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SAN ANTONIO – The Texas A&M - Corpus Christi women's basketball team led by as many as nine in the first half, but couldn't overcome a second half surge by UTSA, falling 72-58 Wednesday night at the Convocation Center. The Islanders dropped their fifth consecutive road game and fourth straight loss of the season to move to 8-18 and 4-9 in the Southland Conference.
Senior Myeisha Myles powered the Islanders with 13 points and four rebounds and junior Jessica Jammer tallied her 10th double-figure scoring game with 12 points, two blocks and three steals. The Islanders' bench outscored UTSA's bench 25-3 and scored 32 of their 58 points in the paint.
The Roadrunners (8-18, 4-9) were paced by four players in double-figure scoring to claim their fourth conference win of the season. Cori Cooper led all scorers with 17 points, Kamra King added 16 and Ashley Garner tallied 15 points. Judy Jones chipped in a complete game with 13 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists, five steals and two blocks in 35 minutes.
The Islanders took a nine-point lead with 5:40 left in the first half but the Roadrunners shot 45.9 percent (11-24) from the field in the second half including 5-for-9 from three-point land and went 12-for-17 from the charity stripe to seal the victory. The Roadrunners outrebounded the Islanders 45-27.
The Roadrunners jumped out to an early 10-2 lead on an 8-0 run at the 16-minute mark. Jammer came off the bench to stop the run and help put together an 8-2 run to bring the Islanders within three with buckets by Myles, Damequia Montgomery and Zoe Vega-Vega. The two teams traded free throws before a Jammer jumper pulled the Islanders within one with 11:30 left to play in the half. The Islanders continued the run with buckets by Jammer and Verne'qua Taylor to take the 15-14 lead. A three-pointer by King pushed the Roadrunners back ahead.
The Islanders answered with a 10-2 jumpstarted by Myles' layup to knot the score at 17. Imani Dunn triggered the Islanders first three of the game during the run and another bucket by Myles, Trish Amboree, Brandi Huff and Vega-Vega extended the Islanders lead to nine with 5:40 left to play.
The Islanders saw their lead evaporate as UTSA responded by putting together a 14-4 run to take the lead with 24 seconds remaining in the half. During the run, Jammer and Vega-Vega added buckets. Jammer's two free throws gave the Islanders a one-point lead with 2.4 seconds remaining.
The Islanders headed into the locker room with a 34-33 halftime lead behind 50 percent shooting from the field. Myles and Jammer led the Islanders with eight points apiece, while Vega-Vega added six points and two steals. The Islanders scored 24 of their 34 first half points in the paint and received 14 from the bench. Texas A&M - Corpus Christi turned the Roadrunners 14 first half turnovers into 18 points and tallied eight steals. Cooper and King paced UTSA with eight points apiece and Cooper led the glass with five rebounds. The Roadrunners outrebounded the Islanders 23-10.
UTSA came out of the half to take a one-point lead before Dunn triggered her second three of the game to push the Islanders ahead. The two went back-and-forth before the Roadrunners took the lead for good with 16:05 left to play. Alisa Roberts added a layup and free throw to pull the Islanders within one with under 15 to play. The two teams traded buckets back-and-forth before UTSA pulled ahead on an 8-1 run to build a nine-point lead. Jammer added a layup to stop the run but back-to-back three-pointers by the Roadrunners gave them a 13-point cushion with 5:11 left.
The two teams traded free throws before Brandi Huff scored a layup for the Islanders with 4:09 to play. After a UTSA free throw, Brandi Huff tallied a put-back before King pushed the Roadrunners to their biggest lead of the game with 2:37 left to play on a free throw and three-pointer. The two traded buckets before Roberts capped the Islanders scoring with a jumper in the lane.
The Islanders will return home to host Stephen F. Austin at the Dugan Wellness Center on Saturday, Feb. 25, at 2 p.m.


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picked up or shipped from our location within 4-6
business days. i
The Gaja Winery was founded by Giovanni Gaja in 1859 and has been owned and operated by four generations of the Gaja family. Giovanni Gaja was the great-grandfather of Angelo Gaja, the Winerys current owner. In 1994 Gaja acquired its first wine estate in Tuscany, Pieve Santa Restituta in Montalcino. The propertys forty acres of vineyards produce two Brunello di Montalcino wines called Sugarille and Rennina.
In 1996, the Gaja Winery acquired a second property in Tuscany, Ca Marcanda, located in Castagneto Carducci in Bolgheri. Of the propertys 200 acres, 150 have been planted with new vineyards: primarily Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, as well as Cabernet Franc and Syrah.
Currently, the Gaja Winery owns 250 acres of vineyards in Piedmont, located in the Barbaresco district (Barbaresco and Treiso) and the Barolo district (Serralunga di Alba and La Morra).
Since its inception, the Gaja Winery has continuously evolved in ways that have always focused on meticulous care of and attention to the quality of its wines.
Gaja Winery Barbaresco: The aroma is almost sensual in its complexity, with aromas of forest fruits, plums, licorice, mineral and coffee scents. Long, complex finish with fine, silk-like tannins and good acidity; dense structure, full of super-ripe fruit.
Gaja Winery Costa Russi: The aroma is captivating and refined nose with a well-integrated aromas of blackberries, violets and roasted coffee beans. Elegance and crystal purity characterize this extremely complex and densely woven wine with an aging patential of decases.
Gaja Winery Sori Tildin: The aroma is complex of toast, minerals, sour cherries, cedar, spices. Full and rich in the mouth, very dense texture, a multidimensional wine, marked by an enormous quantity of fine, ripe tannins.
Gaja Winery Sori San Lorenzo: The aroma is extremely concentrated, with intense notes of black currants and black cherries and hints of black berries, mineral notes and aromas of herbs and exotic spices. A colossal, rich wine with a complex structure and great concentration and power.
Gaja Winery Spress: The aroma reveals a perfume of black fruits, truffles, earth and a spice box. Dense, massive yet seamless, this beautifully integrated wine possesses low acidity as well as a terrific finish.
Gaja Winery Conteisa: The aroma is expressive floral with notes of red berries, plums, licorice and spices. A sumptuous texture and very refined character with perfectly integrated tannins.
Gaja Winery Darmagi: The aroma is Opulent layers of concentrated fruit. Strong cassis flavors with impressive power on the palate with carries through to the long finish with persistent soft tannins.
Gaja Winery Sitorey: The aroma is intense, fragrant aromas of berries, fresh herbs and a touch of vanilla. Concentrated, fresh flavor; elegant body; fruity, with notes of black cherries.
Gaja Winer Sito Moresco: The aroma is pure loaded with red fruit. A fruity elegant taste; good balance in the mouth; a fresh fruity finish with very fine, silky tannins.
Gaja Wine Alteni di Brassica: The aroma is elegant perfume with aromatic notes in harmony with the distinct fruit. Dense structure and balanced body, supported by perfectly integrated acidity.

subset: commoncrawl


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Google's Doubleclick, Facebook in Ad Partnership
Googleid Friday that clients of its ad-buying service DoubleClick will now have access to Facebook ads, too.
Before the announcement, DoubleClick clients had to buy ads directly from Facebook or not at all. Under the new arrangement, ads purchased on DoubleClick could end up on Facebook Exchange, an auction service launched by Facebook last year.
The announcement raised eyebrows because the two companies are fierce competitors in the digital-advertising market.
The move, though, is more of a marriage of convenience. By giving Google access to its advertising inventory, Facebook is hoping to sell a higher volume of product. In return, Google is hoping to collect a small fee for each customer it sends to Facebook.
"Partnership has been key to Google's success as a rising tide lifts all boats," Payam Shodjai, senior product manager for Google, wrote in a blog post Friday. A Facebook spokesman said in an email that the company is "happy" about the agreement.
In online auctions, advertisers buy thousands of ads at a time that target certain individuals. When those individuals visit a website, the visit is auctioned to the highest bidder using a complex set of algorithms.
Auction services like DoubleClick rely on a massive amount of inventory to sell to customers. With the addition of Facebook Exchange, DoubleClick will significantly expand its inventory.


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TEMPE, Ariz. -- The A's suffered a bit of a scare in the first inning against the Angels when Chris Young, getting his first start in right field, had to come out of the game with a quad cramp.
Young, a center fielder who is being asked to become equally adept in left and right, had to race back on a ball hit by Angels second baseman Brendan Harris. Young made an over-the-shoulder catch with a dive, ending the inning, then had to be lifted for a pinch-hitter in the second.
After Young was sent to get a look by the medics, the initial diagnosis of a quad cramp stood. He's not going to play Monday, but he was scheduled off anyway, and should be good to go Tuesday.
"It was a nice play and a nice at-bat for him,'' manager Bob Melvin said. "He should be fine.''
Young was long gone by the time the A's closed out a 7-5 win over the Angels on a sunny but cold and windy day. The game lasted 3:44, and most of the crowd of 5,213 was elsewhere by the time this one ended.
They didn't get a double play, but both came out of the game satisfied that they are on course defensively. Sizemore made a nice diving stop in the dirt, and Lowrie was charged with an error on a nasty windblown pop fly.
"I'm back where I've played most of my career,'' Sizemore said after coming out of the game. He played third base for the A's in 2011. "We got in situations where we can work on stuff you can't work on in practice.''
Melvin said he thought Sizemore was further along that the manager thought he'd be.
"He looks real good,'' he said. "He was out there in the right place.''
Lowrie felt he should have caught the windblown pop, but didn't take it badly, all-in-all.
"I've got to know where the wind is blowing and get around the ball,'' he said. "For a first game, there were some good plays. It's a good place to start.''
Melvin described the afternoon as "a bit of a tough day'' for Lowrie because of the error, but said "he made some nice plays out there, too.''


