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the Yucatan & Casa Hamaca
Things that Go Bump in the Night... Alux? Spirits? or Ghosts?
Saturday, May 16, 2009, 12:09 PM
House cleaning, Yucatan-style
This is a subject that I have been loath to write about for fear it would scare off guests to Casa Hamaca. However, with the economy, the narcotraficante scare and now the swine flu scare, there are not a lot of guests to scare off. Tourist-related business all across Mexico is waaaay down.
Last night, I was awake at 2:00AM, thinking about some issues in my life when I heard my manager call out my name. I waited for a few minutes to hear her call out again or to knock on my door... and then I realized that she was not in Valladolid; she was spending the night in Chichimila. I put it out of my mind until this morning when the cook asked me if I made popcorn in the microwave at about 11:30 last night. I hadn't nor did anyone else 'fess up to making popcorn in the middle of the night. Then Karlos said that about 2:00 AM he had heard a number of people talking and walking about on the second floor... at a time and location when and where there were no guests or employees.
So what and/or who was it that made popcorn, walked and talked during the night and then called out my name at 2:00 AM? Alux? Spirits? Ghosts? Or what? When we discussed these phenomena this morning, a number of the staff expressed concern if not fear. All of my staff live in small villages surrounding Valladolid and all believe in alux and in other strange and wonderous beings. The local villages are filled with witches and shape-changers and Mayan-sirens and shaman and creatures that are now just part of the mythology of the Western, rational mind.
We all agreed that we needed a housecleaning... a cleansing to be more specific. So Tuesday, a shaman (h'men) is coming to do the annual feeding of the alux as well as a cleansing of the entire house and grounds.
Last year, in May, we fed the alux and have had no problems for about 11 months. For you who don't know about the alux, they are best described as Mayan leprechauns... small creatures with more or less human form that guard the fields and houses of the Yucatecans. But they need to be treated with respect and to be fed annually.
So what are the noises in the night? Things that go bump in the night? Ghosts? Spirits? or Alux? I'll let you know what happens Tuesday. And if anything changes Tuesday night. Where are the Ghostbusters when you need them?
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Witch Doctor is best for you? On Choosing a Shaman. Part one.
Thursday, June 26, 2008, 10:52 AM
When you move to a new town one of the first things you must do is find craftsmen and professionals you can work with and trust. You ask at the hardware store for a good plumber or at the lumberyard for a good carpenter. You ask at the bank or the real estate office for a good lawyer or doctor or dentist. Its not always easy to find the right people but Ive used this method successfully for many years in the USA. Ive actually used it in the Yucatan as well with sometimes mixed-results. Results that sometimes make me look back at similar relationships in the states and wonder about agendas.
In Mexico, its pretty straightforward. Oh, my cousin on my fathers side is a dentist. And he will take good care of you. The referencer in the States is more like Well, Ive been going to doctor so-and-so for years and Im happy with him. Now, neither of these references actually says that the dentist or doctor in question has any idea what he is doing just that he is known and will probably recognize the name of the person who gave you the reference.
It often comes down to trail and error. Try the dentist and hope that he doesnt charge you an outrageous sum, hope that he does everything that needs doing without causing greater problems and hope that he can fit you into his busy schedule. If the first one doesnt work out, you look for another one until you find one that fits with your needs and expectations.
You do essentially the same when looking for a new supermarket. Try it out and see how the prices compare, how fresh is the fruit and the meat, is there good customer service and sufficient parking. All the little things that add up to finding a service supplier that you can live with.
Its always a little harder doing this in a foreign country with the language differences, cultural differences and the differences of how things are done. But the route is more or less the same. Similar decisions are made when looking for an hmen or shaman.
Now what I mean by that term is not a curandero or a herbatero people who treat, and often cure, with herbs and plants. Its not a witchdoctor wearing a bone through his nose and shaking rattles (although a shaman might beat a drum or clap his hands or even shake a rattle). And it certainly is not a brujo or bruja (a witch) casting malevolent spells. And its not the mushroom or cactus eaters of the north. The shaman might employ aspects of any or all of the previous callings in his work but primarily he is a spiritual healer who works with the natural world above, below and around him to put your needs, desires and problems together with the proper sprits. To follow the correct forms and put everything into alignment with all of the energies or winds or chi flowing in the optimum directions.
Looking for a good shaman is quite different in looking for a good plumber. First of all, most of us (gringos especially) have no background or experience with shaman or hmen so we wouldnt know a shaman from a sham. Im met and/or been treated by shaman in the Amazon jungles of Peru, the mountains of Guatemala and in various places in the Yucatan. Just to have the gall to claim that you are a shaman (perhaps in the same way that a preacher might claim to have private conversations with God) already puts him sort of out there. If he can do almost anything to back up his claim to be a shaman, I will probably believe him and whatever he says.
I use the pronoun he for convenience; the shaman I met and was treated by in Guatemala was a mountain woman with a Masters degree in anthropology. All the rest have been male. And I use the word shaman the same word used by Siberian indigenous peoples probably since before hunters crossed the Bering Straits to the Americas. Hmen is a Yucatec Mayan work and sounds to me as if its root was shaman.
I was not looking for the first shamans that I actually met. They just happened to show up in different places, doing their job. Out paths crossed accidentally (if there is such a thing as accidental). But the last two shaman I searched out for specific purposes.
I was led to the first one here in Valladolid. I asked everyone I knew if they knew a shaman, perhaps in their village. Finally, Luis took me to a small and somewhat grubby tienda almost on the outskirts of town. The kind of tienda that stocks one or two small cans of tuna and sardines and Spam, a few packages of crackers, some Bimbo bread and lots of fat, salty snacks and soft drinks. The kind of tienda that you can find on almost any street corner in the small towns and villages of the Yucatan. No one really hopes to make a living out of these small stores; but if they are going to be home all day anyway, why not make a few pesos by selling necesitas to your neighbors? Luis asked the lady gently swinging in the hammock if this is where the shaman lived. She gestured to the back, so we passed through another room where there were more women, children and infants in hammocks. In the third room was a man in a dirty sleeveless tee shirt, resting in a hammock. He sat up in the hammock upon our entrance and greeted us. A woman brought chairs for us. We sat and explained what we were looking for a blessing ceremony for the Casa Hamaca structures, gardens and land. No problem, he replied.
And told us what we needed to get together for the ceremony.
Our discussion then continued regarding the plants and herbs that he blends and uses for various purposes. This, by the way, this was all in Spanish. But we could all hear that Spanish was not the native language of the shaman. Yucatec Mayan was the language he was most comfortable with.
On the appointed day the shaman appeared at Casa Hamaca pedaling a yellow three-wheeler in which were his supplies. A folding table had already been set up in the middle of the garden for him along with a large number of small cascaras or gourd bowls. Sofi, our Mayan cook, had already made atole as per the shamans direction.
On the table the shaman set up a large framed picture of our Lady of Guadalupe at the rear of the table. A wooden board was placed across the table to hold 13 candles.
He then carefully placed 13 cascaras filled with atole on the table. These were kept from tipping and spilling their contents by sitting in a quickly woven ring of palm leaf. The shaman then asked for the names of all who worked or lived at Casa Hamaca. As he lit the candles he asked if we had any incense. I had traditional copal incense. It was the kind of incense that needs to be started with wood or charcoal because it is just chunks of dried tree resin. I had purchased the resin at a brujas shop in one of the markets in Tuxla Gutierrez, Chiapas, a few years ago and still had some left.
As the incense started to burn in a small clay bowl, the shaman began his prayers. I was not raised a Roman Catholic but have attended enough Catholic services to recognize some of the liturgy. He sang or chanted in a mixture of Spanish and Mayan seeming to move back and forth as the one language did not have the correct words for the moment. Frequently making the sign of the Cross, he petitioned a variety of saints to bless our house, bless our land and bless the people who worked and living there. Every so often, I could hear my name and the names of the people who work with me. Every so often I could hear Padre, hijo y espirto sante (Father, Son and Holy Ghost). If I closed my eyes, I would have thought that I had been transported to the church across the street and dropped there in the middle of mass.
After extended and repetitive prayers and petitions, the shaman took the still-smoking incense bowl and walked to each of the four corners of the property, walking along side of the stone walls that surround most of the property and continuing his prayers and petitions as he walked. At the four corners, he paused for a short time before continuing. He returned to the table. Snuffed the candles and poured all of the atole into a jug, made a final blessing and then he was done. The casa, the land and all that lived and worked on the land had been blessed. Sofi carried the jug of atole into the kitchen, washed out the cascaras and then filled them again for us all to drink. The entire ceremony took over two hours.
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Mural, Mural on the Wall.....
Friday, January 11, 2008, 02:36 PM
How to Design and Create Original Murals on the Walls of Your Own Home.
A view of one of the murals in the Main Salon of Casa Hamaca.
As early as I can remember, I always wanted to be an artist. When I was about 5 years old, the local newspaper in Great Falls, Montana, wanted to reproduce some of my drawings, but the technology was just not in place. I grew up in Great Falls surrounded by paintings by Charles Russell, the Western artist of note. One of the town saloons held works by Russell that he had traded to the saloons proprietor for drinks. As I grew older my interest in art waxed and waned. At one point I studied Fine Art and Illustration at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan and finally recognized that I did not have the talent or the desire to be a fine artist. So I changed direction and studied Industrial Design at Parsons School of Design (now part of the New School), also in NYC. That was a much better direction for me but it took me away from Art with a capital A.
How the previous mural was grided before the image was painted on the wall.
Before I ever came to Mexico, I was entranced with Mexican muralists and painters. They were some of the best in the world. When I came to the Yucatan and saw the murals in Merida and Valladolid, that opinion was validated. Raw, powerful images that changed my consciousness of the Mayan World.
One of my goals at Casa Hamaca was to teach and inform and educate visitors. Educate them about the Mayan people and their culture. To have them experience Mayan food, Mayan people, Mayan healing and Mayan culture.
And one day, BANG, the two ideas came together. I could have Mexican murals on the many walls of Casa Hamaca that visualized various aspects of Mayan culture images that taught and informed and educated.
The mural in the Ka'ab Na Suite after a popular image in Yucatan elementary school books.
