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RSVP- Volunteer Nevada County Current Volunteer Opportunities
July 29, 2013
Behind the ideas and efforts toward building a better world, volunteers fuel a movement of compassion and connection. You can make a difference by volunteering right here in your community. By sharing your time and talents to help others, you can help bring a sense of hope to our hearts, homes, neighborhoods and ultimately our nation.
Everyone is invited to share their time and talents with Nevada County nonprofits, public agencies, and schools. For persons 55 and over, accident, liability, and excess auto insurance are provided and limited mileage reimbursement is available. If you are interested in any of the following positions, email email@example.com, visit the office at 471 Sutton Way, Suite No. 202, in Grass Valley, or call weekdays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 530-271-0255.
RSVP is part of the Corporation for National and Community Service and sponsored locally by the Area 4 Agency on Aging.
Find additional opportunities with RSVP at: http://volunteermatch.org.
Immunization fair assistant
Volunteers are needed to help with Back to School Immunization events in August, flu shot clinics in the fall and Immunization clinics held throughout the year. Help attendees fill out forms, take payments, and provide assistance so that the events run smoothly. Prior medical knowledge is helpful; however, training is provided by the County Public Health Department. Some knowledge of Spanish would also be helpful.
Health and wellness volunteers
Are you interested in innovative approaches to health? Do you believe exercise is an important factor in staying healthy and safe? The "Stay Well At Home" program is looking for 10 facilitators willing to assist in this innovative four- to six-month program in association with the Falls Prevention Coalition. Get involved by helping seniors improve their overall health by lowering their risk for falls through exercise and other risk-reduction strategies. Learn more by calling RSVP at 530-271-0255.
Friendly Visitor volunteers
As a volunteer with the Friendly Visitor program, you can make a profound and personal difference in the life of a senior or person with a disability. You need no special expertise; you will be asked to make a weekly visit of one or two hours; you will receive ongoing training and guidance; mileage is reimbursed; consideration is given to matching you with a person of similar interests.
Child development caregiver
Volunteer once a week for a three-hour shift at Community Recovery Resources in the Child Development Center assisting staff with feeding, rocking, reading and singing to infants and toddlers. Skills required: Be able to carry infants and toddlers, be patient and calm and be willing to work as a team member. Call RSVP for information.
Workplace mentor
Assist and coach previously unemployed individuals to arrive on time to their job and develop a successful work ethic. This is a supported employment program through CoLiving Network whose mission includes a multi-faceted approach to ending homelessness by combining coaching with safe housing and work opportunity. This is an opportunity to help those who are committed to working their way into a successful and stable life.
Museum Gift Shop attendants and museum docents
The NorthStar Mining Museum in Grass Valley is a local treasure! Several volunteers are needed to help with staffing the new gift shop during the hours from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdau through Sunday. This position is well suited for someone who enjoys sharing our local history with visitors, has a pleasant manner and a talent for sales and organizing gift shop displays. Docents are also needed to assist visitors to our area learn about rich cultural heritage. Training is provided.
Help make history come to life
The Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum is looking for volunteers to help at its wonderful museum in Nevada City. It is happily growing, and with more volunteers, it will be able to keep the museum open more days per week. There are a number of ways to help: Gift Shop volunteer, museum docent, special events coordinator, and more.
This is a great group of dedicated volunteers that help others learn of our rich history and cultural heritage in Nevada County. Come be a part of it!
Be an advocate for patient's rights
Ombudsman Services of Northern California needs volunteers who are dedicated to advocating for the rights of residents in long-term care facilities. Excellent training and ongoing education and support provided. Contact RSVP for information.
Hospice helpers
Do you have skills and time to share with patients and families? There are many ways to get involved: office & clerical, gift & thrift volunteer, musician, massage therapy, compassionate care home hospitality, and more. Training dates are: Sept 16, 18, 23 and 25. Call RSVP for details.
Partners in English Language Learning
PIELL has a two-day tutor training scheduled for Sept. 21 and 28. It is not necessary to have teaching or bilingual skills. Volunteer tutors meet with a learner one to two hours per week and should plan to commit to at least a year of tutoring once matched with an adult learner.
Hospital Auxiliary
The hospital auxiliary is looking for caring, compassionate, dependable volunteers to join their organization. There are so many interesting volunteer positions available. A few examples include: Gift Shop, Cancer Center, Emergency Depart,emt, Diagnostic Imaging, main lobby, Nursing floor and more.


