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Practical advice about raising children
When you hold your child in your arms for the first time, you feel an overwhelming sense of love. You want to give them every opportunity in the world and help them anyway you can. While you can't give them everything, there are a few simple ways you can help your child. For example, if you could reduce your child's allergies and give them a better night's sleep, wouldn't you? Well, you can with organic bamboo bedding.
Many small children and infants suffer from allergies. It's difficult to watch your child struggle with allergies because they're so little and don't understand why they're miserable. However, you can reduce your infant or child's allergies by switching to 100 percent bamboo sheets.
Bamboo sheets reduce allergies because they are hypoallergenic and reduce the number of dust mites living in your bed. While it's unpleasant to think about, traditional bedding attracts dust mites, one of the primary causes of allergies, because it traps moisture and creates the ideal environment for dust mites. However, organic bamboo bedding reduces moisture and humidity in your child's bed by 50 percent, which discourages dust mites from making your child's bed their home.
When your children aren't struggling with allergies and dust mites, they are healthier and happier.
Your children will also sleep better with organic bamboo bedding. As mentioned above, 100 percent bamboo sheets reduce allergies. When your children aren't sneezing and coughing all night long, they can fall into a more peaceful, deeper sleep and wake up fully recharged the next morning.
In addition, bamboo bedding keeps your children warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Since 100 percent bamboo sheets reduce moisture and are extraordinarily breathable, there isn't any humidity in your child's bed to make freezing winter nights colder or scorching summer evenings hotter. Better temperature regulation lets your child sleep soundly without shivering from the cold or tossing and turning due to the heat.
Of course you want to reduce your child's allergies and help them sleep better. Yet, you might hesitate before buying organic bamboo sheets. Kids tend to be pretty rough on everything, so why would you buy pricey bamboo sheets for your children?
Bamboo bedding is much more durable than cotton, which means it's better able to withstand harsh treatment from your kids. Traditional cotton sheets are probably only able to last for a couple of years before being replaced, while bamboo sheets could easily last a lifetime. You can reuse your bamboo sheets with each child and never have to buy sheets again.
Bamboo sheets are also extremely easy to wash; just throw them in with the rest of your laundry and you're good to go.
Now that you're assured that your child's bamboo sheets will last, what are you waiting for? Relieve your child's allergies and help them to sleep soundly tonight with organic bamboo bedding!
Meggie Haneckow is a niche writer and blogger who loves to write on trending topics and share her personal experiences and knowledge through her writing. She is also a health enthusiast, so she loves to share health-care related tips through her blogs.
The enchanting aromas, interesting flavors and vivid colors of herbs delight children and inspire a love of the natural world. Sharing the tradition of herbalism with children connects that love of nature to daily activities such as eating, playing and self-care. Many of the most nourishing, gently healing herbs have a special affinity for children and can help to sweetly soothe childhood woes. The ten herbs discussed below are some of the most beloved children's herbs and are wonderful for introducing any child to herbalism. Encourage your child to smell, taste and play with each new herb they meet. Enjoy meeting these plants together with your child!
Happy lemon balm is deliciously fragrant and tasty. A member of the prolific and useful mint family, it is full of wonderful aromatic oils that delight children, eliciting happy sighs when inhaled. Simply take a stalk of the fresh plant and run your hands over it to release its beautiful lemony scent. Lemon balm is a well-known, gentle nervine. It is perfect for helping to soothe grouchy kids who are stimulated and high-strung from being overtired. Lemon balm is also a safe antiviral that can be wonderful for aiding children with a viral illness by helping to combat the virus while easing aches and pains.
Use lemon balm to make delicious teas, lemonades, syrups, and popsicles. You can add the fresh leaves to fruit salads, smoothies, cookies, and other tasty baked goods such as these scones.
We have all heard the story of Peter Rabbit and his terrifying adventure in Mr. McGregor's garden. Poor little Peter was so distressed and tuckered out upon arriving home that his mother wisely put him straight to bed with a cup of chamomile tea. Indeed, this classic children's herb is perfect for helping to relax the nerves and induce sleep. Chamomile can also be wonderful for easing digestive problems, especially those associated with emotional issues resulting in nervous tummy upset. Topically, chamomile's anti-inflammatory and antiseptic qualities can be put to good use for helping to heal and soothe the skin.
Use chamomile in salves, baths, and compresses for irritated, injured skin. Most children adore the taste and smell of chamomile. The lovely little flowers make the perfect bedtime tea! Or add the tea to your child's bath to help soothe skin and help send them right off to dreamland.
The beautiful rose is not only wonderful to behold and smell, roses are also a beloved herbal remedy! Children simply delight in roses. They love to touch and smell the soft, silky flower petals, and they love tasting fragrant rose tea while learning all about this amazing plant. Roses are another nervine from the plant world. They help to open and comfort a sad heart while easing anxiety and depression. This may be helpful for children going through tough transitions in life or for sensitive souls who just need a little extra care and love to feel comfortable. Roses can also help to ease chest infections and cool a headache. The tangy hips are high in vitamin C and can thus be used to support a healthy immune system.
Delicious teas can be made from rose petals and hips. Use the fresh flower petals and rose water to make luscious desserts (like this Lemon-Rose Parfait). You can also add the fresh flower petals to salads, whipped cream, and baked goods. You can make a tasty jam with the hips by soaking them in apple juice overnight to soften. Dried baby rose buds are a wonderful craft item for children. Use them as playdoh decorations for very small kids or craft with them to make pretty jewelry with older children.
Delicious spearmint is a favorite herb for children. The flavor is not as intense as peppermint as peppermint has less of that spicy coolness that can be overwhelming for kids. It is wonderful for easing tummy upset. Spearmint is also antimicrobial and makes a mild tea for helping children during illness such as colds and flus. Like all mints, spearmint is very easy to grow and is a delight in a child's garden.
Spearmint leaves can be munched for a tasty snack. Pluck the stems to make impromptu wands for play. Add the leaves to salads, pancakes, muffins and more for a little minty boost in your food. Fresh spearmint leaves added to chocolate chip cookies is especially delicious. The leaves also make a refreshing tea for drinking and freezing into popsicles.
Those fluffy marshmallows we all know today originally came from an old time herbal remedy made from the marshmallow plant! Marshmallow root used to be blended with sweet things—like honey—to make a tasty remedy for soothing scratchy throats and irritated tummies. The roots are mucilaginous and can help to create an extremely soothing and protective layer over irritated mucus membranes of the upper respiratory, digestive, and urinary systems.
Add the root to homemade teas and syrups when your child is dealing with dry, scratchy conditions. You can also make your own version of 'real' marshmallows by adding the powdered root to marshmallow recipes. Use the pretty edible flower petals to decorate foods!