I am too old to climb scaffolding and paint entire walls so I needed a solution that would put murals on my walls without the need of me actually doing the painting.
The solution I came up with is a very simple one that can be applied by almost anyone with a smooth-surfaced wall, a computer, a printer and some photo-editing software.
The original photograph from which the mural was made.
The completed mural.
The Image:
From various source material including original photographs, books and Internet swipe, I found a number of images that I would like to have on my walls. I scanned the images from books and saved them along with the swipe and the original photos. I selected images of Mayan ruins, carvings, plant photographs and schoolbook illustrations that were very graphic in natural. But almost any image could be used. Line drawings, simple computer-generated illustrations, Pop-Art (like Andy Warhol), etchings and engravings, Ukiyo-e (Japanese woodblock prints), comic illustrations and high-contrast black and white photos make life easier and make the transfer of the image much, much simpler.
The Wall:
I took approximate dimensions of the wall spaces that I had to work with. I did this in the metric system since working with that system is much easier than dealing with inches and fractions of inches. Some walls (by their proportions) lent themselves to an image covering the entire wall, others to just a part of the wall.
Matching the Wall to the Image:
I worked with Photoshop to crop the images to match the proportions of the wall. In some cases, I actually took photos of the wall and layered the Mayan-themed image over the wall to see how it would look. When I was satisfied that the image fitted the wall, I used the Grid options in Photoshop to overlay a grid on the image. I had to go to Preferences to adjust the Grid options to correspond with the metric system that I was going to use. After creating a new layer in Photoshop, I used the Line tool to draw over the electronic grid, selected the Fit to Media option in the Print command and printed a couple of copies of the images, now girded with thin black lines.
The mural in the Chac Na Suite in process.
The Chc Na Suite mural completed.
Grid the Walls:
Using a metric rule (and starting from the upper left hand corner of the wall or of where you want your image to begin) a plumb-bob, a level and a chalk-line, begin laying out the wall, marking off 50 centimeter sections both vertically and horizontally. Then snap lines so that you end up with a wall filled with a grid made up of many 50-centimeter squares.
the Process:
Now you have a wall filled with a grid pattern of squares and a piece of paper with a corresponding grid pattern of squares. Using a pencil, transfer the image, square by square, to the wall. If a particular section of the image is very complicated, break that square down further into smaller squares on both the wall and on the paper. Once you have completed the pencil image for the entire wall, just fill in the blanks with color (paint). An alternative method (if you are sure-handed) is to draw the image directly in paint. If you are dealing with an image that has tonal variations (like a photograph) or naturalistic rendering of objects, use the Posterize command in Photoshop to simplify the colors. Play around with the command until you arrive at an image that you like... and that has a number of different colors that you can work with. Using this method, your painting (once you have the outlines drawn on the wall) will be just like the old-fashioned Paint-By-Number kits. In fact, you can number your colors (limiting the number of colors makes the job simpler, expanding the colors makes the final product more naturalistic) and lightly number the corresponding spaces so that you do not put the wrong color in a space. Use regular water-based interior wall paint. Water-based paint makes clean up so much easier. If your mural in outdoors, were sure it is not exposed to direct sunlight for extended periods or it will fade and use exterior paint.
My very first attempt was a reproduction of a rollout of an antique Mayan vase with a complicated image from Mayan mythology. After much trial and error, I selected an image that more or less fit the wall I had in mind. I then Posterized the image in Photoshop to end up with and image composted of eight (8) colors. Using the Eyedropper tool, I selected these colors, placed them all into another document and printed that document on the brightest, whitest paper I had on hand. I took that piece of paper to the paint store and made the best color match I could for the eight colors. The process worked extremely well however my choice of images did not work as well as I had hoped. So we painted over it with another image that was simpler in execution as well as in design.
The original of the vase rollout used for one of the Salon walls.
The finished mural on the wall. Note: this mural has been painted over and is no longer visible.
Further image selection focused much more on the actual content (what the image represented) as well as on the style of the image: i.e.: painterly, graphic, naturalistic, etc. The result has been a mural in every guest room at Casa Hamaca. Some of them are truly full-wall filling the entire wall from floor to ceiling and from wall to wall. Others are smaller (although still very large) and fill most of a wall.
Certain public spaces also have large images.
A full-wall mural in the Tun Nich Na (or Stone Suite) after stone carvings at Palenque.
The mural seen in setting with furnishings
The Artists:
The first artist I hired was in his early 20s and had done a little sign painting, I believe. But in no sense of the word was he a trained artist. But he followed my instructions and became confident in his abilities and often painted directly into the squares without first making a pencil drawing. But he gave up on a very complicated drawing (after Catherwood) that filled a very large wall. So I found a pair of young men (perhaps 16 years old?) who show up every day after school and all day Saturday to paint. They have tackled some very difficult images with very fine results. And they both learn as they go so that their most recent efforts are cleaner and faster than their older ones.
There are lots more murals that I have not pictured. If you want to see then, you must come visit in Valladolid.
One of the artists working on the large mural on the second floor, fronting the atrium.
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Oh my God, what did I just eat?
Monday, September 3, 2007, 05:09 PM
Cochinita Pibil and Tepezcuintle Tacos
Yesterday we were invited to share a meal with a family in the small village of Honuku. A visiting
from Queretero was in residence at the Casa Hamaca and last week Sofi (our housekeeper and cook) brought her daughter-in-law (Miñela), granddaughter (Sarahi) and the babys other grandmother (Ofelia) to the Casa Hamaca because the baby was sick. Alma, the
, worked with the baby on two or three different occasions during the week. The baby seemed to be feeling better and did not exhibit the symptoms that she previously had exhibited. When the grandmother asked how much it cost for the visits, Alma responded that there was no charge. So grandmother Ofelia invited us to a Sunday meal. Sofi, who has Sundays off, offered to come to Casa Hamaca early on Sunday and guide us to the village of Hunuku.
As I have mentioned before in these notes, I am a slow learner. And I had forgotten that when Sofi is in the back seat giving driving directions, it becomes another slap-stick episode since Sofi (who will turn 40 years old this month) doesnt know her left from her right and gives directions with hand movements only. That means that when we come to a fork in the road or a cross-road, I must remember to look in the rear-view mirror or actually turn around so that I can see better which way Sofi is gesturing all the while looking out for speeding taxis (the only way into and out of these small villages for most of the people) unused to visiting gringos on a Sunday afternoon; stray turkeys with their little ones (also unused to visiting gringos on a Sunday afternoon or any other time for that matter) looking for something to eat in the middle of the road; the
(speed bumps) that can rattle your teeth if you fail to slow down for them; the normal bicycles, tricycles and foot-traffic of the Yucatan; a sow and her piglets trotting across the road at an unmarked Hog Crossing; little children running across the little-used road without looking; Sunday drunks weaving down and across the road on their way to the next beer; dogs sleeping in the middle of the sun-warmed road or just wandering around looking for the next best place to take a nap. The small roads between villages are one lane, winding ones, with no shoulders and limited visibility since the jungle grows right to the edge of the road, overhanging it and in some places almost making a tunnel of vegetation. In other words, a normal Sunday ride in the country.
Aside from the traffic problems, add in that Sofi always travels in a taxi, by bicycle or on foot and so does not really pay attention to turn-offs and crossroads and forks and such. If she is in a taxi, the driver knows his way if she is on a bicycle or on foot, things pass by slowly enough to draw her to the correct turn. What that really means, is that Sofi often cannot remember where a turn-off is or which fork to take at a decision point.
Now dont get me wrong; Sofi is not dumb. She is uneducated in Western ways and almost illiterate in regard to books and book learning. She is suspicious and fearful of many "modern" things. If she must answer the cordless phone in the kitchen, she holds it as if it were a live, withering, poisonous snake. But she is very wise and knowledgeable in the things that are important to her and her family in normal village life. Plus she speaks two languages. It is only when she is removed from her normal village surroundings does it become apparent that her education was very different from mine. But when we are in her habitat, my ignorance becomes so frequently and so obviously apparent that good-humored laughter often greets my clumsy attempts to do or say the simplest things.
Ofelia' house
Sofi, Alma and Ofelia in the kitchen
With no mishaps, we arrived at the traditional thatched-roof house (or
, in Yucatec Mayan) of Ofelia and her family. The
was huge 8 meters by 5 meters (about 26 feet by 16.5 feet) a single room built in the ancient manner with lashed joints and palm leaf thatching. At one end was the kitchen three stones on the floor defining where the fire was; a normal-height table mostly covered with dish rack and a five gallon bucket holding drinking water; a low, round table on which to make
tortillas a mano
(by hand); and another small, low rectangular table at which meals were eaten. A series of low stools (
) were stacked along one wall of the
. Other than a couple of rickety folding chairs brought out for visitors, these
and the hammocks were the only places to sit in the entire house.
A traditional stool or
were modern ones, made from machine-sawed, wooded boards. These modern
have replaced the older, traditional style carved from a single log. Some of the older types are very simple and basic; others have more style, artistry and comfort. Many of the rooms (both guest rooms and common areas) at Casa Hamaca are furnished with traditional
As an aside, the word
is interesting. The last part of the word,
, means tree or wood or plant. No problems there. But to my ears, the Mayan words
sound exactly the same. So
translates as wooden snake or serpent or viper; while
translates as wooden hammock. Im told that the word for the stool really is
and not the other. I found that too bad since I like the idea of the word or concept for the wooden seat being that of a "wooden hammock". So, alas, the word actually translates as "wooden serpent". And the word Cancun aptly is frequently translated as "Vipers Nest" (
=Serpent or Viper plus
=Nest) a fitting description of the Sin City Cancun has become. Cancun, in my opinion, ranks right up there with Miami and Las Vegas (along with what was once called Macau in China) as world-class hedonistic magnets. But back to the small village of Hunuku.
The exposed-thatch ceiling above the fireplace was blackened with smoke. When I asked how old the house was, Don Martin, the husband, told me it was built a year before Hurricane Gilberto (1988) and survived that storm and all of the subsequent ones with no damage. A single light bulb hung from the ceiling beams. On a table at the opposite end of the
was a television, tuned to an afternoon
(soccer) game. A few simple shelves held all of the belongings of the family.
tortillas a mano
Cooking the tortillas on the
Sofi making the salsa