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About the Book
"Kevin Connolly has used an unusual physical circumstance to create a gripping work of art. This deeply affecting memoir will place him in the company of Jeanette Walls and Augusten Burroughs." — Sara Gruen, author of Water for Elephants
"Charming … Connolly recounts growing up a scrappy Montana kid—one who happened to be born without legs... [Double Take] makes for an empowering read." — People
As featured on 20/20, NPR, and in the Washington Post: Kevin Connolly is a young man born without legs who travels the world—by skateboard, with his camera—on his "Rolling Exhibition," snapping pictures of peoples' reactions to him… and finds out along the way what it truly means to be human.
Kevin Michael Connolly is a twenty-four-year-old man who has seen the world in a way most of us never will. Whether swarmed by Japanese tourists at Epcot Center as a child or holding court at the X Games on his mono-ski, Kevin Connolly has been an object of curiosity since the day he was born without legs. Growing up in rural Montana, he was raised like any other kid (except, that is, for his father's MacGyver-like contraptions such as the "butt boot"). As a college student, Kevin traveled to seventeen countries on his skateboard, including Bosnia, China, Ukraine, and Japan. In an attempt to capture the stares of others, he took more than 30,000 photographs of people staring at him. In this dazzling memoir, Kevin Connolly casts the lens inward to explore how we view ourselves and what it is to truly see another person. From the home of his family in Helena, Montana, to the streets of Tokyo and Kuala Lumpur, Kevin's remarkable journey will change the way you look at others, and the way you see yourself.
Educator and Librarian Resources
Critical Praise
"Kevin Connolly has used an unusual physical circumstance to create a gripping work of art. This deeply affecting memoir will place him in the company of Jeanette Walls and Augusten Burroughs." — Sara Gruen, author of Water for Elephants
"[A] charming memoir… Connolly recounts growing up a scrappy Montana kid—one who happened to be born without legs...[Double Take] makes for an empowering read." — People
"A courageous, immensely rewarding chronicle expressed in arresting words and pictures." — Kirkus Reviews, starred review
"Life's most successful survivors meet adversity head on, with an unflinching eye, candor and with humor. Kevin Connolly has such an eye and weaves a rich memoir from the gut about his amazing journey through life." — Lee Woodruff, author of In an Instant
"Beautiful, revealing, and stimulating...[Connolly] is a good storyteller...whether describing his first high school wrestling match, the path from novice to champion skier or what it's like to travel around the world on a skateboard." — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Touching and comedic, inspiring and telling...[Double Take] is a remarkable portrait of the human spirit." — The Free Lance-Star Publishing Co
"[Double Take] reminds the reader that perspective is everything. It's an inspiring read about a human being who doesn't concern himself with what he has lost or never had. [Kevin Connolly] is a lucky man, sharing his bounty with us." — Sacramento Book Review
Product Details
- Imprint: Harper Perennial
- On Sale: 05/25/2010
- Trimsize: 5.313 in (w) x 8 in (h) x 0.541 in (d)
- Pages: 240
- List Price: 14.99 USD
- BISAC1: BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Artists, Architects, Photographers


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Rx Minute: Alzheimer's Burden Will Balloon if New Treatments Are Not Found
Alzheimer's Burden Will Balloon if New Treatments Are Not Found
A new report from the Alzheimer's Association examines the future impact of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and the potential impact of new treatments. The study finds that on our current trajectory Alzheimer's disease in adults over 65 will cost $1 trillion per year by 2050 and a total of $20 trillion in the next 40 years. Medicare spending on AD will rise 600% while costs to Medicaid, other payers and patients will each rise 400%. The number of patients with AD will increase from 5.1 million today to 13.5 million in 2050.
New disease-modifying treatments could change that trajectory. A new treatment that delays the onset of disease by 5 years would push back the growth in new cases reducing the number of people with the disease by 43% and saving $447 billion a year by 2050. A treatment that slows the progression of AD by 5 years would reduce the number of people in the severe stage of the disease by over 80% and save $197 billion a year by 2050.
The study included medical costs to Medicare, Medicaid, private payers, and patients, but did not account for the additional burden on family caregivers and the cost of lost productivity, so the full societal benefits of effective treatments would be even higher.
Complexity and Execution Burden of Clinical Trials Are Rising
A recent report by Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development (CSDD) finds that clinical trials are continuing to become more complex and time-consuming. Between 2000-03 and 2004-7, the median number of procedures per clinical trial increased by 49% while the total work burden per protocol grew by 54%.
As complexity increases so do eligibility criteria for volunteers, leading to lower volunteer recruitment and retention rates. The average number of eligibility criteria for volunteers increased by 58% and volunteer enrollment and retention rates declined by 21% and 30%, respectively.
Drug developers have increased the amount of information produced earlier in the process and, as a result, phase 1 and 2 protocols showed the largest annual growth in complexity and execution burden, respectively. Phase 4 also saw significant annual growth reflecting increased post-approval requirements. Phase 3 trials, on the other hand, saw much less growth in complexity, which, according to Tufts, may be due to efforts to control costs of these expensive, late-stage studies.
At each stage of development different therapeutic areas vary in the complexity and difficulty of trials. For example, in phase 1, protocols targeting cardiovascular disease, immunologics, and anti-infectives had the highest execution burdens of all therapeutic areas. In phase 3 the most complex protocols, as measured by total procedures, were in immunology, CNS, oncology, anti-infectives, and endocrine disorders.


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As the season heads down the back stretch, get real time gamecasts, in-depth news and stats for your team. Head to The FAN's Baseball Page for everything that happens in the major leagues!
As practice and the exhibition season gets underway, you can find the latest on your team and breaking pro football news on The FAN's NFL Page.


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Shop by Age
Toys for 8 years and older
Smarty Pants - 4th Grade Card Set
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8+ years
Item #
: 5075
Smarty Pants Fourth Grade cards let kids test their smarts and load up on new facts and funny trivia. Designed for independent use (so a child can play alone or with a parent or friend), the cards are colorful, creative and packed with illustrated activities, including trivia quizzes, problem-solving puzzles, rebus puzzles, fun facts, creative story-building games and much more. Each educational card set is thoughtfully developed to suit the learning style and curriculum standards of each age range . . . then spiced up with fresh, lively design and an infusion of humor (including a whimsical pants-shaped case!) to keep kids giggling, engaged and excited about learning.
Dimensions: 6.25" x 7" x 1.25" Packaged
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- Official UEFA Euro 2012 Final Match Ball
- Currently Unavailable
Official match ball of the UEFA Euro 2012 finals held on July 1, 2012 at the Olympic Stadium in Kiev.
Based on a classic design used during the FIFA World Cup and UEFA EURO tournaments in the early 80s, the Tango 12 has a modern interpretation. The design pays tribute to the decorative art of paper cutting popular in both host countries (Ukraine and Poland) and symbolises unity, rivalry and passion.
The Tango 12 also has a series of triangular PU panels that are thermally bonded together to ensure a true flight path. Covering each panel of the PU ball is a grip texture which supports boot to ball contact and enhances ball control. Beneath the outer surface of the ball lies a woven carcass and a new bladder for increased air retention and reduced water uptake.
FIFA Approved. Highest FIFA Rating.
This high-quality match ball is constructed with premium materials in the cover, backing and bladder to ensure a state-of-the-art performance.
Note: All of our balls are shipped deflated. This helps in keeping our shipping costs low, savings that we can pass on to you.
Standard Ball Sizing
Size 5: ages 12 and up
Size 4: ages 8-12
Size 3: ages 8 and under
Size 1: skills/practice
Balón oficial de la Final de la Eurocopa 2012 de UEFA. CUBIERTA: TPU premium moldeado a inyección. VEJIGA: Látex. Aprobado por FIFA.


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vitamin H (archaic), coenzyme R, d-biotin, hexahydro-2-oxo-1H-thienol[3,4-d]-imidazole-4-pentatonoic acid
Biotin is classified as a B vitamin. It is water soluble and readily absorbed when taken orally. It is found in a variety of foods and is also produced by bacteria inside the large intestine. Biotin deficiency is rare. Like the other B vitamins, biotin plays an important role in energy production.
Biotin works with carboxylase enzymes, ATP, and magnesium to capture carbon dioxide for the synthesis of fatty acids. Biotin also plays an important role in the synthesis of proteins and purines. Biotin is important in carbohydrate metabolism and the metabolism of the amino-acid tryptophan.
Biotin is the specific treatment for several genetic illnesses (biotinidase deficiency, propionic acidemia, and holocarboxylase synthetase deficiency) caused by lack of certain enzymes. These illnesses can result in neurological damage and abnormal skin conditions, and occur with sufficient frequency that testing for them at birth may become a routine procedure similar to that of phenylketonuria (PKU).
Please note that this section reports on claims that have NOT yet been substantiated through scientific studies.
Biotin has been said to be useful in treating alopecia (hair loss) and skin disorders such as acne, seborrhea, and eczema.
As indicated below, biotin is measured in micrograms (mcg). The DRI is the Dietary Reference Intake.
Adults (11+ years)
30 mcg
Pregnant women
Breastfeeding women
35 mcg
Brewer's yeast
188.8 mcg
179.4 mcg
Beef liver
113.3 mcg
94.3 mcg
Split peas
77.7 mcg
Sunflower seeds
66 mcg
Green peas/lentils
40 mcg
37.5 mcg
27.75 mcg
18.9 mcg
Biotin is stable at room temperature and therefore does not need to be refrigerated. It is not destroyed by cooking.
People who regularly consume a large number of raw egg whites (more than 6 per day) may become biotin-deficient. Egg whites contain a protein (avidin) that blocks the absorption of biotin.
Other people who need to take a biotin supplement are those who are immunodeficient or who have cirrhosis of the liver. People with the genetic condition PKU may require increased amounts of biotin.
Biotin requirements may be increased by the long-term use of some seizure medications (anticonvulsants), particularly carbamazepine and phenytoin.
Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding may need to take vitamin supplements, but should consult a physician before doing so.
Certain rare, genetic disorders are associated with biotin deficiency. Biotin deficiency can lead to impaired glucose tolerance. Deficiency can also cause loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pain (myalgia), localized sensory changes (paresthesia), seborrheic dermatitis, and nervous disorders such as depression.
There are no known problems associated with excessive use of biotin. Excess biotin is readily excreted in urine.
There are no known significant food or drug interactions.
Click here for a list of reputable websites with general information on nutrition.
Your Family's Health
Condition Management
Everyday Health