Beloved lavender is indeed a lovely herb for children. Just as with adults, children often find the aroma of lavender to be soothing and helpful for calming anxieties. Lavender is also helpful as a first aid plant. It's antiseptic and skin-healing properties make it a great addition to any first aid kit and wound salve.
Help to soothe skin and nerves by adding the pretty purple flowers or a couple drops of essential oil to your child's bedtime baths. My children and I love to add lavender to our playdoh, homemade paints, and aromatherapy sprays for plenty of relaxing fun!
These sweet little flowering plants delight us each spring and are wonderful herbs for kids. Violets and pansies can be used interchangeably with slight differences, though most often the sweet fragrant violet (Viola odorata) is the sought-after species. Used to cool and soothe inflammation, fevers, and headaches, violet can be a wonderful, gentle herbal ally for children during illness such as a cold or flu. It is also high in nourishing vitamins and minerals, most notably vitamin C.
Be sure to grow violet in your garden, because the fresh flowers are fun to munch on! Use the flowers as an edible garnish to make your food especially beautiful. Infuse violet leaves and petals to make delicious beverages like this refreshing lemonade.
Tiny anise seeds have a delicious and mild licorice flavor that most children adore. Anise's anti-spasmodic properties make it a useful addition to formulas when helping children with spasmodic coughing or griping pains in the stomach.
Use the seeds to make a tasty tea and add them to other herbal tea blends to improve their flavor and increase palatability. The seeds, along with organic orange zest, make a delicious addition to sugar cookies.
Sweetly spiced cinnamon is an herb most children will recognize from their very own kitchen. You might be surprised to find that cinnamon has beneficial herbal properties. Cinnamon is warming and may take the chill out of a cold day or provide comforting warmth for kids with chills during illness. It is also helpful for easing tummy upset with uncomfortable cramping, diarrhea, or vomiting.
Cinnamon makes an appealing addition to herbal teas, syrups, and formulas by improving the flavor of other less tasty herbs. Throw a couple of cinnamon sticks in a cup of hot water for any easy-to-make tea. Add the delicious, warming powder to all manner of foods - cookies, cakes, whipped cream, or butter and even some savory sauces and stews. Children love playing with the smooth, fragrant sticks which make a great crafty building material or an interesting playdoh toy. Add powdered cinnamon to warm playdoh for a lovely aromatic experience.
A favorite of many children is the little elderberry. Well-reputed as an herbal remedy for influenza, elderberry is an effective antiviral and indeed a powerful herbal ally for families. The berries can be made into a delicious tea or syrup (try this Quick and Simple Elderberry Syrup Recipe) that can help to ease cold and flu symptoms while hasten healing. The flowers are also part of a classic flu remedy which combines elderflowers, peppermint, and yarrow to make a diaphoretic tea that can help to stimulate circulation and a healing sweat at the first sign of flu. The flowers may also be useful for hayfever and colds with copious runny mucus.
Children love elderberry tea and helping to squish the berries when making syrup. Use the tea to make tasty popsicles!
If you are interested in introducing your child to the magical world of herbs, please enjoy the free series from the Herbal Academy of New England. The kids' series is written for children to read, learn and follow along with as they begin to play with plants. Each lesson is filled with fun craft ideas, recipes, printable activity sheets and notes for parents to aid in your child's learning experience.
There are eight lessons to enjoy, which include:
• Meet My Friend Herb! Part One & Part Two
• Keep It Simple
• A Kid's Herbal Pharmacy
• Start Your Herb Garden
• Adventures In The Herb Garden
• Wildcrafting
• Herbs Are Tasty
Angela Justis is the Family Educational Director at the Herbal Academy of New England, the home of the Online Introductory Herbal Course and Online Intermediate Herbal Course, and meeting place for Boston area herbalists. Follow the Academy on Facebook and Instagram! Photos provided and copyrighted by Herbal Academy of New England.
Today children begin learning with smartphones as early as 2 years old. In fact, 36 percent of children ages 2 to 10 spend their time on smartphones using educational media. The parents of those children report that their child has better cognitive, vocabulary and math skills as a result of using a smartphone at least once a week for educational purposes. With so many ways to play and learn, it's no wonder children ages 12 to 15 say they would choose their cell phone over television two to one.
Most children get their first smartphone at about 11 years old. Prior to owning their own phone, most children share ownership with their parents. Using internet-capable devices like the Samsung Galaxy S6 through a reliable carrier, kids can use family-friendly apps yet not have access to content that isn't age-appropriate.
Smartphones are also a great way to teach children social skills through social media, blogging and messaging. These apps can lead to important conversations on the dangers of cyberspace and how to handle certain situations to stay safe.
When children have access to smartphones early in life, they learn to use them correctly. This opens the door for learning at a young age with the help of parental support and educational apps. Read on to learn more about how smartphones are affecting children's learning and social skills.
Miles Young is a freelance writer, designer and outdoorsman. He's worked as a roof contractor and part-time engine mechanic. He spends his free time fishing and tinkering in his garage. You can follow him on Twitter @MrMilesYoung.
Photo via Flickr
Many people think that having a home birth is a huge burden on your household. I've heard all kinds of silly reasons why people don't want to have a home birth. "What about the mess?" or "I like being waited on at the hospital!" While I can understand why people, who are more than likely uninformed, might have some of these concerns, but these easily resolved issues certainly shouldn't be someone's main reason for forgoing a home birth.
Photo via Flickr
It's likely that your midwife will have you order a birth kit (or provide you with one) but it's a great idea to go one step further and stock up on some essentials. I recommend extra towels, a couple dozen chucks pads, a few cheap shower curtain liners (used to protect the carpet and bed), and plenty of hydrogen peroxide (use it on all of your dirty laundry after the birth).
If there are things that you can do ahead of time, you should definitely take advantage of the calm before the storm. Go ahead and set up the birth tub, move any furniture out of the way and create a calm and peaceful space to labor in. Take into consideration where you feel the safest in your home. Often times, birthing moms prefer the tiniest room in the house so be prepared to change your mind and your location during the birthing process.
When planning a home birth, your birth attendants might simply include your partner and your midwife but if you are feeling like you need extra help, even if it's just with simple things like keeping the freezer stocked with ice cubes, then ask a friend or family member who you feel 100% comfortable around and whom you can trust to be an extra pair of hands when needed.
An essential member of the birthing team is someone who can watch older children, if you have them. Whether you choose to have them at home during the birth or not, it's always a good idea to have a designated helper to explain things to them or help with their basic needs so your partner can remain at your side throughout your labor and birth.
