take place in phases or is intended to support the addition of a new or upgraded storage system. Other tools will simply move the data to the target and then delete that data from the source. This accomplishes data migration without using additional storage, but makes it more difficult to "undo" the migration if problems arise. Lab testing can help to identify any idiosyncrasies before the purchase.Consider how migration impacts storage performance. Data migration will invariably have an impact on the performance of your storage subsystems or storage fabric. This, in turn, may have an unwanted influence on storage service levels or application availability. When considering a migration tool, make the effort to measure storage performance with and without the migration process running. Performance degradation will probably appear worse when moving a substantial amount of data (e.g., bringing a new or upgraded storage system online). Data that is migrated on an ongoing basis, such as daily or weekly moves, typically has a smaller overall impact. Consider where data migration will be handled. Data migration tools can be host-based, network-based or storage-based. Host-based data migration tools typically run on a dedicated server. Experts note that host-based data migration tools are typically storage agnostic and can migrate data in the background. This allows for a greater range of storage system choices in the future. Network-based data migration is generally a feature of intelligent switches, making migration a function of the storage fabric itself. This is often a more powerful approach, but potentially limits interoperability between switches and storage systems. Storage-based data migration occurs within the storage subsystem itself, such as a Hitachi Data Systems' (HDS) TagmaStore. Storage-based data migration is generally the most subtle but least interoperable approach. Evaluate file- and block-level tools. Data migration tools can operate at the file and block levels. Experts suggest the use of block-level data migration tools, but file-level data migration tools should not be ignored, especially in situations where storage is over allocated to servers. For example, a Windows server may use 300 GB of a 500 GB volume, but a block-level data migration tool sees the 500 GB volume and can only move files to another volume of equal or larger size. This can perpetuate inefficient storage provisioning. By comparison, a file-level data migration tool can move the 300 GB of files to a volume of that size or larger. Weigh the automation features. Data migration can often be performed manually, but it is not intended to be a manual process, especially if data must be moved on an ongoing basis. Automation is particularly important to keep labor/administration costs to a minimum. When considering a data migration tool, be sure to examine the automation features closely. For example, Brocade's Data Migration Manager (DMM) can automatically create migration pairs, implement automatic zoning and can use a scheduler feature to perform tasks at preset times. CA's File System Manager includes a policy simulation feature that allows administrators to understand the effectiveness of policies before actually moving data. Incipient's Network Storage Platform (NSP) provides automated provisioning. The data migration product specifications page in this chapter covers the following products:
Enjoy the benefits of CW+ membership, learn more and join.


text:
Register now for free, or sign in with any of these services:
This information is provided for your convenience and may no longer be valid.
Status: Open
Know more about this business than we do? Cool! Please submit any corrections or missing details you may have.Help us make it right
Aaron's now has more than 1,800 stores across North America serving 1.4 million people leasing with Aaron's right now. We hope you will compare Aaron's Birmingham, Alabama location to the competition. Do the math - you'll find out why we always say "Nobody Beat's Aaron's... Nobody". In fact, Aaron's will beat any advertised price on the identical item or we'll give you $100 in cash. Maybe it's...
Aaron's in Birmingham at 9532 PARKWAY EAST, 35215 can help you find the furniture, electronics, computer and appliances you need. More than that, if you don't have enough money with you, Aaron's offers the possibility of payment plans. The team at Aaron's will advise you regarding the best payment plan you can choose.
Simmons Bedding Company, Beautyrest, Sony, DeepSleep
Be the first AL.com user to add photos or videos of Aarons Sales & Lease Ownership
Established in 1955 in Georgia, Aaron's has expanded over the years and now has stores throughout the United States of America and Canada. The company not only sells and manufactures furniture, but it also leases furniture. All products are high quality and sold for affordable prices. For more information you can visit the store.


text:
OLPC Firmware q7b10
From OLPC
This page is monitored by the OLPC team.
OLPC Firmware Release q7b08
Works on XO-4 B1 and C1 only. Do not use on XO-4 A or other models.
- new EC 0.3.07 (no change log available),
- touchscreen, change to version 0.0.0.9,
- XO-4 C1 touchscreen detection, improve reliability by enabling a pull-down during the check, ticket #12391,
- allow touchscreen to prevent automatic test execution after left rocker key, ticket #11817,
|Build date time
|2013-01-02 16:39:44
|Source revision
|EC version
|CForth version
|WLAN 8686 version
|WLAN 8787 version
Open Firmware
- 3505 OLPC XO-4 - EC Code 0.3.07,
- 3504 OLPC XO-4 - touchscreen, change to version 0.0.0.9, which caused a few more timing changes, requiring some fixes to the driver.
- 3503 .caller - minor stack comment fix, no execution effect,
- 3502 OLPC XO-4 - fix support for non-touchscreen SKUs, compatible with touchscreen SKUs, treats TOUCH_HD# signal as active high, since the touchscreen controller is pulling the signal low in normal operation, momentarily enables a pull-down in conflict against the permanent pull-up, in order to sample the signal properly. Requires a BOM change for C2. Harmless on C1. ticket #12391
- 3501 OLPC XO-4 - EC Code 0.3.06 (redundant),
- 3500 OLPC - allow a touchscreen, if present, to prevent automatic test execution after left rocker key, ticket #11817.
- none
- none


text:
April 29, 2016, 06:04:29 PM
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Auto Assault?
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Gaming Trend Senior Member
Posts: 3038
Auto Assault?
