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We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.dava Mar 8, 2011 11:10 AM (in response to southerncaliforniarental)
I can certainly understand your frustration. Where is your VR located? I would try other ad sites like vrbo or homeaway. Most VR's have good luck with these. Are you priced competitively? What do you offer that is unique to your competition? Is your location a family based travel destination? or a spring break party spot?
We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.southerncaliforniarental Mar 8, 2011 11:29 AM (in response to dava)
Thank you very much for your quick and interesting reply. We are located in Huntington Beach, 1 hour south of L.A., close to the ocean and not far from Anaheim (Disneyland). Our prices are very competitive, but I get the feeling other homeowners are offering their places for less than what they are advertising them for. We offer a beautifully landscaped large back yard with grill and lounging area. Most places in H.B. have very tiny outdoor areas where they plop down a grill. Your last question was the key: it does happen to be a spring break party spot, my downfall. Being close to the beach and Disneyland would be the "family destination" aspect of it. Which other website would you highly recommend, I don't have tons of money to drain on advertising. Also, it seems all these websites are owned by the same company, so what makes one website "better" than the other?
We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.volson Mar 8, 2011 11:22 AM (in response to southerncaliforniarental)
I have experienced the same problems. Lots of requests but not lots of deposits. I think you are right. The economy has flooded the market with low cost rentals. For us the biggest problem is the negative media for Mexico.
I have noticed once I started pushing for reviews there were more requests. I am giving it a year to see if it improves.
We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.southerncaliforniarental Mar 8, 2011 11:34 AM (in response to volson)
Hello Volson,
Thank you for your feedback. How close are you to Mexico? Also,
what do you mean by "I have noticed once I started pushing for reviews there were more requests".
How do you push for reviews?
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.dava Mar 8, 2011 12:01 PM (in response to southerncaliforniarental)
Send me a link to your ad page. Il take a look at your ad. Offer some advice if you'd like. I would suggest vacationhomerentals. Com. If you toto my site you can click on their ad on my homepage. I lime them to know i refer them. Www.myvrms.com
They send me quite a bit of inquiries. They are affordable and not owned by the same parent company as the others. You might also check out Beachhouse.com but I'm not sure of their rates.
Sent from my iPhone
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.volson Mar 8, 2011 4:00 PM (in response to dava)
Thanks I will check out the sites you reccomend.
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.lce0606 Mar 30, 2012 9:48 AM (in response to volson)
I just looked at your listing, and as a potential renter, I might ask for a price as comparison, but there are no pictures of the space that will be rented. When I rent, I want to see the living area such as beds, kitchen, TV - whatever is inside the space I will be renting. For area attractions, maybe one or two at most. You can list them in the write-up, but the pictures should be for your rental property. Just my observation.
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.southerncaliforniarental Mar 8, 2011 3:39 PM (in response to dava)
Hi, I emailed you directly to your email address (on your website). I also called your phone number (on your website) and your mailbox was full, so could not leave you a message.
Would appreciate a response from you as you had promised, and please send your response directly to my email address which you should have in your in-box. Thanks, and I will check out your recommendations.
Thank you again, and thank you for your time.
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.volson Mar 8, 2011 1:45 PM (in response to southerncaliforniarental)
www.goplayagrande.com We are in Jalisco state. 20 min from the Manzanillo Airport.
We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.ahelova Mar 8, 2011 11:00 PM (in response to southerncaliforniarental)
Well, not sure but we have plenty of renters. I don't ever call but I do respond to e-mails fast via my iphone or e-mail - I would say within 1 hour but most of the time asap. I pretty much always answer my phone and I would say that aboout 95% of people pay immediately. We started to be more successful when we offered credit card payment. I take credit card info, process and it's locked. Only then I send out agreements. I break price down, send short e-mail in response to inquiries. Just saying we are available, break down price and say in one sentence why they should rent our place instead of the others. I would also check prices with your competitors to ake sure you are not overpriced. Also, consider offering flexible dates instead of a set week say from sat to sat. That made a huge difference for us and we rarely have a dy or two in bewteen rentals. People are pretty flexible but they do require flexibility on your part as well. I booked my first rental within 2 weeks after we advertised and now after a year I really don't have any problems getting renters. Good luck, you will get a hang of things and find out what works what not.
We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.southerncaliforniarental Mar 9, 2011 7:57 AM (in response to ahelova)
Thank you Ahelova for your suggestions. Was wondering where your property
is located that you are having no trouble renting it. Ours is located in a beach
community 1 hour south of Los Angeles.
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.tsvr Mar 9, 2011 5:56 PM (in response to southerncaliforniarental)
I have 3 rentals on HomeAway, all in the same geographic location. One of them we started renting last year and it is booked thru the whole summer. The other 2 we just started with this year and I have had a few bookings on one and none on the other. I think there could be lots of different reasons why you may be starting off slow... how much competition does your rental have...meaning is your rental a lot like others in your area, same amount of bedrooms, amenities, etc. Does your rental offer anything special, if not do you offer any thing to attract renters.
Our rental that is booked for the summer is a large rental and sleeps almost 20 people. It attracts extended families and large group vacationers. With the way the economy is, people are not flying off to vacations, they tend to stay closer (and cheaper) to home. The second rental is quite similar to others in the area so we are trying to push some of the great amenities that it has. The third one is very large also but the rental rate may be too high and it doesn't have the draw of being on the lake. We may need to lower the rate this first year and/or get very creative with the amentities.
Try the suggestions from the person above and some of mine and see if that helps. Don't give up...just see if you need to be more creative or if you may need to lower your rates the first year. You seem to be doing what you need to be as far as contacting inquirers ect.
Message was edited by: Lin
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.karen.simmons Mar 9, 2011 10:22 PM (in response to southerncaliforniarental)
I have tried quite a few other advertising sites, Homeaway is by far the best.
Try offering a start up special just to get someone in there. Or lower your price, I always feel that something is better than nothing when I have bills to pay. You need to have something special that very few others are offering. We have a TV in every bedroom and a 50 inch in the family room. How about bikes, or put in a spa in the back yard. Make sure your pictures are attractive. Show as many pictures as possible. When you reply talk up the special aspects of your property. Is there any way to provide discount tickets to Disney, maybe as a part of a yearly pass you would buy from Disney? Be as friendly as possible in your replies.
Some people only do phone calls, I only do emails, unless renters call me. Whatever works best for you.
We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.jefffreeman Mar 10, 2011 12:24 PM (in response to karen.simmons)
Hi SC,
first off -- your advertising money isn't down the drain -- there are two things you need to realize.
- You have received 50 inquiries -- these are potential future customers -- don't delete their contact info, as they are pre-quallified renters -- they TOOK THEIR TIME to fill out a request, so they are 100% more interested in your property than people that only VIEWED your ad.
- You are receiving feedback by the simple fact that you haven't gotten a single booking. That means there are some lessons to be learned here...
Karen is absolutely right, you need to make sure your photos are the best possible... In my opinion, while your photos aren't bad, they could be better....consider hiring a pro, or investing time to learn / play / experiement / figure out better angles & times of day for better light -- remember you are competing with everyone on PRICE & FEATURES, BUT, it's the PHOTOS that help get your would-be customers attention FIRST and makes them interested enough to read all of your details.
Second, don't be afraid to ask would-be customers who didn't rent for feedback. Put together a quick (& simple) multiple choice feedback form on FormSpring or some other free service. Entice your would-be customers to respond by letting them know that they can provide feedback anonymously, and if they're want to provide their email address in the feedback form they can win a 50% off stay-coupon (to be given away at random).
Come to think about it, why not create an email list, and in that survey offer to send them an update with new amenities (available at your property) and coupons (which you could limit to low-season less busy times anyway) 2-3 times / year? You could tease that in the email asking for their feedback as well. People always want a deal, especially "in this economy" ...
Customers are looking for signs that build trust, that you've thought about all of the details and that a particular property (or location) is going to give them the best bang for your buck. I'm not saying you need to go out of your way to cater to them to the point of dumping rose petals on their bed and leaving chocolates on their pillows (unless, maybe, you're targeting honey-mooners) -- but prompt responses via email, answering the phone (& never let your voicemail inbox fill up) etc. show you care and are customer-centric. It shows that you're on top of your game and you're willing to help address issues in a timely manner (if anything shows up).
Make sure your ad (or, if you create an independant web site, which isn't a bad thing) goes over the thoughtful details that will make the stay more enjoyable. Highlight the positives, and do whatever you need to do to get a good renter or two in the door & get a testimonial out of them! Heck, give your neighbors or a close family member a free stay in exchange for a testimonial for your web site.
There are a few of my ideas...
We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.jefffreeman Mar 10, 2011 12:27 PM (in response to jefffreeman)
Oh, and one more thing -- INQUIRE about some of the other neighboring properties -- play the part of the renter, study your competition and see HOW they are handling things. Let them know you're price-shopping and see if they come back with un-advertised specials. Ask them if they have any last-second specials, to see if they are relatively busy, or empty and desparate to get "anyone in there" ...
This will give you even better feel for how the market is without directly asking / tipping them off that you're a competitor ...
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.tsvr Mar 10, 2011 12:40 PM (in response to jefffreeman)
Our first VR home was a very large home and was a big investment (but we use it whenever it's not booked). Because we were unsure how everything would work out, we intentionally made our rates a little lower (we actually had a few renters tell us we should raise our rates) until we could get a feel for how this was going to go. We thought the same someone else up above did...booked at a little lower rate is better than not booked at all.
That is not to say that you should make your rates a lot lower than your competion...after all there is the the old addage "you get what you pay for" and if your rates are too low perspective renters may wonder what is wrong with the property. I don't know how your rates compare with others in your area, but this is one suggestion of something to try.
Also, Jeff had some great ideas. Some of them we had thought of to try and get more of our off peak months booked.
We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.bha Mar 12, 2011 12:27 PM (in response to southerncaliforniarental)
We've got two vacation rentals, both seem to have very seasonal swings. Our codo on the Oregon Coast tends to book fairly solid during July & August... primarily just weekends the rest of the year. Most renter's tend to be from the Oregon/Wash area and don't book very far in advance. Our other condo is an Ocean Front condo in Kona, HI. That one tends to book heavy in Jan-March, almost empty June - August, and fairly well the rest of the year. Renter's for this come from around the world.
We've been running vacation rentals for several years now. Seems you will start out slow... what seems to make the difference is getting renter's to post reviews on the sites. People tend to trust your rental more if they can see what other people have written about their stay. So to get your first "review" have your sister or other relative stay there and write a review for you (hopefully, they will give you a good review). Once rentals are over, invite your renters to leave a review... send them an email with a link so they don't have to hunt for it.
If your just starting out.... beware of the scam rentals... maybe we need another thread and just post examples of what to watch out for.
At this point I don't take cash... I have no one on site to collect it.
I don't accept Bank or Cashier's checks... #1 source of scams
I do have a merchant account and accept Credit Cards... people's trust level is much higher if they can use a Credit Card for their rental... you also won't have to deal with as many bad checks. Refunds go back to the card they were charged from... no exceptions... no payments to any third party ever.
Ok,,, I got a bit off target here... Try and get some reviews on your site... If you're not set up to take Credit Cards consider a PayPal account... that worked well for me until I got my own merchant account. I believe the HomeAway/VRBO family has a Credit Card option you could use also.
We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.sandy.nelson Mar 13, 2011 5:32 AM (in response to southerncaliforniarental)
It sounds like you're doing everything right. You just need to add vrbo to your mix. Make sure your pictures are terrific and show your property at its best advantage. For instance: for our profile picture, instead of showing a picture of our home, we show one out by the hot tub where it is beautifully landscaped. Try to focus on something that makes you stand apart from your competition. Hope your phone starts ringing soon. And that's another thing...when the phone rings, 99% of the time they want to rent YOUR vacation home...the inquiries on email should always be answered, but you have to realize a lot of them are sent to ten properties or more. A lot of the time these prospective renters are price shopping. Try not to drop your price or bargain with them.
We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.dbams Mar 30, 2011 9:13 AM (in response to southerncaliforniarental)
I suggest putting an ad on HomeAway. We advertise on both HomeAway and VRBO, and there are pros and cons to each. Since you are already on one other site, go with HomeAway, as they give you a lot more pictures for your money. Also, check out their tips for owners regarding how to take the best pictures. I found them very helpful.
When we first started renting, we planned to use our cottage for a summer week that wasn't booked, i.e. take what's available. Our cottage neighbor (who also rents) suggested blocking off some time for our own use on our rental calendar. Although it's unpaid, it is a "booking," and sometimes just seeing that someone else is using a property makes it more appealing to prospective renters.
First seasons can be slow, which is certainly frustrating, but eventually it will improve. Good luck!
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.kervin.krause Mar 30, 2011 12:00 PM (in response to southerncaliforniarental)
Everyone already gave the right advice above. I will add my experience.
My under a year old rental is booked all summer & most of spring now! But...it took months of a lot of marketing (vrbo,HA,VR) to get to this point. You are in a great beach town HB, but you are inland and do not have a pool - on the other hand it is less expensive. My place is a mile from the beach (also cheaper than beachfront)and I tell inquiries it is quiter than the rowdy beach rentals. Also ALWAYS email back ASAP - within 2 hours with the rate & any helpful information (google map with ALL useful local food, shopping, etc.). Then follow up with a call 1-2 days later, most will not answer but leave a message and this is all you can do!
In a nutshell (in order of importance):
1. Advertise on vrbo (the biggest by far) - it will cost $400-500 with 8+ pics but one booking pays for the whole year!
2. Then homeaway (2nd biggest)
3. Add 2-3 reviews from friends and family who have stayed at your home before.
3 Pay for regional placemant on homeaway
4. Put up deals on vr.com - free!
You will get bookings for June-August, the rest of the year takes work, patience & dealmaking.
Buona Fortuna!
We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.tonyandjo Apr 27, 2011 4:58 PM (in response to southerncaliforniarental)
Thanks for posting the question, we can relate. When we initially posted our island property for rent it was seemingly futile; we, too, went a couple of months without a booking. There are many, many inexpensive rentals here and we were higher. We then changed our marketing direction and most importantly our photos. We are now in our second year of booking this property with great results. (We turn down more bookings than we accept). We now market with "service" to the client in mind. We also raised our rates, effectively "pre-qualifying" our client base. We utilize local web sites and Facebook. Our rates are posted; if they are out of a potential clients financial comfort zone, they don't bother to click. We have added TripAdvisor/FlipKey to our marketing efforts and this three tiered method has been wonderfully effective for us.
As Jeff pointed out; you've lost nothing at this point, but gained a considerable degree of inquires that are a potential mine field good information for you. We, too, keep a data base on each of the sites we're posted on. We review our competition weekly, we ask those that inquire where they "got us from", and we stay on top of this. It is a business, and we try to address it and operate it like one.
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.tsvr Apr 27, 2011 5:45 PM (in response to tonyandjo)
Hi Tony, you replied to a Home Away forum and mentioned that you have a page
on Face Book.
We also are thinking of using Face Book for marketing. Would you mind
sending me the link for your FB page so that I might take a look.
Thanks, Lin
Lin (313) 387-0690
Sue (248) 755-1618
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.tonyandjo Apr 27, 2011 6:25 PM (in response to tsvr)
Hello Lin,
is our Facebook page, and it does gather us a number of inquires. Most come
directly through our messages and don't really show up on the page itself,
but what the heck, it works. We have confirmed a number of good bookings
from that. We also gear it differently, and make it more "fun" than the VBRO
TripAdvisor listings. We have actually had one person catch our discount
and it was applied to his booking
Tony & Jo
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.marilyn Feb 11, 2012 11:38 AM (in response to tonyandjo)
Hi Tony and Jo
I think you hit the nail on the head. THIS IS A BUSINESS . Most home owners treat their vacation rental property as a side .
If you want this to work, you need to work at it. Lots of people have given advise. Now it needs to be worked in order to insure a return on investment.
We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.epv Apr 28, 2011 9:35 PM (in response to southerncaliforniarental)
We advertise only with vrbo and have been doing it for 7 months and we are booked 90%-100% of the time! It's always a work in process, though...
In addition to all the great feedback you got from the previous replies, I noticed a couple of things on your add:
1. I think it's best to NOT include yourself (or people) on the pictures. Similar to the situation when you sell a house, you want people to be able to imagine themselves there, and having personal pictures takes away from that.
2. It seems you don't have a calendar with availability readily set up (renters have to contact you, if I'm reading correctly). I really make an effort to have our calendar updated and even go in and make 'tentative' reservations when there are long periods in which I don't make reservations. These tentative reservations don't show up on the vrbo site, but it shows that I updated the calendar.
Good luck with your rental!
We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.quonnie Jul 28, 2011 3:53 PM (in response to southerncaliforniarental)
I try to look through the eyes of a potential renter and imagine what they might be looking for. Since the cottage is at the beach, I punctuate it's proximity as well a photo of a child enjoying him/herself. In the ad I stress the relaxed nature of the cottage, the quiet neighborhood and nearby attractions. Of course I use positive descriptive words regarding all of the rooms, gardens, cedar shower, etc. Most people taking a vacation at the beach have been someplace similar earlier in their lives so I use phrases that conjure up positive memories of the past. When you mention beautiful views, salt air, and clam chowder it creates a picture of vacation few can resist. I get inside people's head and I'm ALWAYS rented.
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.kailua520 Aug 4, 2011 1:47 PM (in response to southerncaliforniarental)
Here is what I did when I first posted our new rental. I blocked off several weeks through out the year so it looked as if there were rentals. I do belive that some people will think 'it has no bookings, what is wrong with it'. As the other bookings started coming in, I released those dates. I use HomeAway/VRBO and Vacationrentals.com I had almost the entire summer booked and regularly looked at competing rentals in the area and most did not have half the bookings I did. I had put it up on TripAdvisor/Flip Key and VacationHomeRentals.com - neither has generated any rentals. I think it has a lot to do with making sure your pricing is competitive - go $10 a night lower than your toughest competitor..next year you can raise it, but get the initial bookings in there and get repeat renters (we've had a house in Maryland for 10 years rented and 75% are repeat renters!). Also lots of good clear photos, - making it look clean and comfortable; like epv said, no personal shots, no people - but I do have local wildife on there! Also giving lots of details and having rates posted and an updated calendar and responding fast. I always respond within an hour - I have an alert on my phone!
Ive been doing this house since April and so far so good - and Ruidoso New Mexico isnt exactly a hot spot of tourism! But its a great place!
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.marilyn Feb 11, 2012 11:40 AM (in response to kailua520)
Great idea. Never thought that renters would think something is wrong with a house if no bookings. But so true.
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.holidayhomeinformation Feb 29, 2012 10:02 AM (in response to southerncaliforniarental)
I've been in a position before where we would list a number of properties on rental websites and found that:
Potential guests would email a number of properties which met their criteria - up to 10. (so we would get the same lead for multiple properties, they didn't realise the properties were all amanged centrally)
Therefore a fast response is critical.
By virtue of the fact they have contacted you, means that they think your property meets their criteria in terms of size and location.
Hope the situation has improved since the initial post was made.
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.marilyn Feb 29, 2012 10:50 AM (in response to holidayhomeinformation)
You are so right. I have found that a difference of two hours has made a difference and I lost a rental for not responding right away. I find that I need to respond within the hour as I am competing with so many other homeowners.
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.vranto39 Feb 29, 2012 6:36 PM (in response to southerncaliforniarental)
I'm not sure why you'd list only on one of HA Inc's lesser sites, I think they always use those mostly as part of the search engine game. If you're serious about VR'ing you need to suck it up, pay twice, and and be on HA & VRBO (also don't go thinking their basic price levels are worth squat). Otherwise, have you tried dropping your price 10-20%? VR's are very price sensitive, $10/nt let alone $20/nt makes a big difference. Maybe drop it more than 20%, "buy" some bookings to make your calendar look busy and get those first reviews in, then raise the price again, the market won't be slow to let you know if you go too far. Remember, it's an occupancy game, you want to be busy. Also, like others have mentioned, reply quick, keep it simple & make it easy to pay.
As regards other (non HA Inc. listing sites) I like basic website traffic stats like those at siteanalytics.compete .It used to let you plot 3 sites at the same time which was great for comparing HA, VRBO and whoever else you're considering but now you got to do 1 at a time. VRBO consistently has about twice the traffic of HA, despite all Houston's best efforts, hence HA Inc get away with hiking VRBO's rates every 2 minutes, and charging double what they do for HA. Interesting is that for the first time TripAdvisor's flipkey is getting respectable traffic, though how they get away with charging the same price for what's still half the traffic is beyond me, and the site mentioned above (vacationhomerentals) is knotching up decent stats, though I guess HA Inc won't be long "consolidating" them.
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.karen.simmons Feb 29, 2012 11:05 PM (in response to vranto39)
i and several of my friends from Cape Coral, Fl get far more reservations
from Homeaway than any other site. I've personally never used VRBO because
my friends said they don't get as many inquiries nor as many
reservations.They have dropped their VRBO listings. I've tried Flip key, alwaysonvacation,
and a few others. None generated reservations like Homeaway.com does. I am
still paying the classic advertising rate as well.
In a message dated 2/29/2012 7:36:38 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
email@example.com writes:
(http://community.homeaway.com/) Seek Advice. Get Answers. Optimize your
Vacation Rental Business.
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a
created by vranto39 (http://community.homeaway.com/people/vranto39) in