Just like with a birth that takes places outside of the home, you should call in reinforcements to help out around the house after the baby is born. Have a friend set up a meal train, accept offers to help with housework or running errands, set up play dates (not at your house!) for any older children, and just focus on getting to know your new addition.
Bryn Huntpalmer is a mother of two young children living in Austin, Texas where she currently works as an Editor for Modernize and nurtures her HGTV obsession. In addition to regularly contributing to Home Decor and Design websites around the web, her writing can be found on Lifehacker, Scary Mommy, About.com and on her personal blog, Her Own Wings.
It's amazing how a 2-year old can be handed a gadget and just know how to use it, similar to how a kid knows how to use a feeding bottle. Action figures, puzzles and blocks are no longer the standard toys among today's children. Research by child-education specialists at the Michael Cohen Group revealed that touch screens have taken over all other forms of playful delight for kids. Sixty percent of parents with kids under the age of 12 reported that their child plays on a portable screen often, while 38 percent apparently play very often. It's interesting to note that 36 percent of these kids have their own device.
On the average, research by the Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that children are spending seven and a half hours staring at a screen. Compare these results to a global survey of preschool-aged kids by the Nature Conservancy, which showed that preschoolers around the world spend an hour and a half a day (12 hours a week) on a playground or outdoors. It should be no surprise, then, that when a kid turns seven, traditional play is over.
The advantages of traditional play range from physical to mental and emotional. In addition, the disadvantages are equally enormous, and the effects stay with the child as he or she reaches adulthood. So before handing your kid a gadget just to shut him up, learn about the long-term effects modern gadgets can have on a kid's brain as well as their overall development.
Even before kids can utter their first words, kids' brains are tripling in size—a lot of learning happens before the age of five. Researchers at the University of Washington reveal that modern gadgets are not necessary in child development—children can thrive on being talked to and read to. In fact, kids need one-on-one time with their parents, not gadgets. Additionally, overexposure to gadgets has been linked to attention deficit, cognitive delays and impaired learning.
There is no such thing as educational TV for kids under 2 years old, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). There are presumptions that screen time can be educational, but the AAP says that toddlers under the age of two do not have the cognitive ability to comprehend such programs. What it actually does is interfere with "talk time" between the parent and the child, which results in delayed language skills. Parents should be reminded of this because, aside from TV, a survey commissioned by Common Sense Media revealed that 38 percent of kids under 2 years old have used gadgets such as a smartphone or tablet even before they could talk or walk.
Kids under the age of 12 spend more time in front of a screen rather than playing outdoors. This restriction in movement results in delayed development. John Ratey, a doctor at Harvard, explained in his book, Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, that the advantages of playing are not limited to being physically fit and socially comfortable. Even 10 minutes of physical activity changes the way the brain functions. In addition, exercise normally makes people feel better because it "builds and conditions the brain."
The late-night glow of laptops and mobile phones are depriving children a good night sleep. Research at the Kaiser Foundation found that 60 percent of parents don't supervise their children's gadget usage, and 75 percent of kids are allowed to use technology in their bedrooms. This results in 75 percent of sleep-deprived children, between the ages of 9 and 10, according to researchers from Boston College.
Being sleep-deprived doesn't only affect child development but also their performance in school. Researchers from Boston College found that students from developing countries in Asia scored better in math, science and reading than students from the U.S. and other big world economies whose children are overexposed to technology.
A study by the National Institutes of Health found that the increase in use of modern technology can break the old boundaries of family, values, behavior and children's well-being. Some games available in the internet portray sex, murder, torture and mutilation, which can make kids violent and aggressive. On the other hand, playing outdoors (for example, in a traditional playground) has proven to help children be more sociable and generally calmer.
The PEACH project, a study of more than 1,000 children between the ages of 10 and 11, found that children who spend longer than two hours in front of a screen or another entertainment medium are more likely to suffer psychological difficulties. These can include child depression, anxiety, attention deficit and problematic child behavior. On the other hand, children who experience more moderate physical activity fared better in emotional categories and were better able to solve peer problems. This shows that active play makes kids healthier not only physically but also mentally and emotionally.
Do you know what an "iPaddy" means? It's a term coined for kids throwing a tantrum when their electronic devices are taken away from them. A study commissioned by online retailer Pixmania revealed that eight out of 10 parents who have children ages 14 and under said they confiscate gadgets as a form of punishment. Because kids have grown attached to them, kids throw tantrums. If you don't want to be like these parents, re-assess the extent you allow your kids to regularly use technology before they get too attached to them.
There is no stopping the wave of technology. Parents cannot tell their kids to live without them because they will surely need it as they grow older. However, a parent must be aware of the advantages and disadvantages behind them. When supervised and regulated, gadgets can aid in development at the right age, but too much use of technology (and too early) will only delay a child's learning abilities and put a strain on his psychological health.
Aby League is a medical practitioner and an Elite Daily writer. She also writes about business and other topics of great interest. She also writes a blog, About Possibilities. Follow her @abyleague and circle her on Google+.
In our society, home birth is often considered to be countercultural and rare, yet a small but slowly growing number of women are choosing to give birth to their babies at home. Why, in a land of advanced technology and hospitals, would a woman make this choice? If you've been toying with the idea for your first or next child, but haven't quite made the decision yet, take a look at these five benefits of home birth.
1 1/2 year old Regina kisses her new sister. Photo by Daniel Penny
Safety. Although the advanced technology found in hospitals saves lives in emergency situations, that same technology can pose grave risks. After all, birth is not an emergency; it's a natural and normal process. Pitocin, for example, which is frequently administered to begin or speed up labor can cause longer, more intense contractions, often resulting in fetal distress and a C-section—a major surgery which brings risks of its own including infection for the mother, difficulty breathing for the infant and high-risk birth for future pregnancies. Statistics confirm the risks of technology: In Sweden, where home birth is common, there were only 4 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in 2010, while the United States reported 21; the infant mortality for Sweden was also lower. Low-risk mothers—who desire to avoid the potential risks associated with technology—may feel safer at home and understandably so.
Comfort. Much of the pain of labor and birth is caused by tension. The stress of being in an unfamiliar environment, surrounded by strangers and machines, with nothing to think about but the progress of your labor can bring on enough stress to greatly increase your pain or stop labor altogether—which is what the body does if you produce enough adrenaline. Wouldn't it be better to relax in your own hot tub or easy chair; read your favorite books; or do some light chores in your own kitchen to keep your mind distracted and your body relaxed?
Control. Hospitals may claim that they are up-to-date with all the latest trends in natural childbirth, but often when the time comes, so do the excuses. Laboring mothers are told to lie on their backs for a good part of every hour so the nurse can get the fetal heart rate—even though a midwife can get the same data while the mother stands or sits in a matter of minutes using a fetoscope! Discomfort due to your position, alas, often leads to an epidural, which can slow labor and require pitocin—haven't we been here before?