January 15, 2006, 09:05:57 PM »
Anyone else playing the open beta for AA this weekend? Sound off, maybe we can hook up.
Tom "Dreamshadow" Tjarks
Aunt Wu:
Care to hear your fortune, handsome?
At my age there is really only one big surprise left, and I'd just as soon leave it a mystery.
Gaming Trend Senior Member
Posts: 13895
President of G.R.O.S.S.
Re: Auto Assault?
Reply #1 on:
January 15, 2006, 09:19:37 PM »
Quote from: "Dreamshadow"
Anyone else playing the open beta for AA this weekend? Sound off, maybe we can hook up.
I found it boring, uninvolved, a grind, and extremely uninspired.
Gaming Trend Senior Member
Posts: 11755
Auto Assault?
Reply #2 on:
January 15, 2006, 10:23:44 PM »
Ive been in beta a long time. I only play off and on. Pretty repeditive and gets boring after a while.
I am Dyslexic of Borg, prepare to have your ass laminated.
Check my trader rating. Im 22+ and zero negs. Trade with me!
Gaming Trend Reader
Posts: 414
Auto Assault?
Reply #3 on:
January 16, 2006, 04:18:18 AM »
I like Auto Assault if you take it for what it is. I like the fast paced action and it sort of reminds me of the days of Auto Duel. I'm hoping the higher levels add more interesting stuff though.
Welcome to Gaming Trend
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Auto Assault?
Reply #4 on:
January 27, 2006, 08:44:35 AM »
I think I've bene in beta since June. Auto Assault has come a long way, but I really think it's an awful yawn of a game. It's also the first MMO I've ever seen where nobody ever groups at all. Every single mission is doable alone. You can solo missions up to 3 levels higher than you... alone. And in general, if you can't do it alone, you also can't do it with help. This might be a plus in your book, but since the game is so boring, this merely insured the monotony. YMMV, though.
Gaming Trend Senior Member
Posts: 4850
Auto Assault?
Reply #5 on:
January 27, 2006, 01:19:30 PM »
There's another beta weekend starting this afternoon, through Penny Arcade.
Special Project Group
Gaming Trend Senior Member
Posts: 16071
▲▲▼▼◄►◄►B A Start
Auto Assault?
Reply #6 on:
January 29, 2006, 10:42:31 PM »
So, anybody want to tell me how this game is exactly? Or provide me with their beta experiences?
It looks like a blast and sounds like a lot of fun. I mean - you drive cars (or whatever) around, blasting other vehicles and people on foot. How can you go wrong?
"All opinions posted are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled."
Gaming Trend Reader
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Auto Assault?
Reply #7 on:
January 30, 2006, 09:15:05 AM »
I'll give you some impressions of my beta experience.
I've been in the beta since November (I got invited right around the same time I got invited to D&DO). The beta has been pretty restricted. We can only play on Wednesdays and Saturdays and only the newbie zones were open.
My first character was a mutant champion which is the fighter type class. The champion gets a heavy duty car that takes a good deal of punishment. I didn't like the model of the car much but played the character up to lvl 5. I did all of the newbie quests and got to the first city. The mutant starting area is a desert like environment (think of Arizona and New Mexico). It's kind of a blah looking area. You fight scorpions and human bounty hunter types. The nice thing about mutant champions is that they have a self heal which is pretty nice. All in all, I wasn't all that sold on the mutants. Most of the vehicles are old style models (like cars from the 1950's).
The next character I made was a human bounty hunter. The bounty hunter is supposed to be a stealthy type class. The car is pretty cool looking. It's like a futuristic dune buggy. The bounty hunter has a limited time cloaking device for the car. Came in handy to do some stealthy type missions, but didn't really get to see much more use out of it. The human starting area is a ruined city area with some hills. The enemies you face are other factions of humans and some bug like creatures. I found the human starting area a bit difficult. Not sure if it was because of the class I chose or not, but I died a lot where I didn't die once as the mutant champion.
After that, I made a biomek terminator. The terminator is the fighter type class for the biomeks. They start with a truck like vehicle. It's not as flashy as the human vehicles, but I liked it better than the mutant ones. Biomeks get a bonus to technology which helps with crafting. The biomek starting area is a mountainous type area with a deep valley in the center of the map. The starting enemies are pikes (which are humans that are slaves for the biomeks) and various bugs as well. The biomek starting area isn't that hard, but some of the quests can be annoying. I found the competition for mobs to kill to be extremely annoying. The other races didn't have problems like that.
Anyway, I played more of the biomek terminator and starting digging into crafting which they just recently put into the game. It's kind of interesting. You collect various resources from enemies and destructable buildings, signs, fences, etc. You can refine these resources into better quality resources which can make better quality items. There's a lot of resources to collect, so it can become quite the inventory hog. It gets worse when you start refining them since there are four levels of quality.
The graphics are pretty good. I'm running at 1920X1200 with the settings on medium-high. It runs pretty well on my 6800GT. It slows down a bit when you run into a lot of mobs and start getting into heavy firefights. As I mentioned, the human cars are really nice looking with the futuristic blue details and stuff. Kind of like Tron. The biomek cars aren't too shabby, but I really don't dig the old 1950's style of the mutant cars.
The sounds are pretty good for the most part. You hear satisfying screams of enemies when you run them over or blast them. Some of the guns sound underpowered though, especially the front mounted machine guns. Most of the other weapons have a satisfying "punch" to them.