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Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.marilyn Mar 1, 2012 11:53 AM (in response to vranto39)
I disagree with "buying" some bookings. You might buy weeks tenants are looking to rent.
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.vranto39 Mar 1, 2012 2:09 PM (in response to vranto39)
You can think of "buying" bookings in different ways, maybe as trying to find the right price level and starting under rather than over your best guess. Or from the guest's point of view, your listing has less perceived value if no-one else has rented it yet, or reviewed it positiively, ie why should they risk their vacation time being your first adopter without some incentive. When I've added new rentals I've set the initial rate low and been able to bring it up quickly enough, not by much though, San Francisco is competitive.
It is interesting how people's experience differs of the HA Inc. sites. As a guest I find them both frustrating, there's so many listings to trawl through, you can't filter VRBO in any useful way and you can't sort either site by price. Sorting by price would sink the whole "selling the listing position" business proposition of HA Inc, so every guest has to wade through dozens of listing that are irrelevant to them. I suspect this effect helps drives the HA enquiries up, ie there's just less pages to wade through.
With 3 years experience of them both I find we get about 60/40 VRBO/HA enquiries and they convert to bookings at about the same rate as each other, also it's more important to buy your way up VRBO's sort order than HA's. For us, VRBO delivers more US enquiries and HA more non-US, they dovetail a bit as the US enquiries are great for filling gaps 'cos they book later, HA's Eu enquiries are great cos they book further ahead and for longer. The $1m question, or at least $500/yr anyway, is do the same people go on both sites so there's no point paying twice? I don't see it, and my feel from talking to guests is they very often don't, VRBO has the US mindshare and HA's brands have it in Eu, also very often people get recommendations for which site off friends etc, not from googling.
As kailua520 says, you have to respond to enquiries fast, if you don't have your email on you especially Sunday & Monday you're not in business. Little things help too, say less rather than more in the description (people really don't read), skip the checkboxes for is there a toaster, nail polish etc, it makes your listing too long to read (see above) and don't look cheap, ie swallow the credit card fee in your rate - getting paid now makes up for it. Also, furnish the place as a VR not the place you used to live in (it doesn't have to be all IKEA, CL is very useful), and yes the cat has to go.
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.kailua520 Mar 1, 2012 12:18 AM (in response to southerncaliforniarental)
I've been renting on Homeaway, VRBO, TripKey, Vacationrentals.com I get most reservations from Homeaway.com by far, over 80%. VRBO, now and then, Vacationrentals.com probably 15%. TripKey - rarely so that one is going away as soon as the listing expires. I think one of the issues with VRBO is that the calendar is not right in your face like on Homeaway. most of the inquiries I get from VRBO are last minute for dates that are already booked.
Additionally, I checked out the competition with like amenities and priced my home just a few dollars lower. In our area, the cleaning fee is listed separately. I charge $10 less for cleaning and $5-$10 a night. Its perception. And I also offer a 10% discount to Military (we have a lot here), police and firemen. 5% isnt much but again, its perception and frankly, those families deserve a little break. I respond to all inquiries within a maximum of an hour (except when Im asleep!), but usually within 5 minutes if during the day. I keep my tablet with me and send out the quote or give them a call. We had 100% occupancy over the summer, 100% from Dec 15 - Feb 25th and the rest of the year its holiday weeks and long weekends, and Im very pleased.
Photos should be clear, make the house look clean, comfortable and spacious. Decorated nicely, but not a lot of 'stuff' that can be broken by kids.
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.alexandra.danieli Mar 30, 2012 10:02 AM (in response to southerncaliforniarental)
This reply may not be welcome on this website but we advertise our rental on vrbo and airbnb and have gotten most of our bookings through airbnb now. Same amount of requests, significanlty more bookings. Also, they offer free professional photography for your space, the listing is free and they handle all your money aspects and hold the deposit for you and return it if there's no claim. It's super easy for the host and the renter and a lot of bookings come from international guests too. I feel like the homeaway family sites are more popular within the US. Just give it a try. Works very well for us and it's growing like crazy
Good luck!
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.lipkindj Mar 30, 2012 10:14 AM (in response to southerncaliforniarental)
If it makes you feel better, I listed on Homeaway for four months before I got my first rental. Started listing in Jan. 2011 and first rental agreement was in Apr. 2011 for a Sept rental. I had about 15 inquiries by April and one rental. Or home is in a very remote area. After giving it some thought I lowered my price of $1,250.00 by $150.00 a week so I was just under the market by a little. Justification was my listing was new and no one knew the house. It worked. From Sept 2011 to now I have booked nine new clients which actually started in January. Now we have commitments for repeat and continue to get listing inquires. Two things: I have slowly moved the rent back up and I NEVER lower the listing price. I believe the lowering of the price helped me get in the market. Good luck!!
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.alohawahine Mar 30, 2012 3:29 PM (in response to southerncaliforniarental)
you have some good feedback here.
I looked at your website and here are my suggestions:
Your photos of the interior of your place are dark. They do not show it to its best advantage. You may have a problem with backlighting during the day. That leaves you some choices. Use flash. Photograph on a dark day.
Everything that is strictly your rental should be absolutely as nice as the photos of the surrounding area.
Also, you have no prices shown. So it could be that when people hear your prices they do not compare favorably with others in the area, so they do not choose you.
So... to jump start your rental:
take beautiful photos full of light where your house looks very inviting. Use photo editing on your images or get a friend to help you with this part.
Include in your photos some warm and welcoming touches, like maybe a photo of the bed with the linens turned down and a box of chocolates or salt water taffy there, with a pretty shawl drape and maybe a book. Put flowers in a vase and make sure they show up in a lovely way in the picture. And make sure when your guests arrive the flowers and candy and shawl are there....
Post your prices and then in the title of your offering, offer 3rd night free for next 60 days. Make sure somewhere obvious in the body of your pricing page you give exact dates offer is good for. This will bring you renters. Then you can adjust your price and drop the special, or keep it awhile longer.
Good luckj!
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.kailua520 Mar 30, 2012 3:59 PM (in response to alohawahine)
Agree. I know if prices are not listed, many potential guest will just pass right through because the assumption is it is over priced and you don't want to show it. One suggestion on taking shots, along with the good light, is stand a few steps up on a ladder or chair and take it from a downward angle. Always gives the room a better look. Open all window shades, turn on all the lights, pick up anything and everything laying around, remove all clutter. One nice thing that can be added inexpensively now days is a $25 dining certificate - use restaurant.com. "Rent for 3 or more nights, receive a $25 dining certificate" Works very well for me.
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.matt.ream Mar 30, 2012 7:58 PM (in response to southerncaliforniarental)
Glad this post got resurrected. There is some great advice for all owners here, for sure. It starts with a great listing, photos, etc. I think that has more to do with it than price, although price does play a part at some point.
It's encouraging that you already got 50 inquiries. To get those 50, even more people had to see your listing, so you do have some visibility. It becomes a numbers game, where some percentage of inquiries will turn into customers.
What is that for people? Does anyone want to share that?
I'd love to hear back from the original poster. It's been a year now, what's the update?
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.lce0606 Mar 31, 2012 7:16 PM (in response to southerncaliforniarental)
Who are you?? Do you work for hotelsvshomes.com?? My guess is that you do because they are *terrible.* I got talked into giving them a try and after 6 months have not gotten ONE inquiry. Part of the sales pitch was that I could advertise prices 25% higher than on VRBO and HomeAway. Even without doing that, I have not had an inquiry. I do not believe they have any traffic whatsoever let alone "sharing hotel traffic."
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.marilyn Apr 1, 2012 1:16 PM (in response to lce0606)
Over the years I too have been talked into many different websites. Each year I try one new site. I keep my adverts on Homeaway, Vacationrentals and vrbo and add one new one. I have never tried hotelsvshomes and have never heard of them. Before I advertise on a site, I see how many other home owners in my area are advertising there. I don't want to be the only one in my area. I use a formula of a minimum of 25 homes in my area. On Homeaway, my area has 679 homes advertised and I still get most of my inquiries from them.
I love the websites who call me to renew, I tell them I have had zero bookings from their site, and they still insist I should advertise with them. I ask them if they are kidding???
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.kailua520 Apr 1, 2012 3:08 PM (in response to marilyn)
Last time one of websites called me to renew I said "sure, but lets do it this way. I put my home up for free, and after I receive one paid in full booking, I'll pay you your fee". They were shocked.
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.sandy.nelson Apr 1, 2012 3:33 PM (in response to kailua520)
Why are you sending this to me?
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.sandy.nelson Apr 1, 2012 3:33 PM (in response to marilyn)
Why was this sent to me? I keep getting this sent over and over from different people.
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.lce0606 Apr 1, 2012 3:50 PM (in response to sandy.nelson)
Sandy, You are apparently a member of the HomeAway community forum and at one time posted a response to someone regarding "We have been advertising for over 2 months..." Now, whenever someone else posts a response, you are getting a copy of it. If you no longer want to receive the updates, you need to change your preferences. Hope that helps.
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.sandy.nelson Apr 1, 2012 4:28 PM (in response to lce0606)
Why are you sending this to me?
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.tsvr Apr 1, 2012 4:34 PM (in response to sandy.nelson)
Why do you keep asking this?
Thanks, Lin
Lin (313) 387-0690
Sue (248) 755-1618
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.lce0606 Apr 1, 2012 5:08 PM (in response to sandy.nelson)
Sandy, I answered your question. Please read the answer. You are subscribed to HomeAway community. If you do not want to receive updates, please change your preferences or leave the community. It is getting annoying that you keep asking why you are getting the updates when they are answering your question!!
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.anja Apr 1, 2012 4:17 PM (in response to sandy.nelson)
Hi Sandy, You are getting "Email Notification" on this topic because when you joined the Community you made comments ...and you did not switch off from receiving updates on this topic. Not to worry...it's easy to fix. Scroll up to the top of this page, look at the right-hand side of the page, the first category is ACTIONS... you see "Receive Email Notification"...just click on it. It will change so you stop receiving mails. Do the same for every topic that you are getting mails about...if you don't want them any longer.
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.sandy.nelson Apr 1, 2012 4:27 PM (in response to anja)
Why are you sending this to me?
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.anja Apr 1, 2012 4:41 PM (in response to sandy.nelson)
Because I was trying to *help* you, Sandy. Please 'read' my message, above.....if you want to *stop* receiving emails.
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.kimberly.parker Apr 5, 2012 3:31 PM (in response to southerncaliforniarental)
Where is your property located?
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.islandgirl666 Apr 22, 2012 7:21 PM (in response to kimberly.parker)
Do not get discurage! Take a while, but as soon as you get a fist review, you in business!
It took us a 4weeks or longer to book our first guest, we were so bomed, but then we had them back to back...
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.char.truman Apr 30, 2012 9:35 AM (in response to southerncaliforniarental)
diversify your internet marketing to multiple sites. Here are some good options to get free exposure: free-vacation-rental-listing-sites
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.wildherbs Apr 30, 2012 10:41 AM (in response to southerncaliforniarental)
We advertise on VRBO, FlipKey and VacationRentals.com (also United in Uniform - big mistake)
80% of our bookings come from VRBO; the balance from FlipKey. Nuthin' from VacationRentals or the United in Uniform.
How do I get rental reservations? By answering very promptly. Within minutes or an hour. I make it personal with information about our place, our grounds, and how we love to have guests. Also, I send them the link of our website (made free with Weebly), where we have more pics and more information.
Guest reviews are critical. I ask most renters that seemed to really enjoy their time to place a review on the site that they came thru. Most are very gracious, and I've heard from other prospective renters that the reviews made the difference. I ALWAYS reply to the reviews too.
Like I've read here, I did place a few ghost bookings in the calendar to show that it was a desirable place. Then a month later, I remove the booking that I made and place it in a different month. Even with this, about 40% of my inquiries are clueless as to my calendar. They simply ask "is it available". I don't let that get under my skin. My reply is always friendly and outgoing.
We're booked for most of the weekends for the summer. Yea to VRBO!
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.kailua520 Apr 30, 2012 11:28 AM (in response to southerncaliforniarental)
I did not renew Flip Key. We get 75% of our rentals from HomeAway.com, the rest from Vacationrentals.com, VRBO and VacationHomeRentals.com in that order. I'm not sure why some sites are better for one and not as good for the other, but I do belive responding fast, having good photos and fair pricing is the best way to get rentals. Also as others have said, reply to your reviews. I have a lot of reviews, all good, except one who complained about something so minor (no wash cloths), I was able to respond with how it has been remedied (simply because our cleaning crew forgot to put them out). But if you have good reviews, you'll get rentals. We've been booking for less than a year and we've already got most of this summer booked and part of ski season.
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.moltened Apr 30, 2012 12:50 PM (in response to kailua520)
I think Flipkey is mostly potential renters looking for last minute hotels and stumble on the vacation rental portion. As soon as I have availability within the next 30 day period I get bombarded with flipkey inquiries.
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.lce0606 Apr 30, 2012 1:01 PM (in response to moltened)
Thanks for this post. Several people on this forum have said they like FlipKey and I wondered why. I had tried them briefly and was not satisfied with the type of inquiries were generated from them. I do not like last minute inquiries or people looking for "bargains."
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.mauioceanview Apr 30, 2012 1:54 PM (in response to lce0606)
I think it definitely depends on your market. Here on Maui, VRBO is my best bet. However, it is confusing to people who don't know which complex to stay in. I do use Homeaway and Flipkey. Flipkey has gotten me some great bookings (including a two weeks Christmas stay!). But I find that searches I randomly do on Flipkey do not accurately reflect the calendar (grumble grumble).
I do like having a listing on either one. One of the great benefits is - when there is a pricewar on VRBO (don't you just hate those races to the bottom?), the customer doesn't see that on Homeaway and Flipkey as they don't necessarily see other condos on the same property.
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.marilyn Apr 30, 2012 3:10 PM (in response to lce0606)
We have received equal parts of rentals from Homeaway and Flipkey. We have advertised with Homeaway long before there was a Homeaway. We started with Cyberrentals and Great Renrtals, both of which were bought by Homeaway. We just started with Flipkey in March and booked three rentals for this summer. We do not offer bargains or discounts. We have one price for everyone. Otherwise, how would an inquirer know that they were getting the best deal if we flip floped.
We also advertise on VRBO, VacationRentals nd vacationrentalpeople. Not many bookings but some inquiries.
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.quintabentonovo Jun 6, 2012 12:01 PM (in response to southerncaliforniarental)
I own this vacation rental in Portugal, Quinta do Bento Novo, http://www.quintabentonovo.pt/ or http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p82319
The thing is, the fist years I have worked with Homeaway it worked really well and we had a lot of foreign good renters.
But lately we had almost no inquiries.
I don't think I'm overpriced, we have advertised in several websites, and even with more competitors, I believe we have good quality, and we surely have some good reviews.
Do any of you know a company or someone who could analyze "Bento Novo" vacation rental and tell us what can be happening, or give us some piece of advices?
Thank you very much!
Paulo Barros
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.moltened Jun 6, 2012 1:32 PM (in response to quintabentonovo)
Well my business is impacted here in southern California by the economic crisis in Europe and yours would also have to be impacted as well. I think that people are taking a wait and see attitude that is effecting early bookings... however my last minute business is doing well. I'm not getting bookings 6 months in advance like I did but 1 to 3 months is working for me.
I'll give you my two cents on your listing anyway because I don't think its presented as well as it could be.
Beautiful place but there is no color or playfulness in a lot of the pictures. There is no artwork on the walls. There are no colorful pillows anywhere; on sofas or beds. White table clothes miss the chance for some color. Bathroom is missing colorful towels. Spectacular outdoor shots but no place to sit anywhere to enjoy it... seems absolutely barren. Shelves seem devoid of reading material or interesting tchotchkes. Even the flowers in that vase are seemingly colorless.
Some outdoor shots are begging for tall colorful ceramic pots with or without flowers. I could come up with 10 different camera angles for that kitchen shot that would be more flattering. Lets see the table top with a vase of the purple flowers from the garden and a loaf of bread and cheese... its certainly not inviting as is.
There's got to be a better way to present and describe that pool other than as 'granite tank'. Is it spring fed with fish or chlorinated water? How is it not stagnate? How about a table pool side with umbrella or chaise loungers with colorful towels and pool toys. Show me the nearby town you describe. You have some duplicate pictures as well.
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.loscuatrotulipanes Jun 7, 2012 7:19 AM (in response to southerncaliforniarental)
We feel your pain!
But southerncaliforniarental, one of the quick realizations new owners get when they start renting is that travelers won't just line up at your door to stay. In the same breath, listing on one or two or even five paid sites like VRBO or HomeAway or FlipKey is relying on something out of your control. (You can read many posts in this forum by owners who suddenly, after years of successful renting, have suddenly gone empty due to increased competition, increased prices of paid sites, yatta yatta yatta.)
My message to disgruntled owners big and small is that you need to take control of your lead flow. The longer you rely exclusively on external sites to book your rental, the longer you are avoiding the ultimate premise (let's say, 10 years down the road) when it's nearly impossible to get a booking on paid sites due to a ultra-saturated and bloodthirsty competitive rental market in your community of Huntington Beach.
The solution? Get in the drivers seat and begin working on the things you CAN control. Things like a prominent and well-thought-out website, good international press, a fine-tuned process for turning a lead into a booking, developing yourself as an expert (tours, restaurants, activities, nightlife...etc) in the Huntington Beach area, soliciting 5-star reviews, perfecting your last minute offers (good call moltened), hiring a photographer for professional photos...etc. The list goes on and on and I highlight the top-performers in my Boost Occupancy Report.
The point of my post: signing up for listing sites is an easy (and sometimes very effective) one-time effort to promote your vacation rental. But owners need to get realistic and realize it takes more work than just spending an hour publishing a listing. If you are really serious about making money, you need to get more proactive. This is not necessarily synonymous with "start spending money" since there are tons of free tools and creative alternatives to, say, paid press releases or expensive PR firms. This is also challenging for those who have additional full time jobs. But it is a mentality (I blog about this constantly) I think every new owner could really benefit to embrace.
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.char.truman Jun 7, 2012 7:25 AM (in response to loscuatrotulipanes)
loscuatrotulipanes - u hit the nail on the head.
Take control, or you are at the mercy of these paid sites. In my opinion, a professional, well designed website with great pictures is the key. Use listing sites to gain traffic to your personal site.
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.danisha.miller Aug 25, 2012 1:33 PM (in response to southerncaliforniarental)
There has been alot of excellent advice mentioned above. I would like to offer an additional option, an Interactive 360 degree Virtual Tour.
80% of people who bought or rented a vacation home in used the internet in house hunting. That means at least 60% of your marketing dollars should be spent optimizing your listings and company online.
80% of internet shoppers say Great Clear images are imperative when deciding to buy or use a company's product or services. (2006 Pew Study)
84% of all buyers and 87% of first time buyers use the internet as an information resource during their search for a home. In the 25-44 age group this number jumped to 91% of all home buyers!
54% of home buyers who are searching for their next home on Realtor.com will not even look at a home unless there is a featured tour. (NAR, January 2006)
Images are one of the biggest reasons Internet marketing has become so popular.
(2007 NAR profile of home buyers and sellers)
Home Buyers who used virtual tours spent an average of two weeks with a Realtor® looking at homes, compared to those who did not use the internet, who spent an average of seven weeks looking for their home. (2008 RIS Media)
By August of 2006, over half of American adult internet users (61%) had taken virtual tours of a location online and on a typical day, more than six million people are taking virtual tours in cyberspace. (2006 Pew Study)
According to the 2007 NAR home buyer and seller profile, for the first time ever the Internet tied with the agent for most important informational source used in home searches (84%) and by the end of 2007 65% of agents had their own web sites.
79% of repeat buyers & 84% of first time buyers use the internet to search for a home. (2006 NAR Survey)
Reach a higher income demographic. The median income of Internet searchers is much higher, about $86,900, compared with buyers who did not use the internet to search for a home, about $50,400. (2007 NAR Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers)
96.2% of travelers use the Internet as a source of information when planning a trip or move. (2006 Pew Study)
Home buyers use the internet slightly more frequently (66%) than real estate agents (64%) and much more frequently than newspapers (17%), home magazines (10%) or television (2%).
A site with a virtual tour and interactive media will receive 38% more views than a competitor's site that is lacking media. (2006 Pew Internet Life Study)
Only 1% of homebuyers did not find the internet useful and 100% of those that use a real estate agent take two weeks to search on their own before contacting their real estate agent. 64% of all home buyers used the FIRST agent they contacted.
33% of all buyers are now using social networking sites with 19% using them at least a few times per week.
Daily costs for print advertising can top $66-$150 per day, and usually has a shelf life of only 30 days. Print advertising has a limited market penetration and does not allow the consumer to interact or engage with the home or product. The average cost of an online interactive virtual tour is about 27 CENTS per day -- and has a shelf life of 365 days with WORLDWIDE penetration.
A compelling use of interactive media and virtual tour technology keeps visitors on your site, and keeps them coming back...
If you would like to learn more about this service please call me at 309-502-0638. I am located in the Panama City Beach area and I am willing to travel anywhere, anytime I can. If you would like to look as some of my work, please visit www.facebook.com/qc360
Re: We have been advertising for over 2 months and have yet to find a renter.tpowell Nov 10, 2012 1:12 PM (in response to southerncaliforniarental)
I have been in sales for 15+ years and when I am not able to close many inquiries for my product there is ultimiately a reason why which is usually my price. My experience using VRBO is there are many inquiries and there are many reasons why these don't convert to rentals. Sometimes the issue is my price, other times is my reply was too slow and the potential renter submitted inquiries to tons of properties at once and there are other reasons as well. Do you follow up with any past inquiries to see why they decided not to rent from you? It is very helpful to hear this feedback at times. Another thing I would do would be to list my rental on additional vacation websites like http://www.FVRA.com, Airbnb, Vacationrentals and others. Best of luck, don't give up.