After we had been greeted, Ofelia stated making
tortillas a mano
on the small round table (many of the guestrooms at Casa Hamaca are furnished with these traditional tortilla tables) and then flipping the tortillas onto the
to cook. Sofi ground chilies and lime juice in a
(more or less a mortar and pestle) to make a rich and flavorful condiment for the meal to come. When Sofi was finished with the chilies, she sat at one of the small tables and separated meat from bones and placed the meat in a small bowl. No one had told us what the main course would be but I had seen a still-warm
(in-ground fire pit) in the backyard.
Cochinita pibil
? Or maybe
Relleno Negro
While we were waiting for Sofi and Ofelia to finish preparations for the meal, Don Martin and I chatted. About his
(garden) and the
(community-owned land on which any of the villagers could farm). Don Martin said that since almost 75% of the local men now work outside of the village during the week, he really had his choice of where he wanted to farm. He only cultivates about 2 hectares (about 5 five acres) at a time. He does it the traditional way. He prepares the area by first cutting down all of the shrubs and trees, letting them dry and then burning them. This re-nourishes the soil as well as gets rid of any weeds so that he can grow corn for another two or three years before he must prepare another field in the same manner.
Don Martin showing some of his antler collection
We spoke of the
(see previous notes for more on the
) and of the hurricanes (Hurricane Felix had just been upgraded to a Category 2 on its way to becoming a Category 5 hurricane) and of building houses and of copal incense (
) and of the deer in the forests and jungle. Don Martin proudly showed off his collection of deer antlers. I did not diminish his pride by telling him that the antlers he showed me would be humiliating to show in Montana or North Dakota or Minnesota or even New Jersey since they were so small, with so few points. We spoke of how cool his house was during the heat of the summer. I did my best to explain that even the coolest nights in his village were still very warm to someone from the north. That doors were not left wide open during the day, year around, in the north. That walls were thick and roofs were not thatch. That it was so cold that water turned to ice and snow. Now that was stretching things a little since that kind of experience is out of their realm of reality. I further compounded their incredulity with stories of ice fishing and driving cars and trucks out on to the ice. I believe they think that I was just telling tall tails to amuse them before dinner.
When all was ready, Alma (the
) and I were invited to eat first (after all, we were the guests of honor); when we almost finished the adults of the family (including the women) joined us to eat their meal followed by the younger members of the family when the adults were finished. There were no children other than the infant so we could not see how other children might fit into the eating hierarchy. Before we sat down, we were offered a bucket of water in which to wash our hands.
Alma and I were seated at the small round table. On the table were a stack of freshly made tortillas; two shallow bowls, each filled with a different shredded meat; and a small bowl of the chili sauce that Sofi had just made. One of the shallow bowls held
cochinita pibil
, a traditional Sunday meal in the Yucatan.
Cochinita pibil
is pork meat that has been rubbed with achiote paste, wrapped in banana leaves to keep the meat moist, and then buried in the fire pit to bake. It is, in my experience, always tender and delicious. Gringos like me are sometimes served cochinita light just the meat without the flavorful
(or fat) or the baked liver.
is traditionally served with raw chopped onions and, of course, chilies.
Alma, Don Martin, Ofelia, Sofi and Carlos seated on modern
The bowl in the center of the round table holds the mystery meat.
The other bowl held shredded meat that looked a little like chicken. The meat was mixed with chopped radish, cilantro and chili. When I asked what kind of meat this was, I was told it was
. Now that helped a lot! What was its Spanish name?
is the only name it is called they responded. How big is a
? About this high, indicating with his hands, and about this long ??? Since Don Martin was making these hand gestures over the table, I was not sure if the height was from the table to his hands or from the floor to his hands. When I asked if it were the size of a dog, he laughed and said "No smaller". Bigger than a rabbit? I asked. Oh, yes, bigger than a rabbit. Maybe up to 10 kilos or so (about 22 pounds). It only comes out at night and lives in a cave in the ground. It eats vegetables and fruits and plants and roots, Martin offered before I could ask. All I could picture was something like a muskrat. Yuck! Where did this one come from? I got it yesterday evening on the road Road kill??? I shot it with my shotgun. What good luck it was to get it for company, verdad? And, no, you cannot buy this meat at a market. It is against the law.
OK, I said to myself, I am here for the experience. If I didnt eat it, I would never know what it tasted like. After all, I ate pressed and fried guinea pig in Peru and was not the worse from the experience how much different could this be even if it were muskrat?
Oops! Another meal with no utensils. I waited for Alma to start, watching her out of the corner of my eye. Right! Now I remember. Tear a tortilla, like you would cut a pizza. Take about a quarter of the triangle-shaped tortilla and use it to grasp and hold some meat and then pop it right in your mouth.
I first tried the
since I knew I would like that. And I did...it was delicious.
Then I took a piece of the tortilla and grabbed some of the other white meat. By this time Sofi, recognizing that I was not used to eating without utensils, brought a spoon for the salsa and spoons for the meat. So I was able to add a little chili to the meat before eating. It wasnt quite like
sabor de pollo
(tastes like chicken) that even the locals use to describe some meats not usually on the dinner plate. It was, perhaps, a little like mutton (without the fat) or goat without the gamey taste that some wild meats have. So I had another. Ofelia served orange soda in plastic cups. I drank mine quickly since I saw that the flies were as interested in the soda as I was. Later I noticed that the adults covered their cups with a tortilla to keep out the flies. Tortillas were also used as napkins to clean fingers, faces and mouths.
After the meal we were given a tour of the grounds and shown a small pen with two young pigs. We were invited to help eat one of them as part of a
relleno negro
in November for their Day of the Dead observance.
Sofis husband, Carlos, had joined us for the meal by riding his bicycle from his village of Yalcoba to Hunuku. Since I was driving a minivan, I asked him if he would like to put the bike in the back and ride with us when we took Sofi home. But, of course! It took us about 10 minutes to go from Hunuku through another nameless village to Yalcoba. Carlos told us it takes him about an hour to ride the same route and Sofi added that it took her over an hour and a half to walk the same distance.
Alma treating the new bride
We went to the house of Carlos parents. Five of seven kids of Carlos and Sofi were there as well as Carlos mother and the new bride of one of Sofis sons. Alma worked with/on the grandmother as well as a couple of the kids attempting to cure their ills. She tried to determine if the new bride is pregnant yet but could not make a definite determination as yet. The bride is late, but it is still to soon to tell. We were asked if we would like some
made with fresh green corn rather than the dried corn that is usually used.
, as drunk by the Maya, is a thick mixture of water and
or ground corn. It can be comsumed warm, room-temperature or cold and it can be sweetened or spiced with cinnamon or chilies. It is a staple of the farmers while working their
. Why not? I had already put my delicate gringo stomach at risk, why not go the whole way. I always tell visitors to Mexico NOT to drink the water that is, to always drink only bottled, purified water. I was sure that the
had not been made with purified water, but I said OK. Yes, I would like to try the
. The taste was different. A cleaner, greener, fresher taste with some natural sweetness to it. We took our leave and returned to Valladolid.
The paca, paka, agouti,
Cute, isn't he?
The first thing I did upon arrival was to try to identify the strange meat
. Now I cannot pronounce that word let along spell it. After numerous failed attempts at Googling the word, an alternate spelling gave me the information that we ate a paca or an agouti, a rodent with a range from Mexico to the tip of South America that is commonly eaten. In Mexico, it called
, also spelled
while the Mayan name is
When I finally lay down in my hammock, I tried to listen to my body to see if any of the food or liquid I had ingested was going to cause me a problem. My body told me everything was OK and not to worry so I dropped off to sleep for over 10 hours. Maybe
could be marketed as a remedy for insomnia.
Quien sabé
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The Ups and Downs of Living in the Yucatan...
Saturday, August 25, 2007, 09:55 AM
What Pyramids and Cenotes Have In Common
I was born in North Dakota and raised in Montana, so I am used to being able to see a big sky and flat land. When driving through eastern North Dakota, I used to joke as we crossed an overpass that This is the highest point in North Dakota. It certainly seemed that way; you could see all the way to the unbroken horizon. Almost like being on the ocean, the expanse was so vast it seemed to go on forever. The very- low rolling hills flattened out with distance so that North Dakota seemed flat as a pancake.
When I first visited the Yucatan, I felt the same I even made the same jokes as we drove an overpass This must be the highest point in the Yucatan.
View from the summit of the main pyramid at Cobá
The view from the top of a pyramid is even more impressive. Flat. Absolutely flat! Without a hill or even a ripple. So flat that when it rains there is no down hill for the water to run, so the water sits in large puddles until it slowly drains into the earth or evaporates from the blazing sun. When walking through pre-Hispanic ruins, almost every time the very same revelation strikes me (Im a slow learner, after all). That mound over there covered with trees and shrubs and looks like a hill is NOT a hill. There are no hills here. Dah! That is an as-yet unexcavated Mayan ruin.
What go me to thinking about the flatness of the Yucatan was all of the climbing that I have recently been doing. Climbing up and then returning down; climbing down and then back up. Ive had some recent visitors that I took sightseeing. And almost all of the sights involve climbing both up and down (pyramids) or down and up (cenotes or caves) steps or stairs or ladders or ramps or paths.
The main pyramid at Cobá
Doesn't look like such a big deal, does it?
Let's add some people in to give it some perspective.
The main pyramid at Cobá with people
Pyramids are obvious. They stick up out of the ground and you can make an estimate of how high they are, how steep they are, how many steps have to be climbed (both up and then back down). Most people can make a semi-informed guesstimate, based upon past experiences, if they make it up and back down without a helicopter being called in to extract them from the top of a pyramid. The main pyramids of both Uxmal and Chichen Itza are now off-limits to climbing (and probably will remain that way). So, if you have already climbed one of them, you will have bragging rights with your grandchildren someday. If youve climbed both, you can start your bragging immediately.
But the main pyramids at both Ek Balam and Cobá are still open to climbers. The largest Ek Balam pyramid is higher than the Castillo at Chichen Itza, has a narrower width of steps than the Castillo and has no safety rope. Im not sure of the pitch of the steps, but it seems to me that Ek Balam is steeper than the Castillo as well. The lack of the safety rope (or guide rope) is not bad going up. After all, your eyes are looking directly at the steps that your feet will be on in just a few seconds.
Guide Rope at Cobá
Just before my first ascent of a pyramid, some kind soul told me to walk up (and down) in a zigzag pattern. Because the treads are generally narrower (less deep) than the code-approved steps that most of us are used to in the gringo north AND because the risers (the vertical distance between the steps) are so much higher than those to which we are accustomed, walking up or down using a zig-zag pattern allows us almost our normal gait or stride. Dont believe me? Try it.