The driving has a very arcadey feel to it. This is supposed to be a fast paced shoot em up, so you won't be getting your Gran Turismo type driving simulation from it. You can upgrade your car's tires, but I didn't seem to notice much. Maybe at higher levels, it will make more of a difference.
There's a lot of loot to be looted in the game. You have a decent amount of slots to upgrade on your car. There's a turret weapon, a front weapon, a back weapon and a melee weapon. I played up to lvl 8 and only found turret and front mounted weapons. Also, with the crafting, there's a ton of stuff to collect.
So, this isn't Auto Duel, but it has some fun to it. I'm not sold 100% on the game, but it's been fun to play from time to time.
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Object Oriented JavaScriptJavaScript is not really an object oriented language, it is a prototyping language. Apart from the way you define objects though, it works very much like an object oriented language and so many people treat it that way. In this series we look at how to use objects in JavaScript and how the language is similar to object oriented languages in some ways and different in others.
Is your email box being filtered for spam? Don't let your newsletters end up in the trash. To ensure that you receive your mailings, please configure your spam filters to bypass any messages with a from address that ends in "about.com" (ex: firstname.lastname@example.com). For more detailed information, please see our Email GuideSite.


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"Although disappointed with this congressional action, the board will follow the law and has directed the Postal Service to delay implementation of its new delivery schedule until legislation is passed that provides the Postal Service with the authority to implement a financially appropriate and responsible delivery schedule," it said.
The board made the decision in a closed meeting Tuesday.
Officials said that to restore the service to long-term financial stability, the agency must have the flexibility to reduce costs and come up with new revenues.
"It is not possible for the Postal Service to meet significant cost reduction goals without changing its delivery schedule — any rational analysis of our current financial condition and business options leads to this conclusion," the board statement said.
It said "delaying responsible changes to the Postal Service business model only increases the potential that the Postal Service may become a burden to the American taxpayer, which is avoidable."


text:
Sony have promised more than 500 comics for the comic store launch for the PSP in mid-December. Here are a few of the confirmed comics and publishers that will be involved from launch:
- Marvel (Astonishing X-Men, Captain America, Fantastic Four, Iron Man, The Amazing Spider-Man)
- 2000AD (Judge Dredd, Durham Red)
- Disney (Mickey Mouse, Scrooge McDuck, Donald Duck)
- IDW (Astro Boy, Transformers, Star Trek, Wormwood).
A few lesser known publishers have also been confirmed on Sony's blog.
As previously reported, this new feature is already in beta with a few free comics up for grabs before the launch date. In order to use this comic book feature for the PSP, users will have to download the latest firmware update as well as the "Digital Reader" application which is available now.
The PSP's screen is very well suited for comic reading and the program offers a very easy system to allow readers to browse through the comic and zoom into certain panels with ease.We'll just have to wait and see what other comics will be making an appearance.
The Sandman series? V for Vendetta? Maus?
This new feature does indeed have incredible potential.
Article from Gamersyndrome.com


text:
Atlanta Public Schools will host Community Visioning Sessions across the district to inform and gather feedback from stakeholders about the Georgia Department of Education school system operating models and flexibility options.
The sessions are opportunities to inform the community of the potential choices facing the district and collect feedback from stakeholders – parents, guardians, students, district employees and community members.
Atlanta Public Schools, like other school districts, is legally required to notify the Georgia Department of Education which flexibility option it intends to adopt by June 30, 2015.
An advisory committee has been created with representatives from the district's schools and administration, as well as appointments from community groups and PTAs. The advisory committee will consider the community's input in a recommendation it will make to the superintendent in October.
The three major school system operating models and flexibility options are Investing in Educational Excellence (IE2) system, Charter system, and Status Quo system.
This is a major decision for school districts across the state. Public school systems in Georgia are governed by the state's education law,better known as Title 20 of theOfficial Code of Georgia Annotated (O.C.G.A.). The operating models vary in requirements for governance structure and allow systems the flexibility to innovate and increase autonomy, including waivers from state laws, rules and guidelines in exchange for greater accountability and for improving student performance.
In recent school years, the district has used waivers from state requirements such as mandatory class sizes, expenditure controls, and staffing. Depending on the operating model chosen, Atlanta Public Schools and other Georgia districts can continue to receive these and similar waivers.
All APS vision meetings will be held 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., except the Sept. 6 meeting, which will be held from 10 a.m. to noon. Here's a look at the meetings calendar:
Tuesday, Aug. 26
B.E.S.T. Academy High School, 1890 Donald L. Hollowell Pkwy, NW
Wednesday, Aug. 27
Henry W. Grady High School, 929 Charles Allen Drive
Thursday, Aug. 28
Crawford W. Long Middle School, 3200 Latona Drive
Tuesday, Sept. 2
Frederick Douglass High School, 225 Hamilton E. Holmes Drive
Wednesday, Sept. 3
Carver High School, 55 McDonough Blvd
Thursday, Sept. 4
North Atlanta High School, 4111 Northside Drive
Saturday, Sept. 6
10 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Martin Luther King Middle School, 1550 Hosea Williams Drive, NE


text:
Sector Update: Healthcare
Healthcare shares are flat in pre-market, while Biopharmaceutical company Amarin Corporation plc ( AMRN ) said that the number of patients enrolled in its REDUCE-IT cardiovascular outcomes study of Vascepa (icosapent ethyl) capsules has surpassed 6,000.
The REDUCE-IT study will evaluate the effectiveness and safety of Vascepa (icosapent ethyl) capsules, as an adjunct to optimized statin therapy, in reducing the incidence of first major cardiovascular events in a patient population at high risk for such events.