Most hospital births occur with the mother lying flat on her back with her feet up. In 2004, the Journal of Perinatal Education noted that other positions actually allow more blood to flow to the uterus, resulting in less pain for the mother, more regular heart rate for the baby and shorter births. Take control in this enormously life-changing, life-giving, sublime moment of life by choosing to labor and birth in the position that is right for your body and your baby—doing so at home will give you tremendously better odds of doing that.
Relaxed recovery. Recovery is simply so much nicer when you're in familiar, comfortable surroundings, assuming of course you have another adult with you all the time for the first few days— your spouse, a close friend or relative—someone who loves you and will take care of you and the household as long as you need. You can also eat continue to follow the diet you normally do, and intend to raise your baby on—no high-fructose corn syrup, MSG, gluten or whatever you prefer.
The children meet their newest sister. Photo by Daniel Penny
Your family. If you have other children, staying at a hospital for a few days can be lonely for everyone. Visits aren't the same and they put stress on your husband, who wants to spend time with you, but has to shuttle the kids back and forth. Many husbands feel torn between caring for other children and supporting their wives through the often frustrating challenges of breastfeeding and any unexpected issues that can occur with a newborn. Again, if you have other children, a home birth will only work smoothly if there is someone you trust watching the children during the birth so your husband can focus on you. You will not have a relaxed birth or a restful recovery if you're worried about your children.
2 1/2 year old Boethius kisses his new sister. Photo by Agnes Penny
Your husband is experiencing the enormous stress of supporting you through one of the biggest moments of your lives. However, during a home birth the father, like the mother, is in a comfortable environment. Typically, he is given small, easy-to-complete tasks that actually help such as filling the hot tub or brewing some tea. Alternately, if labor slows and you take a nap, he can work on other projects, do household chores done or watch television. A comfortable, relaxed setting is almost as important for the father, as it is for the mother. Many husbands don't immediately appreciate the choice, but explaining these seemingly unimportant things may help to convince him. The actual experience of a home birth will likely be enough to change their mind.
Home birth is not for everyone. High-risk mothers will birth more safely in a birth center or hospital. Having a midwife attend you there may enable you to avoid unnecessary technological measures and unproductive positions without running the risk of birthing too far from emergency treatment. In addition, for a home birth you must find a competent midwife with the prerequisite training and experience—a professional whom you trust to recognize potential emergencies, as well as someone who listens and respects your choices. Most importantly, you must feel confident about having a home birth. If you're unsure of this decision, you won't be relaxed. However, being nervous about making such a decision is perfectly normal.
Giving birth is such a mysterious, miraculous and defining moment of our lives. Whether or not we feel in control of our bodies and satisfied with our experience may powerfully affect how we feel about our femininity, motherhood and future births. Such a profound, life-changing event demands a very special place: a place of peace, comfort, safety and love. And this is why more and more women are choosing to birth at home.
Agnes Penny is the mother of nine children, six born at hospitals and three born at home. She is also the author of three spiritual books for mothers, Your Labor of Love for expectant mothers, Your Vocation of Love for all mothers, and Your School of Love for homeschooling mothers, all available from TAN Books. She lives in Whitehall, Pennsylvania.
I have read—even written—about how I would rather be making memories then doing dishes, laundry or any other housekeeping task. But you can't ignore it. If you are a stay-at-home mom, you are captive to the mess 24 by 7; and if you're a working mom, the last thing you want to see when you leave your neat and clean workplace is a horrific wreck at home.
Thankfully, there's a way to maintain balance. We don't live in perfect-looking homes, especially if we also live with kids (confession, my house pre-kids was still not perfect). But that doesn't mean we should tackle 100 percent of the chores, burning all of our "free" time fanatically cleaning the house because we believe the waking hours of our kids' existence should only be filled with educational/precious/memorable moments.
Over the past few years I've found a few tricks that combine spending quality time with my kids and cleaning house. I'm getting things done and making educational/precious/memorable moments with my kids, age 6 and younger. Here are 11 ways you can effectively follow in my footsteps! Cleaning with your kids can be a lot of fun!
Kids adore spray bottles! I use products from Melaleuca, a membership wellness company that sells decently priced, good-quality, low- to no-chemical products, and Norwax cloths because they work like magic on dirty walls with just water.
You know that sometimes you will make a HUGE mess cleaning. For example, emptying your entire fridge onto the counter(s) and scrubbing it up. Know that your kids WILL lose interest if the task takes longer than 10 minutes. Instead of doing a whole job "right," just finish small portions at a time For example, clean off one shelf or five things from the top of your cabinets. It isn't as satisfying, but it's a lot better than abandoning a job right at the peak of a mess.
I've used a variety, including races, sweet tooth prizes (for example, giving them a chocolate chip for every two dishes they bring me) and Mom Tickets. My Mom Tickets work wonders. They're a commerce system where I make a list of rewards they can earn with tickets, but, they really love just getting the ticket.
You know them best. Are they good at bringing things to other rooms? Use them as a runner. Are they great at doing just what you say they'll do? Be directive in a task. Breaking out what they can do in a task that you need done might not save you time, but at least you'll be doing it together.
Try modifying your Swiffer sweeper so that it's kid-size: Unscrew the middle sections and then screw the handle directly to the base.
Inspired by all the cleaning sites I've read, but can't actually do because of the constant presence of my children, the five minute blitz work for us. Before we do something fun that they want, we clean one or two rooms for five minutes each. Based on tip four, I rapidly fire instructions and the room looks better after just five minutes of attention.
Give them the choice of what room to start with. Ask them to pick whether they want to use the green or blue cloth. When the answer doesn't really matter, just let them pick and compliment them all the way.
"Sparkle." "Shiny." "Beautiful." They're probably not words you would usually use when cleaning, but saying something like "Let's make the bathroom beautiful" sounds more exciting to your kids. If you can bring in the TV hero of the moment into the "game," go for it.
My kids think mopping is the epitome of fun. They're not great at it, but I can set them in an area to happily mop while I do the rest of the work. Smile while you are cleaning and it will at least look fun.
Not exactly the same as having chores because I don't really believe kids under 8 have the follow-through skills to remember to do something regularly. But, for example, I save the silverware basket for my 2.5 year old. It keeps her busy while I do other things in the kitchen AND I didn't use my time on a task that she actually likes to do. She calls it her "special job" and is very proud to sort out the utensils. (I take out the knives first.)