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A simple array: fresh sage, hazelnuts, garlic, butternut squash, ricotta salata and cayenne.
One of several tortured faces brought about by the slicing of the butternut squash. So worth it.
We cut the squash into chunky, 1-inch wedges, per melissav's instructions.
The pesto ingredients.
Amanda starts the pesto by measuring some olive oil into a pan.
Chopped sage (you want it somewhat fine, as it won't get chopped further).
Sage, oil and garlic warm on the stove until just bubbling.
Meanwhile, the butternut squash wedges get a hit of cayenne. The level of heat is up to you -- we went with the full 1/2 teaspoon and found it perfect.
Make sure to spread the wedges out on the baking sheet so they caramelize nicely. A layer of parchment keeps them from sticking and makes cleanup a snap.
Once the hazelnuts are toasted (we put them in the heating oven for about 7 minutes), it's easy to roll off their skins.
The garlic from the pesto and the hazelnuts have a date with the food processor. Pulse just until it looks like coarse crumbs -- if you too far, you'll get hazelnut butter!
We gently folded the nuts with the sage and olive oil from the pan, then added the ricotta salata and more oil to thin the mixture to the right consistency. You want a thick, but not solid, pesto.
After about 25 minutes in the oven, the squash is almost like candy.
Fresh ricotta, flour, semolina, butternut, fontina, garlic, parmesan, butter, thyme!
We were titillated by the 'suggestive' shape of this butternut. Yes, we're 13.
Semolina is the secret to this crust's light, sandy texture.
We'll say it again: we LOVE food processor doughs.
Drizzle in ice water while pulsing till it looks like this -- then you're ready to wrap it up and stick it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
Sliced squash (we aimed for 1/8" thickness and were happy) gets tossed with olive oil, fresh thyme leaves and the first of this galette's one-two punch of garlic.
Merrill tosses away while Amanda grates fontina.
The second dose of garlic roasts -- in its skins -- right along with the sliced squash.
About 25-30 minutes later, we had tender squash and sweet, creamy garlic.
Our favorite dough-rolling technique: between two layers of floured plastic wrap.
Amanda transfers the rolled dough to a parchment-lined baking sheet -- it's now ready to fill and crimp.
Post-roasting, the garlic cloves' skins slip off easily...
... and the cloves mash in smoothly with the fresh ricotta.
Merrill spoons the garlic-ricotta base onto the crust and Amanda gets ready to smear.
Amanda uses the back of a spoon to evenly spread the ricotta while Merrill helps anchor the parchment.
On go the roasted squash slices, willy-nilly.
Fold up the edges -- you really can't do this wrong. It'll be beautiful no matter what!
Scatter fontina over the middle and parmesan over the edges.
Pizza meets quiche meets delicious.
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The Tigerettes lost 25-17, 25-21 to Victoria West in pool play Friday before beating the Victoria East JV 25-9, 25-11 and Karnes City 25-9, 25-14 and tying San Antonio Taft 25-17, 17-25.
In Saturday's bracket play, Goliad downed Waelder 25-4, 25-7, lost to West 25-19, 16-25, 18-25 and defeated San Antonio Stevens 25-20, 25-22 in the third-place match.
The Tigerettes were led by Roxanne Morris, who had 52 kills, 39 assists, 25 digs, four service aces and four blocks in the tournament.
Also leading Goliad was Megan Hilscher (25 kills, 41 digs, six service aces), Bailey Janssen (16 kills, 40 digs, two service aces, five blocks), Bethany Salziger (eight kills, 39 digs, four service aces), Kendall Coles (77 assists, 32 digs, five service aces), Michala Janssen (40 digs, two service aces), Kristie Coles (32 digs, four service aces) and Katy Salziger (five blocks).
The Tigerettes hosted Sinton on Tuesday and will host the Goliad Tournament on Friday and Saturday.