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December 29, 2008 by danny
Stevie arrived at the house first; he was always prompt. The others followed singly, through the back door, down the steps, through the small kitchen and tiny living room and up the stairs where they stunk out the back bedroomwith the constant smoking of cigarettes which steadied their nerves.
This call-house was new: a young husband and wife with republican sympathies had become active supporters about nine months before, converted by the violent excesses of the British after the introduction of internment. There had been many such converts, and even more following the shooting dead of thirteen civil rights' marchers in Derry the previous January on a day soon known as Bloody Sunday. With quite a number of houses at their disposal, the unit changed call-houses every day, picking up the address from a trustworthy local shopkeeper. Those Volunteers on-the-run usually moved into the call-house during the early morning rush to school. Other good times for moving were at lunch-time and between half-three and half-five in the afternoons when the streets were busy again. Now, with the onset of school holidays, street routine had changed and moving about between operations could be as nerve-racking as actual active service.
Some Companies – those which were surviving the high rate of attrition through a mixture of shrewdness, recruitment and luck – were actually using two or three call-houses together.
In one a float could be in planning. On a float Volunteers in a car with one or two weapons would drive around – or 'float about' – until they found a British army target. Youths acting as scouts could be posted at street corners but often accidentally alerted the soldiers that something was afoot. It could be more dangerous than a set snipe in which an occupied house was usually commandeered and the Volunteers patiently waited for a patrol to turn up. But at least on a float they were always active and the operation – their day's work – could be over and done with inside an hour.
Stevie, the Volunteers knew from loose talk, had actually gone out on floats by himself, without transport, and had once opened fire on two foot patrols using an AR 15 – an Armalite with a folding butt – which he had hidden inside a Marks and Spencer's carrier bag.
In another house a bombing might be planned. In another the officer commanding the Company and his staff might be based. Co-ordination with other battalion units was vital as often three, four or five bombing units were going in and out of the city centre and criss-crossing each other. Where bombs were not planted in physical take-overs of premises but were left in car bombs or smuggled into shops, warnings had to be arranged.
Houses and local support – a base – were absolutely crucial to the continuation of the armed struggle. Some sympathisers were prepared to billet Volunteers, others would allow their homes to be used for meetings but not as a jump-off or run-back point for operations. Other supporters – the ones who commanded the greatest respect of the Volunteers – were prepared to hold weapons and explosives.
Contacts in the areas passed on the names of potential supporters who were then delicately approached and sounded out to see what use they could be put to – the demand for dumps always being the most pressing. As layer upon layer of support was built up, an extensive network came into existence; sympathetic houses, car owners, people in employment who passed on intelligence. The people became the eyes and ears of this people's army and the word 'sound' when used to describe a supporter or another Volunteer took on a meaning more significant than the usual definition of reliable. Sound people could be absolutely depended on if the IRA was stuck; could be depended upon to give an objective opinion, to be truthful; could be depended upon if a Volunteer was in a tight corner.
'Joe, open that bloody window, the smoke in here would kill you,' said Stevie as he fanned his face.
There was a knock at the door. It was opened to the woman of the house who left in a tray of buttered baps and mugs of tea. The baby's room had recently been decorated and carpeted. It had a Magic Roundabout lamp shade hanging from the ceiling and curtains patterned with scenes from a zoo. The clinical, Spartan smell of fresh paint was being coated in cloying, stale nicotine fumes.
'Do you want an ash tray?' she asked, a little bit anxious.
'My apologies for these men," Stevie replied. 'They should be put out in the yard.'
She smiled back, acknowledging the concern. Her husband and she had a fastidious and proud attitude to their small home but she self-consciously mellowed when she thought about these lads and what they were facing. She returned shortly afterwards with ash trays.
'By the way, I'm making a fry for Eddie later if any of you would like one. He's to go to work at two, he's on a shift.'
'I'd love a fry,' Stevie said. 'I'm starvin'.' He munched at his second bap.
When she left, Patsy let his envy be known.
'How the hell could you eat a fry? I'm having trouble keeping down this tea.' He had also been to the toilet twice and would me making more visits before the operation, though once they moved out and were actually on the go his equanimity would return. He knew this from his first three operations: throwing two nail bombs at soldiers on patrols and then driving on his first float.
'Not only could I eat a fry, ma boy, but I could eat yours as well,' answered Stevie, hungrily. 'Anyway, down to biz. I've cleared a float with the double-O,' he said, using IRA argot for Operations Officer. 'If we don't "touch" we have to wrap up before half-three.'
He made no reference to the explanation for the time limit but Joe knew that a car-load of explosives was due in the Falls around tea-time. Other Volunteers had been detailed to empty the door panels of the nitro-benzine mix and to dump it in sealed plastic bins under man-hole covers in a particular entry. The electric detonators gave off no tell-tale smell and were easily kept hidden in a house.
'Joe, I'll be on foot and youse float behind me. I'll stay around the front of the road; we'll "touch" quicker there. Tell Geraldine to take the thirty-eight and for her and Liam to take a car at the zebra crossing. They're over in McDonough's but they need to get another house to hold the driver. Hold his licence just in case he's an Orangeman and bolts. Tell Geraldine not to be hijacking any women – they'll only scream and things'll be fucked up.'
Stevie pulled out various articles from the parcel he had asked Joe to bring.
'Whadda you think of this?'
They all burst out laughing. He had pulled on an old cardigan and put on glasses with round metal frames which gave him a silly appearance. From beneath the bed he produced a borrowed pair of hedge-clippers. Finally, he dipped his comb in the tea and within seconds stood his hair on end.
They admired the lengths to which he went. Some of the Volunteers experienced a thrill, unmasked, undisguised, running through the streets, armed. The Brits don't wear masks, so why should fucking we, pride would foolishly dictate, as they left it to fate that 'dead' soldiers would never be able to ID them.
I see the patrol and I smile to myself. They haven't been shot at in two weeks and they have relaxed. They have probably believed the bloody know-all intelligence officer in the barracks who put Gerry, Peter and Sean away in Long Kesh and thinks he has cleared out the unit. The second foot-patrol – their minds split between their profession and their home – is about five hundred yards behind, too far to be of tactical use in our maze of streets.
'Joe, get the gear. Tell Patsy to put the car beside Murray's house, facing up the street. We'll get them from the corner against the hoardings.'
They stop outside the post office, the Englishmen, Scotsmen, Welshmen, the uniforms, I don't give a fuck. One detains a woman shopper and rummages through her bag. I can make out her protesting, giving off, and, like a cat baring its fangs, some gland flushes a vengeance through me that tautens every muscle and sinew.
The radio-man stops a young lad. I can almost hear that jarring British accent ordering him to put his arms up higher and get them legs out. He's feeling his jeans, frisking the body of the frightened kid.
Oh, I'm in control okay. I run my finger along cold steel. I stroke the smooth wood. Here they come, their sight of me bordering between curiosity and fear until I raise both hands and, with a clip, level the last section of the hedge. Like coagulating blood the juices rush to the white wounds. And the soldiers relax. I whistle The Rifles of the IRA, so cheekily, so contemptuous of their ignorance, with so much daring, almost challenging them, that it excites me and I am pleased with the aura of deception I have carefully fostered.
Don't say I didn't warn you.
Here they come. They don't see me even though they are looking directly at me. I look so happy and serene and domestic, standing with my hedge-clippers now tucked under the arm of my woolly cardigan. Greenfingers is hardly going to cut our heads off! No self-respecting English youth would be seen dead wearing that polka dot shirt, fastened by that kite-sized tie! And because I am a twenty-year-old gawk, and bespectacled (with clear glass), and because this is a strange land, because this is Ireland, I know they shrug me off. Innocence oozes out of me. The leader of the patrol does not mentally mark me down to be p-checked. He comes up to me, me with the clownish grin, specky four-eyes, and I use our exchange of glances to impart a duplicitous trust and friendship. I have that brotherly respect for both of us that opposing combatants share in war, but I cannot confide in him in the way that his battle fatigues mark him out for me. Fraternisation, communication, pity, restraint, humour, is always their gift, depending on their mood, depending on what side of the bed they crawled out. Favourable responses, replies, repartee, and their eyes sparkle as if they've just seen light at the end of the tunnel. But these are never sentimental exchanges across no man's land. There's no football at the Christmas front. The Brits remain implacable and we cling to our cunning.
As he now passes me, me whom he'll never see again, I turn into the side-street of my youth and run across a few feet of cobblestones before the tarmac takes over. From here I can almost touch the house I was born in and the entry where standing in darkness we fumbled at first making love.
I stop my mind and note that in these few seconds of running, a thousand reflections, experiences, mixed feelings and considerations, and a few specks of golden wisdom panned over twenty years of my life, have gushed through my muddy consciousness.
I move as natural as this sunny afternoon's light breeze across the Falls Road, an imperceptible shift of air that would hardly tickle a fly. I am honed for the delivery of this stroke like the finely pointed lead of a sharpened charcoal pencil between the fingers of an artist. I am immortal: I shall see tomorrow. This will be that corporal's last day.
I think of this man. He is somebody's son, perhaps a good man, maybe even a loving husband. We both speak the same language, could have stolen the same bars of chocolate from the corner shop, told the same juvenile jokes to our mates, and sheltered from the same storms as they fell a few hours apart on our lands. I came up on the same music and television as he did, the Beatles and Coronation Street. But the British public – his ma and da, their governments – didn't even know we existed and cared nothing. When I pieced things together for myself, when I listened and watched, I understood it all – the police batons, the house-burnings, and then my decision to fight back. Sitting with the patience of a prophecy was my Irishness, waiting to be tapped and to explode.
He probably doesn't even want to be here.
Already I can hear the familiar sermon echoing all the comparisons and lecturing me, the killer. I can see those comparisons myself right down to our mutual likes and dislikes in food, Granny Smith's apples, flowing butter on warm white bread, plenty of salt and vinegar on the fish and chips.
We may even have supported the same team for the FA Cup.
He probably doesn't even want to be here.
Everything can conspire to scream at you, to weaken your resolve. Everything I've been taught, from the words of my mother, to my schooling, my religious teachings, my own beliefs, were all part of a moral system whose effects are to cripple this action and deter me. Then there is the smug power of the status quo and the awesomeness of existing authority.
My own body's bowels could burst as a signal of cowardice, a warning of the danger, a call to self-preservation. A twinge of conscience, yesterday's bloodshed, can become a black nightmare. (I have seen that in comrades who fell away 'because of the wife', because they found an ideological difference or used personality clashes as a pretext. In others it was the ghosts who broke their health or minds, or they had a flawed commitment to begin with.)
He probably doesn't even want to be here, but he is!
And that's my edge over him, over all their arguments. That's why I have blood like oil lubricating my calves and thighs, my buoyant steps, which take me through these close streets and into Murray's street, ahead of the Brits.
He has no right to be here and if doesn't want to be here then he shouldn't be here. He can kid himself, and may well have done so, but when all is said and done here he comes, sauntering up my road with his gun in his hand, doling out his mood to pedestrians, ever nosey and curious, ever the law, on top, dashing for his survival across open spaces because he knows we don't want him. He would just as quickly rob me of breath if ordered or if the fancy took him. But I am just too smart for the poor bugger. Governments may have us, the foot soldiers, at each other's throats but I am a soldier and a general, a politician and a civilian. I am my own government, but without him there is no government, no British rule.
I am not claiming the certainty of God's blessing for my actions. I am not that conceited. I believe in a God. I see the beauty of God's creation all around me, especially in this man with the clean face and short hair who'll never shave again, in the red roses over there bathing in the floating warm air, in this demonstration of power and fate unfolding and the tragedy of trapped people. My conscience reminded – not beset – by the occasional doubt is also a remarkable process which keeps me right. I entertain doubts precisely because they strengthen my single-mindedness, my convictions. The fact that I am doing this in spite of myself, against the grain, against my nature, and not because they ever killed anyone belonging to me but because I have rationalised this confrontation and carry it out on behalf of others, proves that it isn't personal revenge. I take up a gun for every arthritic Irish man who fucks the English up and down (and not really the English but these Brits and their system). I am here on behalf of all those too weak to retaliate or who lack the stomach for violence or lack the courage to risk their own lives.