So many ladies I know would rather do everything themselves because other people don't do it right. Trust me—I often feel that way, too. But the fact that your kids want to help is something that should be encouraged. If they get bored dusting half way through the task, that's still half of a job that you didn't have to do.
I know it's tempting to let your kids play outside or watch TV just so you can get things done. But keeping them with you while you do bits and pieces of housework not only teaches them how to clean, but you can also keep an eye on them. There's no perfect system, but hopefully these tips will inspire you to get your little ones in the habit of cleaning with you rather than seeing them as an obstacle to be planned around.
Kate Luthner is a mother of three little girls. Transplanted from New York to Minnesota, Kate began to blog about life to keep up with her family at home. Her blog, Katy Stuff is updated most every day with posts ranging from DIY projects to updates on her children, as well as an occasional book review or opinion piece about world news. Kate's philosophy? If you can make it, don't buy it!
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I'm using Ubuntu and vim. I can copy text from vim and paste it into another window by highlighting it in vim, then middle-clicking in the other window. This works fine when I'm on my local machine.
I can also copy into the system register by highlighting text and yanking to the system register. (For example,
Shift-V JJ "+ y to go into linewise visual mode, highlight two lines, select the '+' register and yank.) It's then available to paste into other windows.
However, if I ssh into my web host, I can't do either of these. (They use some flavor of Linux - I think it's CentOS.)
In vim, if I type
:version, my local version shows
+xterm_clipboard, but the host's version shows
-xterm_clipboard. I don't have sudo rights there.
Is there any way to be able to copy from their vim without getting them to tinker with the installation?

subset: commoncrawl


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Wildlife North America . com
North American Animals - mamals, birds, reptiles, insects
Northern Pacific Rattlenake (Crotalus oreganus oreganus)
combat ritual between two male Northern Pacific Rattlenakes. San Mateo County, California.
Photograph by Dawn Endico. Some rights reserved. (view image details)
NORTHERN PACIFIC RATTLENAKE FACTSDescription
The Northern Pacific Rattlesnake is typically dark brown, dark gray (sometimes black or pale yellow,) overlaid with large dark blotches with uneven white edges on the back. The blotches are wider than the spaces between. There are blotches on the sides that are usually darker than blotches on the back. The first rings of the tail are about the same color as the last body blotches, and become darker towards the tail, with the last two at the base of the tail usually black. The belly is pale yellow with brown spots. There is a large dark brown blotch on the snout with pale border behind it. There is a dark brown stripe behind the eye with a white border from the eye to the angle of the jaw. The iris may be bronze, gold, tan, pink or gray.
Other Names
Western Rattlesnake
100cm (maximum recorded 162cm)
rocky slopes, rocky outcrops, rocky areas in grasslands, mixed woodlands, montane forests
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Live-bearing with young born August to October.
The Northern Pacific Rattlesnake is found in south-central British Columbia in Canada, Washington east of the Cascade Mountains, western Idaho, northern and western Oregon, and California west of the Sierra Nevada.
Relatives in same Genus
Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake (C. adamanteus)
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Healthy living, herbal remedies and DIY natural beauty.
By Robyn Griggs Lawrence
color, honeysuckle, paint, wallpaper, pink
This week Pantone, the global authority on color and provider of professional color standards for the design industries, announced that honeysuckle is the color of the year for 2011. This dynamic, reddish pink "emboldens us to face everyday troubles with verve and vigor," Pantone said in a statement. "Honeysuckle is encouraging and uplifting. It elevates our psyche beyond escape, instilling the confidence, courage and spirit to meet the exhaustive challenges that have become part of everyday life."
Pantone's color of the year for 2011 is Honeysuckle. Photo Courtesy Pantone."In times of stress, we need something to lift our spirits. Honeysuckle is a captivating, stimulating color that gets the adrenaline going—perfect to ward off the blues," explains Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute. "Honeysuckle derives its positive qualities from a powerful bond to its mother color red, the most physical, viscerally alive hue in the spectrum."
Yolo Colorhouse features an earth-toned version of honeysuckle called Clay. Photo Courtesy Yolo Colorhouse.
For more than a decade, Pantone's color of the year declarations have influenced product development and purchasing decisions in fashion, home and industrial design. While I've personally never been the hugest fan of pink, I'm pleased to see that some of Natural Home's favorite companies have given honeysuckle a vibrant yet earthy spin. Using natural mineral pigments, American Clay offers a range of tasteful pinks. Yolo Colorhouse's Clay tones bring the warmth of honeysuckle without the gaud.
What do you think? Would you use honeysuckle in your home?
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Vendors » Fujitsu
The big data ecosystem was on full display at last week's Strata + Hadoop World conference in San Jose. At the ripe old age of 10, Hadoop is still the driving force, but newer frameworks like Spark and Kafka are gaining steam. Here are some of the top trends your Datanami editor pulled from the show based on observations and discussions with attendees and vendors. Let's start with the biggest news from Strata, which was the rise of Kafka and Read more…
Big data is not about big; it's not even about data…It's about the value that can be found in the information, argued CTO of Fujitsu Technology Solutions, Joseph Reger, during a talk at the International Supercomputing Conference (ISC'13) this week. Taking the stage with his colleague, Kozo Otsuka, the pair discussed some of the experimental applications that Fujitsu is working on in trying to sift the value from data for the purposes of saving lives.
This week's news cycle was driven forward by announcements that came out of the International Supercomputing Conference in Germany, which highlights the merger between many supercomputing and big data technologies. On our list of five stories of note this week are Convey Computer, which is seeking a top slot on the Graph 500, Terascala, Panopticon, Digital Reasoning and….
This year at the International Supercomputing Conference in Germany, the list of the top data-intensive systems was revealed with heavy tie-ins to placements on the Top500 list of the world's fastest systems, entries from most of the national labs, and plenty of BlueGene action. The list of the top "big data" systems, called the Graph500, measures the performance of….
News In Brief
Fujitsu Laboratories last week announced that it's developed a column-oriented data storage and processing engine that can quickly analyze large amounts of data stored on a PostgreSQL database. The technology, which utilizes vector processing, is being showcased this week at a conference in Japan. Fujitsu has a long history developing big systems designed to handle heavy transactional loads. It was a close development partner of Sun Microsystems for 64-bit Sparc servers until Sun was acquired by Oracle. Today the $4.5 Read more…
Conflating business intelligence with big data is like confusing a photograph and a high definition video, says Gernot Fels, principle product manager with Fujitsu.
According to many in the HPC community, especially on the hardware side, the big data trend (and all the buzz associated with it) is creating new opportunities for the once "high and mighty" world of supercomputing. This is a field that….