I have asked a couple of professional archaeologists why the Maya, who are generally shorter in stature, constructed their steps in this manner. The best answer I received was this method produced the tallest structure with the least amount of stone (read: work). That made sense to me. The reason to build the structures in the first place was to re-create a mountain top where you (or the priest) could be closer to God, Dios, Chac or whom/whatever other divinity you might be searching for. The height was the main objective not the comfort level of the steps. So it made great economic sense for them to build as high as possible with the least amount of work possible. On the other hand, the steps leading to the viewing area at the main ball court at Cobá are built for people to actually use without any major strain. The risers are almost a standard height and the treads are spacious.
Coming back down from the top of a pyramid is another story. At least for me it is, and from my observations of other climbers over the years, a fair number of other people as well. At Chichen Itzas Castillo, most people just walked up, sometimes using their hands to reach up a few steps to help pull themselves up as they got closer to the top. Some people needed the guide rope to get up. Watching people come down was almost like viewing an old slapstick silent-film. Some of the younger ones ran down the steps (without the zigzag pattern), others strode majestically down, hardly ever looking at their feet. Still others cautiously advanced the same foot forward and downward, sometimes with the use of one or both hands to steady themselves. Some slide down on their butts, bump by bump. Many used the guide rope bisecting the steps. Some walked down, lightly staying in contact with the rope. Others came down backward holding on to the rope for dear-life. Yesterday I was at the main pyramid of Cobá. I had just descended and was sitting on a bench at the bottom waiting for a friend when the skies opened up with a brief, but drenching, rain shower. The stone steps suddenly became slick with the moisture and very slippery. The people caught on the steps hurried down as fast as they were able without their feet sliding out from under them. Not a good place to be caught if lightning started.
It's a long way down!
Heights do strange things to people. At Ek Balam, I watched a man, on his way back down; freeze about ten feet from the top of the pyramid. He could not move. His wife could not help him in any way. There was no guide rope to aid him. He sat there for at least 15 minutes before working up his courage enough to make his way down a few steps using a technique somewhere between the butt-sliding method and a hands-behind-the-back crab-walking one. I had to leave before he made his next move, but I am sure that it took him a long, long time to make his descent.
I watched him because I knew how close I had been many times to the same paralyzing fear. The fear starts at the bottom of the ascent because I realize then that I will have to come back down. The fear grows are I ascend. The higher I go, the greater the fear until I reach the top. Then I must go as far away as possible from any edge, preferably with my back against some solid structure. I check out the view but I cannot really enjoy it, as others seem to because all I can concentrate on is the descent. Because many of the pyramids are so steep, you cannot actually see the steps until you are very close to the edge. The lack of visual clues such as a banister or railing doesnt help either. Looking down, my stomach lurches and sweat breaks out over my entire body. There is nothing I can do about it, the fear has been there my entire life and will remain with me to my dying day. That first step down, almost always a side step, seems endless. A lifetime until my toe touches the top of that first step. The already overly high riser seems even higher than it actually is. I must stretch to reach the next step. If I look straight out, all I see is jungle. And if I look down, all I see is myself falling, bouncing, and rolling down the steps only to end up dead and spread-eagled on the ground at the base of the pyramid. Somehow I get down, vowing never to subject myself to the same humiliation again. Vowing to never again climb another pyramid, never go on the roof of my house, never even climb another ladder.
But then, I go and do it again.
Cenote Zaci in Valladolid
Balankanche Caves
The sightseeing adventures over the past few days have included three cenotes and one cave. All underground. All with long (and sometimes steep and slippery) descents. All had some sort of guide rope or handrail. Two of the cenotes and the cave (obviously, otherwise they would call it something else) had artificial lights of some kind. The third cenote was partially open to the sky and had ample natural light. Here the descents were less difficult. I often could not actually see the bottom of the stairs since they faded into darkness as well as sometimes twisted and turned around a bend. If I looked straight ahead, I was looking into a solid rock faces, sometimes inches from my eyes. I had to be careful not to bump my head on the uneven rock surface of the ceiling during the descent. And I could use my hands, both to grip the rope as well as to guide me down by following the rock walls by touch. A very tactile experience. Because of the touch I felt connected with the earth and, even though the steps were as steep (sometimes steeper) than those of a pyramid and the vertical distances were almost exactly the same (plus or minus 30 meters above ground level and below ground level I wonder if anyone has studied the relative heights of pyramids vs. cenotes as a basis for their thesis? After all, the ceiba tree has roots as deep as the branches are tall, verdad?), I did not experience the vertigo that I experience while descending a pyramid. I had the concern of slipping on moist stone steps, but not the fear of falling to the bottom.
Underground Ceremonial Site at the Balankanche Caves
In the cave where the only source of light was artificial, I experienced momentary claustrophobia, thinking of the tons of rock above my head and seeing the broken fragments of rock that had already fallen from the ceiling of the cave. How would I ever find my way out if the lights went out? I cursed myself for not bringing a pocket flashlight. And I thought of the miners in Utah and in China who, at the time this was written, were trapped in mine cave-ins, perhaps struggling for their lives at that very moment. Perhaps already dead.
And again was able to put my life and my fears in perspective.
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Cattlemen-Tied Researchers on NAS Meat Safety Panel
A National Academy of Sciences committee considering
improvements in the nation's meat-safety inspection system is
dominated by members with financial ties to the meat industry.
Those numbers greatly outnumber consumer advocacy
representatives, according to an investigation by the Consumer
Federation of America and the Center for Science in the Public
Interest. The committee met for the first time last week. Out of the 29 members of the NAS Standing Committee on the Use of
Public Health Data in FSIS Food Safety Programs, 16 were recently employed by food companies or have accepted research funding from the meat and processed food industries. Ten of the group's members did not disclose those financial relationships on the NAS website.
The committee will evaluate the data and methodology of the
Agriculture Department's risk-based inspection (RBI) system,
which is administered by the Food Safety and Inspection Service
(FSIS). Congress called a halt to the program in 2007 after consumer-group complaints. FSIS claims RBI allows the
agency to focus inspections on the riskiest slaughterhouses and
meat processing facilities. But the risk rankings are derived from a survey of 23 people, many of whom worked directly for the meat industry or had industry experience.
Members of the committee with undisclosed conflicts of interest
included Mindy Brashears, professor of Animal and Food Sciences
at Texas Tech University, whose 2007 study on E. coli in feedlot
cattle was
supported in part by the Beef Checkoff program through the
Cattlemen's Beef Board; and Michael Doyle, director of the
University of Georgia Center for Food Safety, who has received
numerous grants from the American Meat Institute and has been
principal investigator on food safety projects funded by Kraft Foods and Great Eastern Mussel Farms.
In addition, four members of the NAS review committee were among
the original 23 respondents who provided the original risk
rankings, raising questions about their ability to independently
assess the data's quality.
Columbia, Emory Update COI PoliciesIn the wake of a congressional investigation into academic researchers who fail to report financial ties to industry while receiving federal grants, Columbia University announced last week it will upgrade its financial conflict of interest policy to meet tougher federal standards, the Columbia Spectator reported. The investigation, led by Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA), recently focused on the university's relationship with the Cardiovascular Research Foundation, which is led by two doctors at Columbia Medical School - Martin Leon and Gregg Stone. "The draft policy, like the current policies, helps preserve the integrity of research by assuring appropriate relationships with commercial entities for the benefit of researchers, the University, and the public," a university statement said. The university intends for the policy to be consistent across all schools, according to the Spectator.
Meanwhile, Emory University President James Wagner has appointed
an advisory commission to review the university's policies and
practices in policing conflicts of interest. The Atlanta
reported the president appointed Paul Root Wolpe, director of
Emory's Center for Ethics, to chair the panel. Grassley's
investigation recently revealed that Emory psychiatrist Charles
Nemeroff failed to tell the university about receiving millions
of dollars from a drug company while simultaneously studying
that company's drug on a government-funded project. Nemeroff
subsequently resigned as principal investigator of a National Institutes of Health study and as chair of the psychiatry department.
Senate Committee Seeks More Company RecordsThe Senate Finance Committee has asked health industry giants Johnson & Johnson, Medtronics, Abbott Labs, AstraZeneca, and Eli Lilly to turn over records of payments to psychiatrists, Bloomberg.com reported last week. Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) said the inquiry was designed "to determine more about the accuracy of disclosures of financial relationships between industry and doctors and to build a case for his sunshine legislation." AstraZeneca and Eli Lilly have been asked to turn over information about their payments to Stanford University psychiatrist Alan Schatzberg, who was
criticized (registration required) last summer over failing to disclose that he held $6 million in stock in Corcept
Therapeutics, a pharmaceutical company whose drug mifepristone
was simultaneously being studied under his leadership for the
National Institutes of Health. Schatzberg stepped down from the
study as a result of the investigation.
Land Grant University Scientists Join Biofuels Industry TeamAn industry-supported letter attempting to stop the Environmental Protection Agency from measuring greenhouse gas
emissions from biofuels production has been signed by five prominent scientists at land grant universities and a
federal lab. The letter, which called the effort "premature,"
was sent to EPA administrator Stephen Johnson. It came in
response to an environmental group push to get the agency to
issue the report as required by the Renewable Fuel Standard of
the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. "Ethanol
production today using U.S. corn contributes
to the conversion of grasslands and rainforest to agriculture,
causing very large greenhouse gas emissions," the letter
from the Clean Air Task Force, Environmental Working Group, and
Friends of the Earth said.
Odds and EndsPresident-elect Barack Obama reportedly plans to prohibit political appointees from working on regulations or contracts directly and substantially related to their prior employer for two years to avoid conflicts of interest, The Washington Express reported in its Nov. 6 edition.... The Christian Science Monitor, which is ceasing its print publication,
reported last week on the Bush administration's last minute
efforts to weaken environmental protections and support "industry-friendly" politics....
Cheers and Jeers