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The Littleton Museum is in the holiday spirit, and it shows.
The museum spent the weekend adorning its two historic farmhouses with authentic decorations used during early Christmases in Littleton.
And while both farmhouses lack the typical modern mayhem of flashing lights and inflatable snowmen, a stark contrast is evident between the 1860s and 1890s decorations, said Andrea Wilhelm, a historical interpreter at the museum.
It takes more than just the will to help and the desire to give to feed thousands of people.
It also takes an assembly line that would have made Henry Ford proud.
Inside the small gym at South Jeffco's Abiding Hope Lutheran Church on Nov. 22, 100 volunteers, many of them children, lined up along two banks of tables set up between hundreds of pallets of food.
Eileen Schoenberger, a member of the church, shouted instructions before the assembly line got moving.
As 16-month-old Aislynne stood on the courtroom table in front of Jeffco Judge Ann Gail Meinster on Nov. 21, her soon-to-be mother, Jena, straightened the young girl's new dress.
Everyone in the courtroom laughed as Aislynne danced on the table, clapping her tiny hands to an unheard rhythm.
"Well, let's make her yours officially," Meinster told Jena through laughter.
Some people define success not by the presence of monetary gain but by the absence of constraints — in other words, the freedom to pursue their dreams.
For Todd McFarlane, legendary comic book creator and owner of McFarlane Toys, success has meant the freedom to work without the constraints of others' limitations.
It might seem counterintuitive, but for many beekeepers, taking care of a hive isn't just about the sweet reward.
Instead, it's born of a fascination with a creature that so much of our daily sustenance depends upon.
Bees, along with other insects and birds, pollinate 35 percent of the world's food crops. Yet the number of bees in the world has dropped drastically in recent years.
The decline made Joanie Bock want to put a beehive in her Littleton backyard.
Marie Rugg was one of the countless patriots who volunteered to help our country during World War II.
But on this Veterans Day, Rugg's story stands out as special. She was in the first wave of women to sign up for the U.S. Marines when women were allowed to join the corps.
"I wanted to volunteer to free a man to fight," said Rugg, who now lives in an apartment at the Gardens at Columbine assisted-living facility. "I just wanted to do something for my country."
Jefferson County's Human Services Department is looking for some good samaritans this holiday season.
The Holiday Giving Sponsor-A-Family Program matches donors with families receiving services from the county's Division of Children, Youth and Families, said Korina Keating, Human Services' volunteer coordinator.
A donor receives two lists for the family being shopped for — one of needs and one of wants, Keating said.
As the judges compiled their notes, the costumed contestants sniffed out the competition.
It was a fierce battle. But when all was said and done, Leo, an 8-month-old puppy in a lion outfit, was obviously the top dog among the dozen or so canines competing for title of cutest.
The competition was part of the final event of the UFO World Cup Frisbee Dog Series, held Saturday at Clement Park and hosted by the Colorado Disc Dogs.
The group descended on the backyard in south Littleton during the early-morning calm of the weekend.
Armed with rakes and saws, plastic bags and hammers, the two dozen volunteers attacked a large pile of junk in back of the house.
The husband and wife who own the home, and who wished to remain nameless, have lived in the house for 43 years. The husband, a former engineer, had collected various items over the years that he either intended to fix or turn into something new.
It isn't fall until there are pumpkins.
There were more than a few pumpkin hunters looking for the perfect canvas for their Halloween art on Saturday at Littleton's annual Harvest Festival pumpkin patch.
"The kids love to come out here and look for pumpkins," said Betsy Reagan of Littleton. "It's hard to say no to the kids when they find the perfect pumpkin."
Christina Garza's paternal grandfather, who worked in a uranium mine, was diagnosed with liver cancer when she was 4. He died a year later.
Garza knew then her calling was to be a doctor.
Littleton is known for its genteel small-town ways — even the walking dead obey the traffic laws.
About 300 zombies weaved their way through downtown Saturday, led by a Dixieland jazz band playing a funeral dirge, as part of the fourth annual Zombie Crawl and Pig Roast.
While most zombie hoards tend to cause mayhem and destruction, this band of undead stuck to the sidewalks and obeyed the traffic lights.
Students at Montessori School at Ken Caryl have learned the hard way that sometimes Halloween can be more about tricks than treats.
A 40-pound pumpkin that the students in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten had grown in hopes of raffling off to raise money for classroom activities was vandalized in mid-September.
One by one, the balloons joined an airborne procession above Clement Park as they floated toward the horizon. As each name was read aloud, a person in the crowd of about 1,000 released another balloon that rose and joined the rest.
More than 450 names were read Saturday at A Walk to Remember. Each balloon carried the name of an infant who died, either as a stillborn baby, from SIDS or from a life-shortening illness.
The rainy, chilly afternoon on Sept. 27 gave way to a warm gesture of compassion, as the Front Range Christian School community presented more than $2,600 in bake-sale proceeds to the Lyons High Lions.
Lyons, one of the towns hit hardest by September's floods, saw roads swallowed and families displaced, leaving the community to pick up and start over amid the chaos of destruction.
But not alone.
The important thing is not to panic. And to remember that you won't starve to death.
Because you're surrounded by corn.
The Denver Botanic Gardens at Chatfield has laid out a perplexing course for its corn maze this year, the 14th installment of the popular populist puzzle. The labyrinth is spread out over 8 acres of maize, and hints are sprinkled throughout.
"Follow the hints; they're really helpful," said volunteer Dale Huffner. "Of course, that's unless you want to get lost in there."
A fly fisherman who'd been working a river at Eldorado Canyon State Park watched a group of beginner climbers slowly work their way up the rock as he walked back to his truck.
"Are those kids blind?" he exclaimed.
Of the dozen and a half people on the four established climbing routes, almost all were visually impaired. The climbers were students of the independence training program at the Colorado Center for the Blind in Littleton.
The Army Corps of Engineers has released its final plan for the expansion of Chatfield Reservoir, a proposal designed to help meet growing demands for water but one that is still opposed by at least one conservation group.
The chosen plan, labeled Alternative 3, would raise the water levels by a maximum of 12 feet and increase the maximum storage by 20,600 acre-feet. Some 587 acres of Chatfield State Park, Colorado's most popular, would be flooded in peak storage years to provide more water for urban and agricultural users on the Front Range.
When a young person makes that first long sojourn away from home, it's often a challenge to know what to bring along.
But it always makes sense to bring an appetite.
Littleton has a lot to offer.
And most of it is on display this week as Western Welcome Week gets into full swing.
Copyright © 2016
Columbine Courier is your source for local news, sports, events, and information in South Jefferson County, Colo., and the surrounding area.