Finland-based CSC, the government-sponsored Center for Science Ltd., provides the balance between academic and industry R&D and IT resource management in the country. In an effort to address its massive storage needs, the organization announced key multi-million-Euro….
Fujitsu has released a new twist on its ever-expanding big data theme. With the release of Interstage Big Data Parallel Processing Server V1.0 today, they claim the ability to simplify massive Hadoop deployments via the injection…
This Just In
Fujitsu announced that it has received an order for a new supercomputer system from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The core of the new system will be the successor model of the FUJITSU Supercomputer PRIMEHPC FX10, which is currently under development. The new system will have an overall theoretical peak performance of 3.4 petaflops, or 24 times that of the current system, which will ensure that JAXA has the processing capacity needed to analyze enormous volumes of data.
At Fujitsu Forum, Fujitsu announced today significant milestones in its comprehensive range of globally-available offerings for the SAP HANA platform – including Fujitsu's 300th customer installation of SAP HANA, the introduction of SAP HANA on the Fujitsu Global Cloud Platform and the general availability of its latest fully-virtualized FlexFrame eco-system for running the SAP ERP application on SAP HANA.
Fujitsu today announced that, as part of the continuous efforts of the FUJITSU Big Data Initiative to organize the company's lineup of big data-related products and services, it will be launching today a menu of ten offerings for presenting optimal ways in which big data can be used to address customer business challenges. The FUJITSU Big Data Initiative is only available in Japan.


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Anonymous wants to occupy the planet
First Wall Street, then the world
HACKTIVIST GROUP Anonymous is calling on its members to take the momentum surrounding its occupation of Wall Street and spread it across the globe.
A video message posted to Youtube by the Anonpress shows the usual masked figure intoning the group's plans over a clanging soundtrack. They rarely make for enjoyable viewing, but the message is there, and the message is to protest everywhere.
Protests are already planned globally, such as an occupation of the London Canary Wharf financial district, and the group said it wants to take its "Tienanmen Square moment" further.
"This is about a collective 99.9 per cent that will not longer stand for corruption and greed that is rampant in our governing bodies. Spread this message like the plague," says the faceless narrator.
"This is part of a global movement. The more authoritarian they act the more we will resist. We do not forgive. we do not forget. We are silent no more."
The day will take place next month, and could be on October 31 when the occupation of London is expected to start. Until then the group has a long list of cities that have recently started supporting groups.
With occupations of Chicago and Los Angeles also slated to begin the group might start to live up to its promise that it is "everywhere and legion". µ
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Zuck knows best


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An extremely rare South American postage stamp may sell for as much as $10 million at an auction, according to The Spec.com, Feb. 14, 2014. The auction, which will be held in New York City on June 17, could bring in between $10 and $20 million. The stamp is so highly valued because it is the only one not currently included in the British Royal family's Royal Philatelic Collection.
The stamp, which is an 1856 One-Cent Magenta from British New Guiana, measures 1 inch by 1 and one quarter inch. It is the most valuable stamp in the world currently, and far out values the 1885 Swedish stamp which sold for $2.3 million, the highest amount for which any stamp ever has sold to date. The stamp shows a ship with three masts and the British colony's motto in Latin, which means, "we give and expect in return." The rare stamp is being sold by the estate of John E. du Pont, its last owner. John E. du Pont was an heir to the infamous du Pont Chemical fortune.
The rare South American stamp has not always sold for big bucks. Besides it once sold for juat a few shillings when a twelve year-old boy, who had found the collectible stamp, sold it to collector Neil McKinnon.


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I can only intuitively grasp the meaning and usage of "if only as".
It seems related to "if only" at this other question: What does "if only" mean? However I don't feel they're quite the same.
Hence I would like to know the meaning of "if only as", and whether an how it's related to "if only".


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College Hockey:Brockport Rallies From 4-0 Deficit For 6-5 OT Win
Golden Eagles' Marineau Nets Winner Against Hobart
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — After going down 4-0 to Hobart in the opening round of the Rochester Hockey Cup, Brockport chipped away at the lead in the second and third periods and scored late in overtime to take a 6-5 victory.
Brandon Marineau, who tallied four points on the evening, scored the winner 13:23 into the extra frame to send his squad into the tourney title game.
Just 27 seconds in to the game, Hobart got hit with one of the NCAA's Points of Emphasis this season, an obstruction penalty. But the Statesmen pressed during the penalty kill, and a turnover led to a shorthanded goal. Greg Reynholds passed from behind the Brockport net out to Matt Pane alone in the slot, and Pane buried the chance at the 49-second mark to give Hobart the 1-0 lead.
Hobart got a real emotional jump from the early goal and continued to be opportunistic throughout the rest of the first period. The Statesmen converted on each of their next two power plays.
First, Jerry Toomey sent a shot from the faceoff dot over Brockport netminder Tom Payment's shoulder for a goal at 7:25. Then Zach Mundy slapped in a rebound at 13:10, and it looked like Hobart was rolling.
Hobart tallied another power-play goal late in the first period, its third on four power plays during the period. Tim McCarthy got the puck off a faceoff deep in the Brockport zone and put a wrist shot into the back of the net to give the Statesmen a 4-0 first period lead.
"I think that the shorty (shorthanded goal) was a good thing to bring our team together," said Brockport coach Brian Dickinson. "Although I didn't think that it would get to four-nothing."
Brockport began to claw back early in the second period with two power-play goals of its own. The first tally was at 1:31 as Casey Firko took a slapshot from the point that missed the net, but rebounded off the back boards directly on to teammate Adam Prescott's stick on the far side of the goal, who tapped the puck in to the net.
Golden Eagle Christian Christensen weaved down the Hobart slot, around defenders, and flipped the puck in to the top corner of the net for a 5-on-3 power-play goal at 7:52, and all of a sudden the Brockport ship was righted.
Brockport's Dave Braunstein put in a rebound at 10:34 to finish off the scoring for the second period, with Hobart clinging to a slim 4-3 lead.
Hobart's Matt Pane scored his second goal of the game 4:29 into the third period, and got the Statesmen back to a two-goal lead.
The teams continued to trade penalties throughout the third period as special teams ruled.
"We need to learn how to play more disciplined," said Hobart coach Mark Taylor. "Not just on the power play, but one-on-one. That cost us the game."
Brockport cut the deficit back to a single goal at 10:27, when Brandon Marineau skated in from the blue line and sent a wrister into the back of the Hobart net for the power-play goal. The Golden Eagles then tied the score on another power-play goal at 17:27 with a tally by Nick Smyth.