subset: commoncrawl


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Thomasville reports 102,000-gallon wastewater spill Thursday
Published: Friday, January 18, 2013 at 5:04 p.m.
Last Modified: Friday, January 18, 2013 at 5:04 p.m.
The City of Thomasville reported Friday a spill of 102,000 gallons of untreated wastewater Thursday.
The spill came from the East Davidson Pump Station and spilled into South Hamby Creek in the Yadkin/Pee Dee River Basin. Extended rainfall during the preceding week had saturated the ground with water, and a volume of the heavy rainfall during the day and evening Thursday entered the collection system, causing the spill, according to a press release from the city. Rainwater constituted most of the volume that spilled.
The Division of Water Quality was notified Friday and is reviewing the matter. For further information, contact the City of Thomasville at 475-4220.
State law requires municipalities, animal operations, industries and others who operate waste-handling systems to issue a news release when a spill of 1,000 gallons or more reaches surface waters.
Reader comments posted to this article may be published in our print edition. All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged.


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I came across this Michel & Augustin Petits Carres: Dark Chocolate at the same trip to the Grove Farmer's Market down in Los Angeles on 3rd and Fairfax. The stores there carry and amazing array of items, and these bars from France are one of many. It was actually my sister who noticed them at first and kept picking them up to look at the packaging. The purist that I am, I was more interested in the huge bars of Felchin and Dolfin chocolates. It wasn't until I she came over and tugged on my sleeves suggesting that these would be great to review on my blog. "Look at how unique these are!" she exclaimed. That line of reasoning was exactly why I bought them.
This is a candy bar that I have never seen before. This isn't because it's French and I just haven't seen it on shelves here in the USA. No, I mean by the fact that this style of candy bar is completely new to me. Usually you see instead is a bar that is similar; where cookie bits are crumbled into the chocolate, or the chocolate is put into the cookie and it sold as a…well, a cookie. So this idea of a molded cookie base and chocolate interior which is a candy bar is very new to me.
I shall start with the first flavor: Dark Chocolate.
So these bare have butter biscuit as the bottom with a chocolate filling pressed into "wells" in the top. The bar is broke into six biscuit sections, two wide and three tall. Out of the wrapper it's pretty to look at. Kind of like a stained glass cookie. Also though, due to the denseness of the cookie bottom, the sections are kinda hard to break. Everyone single one of them gave me a difficult time.
The bar is 73g in size/weight. I admit I wasn't quite sure if this was a candy or a cookie. But, one seldom sees a 73g cookies wrapped like a candy bar. Much less from France.
The butter biscuit bottom is soft and crumbly. It doesn't require a lot of chewing to make it break apart. The flavor is very sweet and buttery, with nice notes that aren't too sweet. It's a nice butter shortbread. I was surprised by it's intense salty aftertaste, which was strange at first then ended up being the part I looked forward to most. The chocolate filling is soft and gooey, but solid. When I opened the wrapper it stuck to it and came out as a solid whole. Which is…odd. The flavor is sweet but very…flat. It reminds me of creamy cocoa powder. The flavor gets stronger, but it's not very sweet and it has a very flat chocolate flavor.
So this is ...meh. I've had chocolate bars that are better and cookies that are better. I just can't help but feeling that this is better off as a cookies, as opposed to packaged like a candy bar.
Rating: Might Eat Again
Links Michel & Augustin Webpage (French)


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Mariano's Tastemaker Event
Mariano's invited guests to join renowned Chicago Chef and Tastemaker, Tony Priolo of Piccolo Sogno Restaurant at Mariano's West Loop location for a unique cooking experience. Chef Priolo taught guests how to properly prepare delicious ravioli and immediately following the cooking class was a dinner with Chef Priolo.
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Camerich LA Grand Opening Party
Camerich Los Angeles held it's Grand Opening Party on Thursday, July 18, celebrating the international furnishings company's long-awaited U.S. flagship showroom's arrival. Delicious hors d'oeuvres, Champagne and specialty beverages from Vina Sympatica and Pacific Ridge Vineyards were served in celebration. Guests mingled with notable industry influencers, VIPS and celebrities as they enjoyed the unveiling the new Camerich Los Angeles showroom. Notable celebrity attendees included: Jon Lovitz, Alex Solowitz, Johnathon Schaech, and actress Taryn Manning who DJ'd the event. Event decor was provided by Reverly Event Designers and floral arrangements were provided by Flowers in Beverly Hills.
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CATS Sprint Triathlon
September 18, 2016 - Conway, AR
CATS Sprint Triathlon 500 yd S / 15 mi B / 3.2 mi R
presented by:
Entry l Lodging & Amenities l Awards l Transitions & Parking l Contingency & Refunds
Event Schedule
Saturday 9/17
Early Packet Pick up and Registration
|3 - 6pm
|Packet pick-up will be located at the Sport Runner.
1016 Van Ronkle Street Conway, AR 72032-4326 (501) 328-9255 [ MAP ]
Sunday 9/18
Race Day
|5 - 6:30am
|Late Packet pick up @ Race Site - (Race Day Registration will be very limited. Please plan to pre-register) [ MAP ]
|Transition Area opens
|Pre Race Meeting at race site.
|Transition Closes. All bikes must be racked
|Toad Suck Race Start: 1st wave (each wave separated by 3 - 5 min)
|Long Course Du Start
|CATS Sprint Start
|Open water swim Awards
|Post race food & beverage
|CATS Sprint Tri Awards (Approx dependent on field size)
|Toad Suck Awards (Approx dependent on field size)
Course Time Limits for Toad Suck Tri / Du / Aqua Bike
1.5K Swim / 40K Bike / 10K Run
Swim cut-off is at 1 hour from your wave start time, and will be enforced
Bike cut-off is 2 hours 45 minutes from your race wave start time
To complete the Toad Suck - 4 hours 15 Minutes.
Aquabike division for Toad Suck
1.5K Swim / 40K Bike
All Entrants will start in their own wave and will finish the event by racking their bike
and proceeding to the Finish line which is approximately 300 yards from the transition
area. Aquabike Participants will not be allowed onto the run course just to do it
for fun! Finisher Medals will be distributed as you finish and your timing chip
will be collected by race staff.
Duathlon division for Toad Suck
5K Run / 40K Bike / 10K Run
All Duathletes will start in their own wave. The first run will be an out and back
to the 1 mile mark. The bike will be one lap and the second run
will be one lap of the course.
1.5K Open Water Swim Course
The Swim is a counter clockwise Rectangle.
The Entry and Finish area is on a Beautiful Sandy Beach. Historically the water temp
in early September is in the Low 80's or Upper 70's. If water temp is above 78F
wet suit will not be allowed.
Sprint SWIM: 500 Yard Sprint Course
The Swim is a counter clockwise Rectangle, with an in water start. The Entry and Finish area
is on a Beautiful Sandy Beach. Course for both the Sprint and the Half are in
Lake Beaverfork.
Sprint BIKE: Sprint Course 15 mile out and back
Some of the best riding in Central Arkansas! The Bike Course is a fast rolling out and
back course with a couple of moderate climbs from both directions. About 1 mile into the
course your in Farm lands outside of Conway.
** No Aid Stations will be offered on the bike course so be sure to carry what
you need. There will be a lead and Sweep Vehicle for your safety and convenience.
Toad Suck 40K bike Course:
Used for the Tri / Du / Aqua Bike divisions 40K out and back
The Toad Suck does one Lap of the 40 K Bike Course Most roads paved within the last few years, smooth and fast. The Course contains a approximately 1250 feet of climbing. Remember we're in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. Course is very doable on Tri Bike. If your strong rider a Disc Wheel shouldn't be a problem. Although I personally would use a deep Dish or standard spoke wheel.
RUN: Sprint Tri Course: 3.2 miles
The run course is and out and back is fairly flat and very fast! Aid Stations will be
approximately each mile. They will be stocked with ice, water, sports drink.
RUN: Toad Suck ( 10K / 6.2 Miles)
Much of the Course is Tree lined. Fairly Flat and Fast!
This will be a one Lap out and back run for the Toad Suck.
Aid stations approximately each mile.
Triathlon and Compression Gear


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Asia and the Pacific
Asia and the Pacific
Recent Activity
Recent Activity
This brief outlines the key policy challenges governments and other stakeholders face in addressing the health needs of Asian labor migrants. It highlights the obstacles migrant workers face in accessing health facilities and services at various stages of migration, before proposing five key steps for translating the growing interest in migrant health issues to visible changes on the ground.
This practical handbook highlights policies and programs that can magnify the resources, both human and financial, that emigrants and their descendants contribute to development. It gives concrete examples of policies and programs that have been effective, and pulls out both useful lessons and common challenges associated with the topics at hand.
This brief examines the complex issues surrounding labor migration from Colombo Process countries. It discusses the progress made—and the policy challenges that remain—with regard to creating efficient and equitable labor migration systems.
Este manual ofrece a los formuladores de políticas y especialistas una guía accesible y práctica sobre las iniciativas gubernamentales referentes a la diáspora. Este manual contiene un menú, seleccionado cuidadosamente, de opciones normativas y programáticas viables basadas en experiencias reales en distintas partes del mundo.


