text:
How Jack Welch Runs Ge
Whisked by chopper from New York City, Jack Welch arrives early at the General Electric Co. training center at Croton-on-Hudson. He scoots down to The Pit--the well of a bright, multitiered lecture hall--peels off his blue suit jacket, and drapes it over one of the swivel seats.
This is face-to-face with Jack, not so much as the celebrated chairman and chief executive of GE, the company he has made the most valuable in the world, but rather as Professor Welch, coach and teacher to 71 high-potential managers attending a three-week development course.
The class sits transfixed as Welch's laser-blue eyes scan the auditorium. He hardly appears professorial. With his squat, muscular, five-foot, eight-inch frame, pasty complexion, and Boston accent, the 62-year-old balding man looks and sounds more like the guy behind the wheel of a bus on Beacon Hill. And he isn't there to deliver a monologue to a polite group.
For nearly four hours, he listens, lectures, cajoles, and questions. The managers push right back, too. They grouse that despite the rhetoric about managing for the long term at GE, they are under too much pressure to produce short-term results. They say that for all the Welch talk about "sharing best practices" and "boundaryless behavior," they are missing many opportunities to learn and sell services across the vast network of GE companies. Some worry that the company's gargantuan Six Sigma program, the largest quality initiative ever mounted in Corporate America, is allowing bureaucracy to creep back into GE.
Pacing the floor with a bottle of water in hand, Welch passionately attacks each question.
"You can't grow long-term if you can't eat short-term," he states flatly. "Anybody can manage short. Anybody can manage long. Balancing those two things is what management is."
"I think someone is smoking pot here," he quips about the complaint over the lack of synergy among GE units. "We've got enormous sharing going on."
As for the concern over Six Sigma, Welch retorts: "I don't give a damn if we get a little bureaucracy as long as we get the results. If it bothers you, yell at it. Kick it. Scream at it. Break it!"
In this classroom, where Welch has appeared more than 250 times in the past 17 years to engage some 15,000 GE managers and executives, something extraordinary happens. The legendary chairman of GE, the take-no-prisoners tough guy who gets results at any cost, becomes human. His slight stutter, a handicap that has bedeviled him since childhood, makes him oddly vulnerable. The students see all of Jack here: the management theorist, strategic thinker, business teacher, and corporate icon who made it to the top despite his working-class background. No one leaves the room untouched.
If leadership is an art, then surely Welch has proved himself a master painter. Few have personified corporate leadership more dramatically. Fewer still have so consistently delivered on the results of that leadership. For 17 years, while big companies and their chieftains tumbled like dominoes in an unforgiving global economy, Welch has led GE to one revenue and earnings record after another.
"The two greatest corporate leaders of this century are Alfred Sloan of General Motors and Jack Welch of GE," says Noel Tichy, a longtime GE observer and University of Michigan management professor. "And Welch would be the greater of the two because he set a new, contemporary paradigm for the corporation that is the model for the 21st century."
It is a model that has delivered extraordinary growth, increasing the market value of GE from just $12 billion in 1981 to about $280 billion today. No one, not Microsoft's William H. Gates III or Intel's Andrew S. Grove, not Walt Disney's Michael D. Eisner or Berkshire Hathaway's Warren E. Buffett, not even the late Coca-Cola chieftain Roberto C. Goizueta or the late Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton has created more shareholder value than Jack Welch. So giddy are some Wall Street analysts at GE's prospects that they believe that when Welch leaves at the end of the year 2000, GE's stock could trade at $150 to $200 a share, up from $82 now, and the company could be worth $490 billion to $650 billion. "This guy's legacy will be to create more shareholder value on the face of the planet than ever--forever," says Nicholas P. Heymann, a onetime GE auditor who follows the company for Prudential Securities.