I am the history maker. This is my power, this is my cause, and behind me lie centuries and centuries and a thousand lands where similar foreign fuckers with rifles or bayonets, not ever wanting to be here or there, were around just the same, doing their missionary work, civilising us natives, maintaining their peace.
Oh, they have their doings well sewn-up, well wrapped in a law and a morality whose smartness only the likes of me can really smile at and appreciate, because I am an arsonist with their property and institutions and I know the thief below the bow and wrapping paper.
Yes, the God thing and thou shalt not kill. It's even harder for us. The Brits were suckled on superciliousness, on empire building, that others were Coons and Paddies and bloody Kaffirs.
The pulpits say I'm for hell! We were reared to conform, not to kick, so it doesn't come easy to copy the killers and kill and even-up history a bit. I'll even stretch my imagination and allow that a Brit can be a relatively innocent being. So I snuff out an innocent life and – bingo! –he goes straight to heaven. I've done him a favour, before he committed any serious transgressions and sentenced himself to eternal damnation. On the other hand, if he's a bastard and was heading for hell anyway the most I've done is put him there prematurely. So where's the sin?
I'm being silly.
I'm not as callous as this and there's always, always, always, a psychological unease, a sense of violation and wrong, about killing this man, or the other three soldiers I shot and blew up. Experiences and intellect, the slide into violence, eliminate the compunctions and Time absorbs the inhumanity. If I go to hell for this, I'll go to hell. My soul will burn eternally not for something I did only for myself but for what I did for others. And God's not up to much, if he'd burn anyone forever and ever. Imagine having those screams on your conscience!
I pass the garden shears back to one of our supporters, an old man who sits on a chair at his front door reading the Irish News.
'Good luck and be careful,' he says solemnly.
'The Gardens are clear,' Joe shouts to me. 'So is the Drive and the Road.' Wearing gloves he opens the boot of the Cortina.
'Wait a minute,' I order. He snaps it shut. I walk out to the corner for a last look. I am on stage. The cobalt blue sky, the blazing sun focus on me, the main character, me with the magic fore-finger, fate-maker, sorter-out of British soldiers come to do you harm.
'Quickly, they've stopped some fellahs again.' But as I turn I see two armoured cars come down the Falls Road.
They whine. They trundle past, bleeping their hooters to their friends who wave back. The air is pungent with the foreign smell of their exhaust fumes. It all becomes so real, so critical, so deliberate.
My comrade opens the boot again. I put on my gloves, place the silly spectacles in a side pocket of my corduroy trousers, pull on a cap, and lift the Garand rifle which I prepared myself earlier. Patsy, our driver, turns over the engine and I note his nervousness. Joe takes up a position with an Armalite to cover my back. The area is not too busy. Traffic is light. Two big lusty mongrels bare their teeth and slabber at each other as they canter after a blonde little poodle whose self-importance rises with each sniff and growl from the competitors.
I peep around the corner. We used to sit here when school was over and play cards and whistle after the girls from St Louise's – the 'brown bombers' we called them. Little did we know the use of corners.
Mr Corporal is just about one hundred yards from me, down on his hunkers, finishing the frisking of a young lad. A colleague holds his weapon. Another soldier leaning over a wall and pointing his SLR directly at me, concerns me, but I am gone from sight and I have made him doubtful I think by the time, a few seconds later, when I re-appear with my raised rifle, the butt resting comfortably into my shoulder, into my spine, down to my firm feet, like it's a part of me.
And it is now that I make my thunderous finale. The corporal's back collapses inwards under the severe punch from a bolt of lightning lead but I too feel an unusual recoil as the top furniture of my rifle is splintered by the shots returned from the alert marksman.
We turn and run, Joe firing a burst into the air which keeps the Brits pinned down under fake fire. It's a good excuse for some of the yellow bastards to stay put. A woman has fainted but some kids start cheering and clapping our performance. The weapons are thrown into the boot and my two comrades, as arranged, drive off; Joe to hand over the weapons to the quartermaster; Patsy to dump the hijacked car in the Kashmir district where Volunteers from another unit are waiting to use it as a lure in an ambush. I run into side streets, air streaming across my brow, blowing through my hair, curving my body. I run up an entry where a stout woman, her grey curls loosely pinned around a falling bun, is brushing some rubbish from her back door. 'Jesus Christ, what was that son?'
'I don't know missus, but I think somebody opened up on the Brits.'
She blesses herself and rolls her eyes. I cross into another entry and push open a back door. My clothes I put into the washing-machine. I switch on the thermostat, though the water is still warm, and turn on the motor of the twin-tub. I like this house because it also has a shower.
As I climb into its spray I can hear the engines of armoured personnel carriers, of landrovers.
They don't even know where to begin.
Pellets of water pummel my face.
I hear on the news that the corporal is dead, that he was married with two children, aged four and one. I clench my teeth and swallow hard and I will often think of this man.
I curse the life that has brought me to this; then I focus in on the British government. I think of the corporal who might have hated his job, who might have been buying himself out of the army.
I'll live for him and in some sort of communion with him.
One thing is for sure.
I'll think about him more often than his commanding officer.
I'll maybe even be still thinking about him when his widow has stopped.
Who knows.
Falls Library Reading etc
December 12, 2008 by danny
Interviewed by Joe Austin on Feile FM – the festival radio station which continues to survive against all odds and funding cutbacks. You can hear the station on: http://www.feilefm.com/
Joe asked me to pick three pieces of music and to tell stories about them. Can't remember in which order I picked and commented on them. One was John Barry's theme to 'Midnight Cowboy' [one of my favourite books and films], though everyone's favourite, and mine, is 'Everybody's Talkin' by Harry Nilsson. In jail I was reading the 'Guardian' only to discover that the author of 'Midnight Cowboy', James Leo Herlihy, had, at the age of 66, checked into a hotel and committed suicide by overdose. Now what was going through his mind?
Another piece of music was 'The Gadfly Suite' by Shostakovich [who wrote the score for the 1955 Russian film adaptation. I wrote a feature on 'The Gadfly which is available here: http://www.dannymorrison.com/?page_id=318 ]. My third song, for personal reasons, and with great memories of dancing with a loved one after midnight, was 'Tweeter and the Monkey Man' by the Traveling Wilburys. There is a line in that song which goes: "And the walls came down/All the way to hell/Never saw them when they're standing/Never saw them when they fell."
When I was writing a book I wanted to use the title 'And The Walls Came Down' and met in London a Dub, Frank Murray, the former manager of the Pogues and owner of the pub Filthy McNasty's, who gave me great advice on copyright. Of the Traveling Wilburys Roy Orbison was dead, though George Harrison, who was to die of cancer and whom of all the Beatles, I would love to have met, was still alive. I wrote to their managements and it was a convoluted nightmare. To get around the legalities I changed the name of the book to 'Then The Walls Came Down'. It has been reprinted twice but I think it is I who has the last 100 copies!
Twenty people – okay, eighteen! – showed up in the Falls Library, organised by Anne Maxwell, for my reading from work-in-progress novel, 'Rudi'. Feedback is more important than numbers. I once did a reading in front of three people in Germany and Conal Creedon who did Scribes at the Rock last August tells a story where only one old boy shows up at one of his readings, then falls asleep during it! If you are in Ireland or Britain you can see him telling this story [on the internet for one week only!] on http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00fzbq2/Feile_an_Phobail_Twenty_Years_On_Episode_4/
Two friends objected to one of the main female characters, who is from a County Down Protestant family in the 1940s, being called Francesca. They said Francesca was a Catholic name. I realised that I was trying to remain a little bit too faithful to Hesse's 'Knulp' upon which 'Rudi' is based. My wife Leslie has suggested the name Isabel. So, I have substituted Isabel for the name Francesca even though I believe it sounds less euphonious.
December 2nd: Feile an Phobail management meeting.
Interviewed by Marissa McGlinchey, who is into her third year of hr PhD titled, "The Changing dynamics of Northern Nationalism – Post Agreement."
December 3rd: Meet in Culturlann with Stephen Todd to discuss [and to promote] the website he is organising, Shared Troubles, which should be available from 17th December. See story at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7652073.stm. One of the stories he later sent me is about a British army sniper in Derry and is very interesting. Hope he doesn't mind me putting it up but here it is:
It was on a late hot afternoon in August 1973. I had been tasked the previous evening from my unit at Ballykinler to report to the Royal Fusiliers in the area of the city wall above the Bogside in Derry.
I arrived about 4pm and reported to the Royal Fusiliers and started to set up a sniper hide on the ramparts of the wall. Sniper hides are difficult in an urban situation, so concealment from fire was the best we could achieve, and sooner or later we would be seen. To solve this problem we moved our position from time to time along the wall.
The City wall area had a brick building behind it called the 'Masonic' This building housed the platoon of Fusiliers, a jolly lot who were quite fed up of bricks being hit out of the wall by rifle fire and showering down on them within and outside the building. The soldiers were particularly annoyed because their dining hall was inside on the upper floor where most bullets struck and they constantly got brick chunks in their food. They had been receiving the aimed rifle fire for some days previously. My task was to: 'Observe the situation, locate the sniper and return fire for effect'.
I positioned myself and my fellow sniper, Pte Swannick on the city wall. The wall was a high stone structure with a drop of about forty feet down onto a sloping grass bank. The bank sloped right down to the Bogside Inn, which was situated 200 metres below us on the part of the main residential area of the Bogside facing our position.
We chose a sniper hide on the wall near to the Walker Memorial. The memorial had been destroyed by explosion some time recently. The top of the wall was castellated along its whole length. Behind the top of the wall were ramparts that allowed walking along its safe side. The height from the rampart floor to the top of the wall on our side was about four feet, which allowed ample movement. Camouflage nets were draped over the wall. Observation was achieved through the gaps in the castellation, using the camouflage nets for cover and relying on 'trapped shadow' behind, to prevent silhouette. In all it was a comfortable task with complete freedom of movement. The Fusiliers behind us meant we had no local security problem; a cushy number, we could even brew tea.
We set up and prepared our 'optics' loaded and sat and observed and waited. We positioned ourselves about 10 metres apart. Swannick was an excellent rifle shot. He was renowned for his shooting skill in the Regiment. He was a quiet Monmouthshire man and as steady as they come. I loved to watch him fire on the range, especially at longer ranges. It was as if the rifle grew out of his shoulder, there was no visible bodily movement as the shot was discharged.
A large element of urban sniping is to get to know the pattern of life in front of you. Who lives where; who comes and goes at certain times; who works where, and at what time they leave for work and return home again. The milkman; the postman, people coming and going. It all makes a big picture. An important facture was to watch the reaction of certain people, male and female to the approach of army foot patrols. Some ignored them. Some hid behind walls and corners, some turned and ran. Others would throw a rock over a house at the patrol, believing that they were unseen in the act.
I was not convinced that the sniping, as was firmly believed, was from the Bogside Inn. It couldn't be. There was no cover, no covered escape route and certainly no unobserved firing positions there. Also it was too public and wide open. I liked the wiry Irish and they were too clever to use that place. For planning yes, but not for the action!
About six pm that second evening two shots came at us from a great distance away and went some feet overhead. The shots came from the area of the edge of The Creggan, about 600 metres away or perhaps from Cable Street. The 'crack and thump' give us that indication of distance. It was the IRA testing a rifle perhaps? 'Why waste rounds when there are Brits about!'
Later at about 7pm I was using my rifle telescope and moving my observation from window to window, searching the lower and upper windows of the houses and flats in front of us. The Bogside had gone quite, which was unusual for a summer evening. I saw some faces looking from different windows and looking in our direction. I saw in two houses that the occupants were using binoculars. I moved to another castellation on the wall and continued my scan of the area. Something sinister was being planned in front of us.