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"Well, first of all, the benefits of this, the public is the one that really benefits. As we disclosed in our financials, we don't make a lot of money. In fact, we lose a lot of money."
Saturday, April 20, 2013
Consider this...
"Well, first of all, the benefits of this, the public is the one that really benefits. As we disclosed in our financials, we don't make a lot of money. In fact, we lose a lot of money."
6 comments
Many businessmen set up corporations or LLCs as umbrella corporations that own stock in other corporations this way they can use losses incurred in one to offset the profits from another.
If you look at the actual out of pocket dollars Ross invests in the Dolphins with signing bonuses plus salaries for all employees he could very well be showing a loss. The costs of financing both the team and stadium purchase plus the costs of operating both the team and stadium could very well be more than the revenues from ticket sales, which would create the loss. I believe Ross said the team could earn a profit if they sell out.
His share of TV revenues could be directed
into a separate corporation.
In any event, there are plenty of sports franchises that lose money and the businessmen who own them do it for ego and other reasons.
hey david. I understand your point of view and as a fan of the Miami dolphins and ive been living in Miami my whole life too I feel that Miami will benefit the most. All the money that will be used on the stadium will all be made back. So who cares who benefits or not. In the end we get a fixed up stadium and a super bowl in three or four years. I might not like every detail about this whole thing but in the end im happy. And why complain we aren't even paying for the stadium the taxes are on the hotels. The hotels will probably make back all their money too. I really like this blog it just bothers me to hear fans complain about positive things and they make it negative. When your 7o years old and a billionaire you don't really need to care if your losing money or not.
John - that was basically my point. Thanks. :)
Carl - you're not wrong. There are always shells and other factors in play But he's not losing money and I'd argue that no owner of a major sport is truly losing money.


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Drapery Fabric - Clay
Nothing brightens a room up like some lovely drapery fabric to frame the windows. Freshen your home up with some gorgeous discount drapery fabric that comes in an array of silks, sheers and cottons. We've got stunning striped drapery, floral drapery, and solid drapery by top mills such as Brunschwig & Fils, Bloomcraft, Mill Creek, Waverly and Braemore.
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I need some general advice on how to continue my programming studies. I'm a self taught programmer and I picked up programming somewhere in the fall of 2011. I began with C++ and Java books and I learned everything up to OOP (except memory handling in c++). I later decided that I wanted to work with web-development so I learned the PHP syntax and started my first project in the summer that resulted in http://doostr.com
The main reason why I started the project was that I would be forced to solve different kind of problems that I knew I would face along the way. I learned about relational databases and designed my own tables in MySQL (third normalization form), learned SQL logic and functions, became more fluent in programming by extensively utilizing basic programming tools (variables, loops, arrays, functions, classes), PHP native functions, MVC, Javascript (jQuery library) and the basics of CSS/HTML. I've used twitter-bootstrap as a base for design since I wanted to speed up the design and focus on programming.
Now I feel like I'm just iterating through things that I've learned before. I feel like I need to come in contact with more experienced programmers in a professional developing environment that I can learn more from so I'm preparing myself for applying for a backend programmer trainee job (unpaid) and use my project as a resumé (I dont have a computer science degree).
I need some general advice from working professionals on how I not only should prepare myself considering what I want to work with, but also how I should continue my programming/developer path generally. I've asked a friend that works with java and he said that I should find a good design patterns books. You guys have any good suggestions? Any other language that would be good to combine with PHP/MySQL? I know Java/C++ syntax. I'll take any advice you might have. You can go to my site, create an account and test the functionality and it might give you a hint of what I'm capable of.
Not sure where to put this topic so feel free to move it to the proper tag.
Thanks for reading.


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Diving Takes First At UIC Diving Invitational
Oct. 27, 2003
Chicago, Ill.- While the swimming teams traveled to Evanston for the Northwestern Relays, the UIC men's and women's diving squads returned home to host the UIC Diving Invitational at the UIC Natatorium on Sunday afternoon.
The Flames answered questions regarding their diving team depth with strong showings on both sides. The UIC men overwhelmed the competition with a first-place finish, while the women grabbed a tie for first with UW-Milwaukee.
Leading the men were newcomers Mark Papalardo and Mike Horowitz, who finished with the Flames' top scores in both the one-meter and three-meter dives. Papalardo earned a 241.40 on the one-meter board for a second-place finish while also taking second in the three-meter dive, scoring a 217.4 in the event. Horowitz scored a 225.35 in the one-meter dive to finish just behind Pappalardo at third, then took fifth on the three-meter board at 210.25.
Freshman Ryan Fitzer grabbed fifth in the one-meter dive with a score of 203.45 while taking seventh in the three-meter at 189.22. Senior Joe Scharnak placed eighth in the three-meter with a 186.55 and finished ninth in the one-meter by scoring a 175.65 in the event.
Sophomore Mike Borge rounded out the men's competition for the Flames with tenth-place finishes in both events, scoring a 138.30 in the one-meter and a 133.20 on the three-meter board.
UIC topped the men's standing with 124 points, followed by UW-Milwaukee with 104. Northwestern was third with 40 points.
For the women's team, freshman Sarah Economides followed up a first-place finish in her first collegiate diving event at Eastern Illinois on Friday evening with an outstanding 211.90 on the one-meter board. Economides completed her day by finishing 12th in the three-meter, earning a 199.75 score.
Diving captain Caitlin Carey was steady as usual, completing the three-meter dive as the Flames' top finisher with a sixth-place finish and a score of 218.25. Carey earned fourth in the one-meter with a judges' tally of 206.45.
Other notable finishers for the UIC women included sophomoes Tara Goodwin and Holly Waidanz. Goodwin followed Carey in the three-meter dive with a seventh-place finish, earning 214.10 points, while trailing Carey by just over a point on the one-meter board (205.35) to take fifth. Waidanz earned 12th in the one-meter with a 145.60 and a 20th-place finish in the three-meter event with a score of 149.35.
UIC earned 84 points to score a first-place team tie with UW-Milwaukee. Illinois State was third with 56 points, followed by Illinois (43) and Northwestern (40).
The UIC diving teams rejoin the swimming squads to take on defending Horizon League men's and women's champion Wright State at the UIC Natatorium on Saturday, November 1st at noon.


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After Two Months Away, Squash Teams Finally Return Home For Key Ivy Weekend
It was late November when both the Princeton men's and women's squash teams recorded matching 9-0 wins over Williams College at the Jadwin Squash Courts. After a brutal two-month road trip against some of the top teams in the nation, the Tigers will return home looking to get back on track in the Ivy League.
Both matches will be streamed live via the Ivy League Digital Network (use the link above). On Saturday, both teams will host Brown (women at 11, men at 1) and use a two-shift format. All five courts will be shown for both dual matches.
On Sunday, both teams will host Yale simultaneously, starting at noon. The men will play on Courts 1-3, while the women will play on Courts 4-6. The first five courts are set for video streaming. The Princeton women will also play Stanford Sunday at 3 pm, and that match is also scheduled to be streamed.
The fourth-ranked Tiger women (5-2, 1-2) will take on No. 10 Brown Saturday at 11, and then will host No. 5 Yale (noon) and No. 7 Stanford (3 pm) on Sunday. The Tigers have been led by freshman Maria Elena Ubina at the No. 1 spot, though the hottest player on the team right now is junior Hallie Dewey. The Tiger No. 6 player is undefeated this season, and she is the only member of the team to win her individual matches against both No. 1 Harvard and No. 3 Penn.
The sophomore duo of Rachel Leizman and Tara Harrington also both won against Penn Wednesday night. Leizman, who will be part of the final shift against Yale, had a key win in the Tigers' 5-4 road win at Yale last season. Her 3-0 victory over Lilly Fast helped keep the Tigers unbeaten, and they would go on to win an outright Ivy League title.
Princeton likely fell out of the Ivy League title race with the loss at Penn Wednesday, but all eyes remain on the Howe Cup national team championships in three weeks. Those return to the Jadwin Squash Courts, site of Princeton's 2008 title victory, and every team win along the way will help the Tigers earn the best seed possible for that three-day showdown.
The Princeton men are coming off a hard-fought 6-3 loss at the top-ranked Trinity Bantams. Though injuries have caused havoc on the Tigers' season, head coach Sean Wilkinson was able to watch his top three (Samuel Kang, Tyler Osborne and Dylan Ward) post their best performances of the season in wins at Trinity.
While the women are trying to at least maintain their No. 4 ranking this weekend, the men have an opportunity to make a big jump with an upset Sunday. After their match with the 19th-ranked Brown Bears Saturday, the Tigers take on No. 3 Yale. Princeton earned a 6-3 road win in New Haven last season, and they can create some havoc in the next rankings with a repeat performance.