AMRN edged up by $0.02 to $6.42 in pre-market trade.
And, Ophthotech ( OPHT ) said it has priced its initial public offering of 7.6 million shares at $22.00 per share. Underwriters have a 30-day option to buy an additional 1.14 million shares. Ophthotech will start trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market today under the ticker symbol OPHT.
Finally, Syngeva BioPharma ( GEVA ) said it has priced a 2.75 million public share sale at $56.63 per share, in line with yesterday's closing price.
Underwriters have the option to buy an additional 412,500 shares.
GEVA added 0.25% to $56.77 in after-hours trade yesterday. The stock is trading at the top end of its 52-week range between $38.58 and $58.00.


text:
San José de la Montana, Monte de Barva, Heredia, Costa Rica
Rate this Tour Operator!
Canopy Adventure 'Volcan Barva' is located 1/2 and hour from San José on an amazing and majestic 1700 acre piece of land in San José de la Montana at the foot of the Barva Volcano, which is the largest volcanic mass in Central America. Of the 1700 acres, 700 have been set aside by the family for conservation purposes. A large portion of this area is a natural cloud forest, which is so very important for the watershed of San José.
"Canopy Adventure" is family owned and operated. The Canopy Tour takes you trekking and zip lining through the natural cloud forest and over ravines and waterfalls. It is truly an amazing and exhilarating experience that shows off Costa Rica's natural beauty to fullest.
The canopy tour has 13 platforms with 8 cables suspended around massive oak trees, typical to old growth forests. The length of each zip line varies from 60 to 600 feet. The majority of the zip lines take you through the canopy tops with a few that literally take your breath away as you fly over waterfalls.
If you are perhaps a little terrified of heights, they also offer an 'Adventure Park' with some fantastic nature trails to hike as well as a newly developed mountain biking park.
Canopy Adventure is very focused on natural conservation and safety and is highly recommended by Puravida Guide.
Tour Length: 2 to 2.5 hours depending upon group size.
Tours Start at: 9:30am, 11:30am, and 1:30pm
Recommended Attire: Long pants or shorts, T-shirts, hiking shoes or sneakers, bug spray
Minimum Age: 5 years old
Maximum Weight: 265 pounds
Canopy Location GPS Coordinates:
N 10o 4.904′ lat.10.0817991916
W 84o 6.359′ lon=-84.105963235
Telephone : (+506) 2266 0782
Open Hours : Mon-Sun 7:30am-7:45pm
Price :
Website : www.canopycr.com
Activities : Canopy Tour, Zip-lining, Mountain Biking
Supply Food : No
Pick-up Available : Yes
City / Province : San José de la Montana / Heredia
FEATURED TOP PICS : PuraVida's Recommended Tours and Adventures in the Central Valley and Highlands


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Sylver's Fish Updates
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Sylver's Fish Updates
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forums, part of the Advanced Freshwater Discussion category; --> I'm just full of updates lately, eh? lol I have some you might enjoy! My black molly and my creamsicle have both been acting ...
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Sylver's Fish Updates
I'm just full of updates lately, eh? lol I have some you might enjoy!
My black molly and my creamsicle have both been acting like they're in labor here and there, ESPECIALLY my black molly, and she is huge. Heh, but neither have had any fry, and they've been in and out of labor for several days now, it has me worried, but they both seem fine when they aren't acting like they're in labor. I was positive my black molly would give birth two days ago, she was really pushing and hanging in a plant for half the day, then she just stopped. Oh well, patience is a virtue I suppose.
On another note, today I gave away about 20 fry. All the ones I thought were big enough, the oldest batch was more than big enough. The lady that took them from me was kind enough to let me go into the back room to see where they put fish people bring in, they only keep them in back room tanks for a short period before putting them in the main tanks on display. I even saw a couple of my gold dusts I brought in a couple weeks ago, they got big. ^_^ They don't have many of them left though! I did however, bring home two red platy fry that were free...I had space and I wanted some red. LOL I am about to have too much space. ^^; I'll tell you why after I give you my next story, which you'll just LOVE. x.x
Next story...My grandma saw a pure white, giant goldfish, you know those fancy ones that get nearly a foot long, maybe bigger but I don't know, they have big bellies and butterfly like fins....She wants it. That fish is forty freakin dollars! O_O I don't have anywhere close to that kind of room, nor a tank that could house it in a comfortable temperature. Sheesh. >>; She says she was kidding, but I don't think she was, she keeps talking about it. Oi.
Too much room, as I was saying. I called my aunt and confirmed she has a 55 gallon tank she wants to give away when she gets a bigger one. She said she'd let us know. She wants to give it away for free, but there's no way I'll let her do that. I don't have very much money, maybe $60-$80 at the end of the month here...but grandma offered to help so I can give her more money. lol Gahaha, I hope she doesn't want to get a giant gold fish, I do think they are pretty, but the ones that size need so much space, and much cooler temps than my mollies need. And I want that huge tank for my mollies, it'll be more than enough room for what I have and thensome.