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Definition of stage in English:
1A point, period, or step in a process or development: there is no need at this stage to give explicit details I was in the early stages of pregnancy
More example sentences
- Lastly there may be a stage of exhaustion, tiredness and weakness.
- All stages of the re-entry went according to plan.
- The argument at this point proceeds in three stages.
phase, period, juncture, step, point, time, moment, instant, division, level
1.1A section of a journey or race: the final stage of the journey is made by coach
More example sentences
- The final stage of our journey along the Lower Zambesi was sheer heaven.
- During the final stages of his journey, Nicholas swaps notes with Simon Osborne, the British kayaker who circumnavigated Britain to raise money for charity in memory of his brother Mark.
- It was the final stage of the journey and despite his tough Brooklyn upbringing he was tense and nervous.
part, section, portion, stretch, phase;
leg, lap, circuit
1.2Each of two or more sections of a rocket or spacecraft that have their own engines and are jettisoned in turn when their propellant is exhausted.
Example sentences
- The first, second, and third stages of the Soyuz launch vehicle fired and separated by 11 minutes into the rocket's flight.
- Russian and European engineers will work together to develop reusable liquid engines, reusable liquid stages and experimental vehicles.
- Three of the four stages exhausted their solid propellants through a single adjustable nozzle which guided the missile along its flight path.
1.3 [with modifier] Electronics A specified part of a circuit, typically one consisting of a single amplifying transistor or valve with the associated equipment: a series resistance between the headphones and the output stage
More example sentences
- Shipley is also working on replacing the conventional electroless and electrolytic copper deposition stages with a single electroless copper stage.
- In one embodiment, the summing node is coupled to a summing circuit disposed between two gain stages of an error amplifier in the first circuit.
- Many laser systems consist of an oscillator followed by one or more amplifier stages.
2A raised floor or platform, typically in a theatre, on which actors, entertainers, or speakers perform: there are only two characters on stage
More example sentences
- An actor gets on stage and performs and you have a moment of true inspiration.
- A properly trained voice is an asset to any actor, especially to those who perform on stage.
- Ms Carey will perform the stunt on stage at the Hull New Theatre during the run, from tonight until Saturday.
platform, dais, stand, grandstand, staging, apron, rostrum, podium, soapbox, stump;
pulpit, box, dock;
Indian mandapam
rare tribune
2.1 (the stage) The acting or theatrical profession: I've always wanted to go on the stage
More example sentences
- Threats by an absent father that he would annihilate his wife if she put their daughter on the stage proved no deterrent.
- Kathleen is still actively involved in the group but does not go on the stage.
- Strange, then, that he should all but abandon poetry in his twenties, and concentrate his efforts on writing for the stage.
(the) theatre, drama, dramatics, dramatic art, show business, the play, the footlights
informal the boards, rep
rare thespianism
2.2 [in singular] A scene of action or forum of debate, especially in a particular political context: Britain is playing a leading role on the international stage
More example sentences
- On the political and international stage, events were moving apace on Wednesday.
- The reform of civil service pensions put civil servants at the centre of the political stage recently.
- The potential of using this psychological ground as part of a stage for political action has been known for some time.
scene, setting;
context, frame, sphere, field, realm, forum, site, arena, background, backdrop;
3A floor or level of a building or structure: the upper stage was added in the 17th century
More example sentences
- The grandiosity of its concept encouraged several rulers to continue adding to the structure and adding further stages.
- The proposed stages to the management structure of the estate will be considered at a meeting of the council's cabinet on Wednesday.
- Each stage or level contains three modes, which add a little more replay value to the game but not much.
3.1(On a microscope) a raised and usually movable plate on which a slide or object is placed for examination.
Example sentences
- The specimen was placed on the stage of a light microscope with the magnification set to x100.
- When placed on the microscope stage, the bottom of the Petri dish was superimposed on this circle.
4 Geology (In chronostratigraphy) a range of strata corresponding to an age in time, forming a subdivision of a series: the Oxfordian stage
More example sentences
- In the Canaries, the lavas are much more compositionally varied in each of these stages, ranging from tholeiitic basalts to phonolites and trachytes.
- The base of the system and the subdivision into six stages was originally recognized in the marine facies of the Southern Alps.
- Ross et al. subdivided the overlying Ordovician Ibexian Series into four stages, the lowest of which is the Skullrockian Stage.
4.1(In palaeoclimatology) a period of time marked by a characteristic climate: the Boreal stage
More example sentences
- Silt and varved clay, probably deposited during the last stages of Pleistocene glaciation, cover the entire floor.
- Stage 2 includes deposition of the latest Neoproterozoic Lake Maurice and Ungoolya Groups, which predate and span the initial stages of the Petermann Orogeny.
- It is also evident that mudstone drapes formed during slack water stages at specific periods, whereas fine-sandstone drapes were formed in other periods.
5 historical A stagecoach.
Example sentences
- Besides this there were passengers coming in on the stage and mail from Silver Reef and Pioche.
- A four horse teem mail stage operated over this route daily, except Sunday, going west one day and returning eastward the following day.
verb[with object]
1Present a performance of (a play or other show): the show is being staged at the Grand Opera House in Belfast
More example sentences
- Adult performers will be staging a one-act play as part of the drama night in December.
- Although they stage the same play, the performance is different each night.
- For Joan D' Mello, Assistant Director of Aliyavar, staging the play was a dream come true.
put on, put before the public, present, produce, mount, direct;
perform, act, render, give
1.1Organize and participate in (a public event): UDF supporters staged a demonstration in Sofia
More example sentences
- The event was staged by concert organisers, Young Voices.
- The new service is already in talks with several high profile public sector organisations about staging large-scale forums.
- He also thanked the venues for hosting the events and the rest of the committee members for their work in organising and staging the event.
organize, arrange, make arrangements for, coordinate, lay on, put together, fix up, get together;
orchestrate, choreograph, be responsible for, be in charge of, direct, run, manage, stage-manage, conduct, administrate, administer, set up, mastermind, engineer
rare concert
1.2Cause (something dramatic or unexpected) to happen: the President's attempt to stage a comeback the dollar staged a partial recovery
More example sentences
- Whenever I watch England when they're in a leading position, the possibility of their opponents staging an unexpected comeback is always at the back of my mind.
- Trailing by ten points with less than ten minutes left, Malton staged a dramatic comeback to snatch the win.
- They're listening intently or with anger to a master of sound bytes who staged a dramatic comeback.
2 Medicine Diagnose or classify (a disease or patient) as having reached a particular stage in the expected progression of the disease: cancer of the prostate is staged by the way it feels on rectal exam
More example sentences
- It is used in the initial diagnosis, in staging the patient, and in some therapies.
- Thomas and Patocskai may see no advantage in staging disease in patients with melanoma, but theirs is a minority view worldwide.
- Computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging are undertaken to stage the disease accurately.
hold the stage
- Dominate a scene of action or forum of debate: the notion of treatment by opposites has held the stage for too longMore example sentences
- Diana Quick holds the stage as the formidable Mrs Clandon and starts, to my eyes anyway, as a decent, solid figure, easily imagined at a suffragette demonstration - her place in world carved out by her own determined efforts.
- Waterford holds the stage in the southern half of the country this weekend with the final of the Aer Rianta Cork Airport Munster Oaks tomorrow night.
- They were self-effacing enough to let the singer shine while weaving complicated counterpoints behind her lead, but quite capable of holding the stage on their own when it came time to.
set the stage for
- Prepare the conditions for (the occurrence or beginning of something): these churchmen helped to set the stage for popular reformMore example sentences
- These early beginnings set the stage for more recent innovations in the field.
- In another, Cabot has skillfully set the stage for a new beginning that promises even more to come.
- The first spoonful of warm rhubarb crisp or mouthful of rhubarb pie is the most special, setting the stage for more rhubarb treats to follow.
stage left (or right)
- On the left (or right) side of a stage from the point of view of a performer facing the audience: [as adverb]: a woman entered stage left [as noun]: a spaceman wanders in from stage rightMore example sentences
- Enter stage right to perform in Powerhouse Poetry, at Calgary's Big Secret Theatre at 8 p.m. on July 19.
- A screen on stage left allowed the audience to get a first hand look at how Jeff flawlessly handled the turntables.
- Deuterium Boy and Helium Girl walk on from stage right to more enthusiastic audience applause.
- Example sentences
- My areas of expertise are in character development, relationships, plot structure and stageability.
- For all proposed concepts, stageability, beam stability, manufacturability, and high wall plug-to-beam power efficiency must be addressed in detail.
- The proper "performance" question of Senecas tragedies is not the stageability of the plays, but which stagings would yield the most meaning or the most effect.
stageable adjective
- Example sentences
- This is an eminently stageable and listenable piece.
- 'Musically it's uneven, but it's certainly got some gorgeous moments (like Magda's famous early aria 'Chi il bel sogno di Doretta… '), and even Puccini's weaker passages are eminently stageable.'
- O'Hara's Noh plays are among his most stageable dramas.
Middle English (denoting a floor of a building, platform, or stopping place): shortening of Old French estage 'dwelling', based on Latin stare 'to stand'. Current senses of the verb date from the early 17th century.
Words that rhyme with stageage, assuage, backstage, cage, downstage, engage, enrage, gage, gauge, mage, multistage, offstage, onstage, Osage, page, Paige, rage, rampage, sage, swage, under-age, upstage, wage
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text:
October, 17, 2005
More than a dozen new and expanding businesses are opening in Aiken in the coming months. And they're bringing hundreds of jobs along with them. News 12 is on your side with how this is filling a big need.
It's a practice run for O'Charley's staff.
"O'Charley's is a casual themed dining room," said Manager Chad Coghlan.
Some VIP's get to try out Aiken's newest eatery a day early.
"I started out getting the chicken fingers for an appetizer and I'm getting a half pound burger. It's good," said James Freeman, O'Charley's customer.
What's also good, the 100 jobs O'Charley's brought to Aiken. After a year with thousands of lay-offs, new jobs of all kinds are needed in Aiken County. 500 people filled out an application at O'Charley's alone.
Right behind O'Charley's is Aiken's newest shopping center, The Shoppes at Whiskey. About a dozen stores are set to open in the coming months and are hiring. The Dollar Tree is hiring now.
The first store to open here: Household Rental and Sales. They hired three people to man the store.
"Aiken is growing and we wanted to be the first premiere rent-to-own store in the area," said Paul Stevens, Household Rentals and Sales.
And in Aiken's Business Park, a new sign is ready to go up. In the last few months, engineering company Parson's added 50 jobs and they plan to add 50 more in the coming months. Vice President Rick Wilkinson says many of their workers come from a place used to lay-offs, the Savannah River Site.
"Many times those people coming from SRS have the right skills to fit our needs," Wilkinson said.
Needs met and filled designing buildings, beds and burgers.
Parsons will also hire 450 construction workers to build some of their designs. O'Charley's in Aiken opens Tuesday at eleven.


text:
1.0 Overview
2.0 ConceptThis outing is an opportunity for scouts with no previous experience to try rock climbing at out local training cliff, Winslow Ledges. Winslow offers a nearly perfect environment for learning basic rock climbing skills. It is easy to get to, has good, solid rock offering a variety of challenges, and is easily protected from above. We will offer basic instruction in rope handling, belaying, and climbing technique, with an emphasis on teamwork and safety. The outing will provide advancement opportunities for Climbing Merit Badge.
2.1 DescriptionWe will meet at the Maynard Street Parking Lot (aka the Old Hospital Parking Lot or the OHP), and drive to the trailhead. After hiking in to the cliffs, we will conduct a short safety briefing, and then learn basic rope handling, belaying, and climbing techniques. While the beginners are working on these items, the more experienced will be rigging the cliff for climbing. We will then take turns climbing with a break for lunch at noon. After lunch, we will do a little more climbing, perhaps expanding our techniques, and then pack up to return to Hanover.
2.2 Schedule of EventsSaturday 02Oct
0900 -- Meet at OHP. Brief on entry procedures for the climbing area.
0915 -- Depart for Winslow
0945 -- Arrive. Unload and hike in.
1000 -- Arrive at Winslow Ledge. Safety briefing.
1015 -- Conduct instruction in skills while leaders rig the climb.
1100 -- Begin climbing.
1200 -- Lunch.
1230 -- More climbing, with skill elaboration as appropriate.
1300 -- Pack up.
1315 -- Return to cars.
1330 -- Start for Hanover.
1400 -- Arrive OHP.
2.3 Expected Conditions and DifficultyThe hike in to the cliffs is about a mile. It is not difficult, but does demand normal hiking preparations. Be prepared for the weather.
The climbing area is very well suited to instruction of beginners. It has easy access to the top, good anchorage, minimal loose rock, and a nice variety of climbs. Cliff heights range from about thirty feet to about 120 feet.
It is very important for all participants to understand that we are guests at Winslow, and we must be respectful of our hosts. In the past, many climbers using Winslow have not shown the appropriate respect, and the landowners have sometimes closed the area. During our visit we will set an example for others to follow, including maintaining silence while on the trail from the parking area to the point where the trail crosses the fire road.
2.4 Special RequirementsOpen to all scouts, scouters, and parents. There are no skill prerequisites for this outing.
3.0 Administration and Logistics
3.1 Announcement Date: 22 Sep 04
3.2 Roster Closing Date: 29 Sep 04
3.3 CostsNone.
3.4 Equipment
3.4.1 Individual Equipment
3.4.2 Patrol EquipmentNone
3.4.3 Troop Equipment
3.5 Transportation PlanDrop-off Point: Maynard Street Parking Lot
Drop-off Time: 0900 Sat 2Oct
Pickup Point: Maynard Street Parking Lot
Pickup Time: Approx 1400 Same Day
4.0 Leadership
4.1 Planning Committee
4.2 Adult Leaders
Approved TPS 1 Oct 04