Of course, GE's success is hardly Welch's alone. The company boasts what most headhunters believe to be the most talent-rich management bench in the world. Gary C. Wendt has led GE Capital Corp. to extraordinary heights, where it contributes nearly 40% of the company's total earnings. Robert C. Wright has managed an astonishing turnaround at NBC, leading it to a fifth straight year of double-digit earnings gains in 1997 and a No.1 position in prime-time ratings. Nor does Welch's magic work everywhere in GE. The huge appliance operation, for instance, saw operating earnings fall 39% last year, to $458 million, largely due to restructuring charges. Nonetheless, Welch has led and managed GE to nearly unprecedented prosperity.
Much has been said and written about how Welch has transformed what was an old-line American industrial giant into a keenly competitive global growth engine, how he has astutely moved the once-Establishment maker of things into services. Welch has reshaped the company through more than 600 acquisitions and a forceful push abroad into newly emerging markets.
Less well understood, however, is how Jack Welch is able to wield so much influence and power over the most far-flung, complex organization in all of American business. Many managers struggle daily to lead and motivate mere handfuls of people. Many CEOs wrestle to squeeze just average performance from companies a fraction of GE's size. How does Welch, who sits atop a business empire with $304 billion in assets, $89.3 billion in sales, and 276,000 employees scattered in more than 100 countries around the globe, do it?
He does it through sheer force of personality, coupled with an unbridled passion for winning the game of business and a keen attention to details many chieftains would simply overlook. He does it because he encourages near-brutal candor in the meetings he holds to guide the company through each work year. And he does it because, above all else, he's a fierce believer in the power of his people.
Welch's profound grasp on General Electric stems from knowing the company and those who work for it like no other. First off, there are the thousands of "students" he has encountered in his classes at the Croton-on-Hudson campus, which everyone at GE just calls Crotonville. Then there's the way he spends his time: More than half is devoted to "people" issues. But most important, he has created something unique at a big company: informality.
Welch likes to call General Electric the "grocery store." The metaphor, however quirky for such a colossus, allows Welch to mentally roll up his sleeves, slip into an apron, and get behind the counter. There, he can get to know every employee and serve every customer. "What's important at the grocery store is just as important in engines or medical systems," says Welch. "If the customer isn't satisfied, if the stuff is getting stale, if the shelf isn't right, or if the offerings aren't right, it's the same thing. You manage it like a small organization. You don't get hung up on zeros."
You don't get hung up on formalities, either. If the hierarchy that Welch inherited, with its nine layers of management, hasn't been completely nuked, it has been severely damaged. Everyone, from secretaries to chauffeurs to factory workers, calls him Jack. Everyone can expect--at one time or another--to see him scurry down an aisle to pick through the merchandise on a bottom shelf or to reach into his pocket and surprise with an unexpected bonus. "The story about GE that hasn't been told is the value of an informal place," says Welch. "I think it's a big thought. I don't think people have ever figured out that being informal is a big deal."
Making the company "informal" means violating the chain of command, communicating across layers, paying people as if they worked not for a big company but for a demanding entrepreneur where nearly everyone knows the boss. It has as much to do with Welch's charisma as it has to do with the less visible rhythms of the company--its meetings and review sessions--and how he uses them to great advantage.
When he became CEO, he inherited a series of obligatory corporate events that he has since transformed into meaningful levers of leadership. These get-togethers--from the meeting in early January with GE's top 500 executives in Boca Raton, Fla., to the monthly sessions in Croton-on-Hudson--allow him to set and abruptly change the corporation's agenda, to challenge and test the strategies and the people that populate each of GE's dozen divisions, and to make his formidable presence and opinions known to all.
Welch also understands better than most the value of surprise. Every week, there are unexpected visits to plants and offices, hurriedly scheduled luncheons with managers several layers below him, and countless handwritten notes to GE people that suddenly churn off their fax machines, revealing his bold yet neat handwriting. All of it is meant to lead, guide, and influence the behavior of a complex organization.
"We're pebbles in an ocean, but he knows about us," says Brian Nailor, a fortysomething marketing manager of industrial products who was at the Croton-on-Hudson session. "He's able to get people to give more of themselves because of who he is. He lives the American dream. He wasn't born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He got himself out of the pile. He didn't just show up."