The other reason I want it, is so I can have my twenty gallon for my Kuhli's to live in. Sure, they can be in the ten gallon, they're only about three inches long and have a very small bioload, but I'd still like them to have more space. Did I mention I have nine now? I have my nursery tank set up perfectly for them, sand, plants, caves and hidden treats. I have two pairs that are also courting each other. We had an absolutely, huge, loud and amazing storm last night. Constant thunder and lighting, and the loudest I've heard in a while, it was like hanging out at a firing range. Let's put it this way...My pets have never shown fear of storms. Last night they were ALL piled into my room and my grandma's room, under beds and chairs. I had a cat and a dog, my grandma had a cat and a dog. lol The power almost died a few times, and the building across the street got hit by lightning three times in a row. Yes THREE we watched it. Lightning not only strikes the same place twice, but three times. lol The point of the storm story was...apparently they like to breed during big weather movements, and I had done a water change the night before which is also something you're supposed to do to get them to breed. Big water change before a big weather movement. lol. Supposedly that helps them get into tango-mode, I didn't know that until this morning though, I went to look up what that behavior was. But they didn't lay any eggs. I have a nice group that accepted my single Kuhli in, I was worried they may not since they weren't from the same group. With the four I got today, I ended up with two males and two females for sure. The thing I was reading on them said they can be in groups of 5+, but they are happiest in groups of 12+. I have nine and don't intend to get more until I have space worked out, same with fish. I also got some peacock ferns today, but they're going into the breeding nets because they need to have their tops out of the water....didn't see that until after I got them, my bad. Dur, and I knew better too. But it'll be alright. lol I am thinking of tying them aropund the top of the tank and see if they're ok with that. They may not like that.
SO, hopefully, within a month or two, I'll have a ten gallon, a twenty gallon, and a fifty-five gallon tank. lol I seem to already have Multiple Tank Syndrome.
My sand tank finally settled. It's now crystal clear, I wasn't expecting it to ever be that clear, but yay. =) My Kuhli's absolutely love it, I'm so happy I managed to set up a satisfying tank for them. Did you know they walk? LOL They use their little fins like legs, it's so funny. And uh, remember when I told you I had a snail problem? I had like a few hundred of them and no matter how many I removed every night, they would be everywhere the next day! Well...now I'm lucky if I see one. I've been removing empty shells here and there instead of live snails. Unfortunately, this included my white snails that I was hopping to keep and sell...Petsmart told me they would actually PAY for those. @_@; Oh well, they got a good treat. Haha.
On the matter of those two red platy fry, they are BRIGHT red, and, well, honestly I want to test if mollies and platy actually can interbreed for myself. There's so much speculation on it, some swear by it, others say absolutely no. And these are small fry, small enough I can't put them with my big fish yet, they only look about a week, MAYBE two weeks old at the most. I can't tell if they're male or female yet either, probably wont be able to for three or four months. If they're female that makes things very easy. I'll know for a fact they bred with my mollies if they are female once they get older and have fry. If they're male...well, I suppose if any babies come out red I'll know too, but it'll still be harder to tell, especially since all my females have been with the boys for months, and my balloon male is red/orange. x.x I am also thinking of having a platy tank again, it broke my heart when my platy tank was destroyed by ich, I had it for a long time and had some pregnant females. I may give the platy and Kuhli's my twenty gallon once I get the fifty gallon, they'll both get along just fine, and I don't intend to have more than five platy. I am hopeful both the reds are female, and later I will buy ONE male and another girl. =) Probably different colors, I had a white mickey mouse platy that was getting ready to have babies when the epidemic hit, I had no idea what ich was at the time. She was everyones favorite fish, my niece named her Moonrock.
YES, I am becoming sorta obsessive. I may as well live in a tank myself at the rate I am going. LOL What luck that my aunt just happens to have a 55 gallon tank to give away. Really. Those things cost nearly/more than a thousand dollars brand new!
I am actually keeping an eye on one of my female Kuhli's right now too. She is very plump! It's extremely hard to get them to breed naturally in aquariums, but I'm doing as much studying and reading on it as I can. I have the foods and tank set up perfectly for them to both live and breed, but it's more the water and weather, and coupling that are key here. That's why it's so hard. lol I have a few nice "thick" females, but one of them is pretty chunky even compared...Maybe I will get lucky. And she seems interested in one of the boys she came with too. I am sure it'll be hard to miss the bright green eggs when she lays them. lol I'll be gently scooping them up into the breeder with a plant when/if I get lucky enough to have them successfully breed. If they do, be sure I'll add a video up for you! During the evenings, and lately during the day as well(It's been nice and stormy), I have seen my Kuhli's A LOT. I don't see them much in the mornings, they usually hide when the light turns on, but they always come out a few hours later. Supposedly this is a sign I have done right with the set-up for them. The more hiding places you have, the more you'll see them because they feel secure. ^_^ I intend to make it a bit more hidey anyways. LOL I can't find any of those good floating plants...and shoot, I knew I forgot something, I went to get one of those big moss balls for them today and wlaked RIGHT by them...in my defence, I was carrying about ten things and lost my grandma in the store. x.x
This is pretty long. lol Sorry. I am a bit of a writer, so I can just go on and on!
Oh wait, I dunno if I mentioned this yet or not, but I found two little white babies in my adult tank. I think they belong to my dalmation, she's very thin now. Only two, they were, afterall, in with all my adults and about 30 of my juveniles, all of which are big enough to do some nasty damage to the babies, so I assume the rest were eaten. =( But I have two healthy white babies, I found them two or three days ago. They're already starting to darken a little bit, I see spots on one, just a few very small ones though. They grow those in later so I wasn't expecting to see any yet. If they were from her, they will be my first dalmation babies! X) The day I found them, I did notice two of my males following her around. I had all of them in the big tank because I had just redecorated the nursery. lol I didn't want them to have issues from the new sand. x.x
Well, wish me luck! I'll try to get some photos up of those two brown spotty babies for you. One has a black heart on its chest! They are really neat babies. They do NOT hold still though, so I am not sure the pictures I got of them will even come out. =( But I'll see.