Some minutes later I saw a young girl, walking hurriedly towards a block of flats to my front. It was a hot night and she was wearing a heavy thick check long coat. She walked awkwardly and in my opinion she was carrying a rifle. Her right arm was locked in carry position in her coat, after some steps she would adjust her carriage of the rifle. She was of small physique and whatever she carried, it was heavy for her. She ran the last few steps to the flats, opened the swing doors and went inside. In all this time I was discussing with Swannick and that I would do the shooting while he observed in case this was a 'set-up' for someone bigger about.
The girl and two youths appeared in an open window of a living room on the second floor, distance was about 200 metres. The two skinny youths were quite young and would have had little experience of what they were up to otherwise. I would not be on to them.
The three disappeared from view. I went with my telescopic sight from window to window on the same level. All eight or so windows were open, most with curtains which were closed or partially open. Once I saw the girl come forward in a window. She was standing alone and looking directly up at our position, she was without her coat. She turned her head as if speaking to someone. I thought that they were probably waiting for a target.
Suddenly a high velocity shot rang out and hit our position. A near miss! I did not see which window it came from. I kept my rifle on the flats and waited, my sights moving from window to window. I thought there would certainly be a second shot.
Then I saw the girl appear at the entrance door on the lower floor. She had her coat on again and obviously carrying the rifle. She stood for some seconds and looked directly up at our location. I placed the pointer of my rifle telescope scope right on her breast, just below her throat. I saw a young face with dark hair, a slight girl, a pretty face. I took the first pressure on the trigger and stalled as she looked up towards me. She was like a hunted animal, her head moving sharply in several directions!
Suddenly she started to run to her right towards the Bogside Inn and then away from me in a straight line. I placed the rifle telescope on her back and took the first pressure again, an easy target; …I couldn't do it!
As she ran I fired two shots, the first a deliberate shot aimed one metre to her left and the second shot a deliberate one metre to her right. The noise of incoming rounds of high velocity so near must have been horrific to her.
I saw her run behind a wall about three hundred metres away. She must have been in a state of shock. A young lieutenant of the Fusiliers talked a foot patrol onto her position by radio. She was found and taken into the base, where I believe she was charged with the offence of carrying arms.
For my part, I felt that I had failed as a soldier in my duty. At first I was sorry that I had let her go to carry arms again. I cared little about my reputation as a sniper. I cared more that I felt it was not an entirely military target; a young teenage girl perhaps not yet seventeen.
For missing the target, I was called to account by my commanding officer, as a father of two young girls I took it on the chin and made no reply as his ravings went on for some minutes. There followed a long silence, both of us standing face to face in his office. His six foot figure towered over me. He kept repeating, 'you missed!' you missed!' I made no reply, as he glared at me. I felt he was trying to decipher what I was thinking. Then after another pause he quietly said. 'Go back to your company and polish up your bloody sniper skills.'
As time went on I became glad I'd let her go. Some months later when Pte Swannick was killed at Ballykinler and later more of my friends killed in the county of Armagh, I thought deeply about the incident and regretted my actions. Now over thirty years later and in different times and with a welcome peace in Ireland, I am truly quite happy with my choice of action. It was a moral issue not a military one. Only the man on the spot has the right to make such choices.
The young girl came from Ivy Terrace in the Bogside. If she reads this narrative or another of her contemporaries reads it, then I am sure she will know exactly who she is! I hope now that the girl is a happy mother of children. I often wonder if she thinks of that August afternoon in 1973 and does she ever realise that my bad shooting was completely intentional; having seen her face and small feminine figure magnified to three times magnification…I just could not do it!
Speaking at, and awarding certificates to, the creative writers organised by Patricia Gormley, at Tearmann Fold, Andersonstown. Amazing turn-out: I would say 120 people on a frosty night. Patricia was in a creative writing class I organised about eight or nine years ago in Conway Mill and she took part in Feile's first Scribes At The Rock. I always remember the smile of revisionist historian Professor John A Murphy at her reading when you felt that he knew that much of the stuff that he had been writing about us was a nonsense. Patricia and those associated with the Fold had written a play which was performed in August as part of Feile an Phobail. I only got to see it a month ago and wrote a letter in support of the play to the 'Andersonstown News'. This is the letter:
A chara,
As chair of Feile an Phobail it is impossible for me and most of the Feile team to see all of the events that feature throughout the year, particularly in the August festival.
However, last Saturday night I had the opportunity of seeing Patricia Gormley's hilarious two-act play, 'The Bus Run', in Conway Mill, which had its premiere at the same venue during the hectic week that is feile.
The play was written by Patricia, a creative writer, who has an acute ear for the idioms of this community forged over decades, and which distinguish the life of our people from that depicted on RTE soaps or 'East Enders' or 'Coronation Street'. To her credit, Patricia's inspiration is home-grown and came from the pensioners at Tearmann Fold on the Andersonstown Road.
And what a raucous, disreputable bunch of retired West Belfastians they must represent! Not only did their observations and philosophies on life help write the play but some of them take to the stage like natural [albeit thwarted!] Joan Crawfords, Betty Grables, Barbara Stanwycks!
We have a lot to learn about love, friendship, comradeship, sons and daughters, snobbery, pretension, constipation, aspiration and the exchange rate between the Euro and Sterling from this original, genuine and humane work of art!
Let's hope it goes on another bus run at a venue near you!
Danny Morrison,
Chair, Feile an Phobail
Interviewed by a Croydon newspaper re the outing of Maria Maguire as Maria Gartland, Tory councillor, who wrote an allegedly kiss-and-tell book about the IRA, Dáithí Ó Conaill, and an arms smuggling attempt which I read in Long Kesh in 1973 at the age of twenty without a clue and which did not diminish my comrades and I one iota. I was asked was she in danger of being assassinated and I laughed and said I didn't think so. Okay, she probably did a deal and was debriefed by MI5 when she retreated to England, but there was no way could she compromise the souls of the activists, or stop the momentum of struggle. I said to the journalist, who was a kid, that you could hardly put Maguire on the same plane as Sean O'Callaghan.
"Sean, who?" he said. And I thought, yes, that indeed sums up the life and times of Mister O'C.
December 8th: Interviewed by a Sri Lankan student, Dinesh D. Dodamgoda, a PhD candidate at the Centre for Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. Dinesh was a Member of Parliament in Sri Lanka and a journalist. His research topic is: "Legitimation and Legitimation: Insurgents: the use of media and the media coverage of insurgencies."
Always on this date I think of Liam Mellows, Rory O'Connor, Joe McKelvey and Dick Barrett who were executed by firing squad on 8 December 1922. Gerry Adams introduced me to the writings of Liam Mellows many, many years ago. In one of the biographies I discovered that Mellows was born in a barracks in Ashton-Under-Lyne, Manchester, a derelict place which I walked by several times in August 1972 when I was courting Sandra, who became my first wife.
December 9th: Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness launches Fr Joe McVeigh's book. I asked him about the story on Shared Troubles, the one about the British soldier in Derry who spares the life of a young IRA activist moving a rifle after an attack, and he says that he doesn't think that anyone from Ivy Terrace was arrested and charged in 1973 with possession of a weapon but that he would ask.
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Fr Joe McVeigh – TAKING A STAND
December 9, 2008 by danny
Fr Joe McVeigh's excellent new book was launched in Culturlann, West Belfast, by Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness on Tuesday, 9th December. Joe, from Ederney in County Fermanagh, has always taken a stand on behalf of the dispossessed and those who have suffered oppression and discrimination.
In the book Joe writes: "The way forward for the Christian churches, it seems to me, is to adopt a liberation theology – to oppose the use of military intervention [in the manner of the USA – DM] and to promote the gospel of non-violence. There should be continuous tension between the reign of God and empire."
Also at the launch was the great Fr Des Wilson who also spoke. I once did a fascinating interview with Des back in 1981 or 1982 which was published in 'An Phoblacht/Republican News', which I must try and trace and reproduce. Fr Joe McVeigh's book can be ordered through Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Taking-Stand-Joe-McVeigh/dp/1856355934
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November 2008 Pt 2
December 4, 2008 by danny
Tuesday, 18th November, took part in RTE panel discussion [recorded in the Linenhall Library], 'Legacy of the Great War' with Philip Orr, Chris McGimpsey and Edna Longley, chaired by Myles Dungan. The programme was broadcast on RTE Radio 1 on Thursday, 20th November and is available on podcast at http://www.rte.ie/radio1/ourwar/1235353.html
Outside the building the city centre was packed as Mayor Tom Hartley officiated at the official switching on of the Christmas tree lights at the City Hall and the noise of the concert could be heard in the Linenhall Library though I think the engineers managed to minimise it in the recording.
Chris McGimpsey argued that a way should be found to allow people from whatever point of view – unionist or nationalist – to jointly commemorate the dead of [particularly] World War I. I said that I agreed with the sentiment but that 'we' couldn't even find away of jointly commemorating the dead of our most recent conflict.
Did interview with Matthew Nyero, a PHD student at Queen's, researching the 'British administration of Northern Ireland under Margaret Thatcher'.
Did interview via Skype with American student Sarah Smith, doing her senior thesis on 'the success and failures of the Good Friday Agreement'.
Interviewed by UTV for a television documentary to be broadcast in January 2009 about the history of poteen in Ireland [and how we made it in jail!].
Attended Basque night in Roddy McCorley's club and read 'I Would Like' by Yevgeny Yevtushenko:
I would like
to be born
in every country,
have a passport
for them all
to throw
all foreign offices
into panic,
be every fish
in every ocean
and every dog
in the streets of the world.
I don't want to bow down
before any idols
or play at being
a Russian Orthodox church hippie,
but I would like to plunge
deep into Lake Baikal
and surface snorting
why not in the Mississippi?
In my damned beloved universe
I would like
to be a lonely weed,
but not a delicate Narcissus
kissing his own mug
in the mirror.
I would like to be
any of God's creatures
right down to the last mangy hyena–
but never a tyrant
or even the cat of a tyrant.
I would like to be
reincarnated as a man
in any image:
a victim of prison tortures,
a homeless child in the slums of Hong Kong,
a living skeleton in Bangladesh,
a holy beggar in Tibet,
a black in Cape Town,
but never
in the image of Rambo.
The only people whom I hate
are the hypocrites–
pickled hyenas
in heavy syrup.
I would like to lie
under the knives of all the surgeons in the world,
be hunchbacked, blind,
suffer all kinds of diseases,
wounds and scars,
be a victim of war,
or a sweeper of cigarette butts,
just so a filthy microbe of superiority
doesn't creep inside.
I would not like to be in the elite,
nor, of course,
in the cowardly herd,
nor be a guard dog of that herd,
nor a shepherd,
sheltered by that herd.
And I would like happiness,
but not at the expense of the unhappy,
and I would like freedom,
but not at the expense of the unfree.
I would like to love
all the women in the world,
and I would like to be a woman, too–
just once…
Men have been diminished
by Mother Nature.
Why couldn't we give motherhood
to men?
If an innocent child
below his heart,
man would probably
not be so cruel.
I would like to be man's daily bread–
a cup of rice
for a Vietnamese woman in mourning,
cheap wine
in a Neapolitan workers' trattoria,
or a tiny tube of cheese
in orbit round the moon.
Let them eat me,
let them drink me,
only let my death
be of some use.
I would like to belong to all times,
shock all history so much
that it would be amazed
what a smart aleck I was.
I would like to bring Nefertiti
to Pushkin in a troika.
I would like to increase
the space of a moment
a hundredfold,
so that in the same moment
I could drink vodka with fishermen in Siberia
and sit together with Homer,
and Tolstoy,
drinking anything,
except, of course,
–dance to the tom-toms in the Congo,
–strike at Renault,
–chase a ball with Brazilian boys
at Copacabana Beach.
I would like to know every language,
like the secret waters under the earth,
and do all kinds of work at once.
I would make sure
that one Yevtushenko was merely a poet,
the second–an underground fighter
I couldn't say where
for security reasons,
the third–a student at Berkeley,
the fourth–a jolly Georgian drinker,
and the fifth–
maybe a teacher of Eskimo children in Alaska,
the sixth–
a young president,
somewhere, say, modestly speaking, in Sierra Leone,
the seventh–
would still be shaking a rattle in his stroller,
and the tenth…
the hundredth…
the millionth…
For me it's not enough to be myself,
let me be everyone!
Every creature
usually has a double,
but God was stingy
with the carbon paper,
and in his Paradise Publishing Corporation
made a unique copy of me.
But I shall muddle up
all God's cards–
I shall confound God!
I shall be in a thousand copies to the end of my days,
so that the earth buzzes with me,
and computers go berserk
in the world census of me.
I would like to fight on all your barricades,
dying each night
like an exhausted moon,
and resurrecting each morning
like a newborn sun,
with an immortal soft spot–fontanel–
on my head.
And when I die,
a smart-aleck Siberian Francois Villon,
do not lay me in the earth
of France
or Italy,
but in our Russian, Siberian earth,
on a still-green hill,
where I first felt
that I was