text:
Seeing double (Long since no one else will post anything)
This year I signed up with acid deposition sampling team doing bi-monthly water samples. My team does the Road Prong Area of the park. I found out our team leader Steve Darnell live less than a mile from me, so we have carpooled the last two samplings, and fished after the sampling
Last sampling I even got to meet Charlie B - Nvr2L8, who was a pleasure to meet and chat with. That time we finished just at 11:30 and he thought we had done the sampling in record time. Well yesterday not even trying we finished at 10:30. After dropping off the park service truck, we headed out of the park to our fishing destination. We got a quick bite to eat, and were at the trailhead in no time.
I was thrilled to see only 1 other car at the trailhead, and since they had Ontario tags, I doubted they were fishing, and was thrilled to have an awesome Smokies stream all to ourselves on a Saturday. As we hiked up the trail we soon ran into the family from Ontario. I asked if they made it to the focal point up the trail, but the first ridge they had to climb up turned them around. I told them how great the focal point was and a few of them were ready to turn around, but in the end they headed back to touristville. After a short climb we were now at a crossing, and headed a short ways more to the creek crossing where our fishing would begin.
The stream was at a great level for this time of the year, and within a minute landed this little guy.
At first it seemed like they were all hitting the dry fly, which would be nomal for this time of the year, but the first time it has happened to me this whole year.
And now for the target specie
Just as I considered cutting off my yellowhammer dropper, I strated to get the majority of fish on it. Go figure. Still "Hammertime" in Tennessee. Steve seemed to be having a good time and catching plenty of fish, although he said he was still missing most of the strikes. Here's the scenery as we walked upstream.
As I took a break waiting on Steve to catch up, I glanced at the end of a rotting tree branch and watched this ant. I'm not sure if they are ant larvae, or if it was termite larvae that he was eating. Life is everyehere in the Smokies
It soon began to rain, and it brought back memories of a trip Freddie and I did on this section of stream a few months back where we got rained on, got displaced on the bail out back to the trail, and got back to the car with barely enough dexterity to unlock and open the car door . Luckily today was 10 degrees warmer, and it only managed to soak us to the bone
The fish loved the rain and they began to feed. After thinking I had landed a huge one, I found out I had landed my first double of the year. I asked Steve if he wanted to keep fishing or bail, but the fishing must have been good to him also because he wanted to push on. You can see the rain drops
More of these guys, and the quality of fish was getting much better, and the Rainbows were fewer and fewer
Another pretty one
Pictures a bit blured Trying to get good shots out of a cheap camera in the rain is tough.
Continued as I'm out of pic room
Last edited by duckypaddler; 07-22-2012 at 02:00 PM.. Reason: needed to proof read
Here is a shot of Steve working a pool in the rain. This was the second round that showed up accompied by thunder and a little lightning just at the point the stream is furthest from the trail
After some more fishing the rain finally blew through, and I thought I had come up to some trash
After taking a look at the GPS in this location I realized it was someone's out marker, and marked where the stream comes back close to the trail. I just left it. If it's yours I would love to ask a question.
Well it turns out I wasn't the only one hooking a double today. Here's Steve with his multiple catch
As we continued to work upstream, the surroundings were getting better and better.
We caught a few more of these guys, and soon neared our exit point.
As we got withing 1/4 mile of our exit point, I reminded Steve of the arrow we were looking for. Freddie must not have maintained it, or maybe I missed it, but all I saw was RHODO
Since this was only the second time I was out with Steve, I didn't look forward to telling him we were going to have to do a little belley crawling (thinking we had a decent out) to get through the rhodo. We broke down our rods and I explored a route. Luckily we only had to belley crawl for 30 feet or so where we were able to just duck and work through the rest. After a short climb we were back on the trail
As we hiked back, we heard a big snap from a tree branch, only to get to see a bear go from 60- 80 feet in the air to the ground in less than 2 seconds down a tree. I knew thay climbed trees, but didn't realize how agile they are, and this was no cub. I grabbed my camera, but it was gone in a flash. We hiked back to the car where I though it was a little before 5 only to find it was 7:40 Yikes, I said I'd be back for dinner, and Steve was supposed to be grilling for family that was in town. The Smokies seems to always distort my time perception.
Another Great day in the GSMNP
Last edited by duckypaddler; 07-22-2012 at 03:34 PM.. Reason: chaged was to wasn't
Great post, thanks for sharing, missed my summer trip down this year so I'm really missing the mountains. The raindrops and fogged up camera lens just brings back good memories.
Looks like fun. I have not posted anything since I have not been fishing in more than a month. I'm glad someone has gotten out.
Wild troutin, blue linin, fly flingin, camo wearin, redneckin elitist.
Looks like a good day to be out there!
Do you mind sharing a pic/recipe for the yellarhammer you use?
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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/42750
|Download PDF (Author's final draft) (Adobe Acrobat PDF, 859 KB)
- Title
- The 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey: the local E+A galaxy population
- Author(s)
- Blake, Chris; Pracy, Michael B.; Couch, Warrick J.; Bekki, Kenji; Lewis, Ian; Glazebrook, Karl; Baldry, Ivan K.; Baugh, Carlton; Bland-Hawthorn, Joss; Bridges, Terry J.; Cannon, Russell D.; Cole, Shaun; Colless, Matthew; Collins, Chris A.; Dalton, Gavin B.; De Propris, Roberto; Driver, Simon P.; Efstathiou, George P.; Ellis, Richard S.; Frenk, Carlos S.; Jackson, C. A.; Lahav, Ofer; Lumsden, Stuart; Maddox, Stephen J.; Madgwick, Darren; Norberg, Peder; Peacock, John A.; Peterson, Bruce A.; Sutherland, William J.; Taylor, Keith
- Abstract
- We select a sample of low-redshift (z ∼ 0.1) E+A galaxies from the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey (2dFGRS). The spectra of these objects are defined by strong hydrogen Balmer absorption lines (Hδ, Hγ, Hβ) combined with a lack of [O II] 3727-Å emission, together implying a recently truncated burst of star formation. The E+A spectrum is thus a signpost to galaxies in the process of evolution. We quantify the local environments, clustering properties and luminosity function of the E+A galaxies. We find that the environments are consistent with the ensemble of 2dFGRS galaxies: low-redshift E+A systems are located predominantly in the field, existing as isolated objects or in poor groups. However, the luminosity distribution of galaxies selected using three Balmer absorption lines Hδγβ appears more typical of ellipticals. Indeed, morphologically these galaxies are preferentially spheroidal (E/S0) systems. In a small but significant number we find evidence for recent major mergers, such as tidal tails. We infer that major mergers are one important formation mechanism for E+A galaxies, as suggested by previous studies. At low redshift the merger probability is high in the field and low in clusters, thus these recently formed spheroidal systems do not follow the usual morphology-density relation for ellipticals. Regarding the selection of E+A galaxies: we find that basing the Balmer-line criterion solely on Hδ absorption leads to a significant subpopulation of disc systems with detectable Hα emission. In these objects the [O II] emission is presumably either obscured by dust or present with a low signal-to-noise ratio, whilst the (Hγ, Hβ) absorption features are subject to emission-filling.
- Publication type
- Journal article
- Source
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 355, no. 3 (Dec 2004), pp. 713-727
- Publication year
- 2004
- Keyword(s)
- Absorption; Catalog; Catalogue; Clusters; Distant; Formation; Galaxies; Hubble-space-telescope; Interactions; Luminosity function; Radio-sources; Selection; Sky survey; Star-formation; Stellar populations; Surveys
- Publisher
- Wiley-Blackwell Publishing
- 0035-8711
- Publisher URL
- Copyright
- Copyright © 2004 RAS.
- Full text
- Peer reviewed