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Color is enjoying a well deserved moment and "blocking" color, or creating a contrasting plane of your favorite hue on a wall creates a bold focal point that unifies art and collectibles displayed within its boundaries, adding muscle to their eye-catching strength. To bring color blocked character into your home, all you need is paint, a brush and a broad stroke of confidence.
Tape Measure, Straight Edge, Pencil, Level, Architectural Masking Tape, Paint Brush or Roller, Paint
Use a tape measure to determine the size and placement of the block to be painted. Outline the space with a straight edge and pencil. Use a level to assure the block is positioned squarely on the wall.
Tape the outside edge of the marked block. Press firmly on the tape to help keep the paint from seeping beneath its edge. This is especially important on textured walls.
Using a brush or roller, paint the area inside of the tape. Brush paint away from the edge of the tape to help prevent the paint from bleeding underneath.
Remove the tape, taking care not to pull away paint along the edges of the color block.
Position art, accessories and furnishings within the color block, using it to unite them and create a dramatic focal point.
This post was originally published on utahstyleanddesign.com.


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Ranked among the nation's most integrated healthcare systems, Community Health Network is Central Indiana's leader in providing convenient access to exceptional healthcare services, where and when patients need them—in hospitals, health pavilions, workplaces, schools and homes.
According to the National Cancer Institute, when the Pap test shows an ambiguous or minor abnormality, the test is usually repeated to ensure accuracy.
If the test shows a significant abnormality, a colposcopy may be performed (using an instrument called a colposcope) to examine the vagina and the cervix.
A Schiller test may also be performed, in which the cervix is coated with an iodine solution. The iodine stains healthy cells brown, while abnormal cells maintain their typical white or yellow color.
A biopsy may be performed in which the physician removes a small amount of cervical tissue for examination by a pathologist. This is the only sure way to determine whether the abnormal cells indicate cancer.
A Pap test (sometimes called a Pap smear) is a way to examine cells collected from the cervix, or the "mouth" of the womb (located at the top of the vagina), for the presence of:
A Pap test, along with a pelvic examination, is an important part of a female's routine health care because it may detect abnormalities that can lead to invasive cancer. Most invasive cancers of the cervix can be detected early if females have Pap tests and pelvic examinations regularly. As with many types of cancer, cancer of the cervix is more likely to be successfully treated if it is detected early.
But, the Pap test is not only useful in detecting cancerous cells, it can detect other changes in the cervix and vagina, including dysplasia, or pre-cancer cells. Inflammation in the cervical area may also be detected. Inflammation may be caused by:
A woman should always consult with her physician about when and how often a Pap test and pelvic examination should be performed.
According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the American Cancer Society (ACS), and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), general guidelines include:
In the past few years, a newer way of testing cervical cells for abnormalities has gained acceptance in the medical community. This procedure is called liquid-based cytology. Approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the test is a liquid-based procedure in which cells from the cervix are put into a vial of liquid instead of being "smeared" onto a slide. The liquid is then filtered and only the cervical cells are placed onto a slide for examination. Though the cost of the procedure, called Thinprep, AutoCyte, or SurePath, is double what a Pap test costs, studies show that these tests may require fewer repeat tests and detect more early-stage lesions. Consult your physician for more information.
When abnormal cells are identified on a Pap test, additional testing is generally recommended in order to determine if the abnormality requires treatment. However, a 2006 report from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recommends that abnormal Pap test results in adolescents may be managed somewhat differently.
Most cervical lesions of a lower grade will go away without treatment in adolescents. Thus, ACOG's current recommendation is to repeat the Pap test at 6- or 12-month intervals for a year after the original abnormal Pap test, depending on the individual situation of the adolescent involved. However, the plan of action for further testing and treatment after abnormal results from a Pap test will depend on the type of abnormality found and the adolescent's general health status.
Because certain strains of HPV have been found to cause most cases of cervical cancer, research efforts have focused on developing a vaccine against HPV. Two HPV vaccines have been developed, and clinical trials of these vaccines have been successful.
One of the vaccines, Gardasil®, was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2006 and can protect women from HPV infections. It protects against four types of the HPV virus, including the two viruses that cause 90 percent of genital warts. Gardasil can only be used to prevent HPV infection before an abnormal pap test develops.
Gardasil is administered as a series of three injections over a six month period. Recommendations for giving this vaccine are still being discussed but many professionals feel the vaccine should be given to girls before they become sexually active.
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17Beta-estradiol modulates gastroduodenal preneoplastic alterations in rats exposed to the carcinogen N-methyl-N'-nitro-nitrosoguanidine
Gastric cancers are a significant cause of morbidity worldwide. Epidemiological studies and animal models show that males have higher incidences of gastric cancers compared with females, suggesting that sex hormones may modulate gastric cancer risk. An animal model of the initiation phase of gastric...
Epidemiology of coagulase-negative staphylococci intramammary infection in dairy cattle and the effect of bacteriological culture misclassification
Objectives of this study were to identify the manageable risk factors associated with the lactational incidence, elimination, and prevalence of coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) intramammary infections (IMI) while taking into account the difficulties inherent to their diagnosis. A second object...
Estrogens modulate gastroduodenal hyperplasia and dysplasia induced by N-methyl-N '-nitrosoguanidine in rats.
Evaluation of clustering of new intramammary infections in the bovine udder, including the impact of previous infections, herd prevalence, and somatic cell count on their development
Evidence in the literature exists to support the theory that mastitis and intramammary infection (IMI) tend to cluster within herds, within cows, and within quarters, facts which may have overarching ramifications on mastitis management in modern dairy herds. Most previous studies, however, have bee...
Evaluation of minor pathogen intramammary infection, susceptibility parameters, and somatic cell counts on the development of new intramammary infections with major mastitis pathogens
Major mastitis pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus uberis, Streptococcus dysgalactiae, and coliforms are usually considered more virulent and damaging to the udder than minor mastitis pathogens such as Corynebacterium spp. and coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS). The current li...
Examining the effect of intramammary infections with minor mastitis pathogens on the acquisition of new intramammary infections with major mastitis pathogens - a systematic review and meta-analysis
Major mastitis pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus agalactiae, Streptococcus uberis, Streptococcus dysgalactiae, and the coliforms are usually considered more virulent and damaging to the udder than minor mastitis pathogens such as Corynebacterium bo...
A sexual dimorphism in gastric acid secretion has been known for many years, with women secreting less acid ( approximately 40%) than men. The mechanisms mediating this sex difference are unknown, but a role for estrogens is suggested from animal models. Two estrogen receptor (ER) subtypes, ER alpha...
Manageable risk factors associated with the lactational incidence, elimination, and prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus intramammary infections in dairy cows
Staphylococcus aureus intramammary infections (IMI) are a major cause of mastitis on farms worldwide. Incidence and elimination rates are the key determinants of prevalence of Staph. aureus, and risk factors associated with these rates must be identified, prioritized, and controlled to obtain long-t...
Discussion between faculty and interested students revealed the existence of a multitude of opportunities in dairy production medicine at the College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University. Many of these were not well known to students, or even to some of the faculty, and the means of accessin...


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Porsche 964 Cat Back Exhaust
Featured Cat-Back Exhausts Products
Cat Back Exhaust
Featured Cat Back Exhausts Products
When considering serious Porsche 964 cat back exhausts upgrades for their vehicles, many drivers focus on installing the most effective Porsche 964 cat back exhaust system. A catback exhaust is the portion of an exhaust setup that contains all the components from the rear of the catalytic converter on down. Finely tuned Porsche 964 cat back exhausts serve as excellent 964 racing exhausts, and with all of the proper parts like universal mufflers and sleek tail pipes included, the setup can provide the sound and emissions flow a serious driver would want.
Porsche 964 Catalytic converters are the starting points for Porsche 964 cat back exhaust upgrades, and for good reason. These Porsche 964 converters help to make emissions cleaner and less polluting, and can correct problems caused by unruly Porsche 964 car exhausts. While mufflers focus on sound control and Porsche 964 exhaust pipes and tips are often upgraded for their looks more than anything, entire Porsche 964 cat back exhaust system upgrades can really affect the whole vehicle in a positive way, making for a cleaner, better looking exhaust array.


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UH Calendar
Search the Calendar
5:00 pm
UH Softball @ Sam Houston
6:30 pm
UH Baseball vs. Harvard
8:00 pm
The Coogs will host the first round of the CBI against in state rival Texas.
Students make sure to get there early. The first 1,500 students are free courtesy of UHAA.
Student gates will open at 6pm. FREE PIZZA for students while supplies last! Get your tickets now!
$10 cash parking will be available in these lots: 15C Named Lot, 15C Lot, 16B/C Lot and the Stadium Parking Garage


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ZF-2684: Zend_Mail wrong encode of mail subject, if it contain underscore
I cannot decode mail subject in Japanese at OutlookExpress and Gmail. I think encoding for '_' (underscore) is wrong.
function _encodeHeader() $quotedValue = str_replace(array('?', ' '), array('=3F', '=20'), $quotedValue);
fix like this $quotedValue = str_replace(array('?', ' ', '_'), array('=3F', '=20', '=5F'), $quotedValue);
I check correctly at OE and Gmail.
thank you
(Ref) The "Q" encoding defined in RFC2047 4.2.2 The 8-bit hexadecimal value 20 (e.g., ISO-8859-1 SPACE) may be represented as "_" (underscore, ASCII 95.). (This character may not pass through some internetwork mail gateways, but its use will greatly enhance readability of "Q" encoded data with mail readers that do not support this encoding.) Note that the "_" always represents hexadecimal 20, even if the SPACE character occupies a different code position in the character set in use.
Thank you for report. Fixed in SVN r9222