subset: commoncrawl


text:
What is 'good' way to extract honey for less then 15 hives? I saw somewhere that all were needed are a cold knife, for capping removal, combo plastic tub, to do extracing and gather capping in, and bottles.
Also, any one ever sell extracted honey WITH the capping in it?


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A recent multicenter trial shows a natural factor that encourages nerve growth may bring relief from one of the more common effects of HIV infection: sensory neuropathy. The study, led by Johns Hopkins researchers, is supported by the AIDS Clinical Trials Group at the National Institutes of Health.
While not life-threatening, sensory neuropathy brings misery to thousands of HIV patients by producing burning, aching or tingling feelings as a result of injury to small sensation-bearing nerves. The injury comes from either the viral infection itself or the toxic effects of specific antiviral treatments. "Nearly a third of people with AIDS have these neuropathies, most often affecting the legs and feet," says neurologist Justin McArthur, MBBS, M.P.H., "Patients may be in constant pain and many have difficulty walking. It's quite a problem."
This spring, McArthur and a research team reported on a multicenter trial of 271 patients with HIV-related sensory neuropathy to evaluate genetically engineered nerve growth factor as a treatment. Nerve growth factor (NGF), found naturally in the body, is a small, potent molecule that helps maintain certain nerve cells. It also prods those nerve cells to grow and to communicate with other cells.
In the study, presented at this year's International AIDS Conference in Geneva, the patients got injections of either a moderate dose of lab-created NGF, a higher dose or a placebo. Throughout the 18-week trial, the team asked patients about improvements, had them rate their pain and took other neurological measures. The result, says McArthur, was that "patients said the intensity of pain was significantly lessened, and neurological exams showed improved sensation."
One offshoot of the study is that the researchers have verified precisely which nerves are involved in the injury -- something not done before. With a punch biopsy, a relatively painless technique little-used in neurology but common in dermatology, they removed small samples of the outer layers of skin. Under the microscope, the researchers found far fewer of the tiniest sensory nerves in the epidermis than normal. "We suspect other, larger nerves are recruited to take over the missing function," says John Griffin, M.D., head of neurology at Johns Hopkins. Those nerves are somehow more prone to produce pain.
As for the next step -- seeing if NGF triggers regrowth of patients' nerves -- that's under way, the researchers say. "For now," says McArthur, "we can measure the damage and treat the symptoms."
Currently, no existing treatment for HIV-related sensory neuropathy stops its degenerative path. Therapy has been limited to treating the pain by combining drugs such as tricyclic antidepressants, anti convulsants and/or painkillers, and using common-sense approaches like avoiding tight shoes.
Co-researchers on the study were Constantin Yiannoutsos of Harvard University, David Clifford of Washington University in St. Louis, Giovanni Schiffito of the University of Rochester, Betsy Smith of the NIAID, David Simpson at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City and research teams at 17 sites across the country.
The study was funded by grants from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (for grantholder David Clifford, M.D.) and by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease. It is under review for publication.
Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions' news releases are available on a PRE-EMBARGOED basis on EurekAlert at http://www.eurekalert.org, Newswise at http://www.newswise.com and from the Office of Communications and Public Affairs' direct e-mail news release service. To enroll, call 410-955-4288 or send e-mail to firstname.lastname@example.com.
On a POST-EMBARGOED basis find them at http://hopkins.med.jhu.edu, Quadnet at http://www.quad-net.com and ScienceDaily at http://www.sciencedaily.com.
Story Source:
Materials provided by Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Cite This Page:


text:
"I will try to express myself in some mode of life or art as freely as I can and as wholly as I can, using for my defense the only arms I allow myself to use -- silence, exile, and cunning." -- James Joyce
The article is so wonderful that I want to write something about myself.I am so glad to receive some wow gold and the World of Warcraft Gold is as my birthday gift. Some of the warcraft gold is very important for me that I will buy wow gold to go into the net game freely because the cheap wow gold is the key to the game.


text: So this is what I am going to order and instal in my 07 NBS extended cabl. Please let me know your opinions. I am not ordereing anything until Saturday. Custom dual 10" subthump box. 2 JVL 10w1 Alpine M500 Pioneer AVH P4100 Speakers either Alpine sps 600s or JLC2650x opinions or thoughts on any of the above.....:happy:


text:
By M.D. Kittle | Wisconsin Reporter
MADISON — Moody's Investors Service has downgraded the city of Milwaukee's bond rating by a notch, reflecting the city's declining population and its diminished property values.
While the city's fiscal strength remains solid, according to the ratings agency, the downward dip could cost taxpayers and holders of the bonds.
Moody's lowered Milwaukee's rating from Aa1 to Aa2.
The standing remains near the top rung of Moody's ratings ladder, just a couple of notches down from the top Aaa rating.
"We consider any double-A credit rating to be of high quality, subject to very low credit risk," said David Jacobson, spokesman for Moody's Investors Service, a bond credit rating business of Moody's Corp.
Still, any downgrade can cost the issuer — be it state, city, county or other government entity — in the price of borrowing, ultimately costing taxpayers. And for bondholders, any downgrade could diminish value.
Mike Daun, Milwaukee deputy comptroller, said the city has been at Aa or better for the past quarter century. Standard & Poor's, another top credit ratings firm, rates the city's bonds at Aa.
Moody's three years ago put the city on a negative watch.
Daun said while Milwaukee's fiscal house was in order, the government has eaten into its reserves in recent years.
"Poverty statistics have increased, the real estate debacle has hit large cities like ours. There's been a reduction in property values," said Daun, who has worked for the city for 32 years.
Moody's "usually take an action within three years to remove you from credit watch or to downgrade you a half or a whole step. In our case they downgraded us from Aa1 to Aa2."
The current sale offerings — bonds and notes — are secured by the city's general obligation unlimited tax pledge.
The Aa2 reflects the "sizable tax base that serves as the economic engine of the region but has experienced recent valuation declines with a relatively weak resident income profile," the Moody's release notes in part. Milwaukee's median income is lower than both the state and national figure.
Among the city's challenges, according to Moody's, is that the tax base has experienced three years of consecutive declines in equalized valuation. The tax base, at $28 billion, recorded declines of 3.1 percent, 5.6 percent, and 5.5 percent over the most recent three-year period.
Still, Moody's expects the tax base will remain relative stable, "given its role as the economic engine of the region."
Elsewhere in Wisconsin, Moody's gives the cities of Madison and Appleton its highest Aaa bond ratings. Green Bay is rated Aa1, while Moody's has for several years rated the city of Kenosha's bonds at Aa2.
Jacobson said Kenosha has an above average debt burden, elevated unemployment levels compared with the rest of the state and nation, and, like Milwaukee, median income levels that lag behind other parts of the state. But the city, Jacobson said, has implemented expense controls and lessened declines in property values.
"We do have a stable outlook on the them," he said of Kenosha.


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Yesterday I did a Win7 update and a AVAST antivirus program update and needed to restart. On reboot, the OS would not load.
This is on a computer which has had a dual boot system (although I no longer use the XP boot option).
The boot manager menu came up and the default option (Win 7) would not load.
After several hours of using BCDEDIT, I found the following:
1. There are 2 HDs on this system. C: is where the old XP system is; D: is where the Win7 system is.
2. C:\boot\BCD exists and is not hidden/system
3. D:\boot\BCD exists, but is hidden and system.
4. When typing in BCDEDIT the BCD it loads seems to be on D:
In a normal startup, it looks like the system uses BCD on C:, because the reference to where winload.exe is, is off, it cannot find it and the startup fails.
If I insert a DVD/CD into the drive, the startup then includes the possibility of booting from the DVD (I just use the Win7 repair disc). I ignore that and then the boot menu is correct and launches Win7 fine.
I have tried deleting the C: BCD, but leads to an error where it does not see the C:\boot\BCD.
I have tried using the Win7 disc and it "fixes" the boot mgr file, but when I put in the Win7 Repair disc it uses the D:\boot\BCD, so the issue remains unfixed when re-starting. If I use a disc in the drive method of launching Win7 and then used EasyBCD to manage the BCD (mainly to remove XP as an option for booting), again it changes the D: BCD, not the C:, and the C:\boot BCD remains and so does the problem.
I did a system restore before the update. No change. I restored D: from a backup and of course no change.
I restored C: and still had the same behavior, but it was an old BCD so the menu was changed to Windows Vista, not Windows 7 as a selection. Again, if I have a DVD/CD repair disc in, the startup uses the BCD off D: and it starts up fine.
How do I correct this situation so I do not need a disc in the DVD/CD drive to launch Win7?
BTW, I still want the C: drive in the system, because I do access the data on the drive from the old XP system regularly, so removing C: drive and letting D: be the only HD is not an option.
Chuck Belanger


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Sachin Tendulkar has been part of Mumbai Indians ever since IPL came to life in 2008. Here the master blaster is clicked on April 15, 2011, after smashing his first and only T20 hundred during an IPL match against the now-defunct Kochi Tuskers Kerala. (AFP)
Tendulkar announced his IPL retirement after Mumbai Indians won the title in 2013, beating Chennai Super Kings by 23 runs in the final played at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. (PTI)
Though Tendulkar wasn't at his best in IPL6, his presence motivated MI to their maiden IPL title. It also happened to be Sachin's last IPL. (BCCI Image)
Sachin enjoyed one of his best IPL seasons in 2010, when he won the Orange Cap with 618 runs in 15 matches at an average of 47.53. (AFP)
The world saw the unthinkable during IPL6, when the modern era's two greatest batsman - Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting - walked out to open the Mumbai innings. (BCCI Image)
With 2334 runs under his belt at an average of 34.83, Tendulkar is the fifth highest run getter in IPL history (2008-2013) after Suresh Raina (2802 runs), Rohit Sharma (2513 runs), Chris Gayle (2512) and Gautam Gambhir (2471). (Getty Images)
Tendulkar has also received eight Man-of-the-Match awards for Mumbai Indians in the IPL. (AFP)
A toe injury kept Sachin Tendulkar out of the MI squad that won the 2011 CLT20, but he made sure he travelled with the team to motivate them. (PTI)
After announcing his retirement from the IPL earlier in 2013, Sachin decided to appear for Mumbai Indians one last time at CLT20. (Image Credit: Mumbai Indians)
Sachin Tendulkar's birthday in 2011 coincided with the sad demise of his spiritual guru Sathya Sai Baba. However, like a true sportsman, he continued to lead Mumbai Indians in the IPL.