text:
Minivans might not be as popular as they used to be, but that's not stopping Chrysler. New for 2017, the Pacifica is Chrysler's replacement for the longstanding T
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text:
WATERVILLE, Maine (AP) � What started out as the Maine Literary and Theological Institution is now about to celebrate its 200th anniversary � as Colby College.
On Wednesday, the Waterville college will mark its bicentennial with special multimedia performances and an address by Colby's 19th president, William "Bro" Adams.
On Feb. 27, 1813, before Maine was a state, the Massachusetts Legislature adopted a petition to make what's now called Colby College the 33rd chartered college in the United States.
The private school, which enrolls 1,825 students, is the 12th-oldest independent liberal arts college in the nation.
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Location, ST | website.com


text:
- Aug 26:
- Napa earthquake: Aftershocks rattle North Bay, damages highways
- Martinez: Quake-related flood drenches DA's office
- Aug 25:
- Napa earthquake shines light on Bay Area's hazardous old masonry buildings
- Vast majority of Californians shun earthquake insurance
- Napa earthquake stressed other faults
- Napa earthquake: Power mostly restored, schools closed Monday morning
- Aug 24:
- Baby with 'guardian angel' not harmed in earthquake
- Napa: Crashing bottles, barrels sow doubt about wine country travels
- Quinn: #napaquake hijacking shows flaws in social media as our town center in crisis
- How big was the Napa earthquake? Here's where it ranks among California quakes
- Napa earthquake: California's early-warning system worked
- Napa earthquake tourism: Should you stay or should you go?
- Napa earthquake: Vallejo officials report minor damage, two dozen injuries
- Napa earthquake: UC-Berkeley ShakeAlert system gave 10 second warning of 'light' shaking
- Napa earthquake: Winemakers, sellers assessing damage; some wineries closed
- Napa earthquake: Residents, many of them seniors, flee from devastating mobile home fire
- Napa earthquake: No damage at Sonoma Raceway, IndyCar race is on
- 6.0 quake hits Bay Area: Did you feel it?
- Marin jolted by 6.0-magnitude quake in North Bay
- Napa earthquake: Hundreds hurt, dozens of buildings condemned after 6.0 jolt
- Apr 6:
- Barnidge: L.A. earthquakes are a reminder of what's still to come
SANTA CLARA -- Sunday morning's earthquake 75 miles north of Levi's Stadium hasn't impacted the 49ers exhibition against the San Diego Chargers, outside of train cancellations from the East Bay.
The game remains on schedule for a 1 p.m. kickoff, and the 49ers announced that engineers will continue to inspect the $1.3 billion stadium throughout the day for any effect from the 6.0 earthquake centered in American Canyon near Napa.
Roughly 1,250 fans will have to make alternate plans to get to the game as a result of cancelled train service while rails are inspected for damage, impacting those who take the Altamont Commuter Express and Amtrak's Capital Corridor lines.
Three hours before kickfof, players began warming up on the field and were checking their footing on the sod that was installed on Friday. The former surface, Bandera Bermuda, was pulled up after Wednesday's abbreviated practice because the field conditions became perilous to players, several of whom slipped.
Here is a statement Sunday morning from the 49ers:
"We would like to extend our best wishes to all of our neighbors, family and friends affected by this morning's earthquake.
"Today's 49ers game at Levi's® Stadium will be played as scheduled.
"Levi's® Stadium was designed to meet California seismic code requirements and seismic bracing was incorporated into the design and construction. Building engineers have walked the entire stadium and we have had no reported damage. We will continue to do so throughout the day.
"In terms of trains servicing the stadium, we have been advised that all tracks have been shut down within a 100-mile radius of Napa until further notice, therefore affecting the ACE and Capital Corridor service to the stadium. ACE would normally carry upwards of 500 passengers to our game. Capital Corridor carries approximately 750 fans. We remain in communication with these agencies. Caltrain and VTA are operating as scheduled at this time."
For more on the 49ers, see Cam Inman's Hot Read blog at blogs.mercurynews.com/49ers. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/CamInman.