Overtime was the best period of hockey in the entire game featuring end-to-end action with both teams getting quality chances before Marineau scored, his fourth point of the game, at 13:23 to lift the Golden Eagles to victory. Stephen Howard shot from the point, and netminder Sam Weiner made the save. But Weiner lost sight of the puck, and Marineau was there to slide in the rebound.
Brockport advances to the championship game of the Rochester Hockey Cup against RIT. Hobart will face Geneseo in the consolation game.
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In what is one of the most disturbing private prison stories you'll ever hear, a facility in Idaho run by Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) in under investigation by the FBI due to claims it was so violent inmates called it "Gladiator School." So how does a prison transform into such a place? Apparently, CCA was so eager to cut costs that it chose to understaff the facility and hand over control to prison gangs.
I've covered private prisons on many occasions in the past, including this CCA facility in particular. I think private prisons are one of the worst ideas possible in a democratic society. I suggest you read some of my prior articles:
A Deep Look into the Shady World of the Private Prison Industry
Idaho Dumps Private Prison Company Due to "Violence, Understaffing and Over-billing"
America in 2013: Florida Football Stadium Named After a Private Prison Company
America in 2013: For-Profit Prisons Get Favorable Tax Breaks
Now from the AP:
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The FBI has launched an investigation of the Corrections Corporation of America over the company's running of an Idaho prison with a reputation so violent that inmates dubbed it "Gladiator School."
The Nashville, Tenn.-based CCA has operated Idaho's largest prison for more than a decade, but last year, CCA officials acknowledged it had understaffed the Idaho Correctional Center by thousands of hours in violation of the state contract. CCA also said employees falsified reports to cover up the vacancies. The announcement came after an Associated Press investigation showed CCA sometimes listed guards as working 48 hours straight to meet minimum staffing requirements.
"The FBI is investigating CCA and looking at whether various federal fraud statutes were violated and possibly other federal statutes connected with the fraud," Olson said. "They will be working in close consultation with our office. Beyond that I can't comment."
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The City of St. Augustine remains committed to providing accessibility to all and provides for handicapped accessible parking in the city. For a map of accessible parking locations, Click Here To notify the city regarding accessibility concerns contact Todd Grant, Public Works Deputy Director, Phn: 904.825.1040, Fax: 904.209.4286, Email: firstname.lastname@example.com. You may also write City of St. Augustine, P.O. Box 210, St. Augustine, FL 32085-0210.
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The City of St. Augustine remains committed to providing clean and safe drinking water. For the previous year's sampling results please click here. To notify the city regarding water treatment concerns contact: Patrick Timoney, Water Treatment Plant Supervisor, Phn: 904.825.1044, Fax: 904.823-2280, Email: firstname.lastname@example.com; or email@example.com, or write the City of St. Augustine, P.O. Box 210, St. Augustine, FL 32085-0210.
There will be many lessons learned from the 2005 hurricane season; certainly foremost is one that's been preached for a long time: Be Prepared.
Unlike so many other natural disasters, hurricanes are not only predicted, but information about how to be prepared is readily available and after the active recent seasons, widely known. Water and batteries, non-perishable foods, a plan to leave if necessary, are all parts of the long check list we have seen many times.
If you do not have a list of helpful emergency information web sites, perhaps the following list will serve as a starting place.
St. Johns County Department of Emergency Management
Florida Division of Emergency Management
Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA)
There are ongoing efforts to provide relief to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Click below for contact information for local and nation relief efforts.
Hurricane Katrina Disaster Relief
Members of the St. Augustine Fire Department (above) load non-perishable goods donated by the community for distribution along the Mississippi Gulf Coast area for victims of Hurricane Katrina. The transportation for the goods was provided by Florida East Coast Industries).


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Natural Hairy Girls
Why not just get up and leave the city behind and head up to where the air is fresh, the water is clear and the girls are naturally HAIRY! Its a no razor zone, and the girls up here love to feel you bury your face and your cock in their thick, furry unshaven bushes. And when you look down and watch your hard cock sliding into that mass of pubes, you'll know why its so much better up here!
Studio: White Ghetto | Production Year: 2011
Performers: Rucca Page Lake Russell Marley Mason Luscious Eden Heidi Sin


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Jan. 11, 2011
Track Season Previews:
» Women's Distances
» Sprints
» Throws
» Jumps, Vault, Multis
Transitioning from the trails to the track has the Husky men's distance group brimming with optimism. Key returners in each event, talented newcomers set to address important needs, and the continued overall development of a young group of men with just two seniors on the roster has head coach Greg Metcalf waiting impatiently for the first gun to go off in the Dempsey this week.
"I'm very excited about this group of young men," says Metcalf. "It'll be fun to see how it all works itself out over the indoor season and as we roll into the outdoor season. I think we have lots of interchangeable parts and solid depth, so I'm looking forward to getting them all on the track at the same time and see what happens.
Packing the track with all of UW's distance runners might cause a bit of a pile up, luckily the Huskies have a number of bodies to spread around in the various distances, from 800-meters up to the 10k and everywhere in between.
The fall ended on a very positive uptick for the cross country team. After a promising start to the season was derailed by a few unfortunate injuries to an already very young team, the Huskies rallied for a sixth-place finish at the NCAA West Regional meet, after coming in ranked just 15th in the region. Had the other teams around UW rearranged themselves just a bit, the Huskies could have been headed to a third-straight NCAA Championships. As it was, Washington finished the fall with something to build on. When they could have thrown in the towel and cursed their bad luck, instead a number of newcomers to the top-seven stepped up and made names for themselves.
One Husky that stepped to the forefront was sophomore Rob Webster Jr. He led the team at both the Pac-10 Championships and West Regionals, taking 34th in the first Regional meet of his career. Webster got experience in the 10k last year, running it at Pac-10s in his first track season, and Coach Metcalf is looking forward to seeing Webster (Puyallup, Wash.) continue to build momentum from the strong finish to the fall.
"Rob has worked hard to get to this point and is starting to see some return on that now. After his cross country season, I'm excited to see how it translates on the track. He's a guy that can run anywhere from 3,000 to 10,000-meters for us."
Washington's most accomplished returner on the track is senior Colton Tully-Doyle. The San Diego native broke through last year during the indoor season, setting the new indoor school record at 5,000-meters with a time of 13:48.86, and going on to place 12th at the NCAA Indoor Championships. He also scored at the Pac-10 meet in the 5k. With no cross country eligibility remaining, Tully-Doyle trained through the fall with his eye on the track season, and earning that first coveted All-America honor.
"The track season gets exciting right away because we add Colton back. He's chomping at the bit," says Metcalf, "he wants to get after it. Colton made the national meet last year, and once you make it, you want to get back."