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Popular property highlights
Located in Downtown Colorado Springs within a 5-minute walk of Colorado Springs City Auditorium, The Mining Exchange, A Wyndham Grand Hotel & Spa is within a 15-minute stroll of Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum. This 4-star hotel welcomes guests with 117 rooms and conveniences like a full-service spa, free in-room WiFi, and a fitness center. Centrally located in Colorado Springs, the hotel is also a short walk from Acacia Park and Cottonwood Center for the Arts.
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The Mining Exchange, A Wyndham Grand Hotel & Spa
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The Mining Exchange, A Wyndham Grand Hotel & Spa features a full-service spa and a fitness center. The hotel offers a restaurant. A bar/lounge is on site where guests can unwind with a drink. A computer station is located on site and wired and wireless Internet access is complimentary.
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Available in all rooms: Free WiFi , Free wired high-speed Internet
Available in some public areas: Free WiFi , Free wired high-speed Internet
Valet parking (surcharge)
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The Mining Exchange, A Wyndham Grand Hotel & Spa offers 117 air-conditioned accommodations with laptop-compatible safes and coffee/tea makers. Beds feature pillowtop mattresses. 42-inch LCD televisions come with premium cable channels.
Bathrooms include bathrobes and hair dryers. This Colorado Springs hotel provides complimentary wired and wireless Internet access. Additionally, rooms include irons/ironing boards and ceiling fans.
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- Blackout drapes/curtains
- In-room safe (laptop compatible)
- Cable TV service
- Free WiFi
- Free wired high-speed Internet
- Room service (24 hours)
- Pillowtop mattress
- Rollaway/extra beds (surcharge)
Where to Eat
Springs Orleans - This restaurant specializes in Cajun/Creole cuisine and serves breakfast, lunch, dinner, and light fare.
24-hour room service is available.
Stratton Lobby Bar - Onsite bar.
Nearby Things to Do
Recreational amenities at the hotel include a fitness center.
The recreational activities listed below are available either on site or nearby; fees may apply.
- Golfing nearby
- Rafting nearby
- Hiking/biking trails nearby
- Mountain biking nearby
- Rock climbing nearby
Spa Services
Guests can indulge in a pampering treatment at the hotel's full-service spa, MX Spa. Services include deep-tissue massages, hot stone massages, Swedish massages, and massages.
The spa is open daily.
- Hot stone massage
- Deep tissue massage
- Swedish massage
- Prenatal massage
- Manicures and pedicures
- Body wraps
- Body scrubs
- Massages
- Facial treatments
If you have requests for specific accessibility needs, please note them at check-out when you book your room.
- Accessible bathroom
- In-room accessibility
- Roll-in shower
Hotel Policies
Check-out time is noon
Payment types
Children and extra beds
- Children are welcome.
- Kids stay free! Children 17 years old and younger stay free when using existing bedding.
- Rollaway/extra beds are available for USD 20.00 per day.
- Pets allowed for an extra charge of USD 50 per stay
- Dogs only
- 1 per room (up to 50 lb)
- Restrictions apply
- For more information contact the property at the number on the booking confirmation
You need to know
Extra-person charges may apply and vary depending on property policy.
Government-issued photo identification and a credit card or cash deposit are required at check-in for incidental charges.
Special requests are subject to availability upon check-in and may incur additional charges. Special requests cannot be guaranteed.
24-hour check-in
No cribs (infant beds) available
Optional extras
- Valet parking fee: USD 18.00 per night
- Pet fee: USD 50 per stay
- Rollaway bed fee: USD 20.00 per day
Hotel Name
- Hotel Mining
- Mining Exchange
- Mining Exchange Hotel
- Mining Exchange Wyndham Grand
- Mining Exchange Wyndham Grand Colorado Springs
- Mining Exchange Wyndham Grand Hotel
- Mining Exchange Wyndham Grand Hotel Colorado Springs
- Mining Hotel
- Wyndham Grand Mining Exchange
- Wyndham Mining Exchange
We should mention
Children 17 years old and younger stay free when occupying the parent or guardian's room, using existing bedding. In accordance with national/local laws, air conditioning may be restricted to certain hours during certain times of the year. Guests can arrange to bring pets by contacting the property directly, using the contact information on the booking confirmation (surcharges apply and can be found in the Fees section).


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September jobless rates continue downward trend
Brainerd's jobless rate continued its downward trend in September at 9 percent.
In Brainerd, there were 694 people without jobs out of a labor force of 7,682. The latest numbers, taken from zip codes, were released by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development. Brainerd made a slight drop from 9.4 percent unemployment in August to 9 percent in September. The new numbers represent the lowest unemployment rate in 57-straight months in Brainerd stretching back to the late fall of 2007 when the jobless rate was 8.3 percent.
The Brainerd micropolitan, which includes Cass and Crow Wing counties, posted a September jobless rate of 6.2 percent, or 3,012 unemployed people from a labor force of 48,666.
The micropolitan's jobless rate is also on a downward trend since July. The jobless rate hasn't been 6.2 percent in the Brainerd Micropolitan since September of 2008, some 48 months ago.
There are 16 micropolitans in the state with jobless rates ranging from a low of 4 percent in the Marshall area to a high of 6.4 percent in the Bemidji area. The jobless rate decreased across all the micropolitans. Three micropolitans in the state have a jobless rate of 6 percent or higher, with the Hutchinson area rounding out the top three.
The jobless rate also decreased across the seven-county area, continuing a steady downward trend since July.
The county unemployment rates range from the lowest — at 5.1 percent in Todd County — to the highest in Mille Lacs County at 7.6 percent.
September's numbers represented a milestone for most counties. Aitkin and Morrison counties had to go back to 2007 for a lower rate while Cass, Crow Wing and Mille Lacs went back to 2008 for lower numbers. Todd and Wadena counties posted lower jobless numbers much more recently, with Todd County at 5.1 percent in May of this year and Wadena County at 6.7 percent in 2011.
RENEE RICHARDSON, senior reporter, may be reached at 855-5852 or email@example.com. Follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Dispatchbizbuzz.


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[Fifty years ago today, Chögyam Trungpa made his last entry in the diary he kept of his escape from Tibet. On this day, he took his first plane ride, which carried him into the heart of India. His journey to the West had begun. He was never to see Tibet again.]
In the morning, an official came and read out a list of our names. He told us we would be given priority on the next plane. . . . This, our first flight, was a strange new experience, skimming over cloud covered mountains, seeing far below us the small villages and footpaths leading up to them; only by the moving shadow of the plane on the ground could we gauge how fast we were traveling. We thought about the teaching of impermanence; this was a complete severance of all that had been Tibet, and we were traveling by mechanized transport. As the moments passed, the mountain range was left behind, and the view changed to the misty space of the Indian plains stretching out in front of us.
From "Across the Himalaya," page 248 in Born in Tibet.


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Carroll Donaldson
1928 — 2013
CANTON — Alvin Carroll Donaldson, 84, of the Stamey Cove community, passed away Thursday, May 9, 2013, at his residence.
A native of Haywood County, he was a son of the late James Weaver and Minnie Seagle Donaldson. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by two sisters, Edith Mease and Dorothy Huckeby. Carroll will be remembered for his strong work ethic and dedication to his family. He was a talented wood craftsman and builder. Carroll retired from Champion International with 38 years of service and was a member of Spring Hill Baptist Church.
He is survived by his wife of 64 years, Alice Neal Donaldson; one daughter, Sandy Reece, and her husband, Keith, of Canton; one son, Danny Donaldson, and his wife, Shari, of White House, Tennessee; two sisters, Wanda Mohler, of Forest City, and "special sister," Darlene Gregg, of Canton; four brothers, Harold Donaldson, of Canton, Wayne Donaldson, of Waynesville, Weaver and Dean Donaldson, both of Canton; two grandchildren, Tammy Donaldson and Anthony Donaldson, and his wife, Jill; one great-grandchild, Jacob Payne; and many nieces and nephews.
A memorial service was held at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 12, at Spring Hill Baptist Church with the Rev. Keith Clark and Matthew Rhea officiating.
Memorials may be made to MedWest Haywood Hospice, 560 Leroy George Dr., Clyde, NC 28721 or to Spring Hill Baptist Church, 1918 Murray Road, Canton, NC 28716.
For those who desire, an online memorial register is available at www.wellsfuneralhome.com.


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Senate Majority Leader Dave Senjem, R-Rochester, says he's not sure there are enough votes this session to advance what is known as the "right-to-work" constitutional amendment.
Senjem told reporters today that he's waiting to see whether there's enough support in the House and Senate before he acts on the bill, which is now in the hands of the Senate Rules Committee.
"I'm not going to say it's dead for the session," Senjem said. "But the votes frankly aren't there on our side yet, as far as I'm aware. And there not there yet as far as I'm aware from the House's perspective. Unless and until that would change, the bill is where it's at."
The Senate Judiciary Committee approved the bill Monday on a 7 to 6 vote, after nearly four hours of discussion. Union members packed the hallways of the State Capitol to demonstrate their opposition.