text:
"Money is one of the most ingenious inventions of mankind, as it helps the exchange of goods and services and overcomes the limits of barter, that is, the direct exchange of goods and services. For example, if you live in a village which relies entirely on barter, and you produce works of art but there is nobody to exchange your art work with except the undertaker, you will soon have to change your occupation or leave. Thus, money creates the possibility for specialization, which is the basis of civilization." --Dr. Margrit Kennedy "(1)Being rich is not wrong if you come by your wealth ethically, though it is not the sign of God's favor that Calvinists and their progeny take it to be. I advocate more people having the chance to be rich. As a T-shirt in sold in Berkeley says, "There is no disgrace in being poor, but it's damned inconvenient." And for people who don't have the funds to obtain adequate health care, food, or housing, poverty can be damned deadly. I really have no use for those "progressives" who make a fetish of poverty. What good is a political and economic philosophy if it can't sustain its adherents in the real world?
Known and very popular cialis coupon which gives all the chance to receive a discount for a preparation which has to be available and exactly cialis coupons has been found in the distant room of this big house about which wood-grouses in the houses tell.
Alex Rodriguez, who has played third base for the New York Yankees since 2004, opted out of his ten-year contract with three years remaining on it. The announcement was made by his agent, Scott Boras, during the last game of the World Series. Major League Baseball has a rule against teams making major announcements during the World Series, but the rule does not apply to individual players. Still, the announcement was considered a big faux pas in the baseball world. Rodriguez and Boras drew a lot of heat for the timing of this announcement and Boras issued an apology.
But all I could think of when I heard about the apology was that it was merely another step in a highly choreographed dance; there is an adage in the PR world that even bad publicity is better than no publicity at all. And indeed, in the days immediately following the World Series, the championship and its winner, the Boston Red Sox, seemed to be overshadowed by news that wasn't really news. Just about everyone expected Rodriguez to opt out of the contract. Sports journalists had been discussing the likelihood of the opt-out on and off since spring training.
A quick summary for those of you who don't keep up with baseball: Alex Rodriguez is generally considered to be the best player in the game. He had a monster year in 2007, hitting 54 homers, driving in 156 runs, scoring 143 runs, and stealing 24 bases in 28 attempts.(2) But his performance in the playoffs left much to be desired. This year, he hit .267 in the league division series compared to .314 during the regular season and he hit one solo homer while striking out six times.(3) The Yankees made a quick exit out of this year's playoffs and have not won the World Series since Rodriguez has been with them. The Yankees are the most successful franchise in the history of professional sports. They have won 26 championships, the most recent in 2000, and they consider their season a failure if they don't win the World Series.
In 2001, A-Rod, as he's called, signed a record contract with the Texas Rangers. It called for him to make $252 million over the course of 10 years. That's slightly more than a quarter billion dollars and was exactly twice the amount for which basketball star Kevin Garnett had signed with the Minnesota Timberwolves. At the time Garnett signed his deal, he was the highest paid athlete in team sports.(4) Rodriguez was traded to the Yankees in 2004, with the Rangers agreeing to pay part of the contract. They are now relieved of most of that obligation because Rodriguez opted out.
The opt-out clause gave Rodriguez the opportunity to become a free agent at the end of this season, provided that he notified the Yankees of his intent within 10 days of the end of the World Series. Ordinarily, such clause is understandable in a contract that long; it would give Rodriguez protection against the possibility that the market would jump way ahead of him over the course of 10 years. That the best player in the game should have the highest salary seems to be a proper expectation in an allegedly meritocratic capitalist system. But the contract also had a clause requiring that Rodriguez always be the highest paid player in baseball.(5) So if someone leapfrogged him, which was doubtful because of the size and length of the contract, all Rodriguez would've had to do was to go back to the Yankees for a raise in compliance with the "highest pay" clause. The ability to become a free agent on top of that gave him the ability to shop his services so that he could get an even bigger deal, regardless of the fact that he has the game's biggest deal currently, and had in the contract a guarantee that he would always have the biggest deal.
On Friday, November 16, the New York Daily News reported that Rodriguez and the Yankees have agreed to the framework of a contract that would pay the third baseman $275 million over the next ten years. The deal, not yet finalized as of this writing, would be the biggest contract ever signed by a major leaguer, breaking the record set in 2001 by - Alex Rodriguez.(6)
The Yankees appeared to be principled at first. When word of the opt-out became public, Hank Steinbrenner, who is running the Yankees' day-to-day operations, said the Yankees would not pursue Rodriguez as a free agent.(7) They could have said no when mutual friends from Goldman Sachs approached with word of A-Rod's interest in talking to the Yankees; no one was holding a gun to their heads. The principled attitude soon changed.
It looks as though the reasoning expressed by Jim Caple, writing for ESPN Magazine, won out when Rodriguez, on the advice of none other than Warren Buffett, reached out to the Yankees on his own. (Reportedly the Steinbrenner family, principal owners of the Yankees, would not talk if Boras was in the room, an assertion they have denied because owners are not allowed to talk directly to a player about contracts with the intent of circumventing the player's representation.(8) In any event, Boras will do the paperwork to finalize any deal). Caple said, "Sixty-one percent of you who responded to our Page 2 poll on Tuesday wouldn't want baseball's best player on your favorite team? You'd be disappointed if your team signed a (soon-to-be) three-time MVP and Gold Glove winner who can play third base or shortstop? You don't want a player who could become the all-time home run king? If that's really true, I have another poll question for you: Do you feel this way because your drug problem is that severe, or because the American educational system is that bad? Or do you simply listen to too much sports talk radio?"(9) The Yankees may be many things, but nuts, at least according to Caple's definition of that term, is not one of them.
As for Boras, he appears to be the loser in this episode. He did not get for A-Rod, whom he's represented since A-Rod was 16, the $350 million he told the Yankees they would have to offer in order to meet with his client. The deal isn't even for $300 million, which a lot of people figured would be the asking price, though as of this writing, a final agreement has yet to be reached on an incentive clause, which the Yankees are calling a historical achievement clause, based on A-Rod's eventually becoming the next all-time home run king. Such a clause may have A-Rod reaching that nice round figure when all is said and done. But, in all likelihood, the current dust-up between Boras and the Yankees will soon be forgotten. For all the complaining about Boras, it's not as if the owners have put him on a blacklist. If teams want his players, they deal with him. There is some reticence among teams when they're dealing with a Boras client who has just turned professional, but even then there is very little of that. Some teams, notably the Boston Red Sox, claim good relations with him. Owners know that Boras is the agent players sign with when money is their chief object. And not just any player can sign with him. He only accepts the players whom he projects will be the elite major leaguers. So on it goes, even though it appears that Boras overestimated the market for A-Rod, and Detroit Tigers pitcher Kenny Rogers has decided to negotiate what is likely to be the final contract of his long pitching career without Boras.(10)
While various sports pundits in pixels and print were busy discussing the etiquette of the opt-out, a discussion that within 48 hours turned to the subject of which teams would bid for A-Rod's services, I kept thinking about another question: "When is enough enough?"
It's easy to write off pro sports contracts as things that have nothing to do with the "real" world the rest of us live in (unless we see some connection between exorbitant player salaries and the skyrocketing ticket prices that are putting sports entertainment out of the reach of many Americans). As F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote: "The rich are very different from you and me."
But while A-Rod can be seen as the extreme in baseball financial dealings, he functions in a larger context. To wit: the New York Times article in which it was reported that the last trader on an annual list of the 100 top moneymakers made $50 million last year, and the number one trader on Wall Street made $1.5 billion.(11) By those standards, a contract that would pay Rodriguez $35 million a year for a decade is small potatoes.
Even sports writers who may be rankled at Rodriguez' avarice are quick to defend his right to be avaricious. Buster Olney, in an article for ESPN Magazine, wrote, "It is his prerogative to move on, of course. He has the right to make as much money as he can."(12) I read that as a kind of disclaimer on Olney's part. He accuses A-Rod of putting himself above the game, of needing to be bigger than the game-a no-no in Olney's book. He talks about the difficulties Rodriguez' next team (which now turns out to be his old team) will have in dealing with him. He criticizes the announcement of the opt-out during the World Series game. But Olney does not challenge one of the fundamentals of our capitalist society -- the "right" of the rich to get richer.
Likewise, Richard Justice, in writing a sports commentary for AOL, questioned whether A-Rod was worth $300 million when, according to Forbes, seven major league teams were not worth that much. But then he went on to say, "No one should ever fault A-Rod or Boras for taking full advantage of baseball's economic system."(13) If that's true, then why have I read column after column finding some fault with Rodriguez looking for an even bigger deal than he has now?
You can't have it both ways, America. You can't call A-Rod and Boras greedy and worse and still uphold the system under which they legally operate. Rodriguez and Boras, two men who operate in a fairly small segment of the U.S. economy, are the current whipping boys/poster boys for the greed that has been the modus operandi in this disintegrating colonial empire since it was itself a small collection of colonies. "My Friend, the Yankees fan" thinks that's because one is a Latino and the other a Greek immigrant. "The real wealth in this country is scared out of their wits of class warfare and types like A-Sod [sic] that flaunt their wealth make them very uneasy," she wrote in a recent email to me.
So a lot of people believe that Alex Rodriguez has the right to make as much money as he can no matter what inconvenience or worse it causes the team he plays for or baseball as a whole; he just shouldn't have been so gauche about it. But can you be anything but gauche in that situation? Even announcing the opt-out after the World Series would have been only slightly less gauche than what actually happened.
Still, to focus on etiquette is to miss a larger point. This story is a signal to the nation to ask itself: Does someone who has a legal right to do something also have the moral right to do it? I can hear all of the apologists for greed now: it's the American way; it's a business; the owners are way richer than any of the players, even A-Rod; people make far more in other industries; why shouldn't he, he's the best, etc. etc. There are undoubtedly some people who believe A-Rod's outrageous salary demands benefit all major leaguers, now and in the future; they are a tide that will raise all boats because his contract sets a standard for the market from which all other salaries will be calculated.
But sometimes "I can" doesn't equal "I should." I don't think anyone whose financial demands can warp his industry has the "right" to make as much money as he can. Think again about the title of Olney's article: "A-Rod putting himself above the game." If we are going to call ourselves "civilized", we've got to stop thinking that we are above the game.
The atmosphere that we live in these days, the one that prompted Olney and Justice to make their remarks in defense of the American economic system, probably with as little thought as they would have given to the remark that "the sky is blue," has high school pitchers and their parents looking for Tommy John surgery as the route to college scholarships and pro contracts. It leads to players using performance-enhancing drugs. It feeds the bloated egos of people like Alex Rodriguez and Scott Boras. And outside of the sports world, it gives us the hubris of the people who destroyed Enron, and the hubris of the people who are destroying America.
The single-minded pursuit of money blinds a person to the fact that a task is seldom, if ever, accomplished alone. And by this I don't mean that A-Rod had Boras as an accomplice in the hijacking of the sports pages lately. I mean that whatever we do in life requires the participation of others-even the Unabomber biked into town for a sack of flour now and then-and the inordinate demands of one person, or one group of people, in a project can ruin the process. Alex Rodriguez was demanding a sum of money that would be 20-35% of the payroll of some teams.(14) What kind of effect would that have on a team that has other needs to fill? I'm not even talking about jealousy here. Rather, could a team have adequate funds to acquire the best other players available to fill their other needs? Maybe the Yankees coulWhat kind of effect would that have on a team that has other needs to fill? I'm not even talking about jealousy here. Rather, could a team have adequate funds to acquire the best other players available to fill their other needs? Maybe the Yankees could, but a lot of others can't, which is why the market for A-Rod's services was much smaller than Boras figured.
No enterprise, even the Yankees, is a bottomless pit of wealth. Though business is not always exactly a zero-sum game, when a person gets more, chances are someone else is either getting less or at least not getting more also. We see this very prominently in the growing disparity between CEO pay and the average worker's pay. CEOs of large U.S. companies last year made as much money in one day on the job as average workers made over the entire year, according to a report issued by the Institute for Policy Studies and United for a Fair Economy in August of 2007(15)
These top executives averaged $10.8 million in total compensation, over 364 times the pay of the average American worker. What do these executives do to earn that kind of disparity? It seems to me that the higher up the corporate ladder one goes, the farther removed one is from the processes that are supposed to be the raison d'etre of the business. When was the last time Bill Gates wrote a marketable piece of code? Yet how much more does he make than the average Microsoft programmer? And the greater the disparity in wealth between the average citizen and the elites, the less personally invested in the business or the society the average person will be. Maybe that's part of the reason people are not more outraged that the news is consumed with trivia about Paris Hilton and O.J. Simpson while we have climate change, the shredding of the Constitution, illegal, expensive and escalating wars, Peak Oil etc. to deal with.
Can we really afford such psychological disinvestment at this point in history? Being rich is not wrong if you come by your wealth ethically, though it is not the sign of God's favor that Calvinists and their progeny take it to be. I advocate more people having the chance to be rich. As a T-shirt in sold in Berkeley says, "There is no disgrace in being poor, but it's damned inconvenient." And for people who don't have the funds to obtain adequate health care, food, or housing, poverty can be damned deadly. I really have no use for those "progressives" who make a fetish of poverty. What good is a political and economic philosophy if it can't sustain its adherents in the real world? But again, I say, when is enough enough?
There are three basic things you should do with money: Spend it, save it and give it away. There is a fourth thing you can do with money that is the troubling aspect of wealth: you can measure your self-worth, or the worth of other people, by how much you or the other people have. There's where the greed and the class-ism come in. That's where envy comes in, even among people of the same class. The value of human beings (and the environment) is no longer inherent when it is measured by externals such as money and material goods.
And when value is no longer inherent, human beings (and the environment) become disposable, as we see in war. The irony of extreme wealth is that the more money one makes, the less valuable it becomes. Let's say you have enough to buy all the things you could possibly want, you've assured financial security for your family, even the next two or three generations, and you've set up whatever charitable giving you are going to do. After that, any more becomes basically useless. The marginal utility of money decreases as taxes increase - (we hope, under a progressive tax system), you've run out of things to buy and do with it, and you've given away your fair share. The only value left to money at that point is as ego food. And that is a ridiculous and empty dish indeed.
Those who search for self-esteem in wealth are playing a fool's game. He who dies with the most toys wins, but he's still dead and he can't take it with him. Journalist Kéllia Ramares maintains a blog on the Major League Baseball web site. It is called Down The Left Field Line: Life, Baseball & Eric Byrnes.
1. Kennedy, Margrit Dr., Interest and Inflation Free Money: Creating an exchange medium that works for everybody and protects the earth. New Society Publishers, (British Columbia, Canada, 1995) p. 1.
4. Justice, Richard, "A-Rod, Great Player - Bad Investment." AOL, November 8, 2007.
5. Ribowsky, Mark, The Complete History of the Home Run. Citadel Press (New York, 2003) p. 332.
6. Feisand, Mark, Madden, Bill and Red, Christian, "A-Rod, Yankees agree to terms on $275 million deal." New York Daily News, November 16, 2007.
7. Curry, Jack and Kepner, Tyler, "For Rodriguez, Yankees, it's all but over." New York Times, October 30, 2007.
8. "Yanks, A-Rod close to multi-year deal," MLB.com, November 15, 2007.
9.Caple, Jim, "If you don't want A-Rod, you're nuts," ESPN.com, November 14, 2007.
10. ESPN News Services, "Lefty Rogers fires agent Boras, will represent himself." ESPN.com, November 16, 2007.
11. Belson, Ken, "Rodriguez not greedy by standard of Wall Street." New York Times, October 30, 2007.
12. Olney, Buster, "A-Rod putting himself above the game." ESPN.com, October 29, 2007.
13. Justice, Richard, "A-Rod great player, bad investment." AOL.Com filed under MLB, November 8, 2007.
14. Olney, op. cit.
15.Institute for Policy Studies and United for a Fair Economy, "Executive Excess 2007: The staggering social cost of U.S. Business leadership."
by Kéllia Ramares Part One Part 1. The Economy It is often said that you are known by the company you keep. If that is true, then...
by Carolyn Baker In Part Two of her series on an Obama presidency, Kellia Ramares reveals appalling connections between Obama and his foreign...
by Kéllia Ramares On Nov. 2, 2008, Matt Gonzalez, Ralph Nader's running mate in an independent bid for the White House, published an article...
by Kellia Ramares I read a lengthy article about the causes of obesity today. It was supposedly a review of a documentary called "Fat"...
by Kéllia Ramares A column I read stated that the swearing in of Barack Obama was the most anticipated inauguration since that of John F....
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Dick Williams said:
A guy who hasn't gotten close to the fourth thing you can do with money
I think the fact that no comments have been posted actually is a comment--a comment on the short attention spans of most folks who are interested in baseball-related items. I wonder how many people even made it through more than a few paragraphs of the article before jumping to some other website to check on the latest doings of Paris and O. J.
Eric Walker said:
One in 8 million
It is something from unfair to simply ridiculous to lump an Alex Rodriguez up with corporate executives. There is no one in the known universe who can do the things that Rodriguez can do--what executive can honestly say any such thing? Executives become successful, and thereby rich, more by luck than skill, no matter what they themselves might claim. Rodriguez's manifest and undeniable abilities make him worht something, a something that can--see Zimbalest's book Baseball and Billions--be plausibly calculated in a true business sense, at least to a decent first approximation. Baseball is (sad to say) a business, however much some of its owners invest in ego as well as dollars; the New York Yankees make a profit, and it is their reckoning, whether explicit or implicit, that by re-signing Rodriguez at his price they will make more than if they did not re-sign him.
Who is at fault how? Should the Yankees have deliberately and knowingly opted for making less money (and being less pleasing to their ownership and customer base, the fans)? Should Rodriguez have deliberately and knowingly opted to make less money than he could, or perhaps to shave his head and join a Zen monastery? Why?
Of course there are things seriously wrong with contemporary values, and money is not everything. Even in the limited world of baseball, there are players who knowingly take less money because they prefer to be on this particular team rather than that one: that is a tradeoff, or, to see it another way, they have bought something they wanted with the money that is the difference in available contracts. Rodriguez either wanted to be on the Yankees or had no strong feelings about any given team, so there was need for him to "buy" onto this or that team.
If we pull back to the larger picture, where are we supposed to place the blame for baseball being a big-money sport? The game did not leap into broadcasting: it had to be pulled kicking and screaming, even back to the advent of radio. It was only after the fact, that ownsership found that the media would pay stupendous amounts for broadcast rights. Is that the players' fault? No. Is that the owners' fault? They have a lot to answer for about many things, but that is not one. Is it the broadcasters' fault? No, they were simply buying at what was and is to them a fair price a commodity that they can re-sell at a profit. Is it the public's fault? How? For being willing to watch so much baseball on television? Are we as a people supposed to don hair shirts and stop watching our favorite game because our watching enables large amounts of money to flow elsewhere? Pfui.
There are, roughly, six billion people in the world. There are, exactly, 750 of them who can play baseball well enough to be on a major-league roster. If I am working my calculator correctly, that means that the needful skill is possessed by about one in every eight million people. What is that worth?
Talk to me about the ratios between executive salaries and worker in business and I'm all ears. Talk to me about baseball being sinful for making lots of money for the fortunate few who can play it skillfully and I'm out of the room, fast.