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I will say it a million times "a knee injury is something to take seriously"
it does not matter the type of injury.
I would not stop Azu rehabilitation any time soon to fit into a running team.
Azu best recovery would be to skip this 2010-11 season.
We will have to develope Walker/Mason/Fields at the SG spot to mesh with
PG-Felton in the backcourt. While using Douglas as a combo-guard during
pressure situations on offense/defense late in the game.
For those who got it twisted Im going to fix-it
SF-Wilson Chandler is a 6.8 225lb SF. who have great skills at being a help-
defender of oponents SG/PF. Chandler playingtime minutes this season should
stay strictly at the SF position if the Knicks are looking to win.
To all the Gallo/Randolph fans, Im sorry but these (two year) raw-players
have to develope "consistency" coming off the bench this season.
I know u are angry but we need young depth off the bench to win.
Signing 29 year old Earl Barron to perform at center would give
PF-Amare/SF-Chandler plenty of room on the wings to provide help to our
weakness at the SG position.
I do put D.League C-Earl Barron skills above Turiaf/Mozgov/Randolph at the
center spot. I do not want Barron going back to Miami this season.


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Courtney Stodden Debuts New Look
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Earn Points for your
Birthday Gift shopping!
Join Celebrations Rewardssm today.
Over the years, we've collected literally thousands of letters and thank-you notes telling us how fun it is to receive one of our signature Birthday Flower Cakes. Often imitated but never duplicated, here's more information about this all-time favorite.
Watch a video introduction to the Birthday Flower Cake from Julie Mulligan, a 1-800-FLOWERS.COM Expert Designer who helped pioneer the first 1-800-FLOWERS.COM Birthday Flower Cake.
The Birthday Flower Cake itself is celebrating its own birthday! 10 years ago, the first Birthday Flower Cake was made, and ever since then it's been making people smile. How did it all get started? Here's an excerpt from Stop and Sell the Roses, by 1-800-FLOWERS.COM Founder and CEO, Jim McCann. In this excerpt, Jim recounts the story of how the Cake, one of 1-800-FLOWERS.COM's most popular flower arrangements, came to be.
One of our best ideas came from a bull session on one of my trips. We had visited a number of our BloomNet florists. BloomNet is a nationwide network of over 9,000 flower shops that we have handpicked to fulfill our orders. They have the right customer service attitude and take service seriously. As we talked with florists in a number of towns, I kept hearing the same message: "We want to be able to do something more with our craft capability." It made sense, come to think of it: if you are in the flower business, the odds are you have an artistic bent. You want to do something more than wrap up a dozen roses and send them out with the driver.
One night, toward the tail end of the trip, I brought up this subject with a group of florists. It just so happened that Lily Buckland, one of our fulfilling florists near Denver, was celebrating her birthday. That night we all went to dinner at one of those Rocky Mountain places where they serve you a steak the size of a German shepherd. We fell deep into conversation about what we might do by way of a new offering for birthdays - something that only a florist could do. At that very moment, the lights dimmed and the waiters filed over with a big beautiful birthday cake with sugar flowers all over it. As Lily took a deep breath to blow out the candles, a little light went off in each diner's well-fed brain: "A-ha! What about a birthday cake made entirely of flowers?"
The next day, before we flew out, I went down to one of our BloomNet shops and a bunch of us clipped stems and wove leaves around wire frame and made a prototype birthday flower cake. Good idea, but the cake wasn't there yet.
We sent out the word to all of the BloomNet florists. Could they submit a design for a birthday flower cake? The winner would get a trip to New York with their significant other and two tickets to see Whoopi Goldberg in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. One of our Long Island florists, Carlyn Ahmad, worked with my sister Julie and with key associate Jerry Rosalia. Together they dreamed up an amazing cake design. We went with it. The Birthday Flower Cake® is the single most successful design we have ever made. If I hadn't taken the time to hang out and go to a dinner with some of our people, we would never had done it.
It pays to keep every line of communication open because one of these days, right out of the blue, a valuable message is going to come down it.