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Trainer Larry Jones making progress
Trainer Larry Jones, hospitalized with multiple injuries, including bleeding on the brain, after being thrown from a horse Saturday at Delaware Park, was reported Monday to be making significant progress, according to one of his owners.
Jones has been taken out of a coma doctors induced Saturday, and the bleeding on his brain had gone down 50 percent, according to Rick Porter, an owner and friend of the Joneses who spoke with Larry's wife, Cindy.
"He had two hematomas on the brain, and the one they were the most concerned about came down 50 percent, and the other one was gone completely," Porter said. "Things are going in the right direction. Cindy feels really good about the prognosis the doctors have given her."
In addition to the hematomas, Jones, 57, fractured two ribs and had a bruised lung. Jones, who recently moved his string from Fair Grounds to Delaware Park, was coming off the track on a 2-year-old when that horse reared and unseated Jones, who landed on his face. Jones was taken to nearby Christiana Hospital, where a CT scan revealed the internal injuries.
Jones, the trainer of 2011 Horse of the Year Havre de Grace for Porter, remained in Christiana Hospital in Delaware on Monday, but Porter believed he was about to be moved out of the intensive-care unit and into a regular room.
Jones is one of a small percentage of trainers who gallops horses every day. At approximately 6 feet, 180 pounds, Jones is considered big for an exercise rider, though he considers it "the best part of my job," according to an interview he did with Daily Racing Form in 2012.
Even when Jones temporarily retired from training in 2010, he continued to get on horses for Cindy, who was the stable's trainer.
Larry Jones has trained a bevy of graded stakes winners, led by the mare Havre de Grace, who won five graded events in 2011, including the Woodward against males, en route to being named Horse of the Year. Jones also trained Kentucky Oaks winners Believe You Can and Proud Spell as well Hard Spun and Eight Belles, stakes winners who finished second in the Kentucky Derby in 2007 and 2008.
The current star of the Jones stable is the 3-year-old colt Albano, the runner-up in the Lecomte and Risen Star stakes who was withdrawn from consideration for the Kentucky Derby after running fifth in the Louisiana Derby.
Vaya con Dios,Mr jones....
Larry, Gallop 'THIS' .. You are a very lucky man, in many ways. Perhaps if you had a small frame and top-out at 100 pounds .. than alter your language, pull-up your chaps and play cowboy. In the end, good luck with 'ALBANO' and you stay healthy Jersey Skip
Great news! Hope he continues his progress. I look forward to seeing him at Del. Park this summer. Good luck, Larry.
Larry is pure class!
Welcome good news! Continued good health and recovery, Cowboy!
I sure hope he recovers quickly, he's one tough dude and a classy cowboy trainer. He has been good for horse racing. He is also proof positive, that being bigger, doesn't disqualify one from being a good exercise rider. After having 180 pounds on their back every day, horses feel really good when a 120 rider gets up there on race days. The job of an exercise rider is to build strength and air and experience in the horse. That is where Larry's knowledge really comes in handy


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WHAT: Stan Walker's World Tour of New Zealand
WHEN: Wednesday night
WHERE: Rotorua Convention Centre
When pop star Stan Walker first performed in front of a big Rotorua audience as the headline act at the annual Lakeside concert in Rotorua in 2010, we knew he would become something special.
At the time his backing track for his hit song Little Black Box decided not to work - so not one to disappoint the fans - Walker grabbed a guitar from out the back and sung the song acoustically, sending the screaming audience into a frenzy.
Last night Walker was back in Rotorua - choosing our city to open his World Tour of New Zealand. Again, Rotorua loved him.
Opening act Whenua Patuwai, who came second on hit show X-Factor, did well and was a hit with the crowd (and how does he chew gum and sing at the same time? Quite an art).
The near sell-out crowd brought the house down as Walker took his audience on a journey through his so far short, yet successful, career.
He went from his earlier hits to his latest singles, snippets from a movie he starred in, Mt Zion, and a sneak preview into originals off his soon to be released album.
His four-piece band (consisting of bass, drums, electric guitar and keyboard) was amazing. So too were his slick back up singers - including Rotorua's own Turanga Merito (a fabulous performer in his own right).
Even these singers were subtly choreographed - adding that extra touch of professionalism to the show.
Probably the highlight was the dancing. Who knew Walker was such an amazing dancer? He had a crew of four young guys who were amazing and thrilled the screaming crowd whenever they came on stage.
The choreography was spot on - up there with the world's best. There wasn't a step out of place - and more importantly Walker was high energy remembering every move while not missing a note.
Bulletproof and the encore Take It Easy, when Patuwai was brought back on the stage, were definite highlights.
Stan Walker is a true superstar. The two hours and 45 minutes flew by. Look out world, this hard case Maori boy is going to take you by storm.


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Thanks 5 Minutes for Mom for hosting Wordless Wednesdays!
Wow, college! My son is in the 9th grade! I can't wait for him to start college!lol
Chronic pain and depression live with me not the other way around! "God uses pain and tribulation to make things right in our lives" courtesy of The African American Devotional Bible King James Version You'll find no whining and complaining here! Love your life - it's a gift! **Tag Free Blog**


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warm gong
Used this in my Let's Play. https://youtu.be/61qNbZ0l-P8
nice one:)thanks
Awesome sound! Thanks a lot!
Très beau, merci !
Perfect :) thank you for this perfect gong!
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Public and Private Money will Bail Out Detroit
We told you yesterday how JP Morgan Chase Bank is pumping $100 million into the Detroit recovery on top of the $200 million bailout of Detroit's mismanaged pension system that is working through our Legislature.
People and businesses in West Michigan should not begrudge Motown that money, says GVSU economics professor Paul Isely.
He tells WOOD TV that Detroit is Michigan, at least for people who do not live here.
Any business that considers setting up in West Michigan, has to look at Detroit's image to judge our state to begin with.


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A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor
The Fitzgerald Theater
Saint Paul, MN
«archive page
GK: If you've been thinking about getting into the lucrative radio sound effects field, you may be wondering ----- how many sound effects should I know how to do?
(WHINNY AND HOOVES) Well, that one for sure. And also elephants (SFX) And of course jungle creatures (SFX). And for Minnesota in January, it's always good if you can do a beach in the Caribbean (SURF, GULLS). Some sounds are optional. (INFANT CRYING), We can do without that one. We used to ask sound effects people to do dentist drills (DRILL), we don't ask for that anymore, in fact we ask them not to do that. But evil laughter is good. (HORROR LAUGH)
Musical instruments are good. (BUGLE) and old cars are good (OLD CAR HORN) and car alarms (CAR ALARM) and a truck going by (SEMI DOPPLER) or maybe a whole speedway of racecars (RACE CARS). You should be able to do a train (TRAIN). And a ship (SHIP HORN). And of course creatures: doves (DOVES) and ducks (DUCK) and dinosaurs (MONSTER), and extra credit if you can do a dolphin (DOLPHIN). Even better if the dolphin can sing (SFX). . Or if the dolphin can do a Katherine Hepburn impression. (SFX)
And here in Minnesota, you would of course need to do a loon. Our state bird. (LOON) If you can do a loon, you're capable of almost anything.
Old Sweet Songs: A Prairie Home Companion 1974-1976
Lovingly selected from the earliest archives of A Prairie Home Companion, this heirloom collection represents the music from earliest years of the now legendary show: 1974–1976. With songs and tunes from jazz pianist Butch Thompson, mandolin maestro Peter Ostroushko, Dakota Dave Hull and the first house band, The Powdermilk Biscuit Band (Adam Granger, Bob Douglas and Mary DuShane).


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2014 Windsheld seal issue?
Yesterday as I washed my vehicle I noticed the plastic exterior piece at the bottom of my windshield where the rubber meets the windshield didn't look flush. Right around the center the rubber was off the windshield maybe an eighth or so. I pressed gently on it and it actually snapped into place and now the rubber piece is flush against the windshield. I am guessing the piece is fixed but my concern is I have no idea how long it wasn't flush and would any water from rain/washing cause damage in that area?
I did notice at times when it was cold out having condensation on the lower drivers side outside glass which I didnt notice tonight.
Talked to the service department and they felt he lower cowl not being completely snapped in was not a big issue for water issues and that my pushing it back into place was the same thing they would of done.
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well, don't know how i did with my 4eat, but here's my story:
i'm doing 45-50 on a main road when all of a sudden i see a yellow car pass me and cut in front of me - yellow integra type R.
i guess he was edging me on a little bit since he was stalling in front of me and then speeding off - repeating the process several times. finally, up ahead, the stoplight turns red. the integra switches lanes, probably to line up and race. no choice for me.
so we're sitting at the light. integra revs his exhaust, and i just sit there listening. and waiting. i figured this guy would want to go on a roll, so when the light turns green, i don't launch and neither does he. we're rolling side by side up until 35-40mph when he starts reving again - this time, i knew it was on. i get ready and downshift to 3. he punches it and immediately jumps about half a car length on me. i go WOT and the wrx downshifts and then shifts to 3, and i pull on him and put about 2 car lengths up until 90 when he starts pulling on me and then i shut down while he passes doing 90 or 100 something. the integra then takes the exit for the interstate while i go along my business.
does this sound right? i don't know what mods the integra had, but my car should pull on a stock type r right? and maybe even a turbo'd one? i am currently running cobb stage 2 accessport with a bosal downpipe and borla hush catback.


text: Quick fix your hair with Toni & Guy Cleanse Dry Shampoo. Helping you to fake 'second day freshness', the advanced formula absorbs oil and grease at the root and adds volume to lack lustre hair that's skipped a wash. A backstage secret weapon, the dry shampoo is perfect for adding texture to dishevelled looks and undone up-dos. Leaves no white, ashy residue. - K.N.