The toughest setback for the Dawgs in the fall was junior Max O'Donoghue-McDonald missing the rest of the season after his Sundodger Invite win. But the Seattle Prep alum is back healthy and looking to enjoy a full season indoors and out. Sophomore Joey Bywater (Lake Stevens, Wash.) is also set to run his first track times since 2009, when he was a Pac-10 finalist at 1,500-meters as a freshman. Both Bywater and O'Donoghue-McDonald have shown great things when healthy and are two of UW's most versatile distance runners. O'Donoghue-McDonald finished last track season with a 21st-place finish in the West Region at 5,000-meters, and Bywater is coming off a strong cross country season.
"Max has endured a lot," Metcalf knows. "It's been the weirdest collection of dents and dings along the way. It's no mystery; the biggest thing Max has to do is find a way to keep healthy and when you do that and get him on the starting line healthy, he ran great at the end of indoor season last year, he ran great at the first round of the NCAA Championships in Austin. Max is as gifted and talented as any guy we have in our program and he fashions himself as an elite distance runner in our conference. He just hasn't really been able to tie it all together to go out and do that. So we want to be patient and timing is really everything with Max and the goal is to be ready when it matters.
"Joey Bywater hasn't run a track season in almost two years, so it will give our whole team confidence to have him out there. He can run everything but his first goal is to run fast in the mile and 1,500-meters again. He was just in the office this week talking about the season, and I'm excited to put him on the track and see what happens."
Aside from Tully-Doyle, the only other senior is Jordan Swarthout out of Olympia. Swarthout figures to be one of Washington's top runners in the 5k and especially the 10k, where he was less than a second away from the Top-10 list last year and also qualified for NCAA Prelims.
"There's a couple guys there who have expressed interest in running the 10k, Jordan and Rob are the first to come to mind," says Metcalf. "Max has some desire to move up a little bit. But a number of our guys from the top-seven in the fall are capable of moving up if need be. Jordan gives us a veteran presence there for sure."
Sophomore James Cameron was another Husky harrier that ended the fall on a high note, as he was UW's second finisher at Pre-Nationals and the Pac-10 Championships, and then third at West Regionals in 42nd-place, just 10 seconds behind Webster and three behind Bywater. Cameron (Lake Forest, Calif.) was very solid in his rookie track season a year ago, running 4:06.99 in the mile indoors and anchoring UW's DMR at the MPSF meet.
"James was a track guy before he was a cross-country guy, so with the successes that he had this fall, he's getting incrementally better every season. I think he's certainly better right now than a year ago," says Metcalf. "He can run 4:02 or 4:03 (in the mile) I think. I think he's strong and I think he had a successful summer and fall and I think he's excited for the track season for sure."
Two of the most improved Huskies this fall were redshirt freshmen Gareth Gilna and Taylor Carlson. Gilna (Los Alamos, N.M.) was one of the top prep milers in 2008, but struggled to stay consistently healthy last year. Carlson, out of San Antonio, Texas, made major gains over the summer, to join Gilna on the first road trip of the fall, where they wound up in UW's top three at the Notre Dame Invitational. They remained in the top-seven for the rest of the fall, running at both postseason meets.
"Gareth Gilna left high school as one of the best milers in the country, then struggled last year as many freshmen do, but I think he had a really solid cross-country season after a great summer of training. We should start to see what he's capable of on the track this year," says Metcalf. "And Taylor's much better equipped to go around the track and I think he's a guy who's going to surprise some people when they see his name on the results. I'm looking forward to watching him run and getting a better idea of the progress he's really made."
The 800-meters could develop into one of the biggest strengths for the men this year. Sophomore Michael Miller Jr. (Anchorage, Alaska) gained some big experience at the end of last track season, running the 800m at the Pac-10 Championships. He then came on strong at the end of the cross country season, scoring for UW for the first time at both Pac-10s and Regionals. Miller joins juniors Ryan Soberanis (Camas, Wash.) and Ryan Styrk (Seattle, Wash.), both of who also ran at Pac-10s a year ago, with Soberanis advancing to the NCAA first round in Austin in the 1,500m.
Metcalf adds a few more names into the 800 mix as well: "Michael Miller has always been more at home on the track, but he had a great fall for us. Then we've got Soberanis and Styrk and even the youngster, (freshman) Kyle Blume, as the Washington State runner-up last year. Brad Whitley has made some progress and I think they had a solid fall of training. But, I think Ryan Soberanis is the one that will maybe surprise some folks this year. I think he can run much faster, so I'm excited to watch because I think this indoor season will be his coming-out party."
Then that brings up the big headliner of the freshman class, Sean Krinik out of Valencia High in Yorba Linda, California. Krinik was the top 800-meter runner in the nation last year, winning the New Balance Nationals in North Carolina and posting a U.S.-best time of 1:48.20 in winning the California state meet, the eighth-fastest time ever by an American prep. He was named Gatorade Boys Track Athlete of the Year for California, and looks to follow in the footsteps of recent UW All-American 800-meter specialists Ryan Brown and Austin Abbott. Krinik had a minor back issue coming into the fall and has not gone all out yet in training, but his debut might not be too far off.
"Sean's making some progress," says Metcalf. "He kind of hurt his back this last summer and his fall wasn't perfect but his month of November and then December was much better. He's gifted and talented but we'll be very patient with him and see how things progress. He's a 1:48 kid out of high school so we're excited to see what's in store for him. Coming in here, he's a kid you thought, coming out of high school, he'd have a chance to score at the Pac-10 meet and get to the national meet and then from there we ask, `How good is he?' He's a great racer, he's got great instincts, he's tough as nails. He'll be exciting to watch."
Metcalf's personal specialty from his glory days was of course the steeplechase, and UW could have its most competitive steeple group this year since Carl Moe earned All-America honors in 2008. Junior David McCary (Kirkland, Wash.) and sophomore Greg Drosky (Walnut Creek, Calif.) were 10th and 11th, respectively, in the Pac-10 steeple last year, and Metcalf hopes one or both can close in on the nine-minute barrier there. James Cameron may see some time in the steeple as well this year, and freshman Aaron Beattie out of Naperville, Illinois could also be in the mix after a solid fall season where he redshirted.
"I think for Drosky and McCary, the big goal is to use the indoor season to really build up to the outdoor track season and see if those two guys can find a way to run under nine minutes this spring and score at the Pac-10 Championships, that's really the ultimate goal with those two. They've both continued to get stronger. Also, watching Aaron Beattie work out this fall, I think he's going to be a pretty good distance runner for us. This spring of course will really be the first time he races. I think he's a 3k/5k guy with some steeple potential so I'm excited about Aaron."
After the up and down fall, the men are looking forward to the smooth rhythm of the track to really make a move.