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Chip King`s: "Shark Mouth" Daytona Pro Mod -new project 8/3/12
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Last Thursday, Thomas woke and got into bed with me, as usual. Normally we snuggle, then nurse, and then snuggle and play before I get in the shower. Thursday we snuggled, and I asked if he was ready to nurse, at which point he normally grins and lunges for the boob, and he did briefly, then pulled off and said, "Water!" I gave him water.
Friday he did the same thing, so I gave him water.
Saturday when I asked, he said, "Noooooooooo." So I gave him water (per his request lol), and for the first time in his life, we only nursed once that day, before bedtime.
He nursed Sunday morning, but not a lot, though he indicated that he wanted to, so we did.
Today we were back to "WATER! WATER!", and he emptied his sippy cup in seconds, and snuggled before letting me know he was ready to get down and play.
I'm not sure what (if anything) I'm looking for by posting this; I guess just sharing it with people who understand how hard the letting-go is. We were already down to pretty much twice a day (by his choice; I was counting on going another year or so), so this will just leave once a day, and it's so sad for me. And I'm interested in what you ladies would do at this point--offering vs not offering--I don't want to push if he's ready to stop, but I don't want him to be ready to stop! (insert foot-stomping smiley )
Sorry for rambling! If you've read this far, I appreciate it.