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Popular property highlights
Hospes Puerta de Alcalá places you in Madrid City Centre, within a leisurely stroll of popular sights such as Prado Museum and El Retiro Park. This 5-star hotel has 42 rooms and welcomes guests with a restaurant, a full-service spa, and free in-room WiFi. Located in central Madrid, the hotel is also near Plaza Mayor and Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum.
Enjoy a bite to eat at the hotel's restaurant, or relax with a drink at the bar/lounge. Savor a meal from the privacy of your room with 24-hour room service, or get a pick-me-up at the coffee shop/café. Start each morning with breakfast, served for a fee from 7:30 AM to 11 AM.
All of Hospes Puerta de Alcalá's 42 rooms are soundproofed and have an array of amenities, including minibars, coffee makers, and free newspapers. Guests can expect free WiFi and plasma TVs with satellite channels. Beds are dressed in premium bedding and down comforters, and bathrooms offer rainfall showers, hair dryers, and designer toiletries. In-room massages are available, and other amenities include laptop-compatible safes and phones.
Guests staying at Hospes Puerta de Alcalá enjoy access to a full-service spa, a fitness center, and a steam room. Valet parking is EUR 39 per day if you plan to drive, or hop aboard the airport shuttle (available 24 hours) for EUR 90 per vehicle roundtrip. Multilingual staff at the front desk are standing by 24/7 to help with dry cleaning/laundry, concierge services, and luggage storage. Other amenities at this luxury hotel include free WiFi in public areas, 4 meeting rooms, and free newspapers.
Property features
- Walking distance to Prado Museum and El Retiro Park
- Free WiFi in rooms and public areas
- Onsite dining
- Spa
HighlightsInformation missing or incorrect? Tell us!Opens in a new window
Hospes Puerta de Alcalá
Hotel Amenities
Hotel Amenities
In addition to a full-service spa, Hospes Puerta de Alcalá features a steam room and a fitness center. The hotel offers a restaurant, a coffee shop/café, and a snack bar/deli. A bar/lounge is on site where guests can unwind with a drink. Public areas are equipped with complimentary wireless Internet access.
Event facilities measuring 1830 square feet (170 square meters) include meeting rooms. This luxury hotel also offers a terrace, tour/ticket assistance, and multilingual staff. For a surcharge, the property provides a roundtrip airport shuttle (available 24 hours) and an area shuttle. Parking is available onsite for a surcharge.
- Valet parking (surcharge)
- Number of meeting rooms - 4
- Meeting rooms 4
- Fitness facilities
- 24-hour front desk
- Babysitting or childcare (surcharge)
- Airport transportation (surcharge)
- Total number of rooms - 42
- Breakfast available (surcharge)
- Elevator/lift
- Full-service spa
- Area shuttle (surcharge)
- Concierge services
- Snack bar/deli
- Luggage storage
- Number of floors - 5
- Multilingual staff
- Terrace
- Restaurant
- Conference space size (feet) - 1830
- Bar/lounge
- Coffee shop or café
- Free newspapers in lobby
- Dry cleaning/laundry service
- Turkish bath/Hammam
- Free WiFi
- Tours/ticket assistance
- Spa treatment room(s)
- Porter/bellhop
- Safe-deposit box at front desk
- Conference space size (meters) - 170
- Year Built 1883
- Number of buildings/towers - 1
- Steam room
Available in all rooms: Free WiFi
Available in some public areas: Free WiFi
Valet parking (surcharge)
Room Amenities
Hospes Puerta de Alcalá offers 42 air-conditioned accommodations with minibars and laptop-compatible safes. Beds feature down comforters and premium bedding. Plasma televisions come with satellite channels. Bathrooms include showers with rainfall showerheads, bathrobes, slippers, and designer toiletries.
This Madrid hotel provides complimentary wireless Internet access. Business-friendly amenities include complimentary newspapers and phones. Additionally, rooms include coffee/tea makers and hair dryers. In-room massages and hypo-allergenic bedding can be requested. A nightly turndown service is provided and housekeeping is offered daily.
- Hypo-allergenic bedding available
- Premium bedding
- Air conditioning
- In-room climate control (air conditioning)
- Free newspaper
- Phone
- Minibar
- Coffee/tea maker
- Daily housekeeping
- Private bathroom
- Designer toiletries
- Bathrobes
- Hair dryer
- Slippers
- Shower only
- Satellite TV service
- Soundproofed rooms
- In-room massage available
- Turndown service
- Rainfall showerhead
- Room service (24 hours)
- Free cribs/infant beds
- Rollaway/extra beds (surcharge)
- Free WiFi
- In-room safe (laptop compatible)
- Down comforter
- Plasma TV
Where to Eat
Breakfast is available for a surcharge and served each morning between 7:30 AM and 11 AM.
Independencia - This restaurant specializes in Spanish cuisine and serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Guests can order drinks at the bar and enjoy alfresco dining (weather permitting).
24-hour room service is available.
Nearby Things to Do
Recreational amenities at the hotel include a steam room and a fitness center.
The recreational activities listed below are available either on site or nearby; fees may apply.
- Golfing nearby
- Bicycle rentals nearby
- Hiking/biking trails nearby
- Scooter/moped rentals nearby
Spa Services
Guests can pamper themselves with a trip to the onsite spa, which has 3 treatment rooms. Services include sports massages, Thai massages, massages, and facials. A variety of treatment therapies are provided, including Ayurvedic. The spa is equipped with a steam room and Turkish bath/hammam.
The spa is open daily.
- Body wraps
- Steam room in spa
- Thai massage
- Sports massage
- Body scrubs
- Ayurvedic treatments
- Massages
- Number of treatment rooms 3
- Manicures and pedicures
- Body treatments
- Facial treatments
If you have requests for specific accessibility needs, please note them at check-out when you book your room.
- Accessible bathroom
- Roll-in shower
- In-room accessibility
Hotel Policies
Check-in time starts at 3 PM
Special check-in instructions:
Check-out time is noon
Payment types
Children and extra beds
- Children are welcome.
- Kids stay free! One child 6 years old or younger stays free when using existing bedding.
- Rollaway/extra beds are available for EUR 60 per night.
- Free cribs (infant beds)!
- Pets allowed for an extra charge of EUR 30 per accommodation, per stay
- Dogs only
- 1 per room (up to 15 kg)
You need to know
Extra-person charges may apply and vary depending on property policy.
Government-issued photo identification and a credit card or cash deposit are required at check-in for incidental charges.
Special requests are subject to availability upon check-in and may incur additional charges. Special requests cannot be guaranteed.
Service animals exempt from fees/restrictions
Additional policies and fees may apply when booking more than 5 rooms. For more details, please contact the office using the information on the reservation confirmation received after booking.
Optional extras
- Breakfast fee: EUR 25 per person (approximately)
- Airport shuttle fee: EUR 90 per vehicle (roundtrip)
- Valet parking fee: EUR 39 per day
- Pet fee: EUR 30 per accommodation, per stay
- Rollaway bed fee: EUR 60 per night
Hotel Name
- Hospes
- Hospes Madrid
- Hotel Hospes
- Hotel Hospes Madrid
- Madrid Hotel Hospes
- Hospes Hotel Madrid
- Hospes Madrid Hotel Madrid
- Madrid Hospes Hotel
- Hospes Puerta Alcalá Hotel Madrid
- Hospes Puerta Alcalá Hotel
- Hospes Puerta Alcalá Madrid
- Hospes Puerta Alcalá
We should mention
Cash transactions at this property cannot exceed EUR 2500, due to national regulations. For further details, please contact the property using information in the booking confirmation. This property's policy is to refuse certain bookings for the purpose of group events or parties, including pre-wedding stag/bachelor and hen/bachelorette parties. This property offers transfers from the airport (surcharges may apply). Guests must contact the property with arrival details before travel, using the contact information on the booking confirmation. One child 6 years old or younger stays free when occupying the parent or guardian's room, using existing bedding. Only registered guests are allowed in the guestrooms.


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PRESS DIGEST- Canada - June 23
June 23 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories from selected Canadian newspapers. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
** Analysts expect BlackBerry Ltd's first quarter earnings to disappoint, with fears that hardware sales will take a hit. (bit.ly/1Lr3iWm)
** In the midst of a contest between Rogers Communications Inc and Telus Corp to acquire Mobilicity, employees and the founder of the small wireless carrier have put forward a proposal they say would see the discount brand live on independently. (bit.ly/1Lix12L)


text:
Sep 1, 2007 06:41AM LiveForToday wrote:Harley,
I tried to google and did not find anything about a recall on Becker implants for recon. Hopefully it is just a rumor!
huggs, Sherry
All Topics → Forum: Breast Reconstruction → Topic: Becker Implants.... RECALL...?
Posted on: Sep 1, 2007 06:30AM
Harley44 wrote:
Page 1 of 1 (20 results)
Posts 1 - 20 (20 total)
Sep 1, 2007 06:41AM LiveForToday wrote:Harley,
Sep 1, 2007 07:06AM - edited Mar 19, 2008 01:15PM by TenderIsOurMightHarley and Sherry,
Sep 1, 2007 10:34AM Harley44 wrote:
Sep 1, 2007 10:36AM Harley44 wrote:
Sep 1, 2007 12:33PM betsy43 wrote:Tender,
Sep 1, 2007 01:15PM melanie48 wrote:
my first idiot PS put in becker implants and he screwed me up big time.....I had to find a new Ps which redid my reconstruction with gummi bears////Dr Becker is a Dr here in my town All becker implants have been pulled off the shelf.......stay away from becker implants they are all on recall
Sep 1, 2007 01:58PM Harley44 wrote:Melanie,
Sep 1, 2007 03:35PM - edited Mar 19, 2008 01:15PM by TenderIsOurMightHello All,
Sep 1, 2007 03:48PM iodine wrote:Thanks, Tender, I, too, searched for a while and could find nothing about Becker implants being recalled. I have a 25%/75%saline implant, placed in 2004, and would have been concered if it had been recalled.
Sep 1, 2007 04:14PM Harley44 wrote:
Sep 1, 2007 04:17PM Harley44 wrote:
Sep 1, 2007 07:46PM iodine wrote:I do not get mammograms on my recon implant side. I have no breast tissue there, I hope. I have a small augment on my good side after I had a lift, and I do get mammo on that side.,
Sep 1, 2007 08:38PM biondi wrote:LADIES, THIS IS A SITE THAT WILL GIVE YOU ALL THE LATEST INFO ON IMPLANTS, ALL BRANDS, ALL TYPES, SALINE AND SILICONE. I SENT IT TO ONE OF THE LADIES WHO WAS HAVING SO MANY PROBLEMS WITH HER IMPLANTS.. VERY CONPREHENSIVE INFO HERE AND NON-BIASED LIKE THE FDA, (WHO I DON'T TRUST) THIS WILL ALLOW YOU TO ASK YOUR DOC'S THE TOUGH QUESTIONS. INFORMATION LIKE THIS ALLOWES YOU TO MAKE A MORE INFORMED DECISION REGARDING YOU IMPLANTS, WHAT KINDS TO CHOOSE OR IF YOU SHOULD HAVE THEM AT ALL. HOPE THIS HELPS.
Sep 2, 2007 09:02AM Harley44 wrote:
Sep 2, 2007 09:02AM Harley44 wrote:
Sep 2, 2007 11:40AM betsy43 wrote:Tender,
Sep 2, 2007 01:37PM lady4law wrote:Hi all
Sep 2, 2007 02:46PM Harley44 wrote:
Sep 3, 2007 07:50AM rubytuesday wrote:
When I asked my PS about Beckers, she said that she just didn't get good results with them. I REALLY liked the idea of the one-step but didn't fight it and am very happy with my results with an expander followed by silicone implants. Best wishes!
Sep 3, 2007 07:52AM Harley44 wrote:Ruby
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