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Thursday, May 31, 2012
AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Being told you have a sick baby is a nightmare for any parent. For the Rogers family, their first daughter was perfectly healthy, but then an ultrasound for their second daughter showed something was very wrong.
The family immediately turned to the GHSU Children's Medical Center and drove from two hours away to save their daughter's life.
Two-year-old Josey Teil Rogers, from Hartwell, Ga., may not look like it, but she is tough as nails.
"You see her play and you wouldn't believe that in a million years what all she's been through," said her father, Jeremy Rogers.
She's like any other 2-year-old girl. She loves to color and loves to dance, but Josey has already undergone 10 surgeries because of a rare, dangerous disorder doctors found before she was born.
"Six months into my pregnancy we realized that we had complications," explained her mother, Shawna Rogers.
"The ultrasound you could see a side profile, you could see the chin set so far back. She looked at me and I looked at her and I said, 'That don't look right,'" Jeremy explained.
"Immediately they told us that Josey had Nager's Syndrome. The odd thing about it was, my husband ... when he was born, they said that he had Pierre Robin, which is very similar to Nager's Syndrome. Come to find out, he also had Nager's Syndrome," Shawna said.
Doctors immediately knew Josey could be in trouble.
"Part of Nager's Syndrome is, she has micrognathia, which is a recessed chin. Her chin was so far recessed, it was blocking her airway," Shawna said.
"When your chin is set that far back, there's a good chance that as soon as she's born, she can't breathe," Jeremy said.
But doctors had a plan. They delivered Josey Teil inside the pediatric operating room, a first and only, for the Children's Medical Center.
"They put me to sleep and they did a C-section. They birthed her from her head to her shoulders, then intubated her, assessed her airway -- her airway was fine and then they birthed her the rest of the way," her mother explained.
The delivery was a success, but seven weeks later, Josey Teil stopped breathing.
"I was picking up our oldest daughter from the babysitter's and Josey goes into respiratory distress in the back of my car," she said.
Doctors airlifted her back to Augusta, even though the Children's Medical Center was not taking in patients that day. They were on diversion.
"It just so happened that Dr. Bhatia was on call that night and he sort of figured out who the baby was and he's like, 'Oh no, you bring her home,'" Jeremy sad.
To help her breathe on her own, doctors broke Josey Teil's jaw, resetting it with an almost-tortuous distracting device.
"Every day for about a month we had to use a special type of screwdriver and adjust the bottom so it would elongate her jaw, which would help with her micrognathia," Shawna said.
"You would turn it and just walk away and just cry and let her cry and then about five minutes later, we both would be done crying," he father said.
And in picture after picture, you can see her face finally taking shape.
"You knew you were hurting her, but you knew in the long run it was better. We had to do this," he mother said.
After a handful of other surgeries, Josey Teil is back to being an average toddler.
"She is absolutely a miracle child," Shawna said.
And her parents thank the Children's Medical Center.
"We couldn't have picked a better place to go for our child. Everybody comes and they look at her and they just shake their head when she walks down the hallway because they just can't believe how far she's come in just two years," Shawna said. "We have been just so blessed by everybody at GHSU and the doctors and the nurses. I wouldn't wish this on anybody, but I'm glad that they were there to support us and to be a part of our journey."
"You really are their primary focus when you're there. They're educators, so they're compassionate about what they do," Jeremy said.
"We just thank God for the people at the CMC," said Shawna through tears.
Josey Teil has only a few more surgeries to go, and then doctors say she may go years without any trouble.


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PLEASANT HILL -- A call threatening "You're next" put Sequoia Middle School on lockdown Monday morning, an apparent reference to last week's Newtown, Conn., school shooting.
The call came in about 10 a.m. to the school office, with someone saying only, "You're next" and then hanging up, according to a message sent out to parents at 11:16 a.m. by the Mt. Diablo Unified School District. The school at 265 Boyd Road was immediately placed on lockdown, and police were notified.
Officers arrived within minutes and conducted a sweep of both the middle school and nearby elementary school at 277 Boyd Road, Pleasant Hill police Sgt. Tim Frank said.
After police determined there was no threat, authorities lifted the lockdown at 10:30 a.m.
"Although it's believed the phone call was a prank, we always take immediate action to ensure your children's safety," Sequoia Elementary Principal David Franklin said.
The incident remained under investigation by police Monday afternoon.
"At this point, it appears to be a prank. It's somebody's sick joke," Frank said. "For now, we're attempting to track the phone number the call came from."
The scare comes on the heels of Friday's horrifying massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut and a series of unsettling incidents at other Pleasant Hill campuses this month.
On Dec. 10, students at Pleasant Hill Elementary school were evacuated to a nearby church after someone discovered a suspicious object that looked like a pipe bomb in some bushes outside the school office. Police arrived and recognized it as a possible explosive device, authorities said. The Walnut Creek Police Department's bomb squad arrived at the school on Oak Park Boulevard and removed it, police said.
Three days earlier, on Dec. 7, a group of juveniles was detained with an explosive device in the parking lot at College Park High School minutes after another explosion destroyed a mailbox nearby. No one was injured in that incident; three juveniles were arrested. Police are still investigating whether there is a link between the two incidents.
Mary Gray, who has children at all three schools, said the quiet community was shaken by the string of incidents, especially since the Sequoia phone threat followed the tragic killing of 20 elementary school children and six teachers in Connecticut last Friday.
"Oh, my god, this cuts too close to home," Gray said. "I hope my son's not freaking out. I'm concerned about him because you know how some kids are kind of sensitive and internalize things? He's one of those, so I have to see how he's doing. We're still recovering from last week's bomb scare. That was scary."
Gray said incidents like this are unusual in the small, family-oriented city.
"This never happens here," she said. "As a parent, you're frightened for the safety of the kids. I beg the people who are calling these in, stop doing it. It's hurting the entire community because we're gun-shy. What's going to happen next?"
Anyone with information about the incidents should call the Pleasant Hill Police Department investigations division at 925-288-4630.
Staff writers Kristin Bender and Theresa Harrington contributed to this report. Contact Natalie Neysa Alund at 510-293-2469. Follow her at Twitter.com/nataliealund.