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The Walters Art Museum is open Thursdays until 9 p.m., Sponsored by BGE.
Date: Saturday, October 26, 2013–Sunday, May 18, 2014Every Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun
Time: 10:00 AM–05:00 PMEvery Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun
During the late 19th and early 20th century, fine book binding enjoyed a golden age of creativity and lavish decoration. These handmade, individual and highly personal objects were made not only to protect the texts they contained, but also to be admired and appreciated as portable decorative masterpieces in their own right.
Date: Sunday, February 23, 2014–Sunday, May 11, 2014Every Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun
The Japanese art of flower arranging, or ikebana, has inspired the creation of extraordinary ceramic containers. This exhibition outlines the history of some of Japan's major schools of ikebana and displays a wide variety of contemporary ceramics created in harmony with the most modern floral conventions.
Date: Friday, April 18, 2014
Time: 09:00 AM–03:00 PM
Take a break and explore the new season with some spring-inspired art! Stop by an ArtCart or make your own work of art in the studio. These activities are free, with no registration required.


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The CC7D Film Project is a competition where anyone can form a team, show up to the House of Rock, sign up and then have exactly seven days to make a seven- to eight-minute short film.
The CC7D "Retrospectacular" was held at the Harbor Playhouse last Saturday and it was chock full of award-winning films from the years past.
"Next year is our seventh, 7 day 7 year, so we thought that we would look back at the first six years," Hillaird explained.
"And also to let people see the films that they haven't seen in a while or to let people see the films that didn't go to the screenings.
"It was an idea of just looking back at everything that has happened prior to now."
And over those six years, there's been only two teams come out of Beeville with each only participating in a year each.
The first Beeville team competed in year two and won the "Twist" award which was a bag of tortillas as the trophy.
Trophies at the CC7D events are always inventive and usually off the wall.
But over the years there have been tons of films entered of varying quality and expertise.
So how would one go about choosing the films to be screened?
Hilliard explained, "We decided to show all the first place films and all the audience award films and all the filmmaker award films which came out to about 18 or so.
"Then let's fill it out with one more flight of notable films and/or interesting films from all the years.
"Which was the worst part because we got in to a lot of arguments about which ones to show."
The lot was picked by the CC7D steering committee made up of Hilliard, Heidi Hovda, Larry Cashion, Seth Caylor and Omar Becerra, who's a filmmaker recently added to the roster to add some filmmaking perspective to the group.
"But I think we have a nice sample of what local filmmaking is as far as the 7 Day Film Project is concerned and has consisted of over the last six years."
"It's funny because you watch films from 2007 and the same filmmaker made a film in 2012 and to see how far they've come and how their skills have gotten better over the years and it's a 'Retrospectacular.'
"It's a retrospective that's spectacular."
And it's important for some to keep the films alive because unlike Hollywood films or feature length films, once you've seen them in theaters, they're essentially gone.
You can't run out to Redbox or Netflix and rent them.
"You don't get to see them unless you seek them out on YouTube.
"And a lot of the films we're showing today aren't on YouTube, or any other kind of Internet platform, so you're going to see a handful of these for the first time ever since we saw them."
And after those grueling seven days of making a film, it's important for some to see that their work is appreciated and have another chance to see them on the big screen.
"We enjoy that idea. We enjoy keeping the films alive and keeping the filmmaker's product in front of people's eyeballs."
And though this is the first retrospective, it's highly unlikely to be the last.
"I like to think that we have the creativity and certainly the broad warehouse database of films to be able to do something like that any time we want to."
But the Corpus Christi Film Society isn't resting on its laurels until then.
As well as doing the annual CC7D Film Project every summer, they began the Ride-In Theater, which is basically a place to watch films under the stars once a month.
"Last night we did "Night of the Living Dead" and had 600 or 700 people there.
"On Nov. 9 we'll do viewers choice and everyone will vote that night between 'Weird Science' and 'Edward Scissorhands.' And we won't know what won until we push play.
"We'll have several hundred people for that."
And those who know Hilliard and his love of film have always urged him to get in on the game he started six long years a go and go out and make a film in seven days.
Now it seems he's worn down and given in the pressure.
"So now we're talking about seriously doing in 2013 what we've always sort of flirted with doing.
"At the casting call or kick-off, we get a couple of the first place filmmakers to come up with the elements for the steering committee to make a film in seven days.
"So it's coming," Hilliard laughed.
And it seems that every year the Film Society has something new and exciting up its sleeve to try and get filmmaking projects going around the Coastal Bend.
It's a tough job, but at least somebody's doing it.
"We're always trying to create. We've got all kinds of ideas, but it's trying to balance between real life and fun life, to get them all done."
Not to mention, the reel life.
To get more information on the CC7D and the Corpus Christi Film Society, you can visit www.corpuschristifilmsociety.com
Paul Gonzales is the entertainment writer at the Bee-Picayune and can be reached at 358-2550, ext. 116, or at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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January 9, 2014 —
State Police in Middletown announce the arrest of James M. Smith, age 36, of Ellenville, NY, following an investigation into the September 9th, 2013 robbery of a man that occurred in the parking lot of the Dunning Farms Shopping Center in the Town of Wallkill.
The adult male victim in the robbery had reported that he was accosted by two unknown males, who relieved him of his wallet and wristwatch. Troopers were able to identify Smith after receiving a tip from the Village of Ellenville Police Department. The victim's property was not recovered. Smith was charged with one count of Robbery in the third degree. He was arraigned in City of Middletown Court before Judge Steven Brockett, and committed to Orange County Jail without bail. Smith was ordered to appear in Town of Wallkill Court on Thursday, January 9th at 2 p.m.