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Last edited by Sylverclaws; 09-27-2012 at
LOL! Sounds like you and your fish are having a wonderful time over there!!! Keep up the good work!
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I have babies! My Black Molly gave birth some time last night. I should say sometime this morning, I went to bed at midnight and I checked on them before I went lights out. I noticed mom looked to be in labor, but she'd been off and on for several days now. There are A LOT of babies. lol Nice healthy looking ones too. Usually I get a few slow ones, but none of these show any signs of being weak at all. I'm not used to new babies swimming around like normal fish right off the bat, usually they like to hang low and hide instead of swim. I have a 12 second video of the babies in the net, I caught them all and put them there, didn't want to stress mom by moving her around, she had A LOT of babies. Most of them came out black, but a few are lighter colored. In the video you can see five or so older fry in there, they're easy to tell apart though. =)
I am so pleased! So many healthy babies. Usually when they're born overnight, I don't have many in the morning. lol But I accidentally over-fed my mollies yesterday, so that coulda been a factor. I had tried to put a small cup of shrimp in for my Kuhli's, I was gonna bury the whole thing under the plant near the cave, but I dumped it. x.x I tried to bury and remove what I could, but they still stuffed themselves. v.v; Well, I haven't done that before, so it's hopefully a one-time accident. I don't want them getting sick or messing up their water quality from over-eating, but it was probably a saving grace for those babies. lol One-time over-eating wont...do any damage to them will it? They did both get constipated, but they worked it all out by the time I went to bed last night. I was worried they might hurt their insides or something. >< They are NOT afraid of my hands at all, I was in there trying to get all the food out and they were nibbling on me and going through my fingers for the food. lol Most of my other fish flee.
Anywho, video. If your comp lets you. You can open it in another screen or fullscreen it. I find that if I don't hit fullscreen, sometimes the videos just come out as smeary lights. Fullscreen should fix that. Hope you enjoy seeing all those little wiggly babies! They look soo good, I have no doubts they'll all survive, or most will if not all, I like to be overly hopeful. But then, I rarely have any die on me unless they were born too early.
My Black Molly Babies(Fry) Born this morning - YouTube
My Black Molly Babies(Fry) Born this morning - YouTube
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Last edited by Sylverclaws; 09-29-2012 at
AWWWWWWW! CUTE! Congrats on another brood!!!
Overfeeding is
not the best or safest thing to do, but we all make mistakes, and one time they should be okay :) I'd fast them tomorrow, then feed some veggies to get things cleaned up. But I'm confused? You were burying the food UNDER the substrate for the loaches? I don't think this is a good idea. . . even if they'll burrow under to get it out, you'd be risking leaving waste to rot. Kuhli are REALLY good at getting in-between and under things to get their fair share of food - even with mollies in the tank, they're one of the easiest fish to feed (trust me, I know! It can be really tough to make sure everyone gets their share with Mollies on-board!)
Thanks for the cute vid, such pretty babies :)
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Well, I always bury it in the same spots for that reason and another. That was something people told me to do for them when they aren't getting enough food. If I put it in at night, the mollies still get it, and if I put it on the ground near the cave, my mollies will actually go INTO their cave and drive them out rather aggressivly. One of my Kuhli's got his tail torn up because my usually placid marble molly latched onto him. =( I've found when I bury it, not deep just under it, there is no fighting and the Kuhli's know exactly where the feeding spot is and the mollies usually leave them be unless a piece flies up. It's also easier to clean it up when I know where I put it, right infront of the cave in one spot, and under the roots of a fake plant in another. I'm sure it still has the possibility of getting lost in the sands, but it's better than them fighting over it to the point of fin ripping. My Kuhli's are fairly peaceful, few spats here and there but nothing too bad. My Mollies, however, will literally rip up competition for the food. I tried the night feeding and it didn't work. My creamsicle finds it herself and will gorge if I don't hide it. She wont dig in the sand, but she would dig in the gravel. I try to keep an eye out for loose stuff and bits in the sand that they missed. I did think of things rotting in there, so I try to be careful. But they gotta eat, they get zilch when I feed them regularly. But if you have a suggestion that would keep the mollies from killing each other over it, I'm always open to new ideas. :3 SOMETIMES I can get away with hiding it on a leaf in a plant, but more often than not the mollies would still find it. lol Two peaceful fish, supposed to go well together...fight like dogs over food. >_>;
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Last edited by Sylverclaws; 09-29-2012 at
Woah, your Kuhli spat?!! You have to get that on video! Mine have always been very peaceful. . . I've personally found that keeping ANYTHING aside from another live-bearer with Mollies tends to be problematic, which is one of the reasons why my mollies are now in a speceis only tank. I found myself having to
feed just to get the rest of the fish fed... not so good. They're really just so GREEDY! Luckily, mine have all been total sweeties, and I've never had a problem with them showing any aggression toward tankmates, and the Kuhli have always been the least of my worries food-wise, even when they were in community. As long as you're putting it in the same spot, and being sure to clean up any leftovers, I'm sure they'll be fine :) Kuhli can eat anything, it doesn't have to be the brine. Perhaps you could 'distract' your Mollies with flake, and get a sinking pellet food for the kuhli? By the time the Mollies are done with the flake, the Kuhli will have gotten their share? Or. . . get something TOO small for a Molly to fit into, maybe, and feed there? You seem to have hit on a method that works for you already, though! I'm sure you'll be fine... You take great care of your fish, love that about you! I'm enjoying hearing someone else who keeps some of my faves enjoying them as much as I do! Keep up the good work!!!