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Cross dock fuels growth at Dots
VIEW THE SLIDE SHOW and see how the combination of cross-docking and flow-through distribution fuels growth at the Ohio-based fashion retailer Dots
February 24, 2011 - LM Editorial
According to Akey, installation of the automated equipment and software was only half the battle.
The true key to a successful cross dock is the automated exchange of information through EDI between Dots and its many vendors even before the product physically arrives at the receiving door.
Dots' IT department had the unenviable task of getting its many vendors and suppliers onboard with EDI. "The EDI team has now transitioned a significant portion of our vendors to EDI, representing about 50 percent of the units processed with the goal of impacting 80 percent of units this year," reports Akey.
Dots also dedicated a substantial amount of resources on extensive training and building job aids for its internal allocation and merchant teams. "These job aids guide the vendors to identify the best way to pack a purchase order (PO) based on a category and allocation plan," says Akey. "Everything begins with the correct PO. If the PO is not written correctly or if the vendor ASN does not match, everything stops."
Opportunities to build cross-dock cartons are also identified at this point. Akey lists denim, fall sweaters, outerwear, footwear, and other bulky items that tend to quickly fill store cartons as naturals for cross docking.
The new operation is a blend of the most advanced conveyor and mechanical technology with the latest systems in information processing and control software. It is this combination of hardware and software that allows the retailer to achieve its goal of same-day distribution.
A vendor ASN is received either via EDI or e-mail 24 hours in advance of the physical merchandise arriving. Once allocations are received, cartons are unloaded onto one of six receiving conveyors. They flow easily through the system with either the vendor-applied License Plate Number (LPN) or, in the case of manual ASNs, LPNs that have been printed onsite and have been manually applied.
Cartons then flow quickly to the merge and shipping sorter where they can be diverted to one of 14 possible destinations: eight shipping lanes, one automated print-and-apply lane, two unit sorter induction lanes, one VAS lane, one new store/storage lane, and one no-read lane.
In the old system, Dots had been cross docking more—up to 45 percent of its unit volume. With the new unit sorters in place, however, it became a strategic decision to more precisely flow merchandise to stores based on specific needs up until the point of allocation while still creating an efficient, cost effective outbound carton.
"As we've done more analysis of each store and its sales history, we're replenishing only what that store actually needs," says Akey. "That may sometimes be less than a cross dock carton." As a result, there is now a smaller ratio of units being cross docked, from 45 percent in 2005 down to 20 percent in 2010, and more units (up to 80 percent) being processed through the unit sorter.
Cross docking in the year 2011
|Steve Haskell, VP,
SDI Industries, Inc.
Q: What technological developments have enabled the adoption of cross docking today?
A: "The mechanics for automated cross docking have always been there. It's just become faster and cheaper. The technological development is more on the IT side than on the mechanical side. Information capabilities are so amazing now that you can communicate with suppliers easily, quickly, and commonly and that allows you to be able to tell them exactly what you want and when you want it."
Q: What is the key to successful cross docking?
A: "You have to have good relationships with your trading partners. First, you have to be able to tell them how to pack what you want. Second, the partner has to be able to document what they've done and get it to you, so that when you see the product at the door you know what to do with it."
About the Author
Contributing Editor


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In this article we study a natural weakening – which we refer to as paratransitivity – of the well-known notion of transitivity of an algebra AA of linear operators acting on a finite-dimensional vector space VV. Given positive integers k and m, we shall say that such an algebra AA is (k,m)(k,m)...
In this paper, the authors continue the analysis, first undertaken in Livshits et al. (2013) [2], of algebras AA of linear transformations on an n-dimensional complex vector space VV which have the property that if WW is a k-dimensional subspace of VV, then the image of WW under the action of the al...
The following questions are studied: Under what conditions does the existence of a (nonzero) fixed point for every member of a semigroup of matrices imply a common fixed point for the entire semigroup? What is the smallest number k such that the existence of a common fixed point for every k members ...
We focus on matrix semigroups (and algebras) on which rank is commutable [rank(AB) = rank(BA)]. It is shown that in a number of cases (for example, in dimensions less than 6), but not always, commutativity of rank entails permutability of rank [rank(A(1)A(2)...A(n)) = rank(A(sigma(1))A(sigma(2))... ...
A description of the lattice of invariant subspaces is provided for multiplicative semigroups S of bounded operators on L-p(X, mu) which are closed under multiplication on the left or right by bounded multiplication operators. Applications are then given to semigroups of positive quasinilpotent oper...
We construct an irreducible multiplicative semigroup of non-negative square-zero operators acting on L-P[0, 1), for 1 less than or equal to p < infinity.
We investigate the structure of (minimal) n-transitive semigroups of matrices of rank at most n in M-k(F), by considering an equivalent problem regarding certain families of (n - k)-dimensional subspaces of F-k. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.
It is Shown that a nest in a Hilbert space H is the lattice of closed invariant subspaces of a band algebra in B(H) (i.e. an algebra generated by a semigroup of idempotent operators) if and only if all finite-dimensional atoms of the nest have dimension 1. A canonical operator matrix form for operat...
A multiplicative semigroup of idempotent operators is called an operator band. We prove that for each K > 1 there exists an irreducible operator band on the Hilbert space l(2) which is norm-bounded by K. This implies that there exists an irreducible operator band on a Banach space such that each ...
This paper deals with semigroups of linear transformations which act transitively on a finite-dimensional vector space. An explicit canonical form is obtained for the semigroups which lack proper transitive left ideals. The class of such semigroups can be considered to be an extention of the class o...
Any pure operator band can be expanded so that each component of the band is reflexive.
We study the existence of common invariant subspaces for semigroups of idempotent operators. It is known that in finite dimensions every such semigroup is simultaneously triangularizable. The question; of the existence of even one non-trivial invariant subspace is still open in infinite dimensions. ...


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Lloyd Ties School Record as Women's Lacrosse Tops USC, 18-13
PRINCETON, N.J. (3/3/13) - Junior Sarah Lloyd tied the Princeton record for assists in a game with six, as she helped to lead the women's lacrosse team to an 18-13 win over Southern California on Sunday, March 3 at Sherrerd Field at Class of 1952 Stadium.Lloyd matches the record set just last season by then-freshman Erin McMunn, who had six assists against Temple. Lloyd also had a career-high eight draw controls, three ground balls and two caused turnovers.
McMunn had a big game as well matching her career best of seven points with three goals and four assists. Junior Mary-Kate Sivilli led the Tigers in goals as she tallied a career-high five goals, scoring on all five shots. Freshman Anya Gersoff have a five-point game as well with three goals and two assists. Seniors Charlotte Davis and Jaci Gassaway, and freshman Alexandra Bruno had two goals apiece.
The Tigers jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the first 8:19 and made it 6-2 shortly thereafter. Lloyd had four of her six assists during those first 11 minutes of the game.
Caroline de Lyra single-handily kept USC in the game as the Trojans went on a 6-2 run to knot the game at 8-8 with less than six minutes to play in the first half. de Lyra factored into five of those six goals, scoring four and assisting on one.
Princeton called timeout, regrouped and regained the lead, with goals by Gersoff and Sivilli in the final two minutes to take a 10-8 lead into halftime.
The teams traded goals to start the second half with Princeton maintaining its two-goal lead with goals from McMunn and Sivilli from the eight-meter, while Caroline Cordrey and Paige Bonomi scored for USC.
It was after Bonomi's goal that Caroline Franke replaced Annie Woehling in goal. Franke would allow her team to take its largest lead of the game as she made five saves on eight shots in the final 17:08 to earn her first career win in goal.
Gassaway tallied her first goals of the season, getting two as Princeton scored three unanswered to take its largest lead of the game, 15-10.
The Trojans would creep within three with two more from de Lyra and one from Amanda Johansen with less than seven minutes to play in the goal.
Sivilli and Charlotte Davis would have the final answers with goals at 5:14 and 18.7 to give Princeton the 18-13 win.
de Lyra had a nine-point game for USC with eight goals and one assist. Cordrey had a three-point game with one goal and two helpers, while Bonomi scored twice. Johnansen had two points as well with a goal and an assist.
Liz Shaeffer made six saves on 24 shots for USC, which drops to 3-3 in its first varsity season.
Princeton had a 34-23 edge in shots. The Tigers won the draw control battle, 18-15 and picked up five more ground balls, 16-11.
Princeton improves to 2-1 and hosts Brown in the Ivy League season opener on Saturday, March 9 at 1 p.m.


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"I like to make dreams come true."—Nelly Martinez, co-owner of The Little Cake Shop
Valentine's may be over, but that doesn't mean the sweets have to stop. The next time you want to impress with a quirky cake or classy cookies, try The Little Cake Shop in Sandy.
With a background in art and love of baking, opening a cake shop was a no-brainer for Nelly Martinez.
She moved here 20 years ago from the Dominican Republic, and after her kids were grown, no longer needing cupcake parties, Nelly began designing dream cakes for her friends and family. She opened her brick-and-mortar business three months ago.
Photo courtesy of The Little Cake Shop
At The Little Cake Shop, Nelly creates custom cakes, cupcakes and cookies. Whether you're expecting or proposing, Nelly will work with you side-by-side to make it a magical occasion.
"Whatever people want I can make it happen," Nelly says. Whether your 5-year-old wants a Halloween monster cake or your mom a three-tiered butterfly waterfall, Nelly has got you covered. And it's all delicious.
See The Little Cake Shop at the Utah Latin Expo this Friday, Feb. 28, or visit them in Sandy.


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Price: $3.99
This high-interest, educationally vetted series of beginning readers features the magnificent images of National Geographic, accompanied by texts written by experienced, skilled children's book authors. The inside back cover of the paperback edition is an interactive feature based upon the book. Level 1 books reinforce the content of the book with a kinesthetic learning activity. In Level 2 books readers complete a Cloze letter, or fun fill-in, with vocabulary words.
The monarch butterfly, one of the most seemingly delicate of all of nature's animals, proves to be one of the toughest in this reader. Making the yearly trip from the Northern United States and Canada to the Oyamel forest of Mexico is no easy task, and it takes five generations of butterflies in order to do so. Battling cold temperatures and the threat of starvation, these beautiful insects complete an almost 3,000 mile journey over the course of two months, only to have to turn and around and head back home.


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