text:
An innovative, flexible, and interactive learning and teaching space, the Helen B. and Martin D. Schwartz Special Collections and Digital Complex provides access to international media, broadcasts, and multimedia.
The Viewing Room features a highly configurable, wall sized 4-in-1 flat panel display and 30 chairs, allowing presenters to display a combination of international TV channels, projection from the presenter station or a laptop, or one larger display.
The Learning Pod Room features a presenter station and 6 "learning pods," each with a table, a Macintosh computer and wall mounted flat panel display, and 6 chairs.
The Viewing and Learning Pod Rooms both feature wired network access, AV/Network cables, DVD and BluRay playback, cable access, and presenter stations with computers.
Copyright © 2016 Ball State University 2000 W. University Ave. Muncie, IN 47306
800-382-8540 and 765-289-1241


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April 20, 2012
North Campus Unveiled with a Bang and a Bug!Yesterday, we unveiled the North Campus at a press preview! We wowed the press with our amazing scientists, Poppy the pond turtle from our Live Animal Program, and a gaggle of school children planting in the Home Garden.
Dr. Greg Pauly, Museum Herpetology Curator with
Poppy the Pond Turtle
Student from the Ambassador School of Global Education
inspecting the Home Garden
Although there was a lot going on, there were a few distractions. Firstly, in the middle of Poppy's debut performance, there was a loud bang—yes people, that was a collision between a motorist and the new Exposition light rail. Thankfully, no one was seriously injured!...
Posted by Lila Higgins at 8:13 PM | 0 COMMENTS


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T-minus-2-days until the NY Giants face the New England Patriots in the 2012 Super Bowl. As everyone knows, we're not only interested in the game – we're in it for the grub! For the last few days we covered snacks, beer and sandwiches but what about main dishes? Here are some suggestions for festive (and filling) fare for your Super Bowl gathering!
Anasazi Cowboy Chili with Buffalo
This SPICY chili not only pairs well with your favorite brewski, it's got beer in the recipe!
Try these aromatic tacos made with grilled duck breast that's been simmered in cumin and coriander then piled into homemade tortillas with fresh pico de gallo. Even the kids will eat them!
We cannot talk feeding a crowd without mentioning CASSOULET! Easier than you think and tastes even better when made the day before. So you can get out of the kitchen and in front of the flat screen!
Berkshire Pork Ribs Costillas Pibil
These ultra-flavorful ribs have both dry and wet spice rubs and a citrus kick.
Sweet-and-Sticky Baby Back Ribs
Cane syrup, a sticky sweet syrup made from sugar cane, gives this barbecue sauce backbone, along with honey, molasses and cider vinegar. Perfection!
Rabbit ragout is the foundation of this lasagna, which contains layers of mushroom-studded the ragout and creamy bechamel.
Bitter coffee, paprika and salt help create a charred crust for meaty, bone-in pork chops.
This hearty stew is smoky and satisfying, perfect for the Super Bowl.
Game for the game! This rustic venison pot pie will please a roomful of hungry carnivores.


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Goodbye Turkey Tetrazzini
Time Prep: 30 minutes
Total: 30 minutes
Servings Total: 4 servings, 2 cups each
What You Need:
¾ cup egg noodles, uncooked
1 Tbsp. butter
2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
½ cup (1/2 of 8-oz. tub) PHILADELPHIA 1/3 Less Fat than Cream Cheese
1 cup chicken broth
3 cups chopped cooked turkey
1 cup frozen peas
Make It:
COOK noodles as directed on package.
MEANWHILE, melt butter in large skillet. Add mushrooms; cook and stir until tender. Stir in reduced-fat cream cheese and broth. Bring to boil; simmer on low heat 7 min. or until slightly thickened, stirring occasionally. Stir in turkey and peas; cook until heated through, stirring frequently.
DRAIN noodles. Serve topped with turkey mixture.
Fresh Mushrooms
PHILADELPHIA 1/3 Less Fat than Cream Cheese
Check Pantry
Egg Noodles
Chicken Broth


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Hi girls,
My DD are I are both so sad at the thought of her having to stop nursing, however, she was going to begin weaning in a little over 1 month anyhow.
Today, she went to pump and the first attempt she was only able to get 4 or 5 drops...literally. Not even close to one ounce. The second attempt, she got approx 1/2 of 1 ounce. The third attempt (these all with a couple of hours or more in between) was back to only drops.
Here is what has been going on.
For the past several weeks, the baby (almost 11 months old now) has been waking up every single hour to nurse. Apparently the past few nights have been beyond insane. My DD is getting almost no sleep. It's just awful.
Because they are temporarily living with her sister in law and her dh they cannot do any training as far as letting her cry herself to sleep, etc. It is just not possible because of their living situation.
DD has tried over and again to give baby formula in the past few weeks just to supplement (since she's been having so much trouble with baby being unsatisfied and perhaps unsatiated (is that a word? ha). Baby refuses to take it. I do mean REFUSES!
What in the world should she do. Even I am at a loss for advice to give her right now. I don't know what she should do.
The Pediatrician, of course, is the one who told her, early on, to stop breastfeeding. She did not listen, for which I am proud! She went for another well-baby yesterday and when DD told Dr. what she is eating which is a little bit of baby food and the rest all breast-milk, he almost scolded her and told her that the baby should be eating absolutely everything they do with the exception of eggs. I was infuriated when she told me that. REALLY Dr.??? So, just dive right in? Ugghh!!
Her little tummy, whether fully developed or not, is certainly not used to all of this. I can only imagine what a fiasco it would be if she were to do what he is suggesting.
Though many of you will probably disagree, I don't see any need for a baby to have dairy products of any kind, nor meat.
Like I heard someone once say... "Why is it that Cows wean their calves from all milk after a few months of suckling, but we humans for some reason, not only drink milk for a species other than our own, BUT we continue to drink it for life."
Anyhow, I would really really love to send my DD your responses. She is utterly exhausted and overwhelmed about what to and how to do this and what the next step should be.
Thanks so much you all,


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Today we launch new tools on our Web site.
We call the system SiteLife.
SiteLife allows readers to start their own blog and share photos. But the biggest change is tied to commenting on stories.
We gave readers the ability to comment — anonymously — on stories, starting last year. Comments poured in. Sometimes they were enlightening and added to the story. Sometimes they were just mean and offensive.
Starting today, readers must be a member of the site to post comments. That means readers must register. It's free and fast.
Readers can still guard their true identity and use a special "username" when posting comments. But a valid, verifiable e-mail address is required. Readers will be asked to fill out a simple form, and set up a profile page. That profile page displays all of a users' contributions, and allows them to track issues and easily connect with others.
Want to try your own blog? We've got a quick, easy solution to get you going immediately. Look for "Publish Your Stuff" on the right side of the home page.
These new features are designed to give greater access to readers' views and a greater sense of accountability in the online communities we are building. Please take them for a test drive.
The new "comments" feature also gives us better tools to banish those who spew off-topic and sometimes hateful bile. Those kinds of comments violate our user agreement.
Readers can click "Report Abuse" when comments break the rules. That sends a message to editors who can suspend abusers' accounts and/or delete the comment.
The whole point of online discussion at a news site is to debate issues. We hope people will join the discussions and add to the conversation because they care about what's happening.
The new tools are more than just a better discussion board. They help readers become better connected to the community.
We believe the first good use of these new tools will be to give readers a place to share information about the elections, local education, local crime and everything else that impacts life in our communities.
— David Stevens, editor, Freedom New Mexico


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Plant-based diets may help prevent breast cancer and prolong survival, thanks to phytonutrients in flax, broccoli, and soy, and the avoidance of animal products such as meat and dairy. One should eat lots of fruits and vegetables, and get a enough exercise and sleep. Some foods may be especially helpful include: dark-green leafy vegetables, coffee, Indian gooseberries, avocados, spinach, garlic, onions, cinnamon, apples, strawberries, herbal teas, green tea, and white-button mushrooms. Those at high risk should consider reducing their consumption of meat, dairy (see also here), trans fat, saturated fat, Kimchi, folic-acid supplements (but folate from beans and greens is helpful), multivitamins, and deep fried foods. Large stool size has been associated with breast health and may reduce cancer risk. One might also not want to take advice from health food store employees, as their recommendations for breast cancer treatment were found to lack a sound medical or scientific basis.
Topic summary contributed by Sue.


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~ Blaise Pascal, scientist, Christian apologist, anointed and died Catholic


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not as cool -_-'
Originally Posted by Shisui
not as cool -_-'
hrm or maybe u can keep ur devil wings and just change something else about it.....hrm.......*examins Shisui head to toe and toe to head*
Hey! I don't like being eyed.
J/k lol
do u have the curse too
I was the second to get it, Zanji was the first.
Shodaime: Shisui, Zabuza and myself got bitten by OrochimaruSama when he was attacking................But so far only me and Shisui have achieved lvl 2 of it
Shisui..........whats wrong I am just trin to figure out what could change about ur curse lvl 2 form.....hrm.....I think I got it.......instead of the black star on ur face how about it being a White Star and on ur chest?
Maybe.......I'll work on it, I may just change the wings.
oh here is some advise for when u go to get the surgery done........wear a helmet......:D
and for how ur lvl2 will look......I think it should look like a cross between the Yin form and Yang form
No one is going near my head with rocks!
And for the from, yep thats what I'm going for, not change much except for the wings.
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