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Yeah, they don't "Spat" like most fish do, but they get all tangled and chase eachother off. Usually if you get them together that doesn't happen but for a day while they get used to the place. =) I added a second group so they started over. lol Mostly at feeding time, they have a "Pecking order" and once that is established they go back to being peaceful. Unfortunatly I lost one of my Kuhli, I dunno what happened though. =( I think it was the one I had before and they didn't accept her as I thought. v.v; She was kinda chewed up...by kinda I mean really. But I didn't notice anything, I went to change the water yesterday and she floated out from under the rock. =( Her gills and fins were mostly removed, so I can only assume she either died and they tried to eat her, which I'm sure they will do, or they killed her.
Well, anywho, I have good news and photos to share with you! =) My black mollies are growing pretty quick. Some are staying black, some are getting more silvery, and a few are grey. I think this means she bred with my silver male. lol They're nice looking babies! Also, that little red baby I found a while back, it started swimming mostly normal after I put that up. It still swims oddly, kinda wobbly. That reminds me. The three fry I got from my balloon female are doing well, they don't seem to be "Ballooned" though, but I'm not sure how long it takes to tell. They are growing a great deal slower than my other mollies though, but they LOOK normal. Nice long tails and don't seem to have hunched backs.
Photos now. They didn't come out perfect, but you can see them ok. =) You remember those ones I told you about that came out sorta grey/green with stripes? I told you they started getting spotty. They are SO hard to get photos of! So I took video and tried to make some still photos, but they didn't come out perfect. x.x; You can see the orangey baby also has some spots. These are the three I decided to keep, they'll have the nursery to themselves with my Red Platies. For now anyways, I may make changes should anything happen that requires me to do so, and I may give away one of the spotted ones as well. Well, here they are! =)
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The babies look so sweet! It's so hard to catch them in a photo - believe me, I know! I'm glad to hear that things are going well over there!
Sad to hear about your poor little loach! I have to say that our experiences with these animals could not be more opposite. . . my loaches have never shown ANY aggression at all toward each-other or any other fish. . . even when they were added. It kind of boggles my mind to even think that they would be capable of such a thing! Mine were not all purchased from the same group, and there is no loachy hierarchy among them at all. They don't have territories, or squabble over food. . . and when they wiggle in a group it's the most adorable thing ever - but nobody ever gets chased off. I wonder if you have a different species, or if the tank size (which is really too small for these fish) has something to do with it? Either way, I'm glad that all is well with them, and that they've reverted to their peaceful selves. I love my loaches, they're just so neat!
Happy to hear that the black mollies - all the mollies! - are doing so well. I hope the balloon babies fare well. I had a Molly fry that behaved like your little wobbler. He lived for quite some time, and then one day he wasn't okay anymore. He was about 6 months old or so, and though he grew, he was never nearly as big or strong as the others in his brood. I really think something was off with him genetically, but since he was more or less okay, and seemed happy - I just let him do his thing. . . hope yours continues to do well!
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So if he makes it past the six or seven month mark, -maybe- he'll be ok. I figured out where he came from, he looks like the other babies my balloon molly had. They have sorta this purpley-red coloring, it's rather nice. I remember now, I had lost one in the gravel, I had assumed it either died or found its way out. I did find it after I cleaned up the gravel a bit and moved the rock. I think it looked so bad because it almost starved, it was under there for atleast a week, I'm shocked it lived at all. =( It still swims oddly, like it has to double-time its fins and tail to keep afloat, but it's plumped up a lot and doesn't hang on the bottom anymore. But he's about half the size of the others from his brood. You know me, ever hopeful. I'll do what I can to give him a boost, lots of greens, a little protein here and there and some algae wafers. They really love those! If I put it in their net, it doesn't make the water yucky either, I just suck it out with the turkey baster later on. That's how I clean out the nets anyways. This way I don't stress them out by moving them around a lot, I just stick it in slowly and suck up gunk. Most of the babies seem curious about it though, so I have to be careful not to suck any of them up, if I do, I just leave it there and they swim out on their own, better than shooting them out. ^^;
I seem to be having a run of good and bad luck mixed up, either really good, or really bad, never in between. x.x I blame the weather, really. We went from eighty degrees to snow within six hours on Thursday and we haven't gone above freezing since, that's when I found a dead loach too. In my adult tank, EVERYONE is happy and well except my precious gold dust female that's scarred up. =( I'm not sure if the weather affected her, or if it's the water, or maybe she took the change badly. I did a 10% water change yesterday morning, and then last night she started acting weird. I'm going to get my water checked, unfortunately we had cleaning day today and it's my nephew's first birthday tomorrow, so I haven't been able to get to the shop(I can't drive. lol). I may not make it until Monday, and I...well, I don't have a test kit for myself! I am going to buy one though. I have some money saved up for supplies like that.
Well, my Gold dust female is actually spinning around real fast, looks like she is chasing her tail like a dog would(And I mean really fast), and she isn't bobbing, but it looks like she has air pushing her upwards from her mid-section, although there isn't, that's what it looks like, other times she seems ok. She also kinda leans to the side and arches, like she's trying to touch her tail to her head and then rights herself. She also jerks her head from side to side every once in a while, like someone trying to pop their neck. I've never seen fish do that before. I haven't done anything out of the norm, and my other fish are fine...I'm still getting it checked though. She looks like she is in pain and I just don't know what to do to help. >< Any ideas what it might be?