text:
Shawnee police are investigating a home invasion situation that occurred Friday afternoon at a residence in the 32000 block of Homer Lane near Shawnee Twin Lakes.
According to initial reports in the case, the occupant reported there were three Hispanic males knocking at her door before they busted in through that front door.
According to call notes in the case, the woman had a gun pointed at the men when they came in so they retreated and fled in a maroon SUV.
Pottawatomie County deputies responded to the scene as well as Shawnee police, who are investigating the case.
A motion sensor trail cam captured photos of a vehicle and possible suspects at the home Friday afternoon and now police are using those photos as part of the investigation.
Anyone with information is asked to call Shawnee police, 273-0989.
Location, ST | website.com


text:
Some of you have followed the trials and travails of my experience as I got off the couch in Feb 2012 and for the first time in 53 years started to run/jog. I put the details in the Newbie Cafe under the post "want to Watch a 53 Year Old Lunatic Amuse Himself with the C25K Program?
Much to my surprise, I found myself enjoying the process and have made glacial, but steady progress and now I am inching my way toward my long term goal of a 19:59 5K (or what I call "running my birth year....clever huh?) My first ever 5K was in April of this year at the Deena Kastor portion of the Great Race of Agoura with a molasses-slow 31:44, followed the next month by the Run Seal Beach at 29:11, May's race was the Ventura Law Day at 28:40....then a couple of months off recoverng from a massive shin splint (that is what happens when you run in worn out shoes) and just did the Colonel Allensworth State Park 5K this past Saturday at 27:17. Next race will be the 5K Race that is part of the Santa Clarita Maraton on 11/4....lots of hills....not sure what I can do, but I would be happy with any improvement on 27:17.
Not sure yet what my physical limitations are to acheiving the 19:59, but I figure I can keep chipping away at the time reduction over as long a time as I want. I have dug out an old copy of "The Self Coached Runner" and it looks like I can adapt the 10 programs to 5K times and programs. I am using Running Mates' Faster5K program right now, but I know I am going to have to make the training much more individualized because of my age and basic lack of talent.
I will keep you posted.....and I am sure your are holding your collective breath.
Keep the focus on your goal deanscox! It is a wonderful agenda and makes perfect sense. I would be happy with translating my birth year also for a 5K finish...a little more complicated in my case, but I think it works out to 20:07. Anyway, you are correct...it is clever and just look at it as your destiny.
I am moving a little closer to the ultimate PR, but doing mostly longer events and have to get back on schedule with some quality speed work. Of course, I am not getting any younger, so that presents an ongoing list of other challenges, but nevermind. Intervals and hill work might help some with improving your pace. Also, look at the courses for particular races and search for those three magical descriptions: "Flat, Fast, and/or Downhill Finish."
Wishing you every victory in your quest....let us know about all the progress.
You will definitely need to add strength and speed workouts into the routine in order to continue moving in that direction. I coach mostly people over 40 who are beginners and I dont recommend true intervals until after at least 1 month of hill work preferably on a grassy surface. That will really help to strengthen your joints and tendons for the additional stress that intervals will bring.
Its always great to have a goal, just remain patient and you will progress. Do too much too soon and it will cost you. Make sure you have been fitted for your shoes at your local running store where they can analyze your running gait and help you choose the best shoes. Keep us posted, we love to hear about a great success story like yours!
Thanks! I am having fun so far.
Checked out the 5K portion of the Santa Clarita Marathon a couple of nights ago. It takes a different route than I anticipated.....no hills ...just a few gentle rises where paseo bridges and tunnels go over or under street traffic. I am going to try hitting 1/2 mile splits that would put me on a 26:30 finish as a stretch goal. I will be content with anything under 27:00. This is a pretty good sized event with about 3000 total and probably a few hundred in the 5K....7:00 AM start so it should be aroungd 55 degrees...perfect!
The 5K that's run in conjunction with the Santa Clarita Marathon had 1200 runners last year. So you will have plenty of company in the 5K. If you're curious, the 2011 results are posted at https://www.runraceresults.com/secure/raceresults.cfm?id=RCEW2011
2015 highlights...
@ 5K: New Balance Palm Springs 5K, Palm Springs, CA, 24:32
Angels Baseball Foundation 5K, Anaheim, CA, 24:24
Pride of the Valley, Baldwin Park, CA, 24:28
@ 10K: LA Chinatown Firecracker 10K, Los Angeles, CA, 52:15
Great Race of Agoura - Old Agoura 10K, Agoura Hills, CA, 51:40
Fiesta Days Run, La Canada, CA, 49:57
Feeling a little nervous and keyed up (in a good way) about the run in the morning. I am going to use Podrunner's 165 BPM "Overground" podcast to keep me rolling. I think 165 might be a tad fast for my skill level, but we shall see.....
Well, if it was hand grenades or horseshoes, I would have been fine. I set a new PR, but I am very disappointed that I missed my base goal by 5 seconds. I did the 5K run associated with the Santa Clarita Marathon today in 27:05. I had hoped to be under 27 and dreamed of 26:30. No excuses, I just missed it, there were several places I am sure I could have made up the 5 seconds. I also learned some valuable lessons; paramount among these is that in a race with 1265 participants.....crowd your way to the front so you don't have to weave your way through so many slower runners - I could have easily made up the 5 seonds there.
I was running at the limit of my current personal conditioning and skill level today. I obviously need to step it up.
One of the unique and awesome things about this sport is that you can find a race every weekend. Dont be so hard on yourself, sounds like you ran well and learned a few things.
Thanks Brad! I didn't mean to sound like I was having a pity party ....sometimes this medium is a bit "flat" in its ability to communicate nuanced language.....hence the dreaded "emoticons!"
I am having a blast learning to run. I really have never done anything physical and was a poor/medioccre runner in high school. I know that alot of this is simply gaining experience and you are right, I can find a race anytime, almost. I am finding that scheduling a race is the key to my motivation.
What I leaned to do this time was to go visit the course ( and if I can't in the future use MapMyRun) and find the 1/2 mile marks and then write the 1/2 mile splits I want to hit, on my forearm below my watch. 1/2 mile chunks seem to work well for me and help me gauge how I am doing. This time, had I watched them just a little closer, I would have made up the missing 5 seconds.....like I said....experience!
Thanks for the enouragement.
Arrrgghhhh....strained a calf muscle! Went to the physical therapist and he basically said: "ouch! Don't run until it is healed." They also introduced me to foam rolling (talk about ouch!), electrostimulation (freaky, but pleasant) and stretching.
I have found that stretching before running, even when I am slow and careful make me feel tight when I run.....so I guess I willl have to run a liitle, get warm and then slowly stretch and then stretch and foam roll when I am done running.
I hate this, I really want to run. It sounds like it is a minimum of a couple of weeks and maybe longer. I think I will add swimming to avoid losing out on my hard won cardio.
I am using a few hours every day in wrapping my leg in ice pack and heat pack alternate cycle for the potential benefit of helping the muscle dispel any "bad" elements, toxins etc. associated with the damage. Also doing all the traditional stretching and keeping it compressed with an ace bandage 24 hours a day.
Any advice to speeding the process?
I really worked the calf strain, kept it compressed, rolled it regulalrly and had electro-stim. Have been back at it and having fun. I have been building my distance with the idea that with the "muscle memory" of running much farther than a 5K, I will be able to press harder on the shorter distance. I am up to a little over 9.5 miles.
Also running 1 personally timed 5 k every week that is 1/2 uphill....and will be looking for flat 5K timed races.
Doing interval training, with three intervals at 8 minutes each, recovery at 3 minutes.....using Podrunners Staircase of the Gods program....this is kicking my butt.
Looking for a race late in January to kick of my 12 in 12.....hopefully.
Next step: a 25:30 to 26:00 5k.
Set a new personal distance record this morning. 11.07 miles. That .07 will get you every time!
PDR Sunday....13.1 miles.
Run For Gold 5K in Santa Clarita on Sunday. Hoping to take the next step and run a 26:30 or better. Should be nice, in the 50's, hopefully not too much wind (but it is blowing like the devil right now) if I am lucky it will be overcast with a little drizzle.
ACTIVE is the leader in online event registrations from 5k running races and marathons to softball leagues and local events. ACTIVE also makes it easy to learn and prepare for all the things you love to do with expert resources, training plans and fitness calculators.


text:
ATV greenlight opens front door to the North Country
GORHAM – With the snip of a scissors, the dream of opening up streets in Gorham to allow ATV access to downtown businesses was a reality.
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text:
United States Department of Agriculture
Agricultural Research Service
Sustainable Perennial Crops
1a.Objectives (from AD-416):
ARS is interested in determining chemical properties in tropical soils and in the assessment of elemental composition of tropical plants.
1b.Approach (from AD-416):
Plant (cacao, cover crops) and soil samples of tropical crops will be collected from field studies carried out in Peru and Brazil and will be transported to the U.S. under APHIS soil and plant import permits. Soil chemical (pH, C, N, macro and micro nutrients: N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Na, Zn, Cu, Fe, B, Mn, etc.) and biological properties (microbial biomass- of C, -N, -P) and plant mineral compositions (C, N, Ca, Mg, K, P, Na, S, Al, Zn, Cu, B, Fe, Mn, etc.) will be determined at the University of Florida, Indian River Research and Education Center (IRREC), Fort Pierce, Florida. Soil and plant (cacao, cover crops) samples will be collected from experiments conducted at SPCL facilities at Beltsville, MD. These soil and plant will be analyzed for macro and micronutrients (N, C, Ca, Mg, K, P, Na, Al, Zn, Cu, B, Fe, Mn, etc.) at the University of Florida, IRREC, Fort Pierce, FL.
3.Progress Report:


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