Onto my Creamsicle molly. She skinnied up over night a few days ago, but I never did find any babies! I think they got eaten. v.v; If that's the case, what a bummer. Waited so long for it too. She looks happy and healthy though, got that weight off herself finally. lol Poor babies. She is breeding again too, she wasn't for a while there. My Dalmation Lyretail, Silver Lyretail and Black Sailfin all seem to love her right now. x.x Of all the girls I have in there and they just go for her, I kinda feel bad for fish. lol I'm keeping an eye out to make sure she doesn't get too stressed. She still acts like she is queen of the tank, and if she doesn't want attention, she lets them all know with a good tail slap. If I see her hide, I can distract the boys by walking up to the tank, they think I'm gonna feed them. ^_~ Kinda mean, but it works. lol
Ah, those babies I showed you, man they are GROWING! I normally don't keep them this long, these will be the first babies I've kept. Usually I give them away about two weeks before now or so. The gold spotted one is a giant, and the two lighter spotted ones aren't far behind. I know I'm probably imagining it, but I swear it looks like they all three grew half an inch in the last three days! They really are good looking babies, I'm proud of my momma fish. It takes a good healthy mother to have good healthy babies that can survive. They seem to have these growth spurts here and there. Ah yes, my black mollies are doing well too. I only lost one that I know of, the day they were born. The others are growing fast...and low and behold, they look like they will have sailfins. Some do anyway. It's very obvious on their tiny frames, the dorsal fins are about three times the size that any of my other babies have had at this age. I know growing those fins takes up a lot of energy, should I be feeding them anything other than the usual? The usual being flakes, mixed frozen veggies, algae, baby brine shrimp and small blood or tubifix worms, the protein foods being only twice a week with the plant matter 3-4 times per day(crushed flakes making up at least two of those because I know they need the calcium the flakes have, a small piece of algae for the final meal of the day, and some fresh veggies once as well, twice if I can make in a fifth feeding, but that's rare with how random my sleeping schedule is and I try not to feed them too close together. Usually every three or four hours), in VERY small amounts since babies have to eat more often and have tiny tummies. I make sure all their food is bite-sized for them, and also that nobody gets any overly-bulging tummies. They never leave me much to clean up, baby mollies are greedier than starving piranha, I swear!
Well, I'll keep you updated on my Gold dust molly. I hope she'll be ok, but considering how she is acting, and how scarred and weak she must be regardless of being healed for several months, I don't think the outlook is very good. I see nothing visible on her but her actions, and nothing with anyone else, and she eats fine too, she stops acting weird to go eat. But her weirdness other than at feeding time, is constant.
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Last edited by Sylverclaws; 10-07-2012 at
Ah, an update on my gold dust female. She seems a little loopy today, but I added in more water(I treated it and let it sit twice as long as I normally do,m which is half an hour), and added some more salt(I freakin forgot to add the salt last time I did a water change, I wonder if that messed things up, I CANNOT believe I forgot it, and they're so used to it so that had to have been a factor), because I noticed her gills had some redness to them. I assumed ammonia poisoning. I am going to purchase water testing kits today as well once the shop opens,(it's only six thirty-nine am here, I've been up since about three am. lol Sleep is not my thing this week), I'll be sure to keep those on hand, it's high time I learned to do my own water testing instead of having the shop do it for me once a week! Yes, I should have done this forever ago, but I thought I'd be fine if I let the shops do it for me since I don't know what is what! But, there are places on here that tell me what is what, so I'll be checking into that and keeping a calender to boot. I just hope I don't get too lost. x.x I've never been that great with numbers and levels and such.
The redness is starting to go away, and she doesn't seem to be in pain anymore, but she still is swimming slowly, she's just not visibly hurting(Doesn't look like it anyway, she's not going in weird positions and touching her tail to her head anymore, nor is she chasing it). None of my other fish are showing any of the same signs, I am thinking it's because she is just extra delicate, I'll have to watch it, she is one of my favorite fish.
Ah, oh yes. I am also going to give away one of my marble mollies and see about getting another creamsicle molly female. I am thinking about giving away the other marble female as well, but right now she is pregnant and I don't want to stress her out with a move. x.x But first, before I do any of that, I need to get my water fixed up. And...as much as it pains me to do it, I am probably going to give away my Silver Lyretail male. >< I WANT to give away my balloon male instead though, I am going to discuss this with my grandmother. I hate to bring it up, but I'd rather him go. xD He is pretty and all...but he breeds with all my females(Very passionately at that), and I just do not want those genes in my tank! Too late now, but better for the future...Ergh, maybe she'll let me after that last discussion I had with her before, and I'll ask her to pick out a female molly she wants that isn't a balloon! She also likes platy, so maybe she'll go for that...-sigh- I dunno, it seems like I've been adopting out all the fish -I- want to keep and keeping the ones my grandma wants instead, as is her right for all the help, but it's kinda killing me here. I'm doing ok on room as is, but I need, and want to make a few more changes. Maybe I'll move Romeo(Yes, I'm calling him that now instead of Frank lol), into the loach/nursery tank until a decision can be made, only babies in there and no females to breed with.
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Last edited by Sylverclaws; 10-08-2012 at
Page 5 of 58
creamsicle molly
net info
number estimate
Some of the more interesting livebearers I've bred(pics included)
breeding turquoise rainbows
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