John Francis Welch Jr. had worked for General Electric not much more than a year when in 1961 he abruptly quit his $10,500 job as a junior engineer in Pittsfield, Mass. He felt stifled by the company's bureaucracy, underappreciated by his boss, and offended by the civil service-style $1,000 raise he was given. Welch wanted out, and to get out he had accepted a job offer from International Minerals & Chemicals in Skokie, Ill.
But Reuben Gutoff, then a young executive a layer up from Welch, had other ideas. He had been mightily impressed by the young upstart and was shocked to hear of his impending departure and farewell party just two days away. Desperate to keep him, Gutoff coaxed Welch and his wife, Carolyn, out to dinner that night. For four straight hours at the Yellow Aster in Pittsfield, he made his pitch: Gutoff swore he would prevent Welch from being entangled in GE red tape and vowed to create for him a small-company environment with big-company resources. These were themes that would later dominate Welch's own thinking as CEO.
"Trust me," Gutoff remembers pleading. "As long as I am here, you are going to get a shot to operate with the best of the big company and the worst part of it pushed aside."
"Well, you are on trial," retorted Welch.
"I'm glad to be on trial," Gutoff said. "To try to keep you here is important."
At daybreak, Welch gave him his answer. "It was one of my better marketing jobs in life," recalls Gutoff. "But then he said to me--and this is vintage Jack--`I'm still going to have the party because I like parties, and besides, I think they have some little presents for me."' Some 12 years later, Welch would audaciously write in his annual performance review that his long-term goal was to become CEO.
Gutoff's story is cute, but it contains within it hints of Welch's future management style. Indeed, the decades have failed to diminish for Welch the potency of combining big-company might with small-company nimbleness. If Gutoff, who remained Welch's boss until 1973, could do that for Welch--and he did--then Welch could do that for others, many others. And so for much of his professional life, as he climbed the corporate totem, Welch has been preoccupied with harnessing the brute strength of bigness while ridding GE of big-company paralysis.
Just look at the Corporate Executive Council (CEC) sessions, where GE's top 30 officers gather before the close of each financial quarter. The antithesis of the staid, staged off-site meeting, these sessions earn descriptions from executives like "food fights" and "free-for-alls." They are where Welch collects unfiltered information, challenges and tests his top players, and makes sure that the organization's triumphs and failures are openly shared. "I may be kidding myself," says Welch, "but going to a CEC meeting for me is like going to a fraternity party and hanging around friends. When I tell my wife I can hardly wait to go, she says, `Well, why wouldn't you? You hired them all!' If you like business, sitting in that room with all these different businesses, all coming up with new ideas, is just a knockout."
If Welch's intellect and fervor made a strong impression on Gutoff, it is his near spiritual belief in the promise of the individual that made his early mentor really sit up and take notice. Welch believes that efficiencies in business are infinite, a faith grounded in the belief that there are no bounds to human creativity. "The idea flow from the human spirit is absolutely unlimited," Welch declares. "All you have to do is tap into that well. I don't like to use the word efficiency. It's creativity. It's a belief that every person counts."
It is not surprising, then, that Welch chose to embrace--as the ultimate expression of those beliefs--the largest corporate quality initiative ever undertaken. GE's Six Sigma program, Welch is convinced, can add up to $5 billion to GE's net earnings through the year 2000.
For years, Welch had been skeptical of the quality programs that were the rage in the 1980s. He felt that they were too heavy on slogans and too light on results. That was before he heard former GE Vice-Chairman Lawrence A. Bossidy, a longtime friend, wax on about the benefits he was reaping from a quality initiative he had launched at AlliedSignal Inc., where he has been CEO since 1991. Bossidy had borrowed the Six Sigma program from Motorola Inc. and reported that the company was lowering costs, increasing productivity, and realizing more profits out of operations.
Welch invited Bossidy to share his story with GE's top management at the June, 1995, CEC meeting. As it turned out, that was the only one Welch ever missed--he was home recovering from open-heart surgery. However, Bossidy's presentation won such rave reviews that when Welch returned to work in August, he agreed to pursue it.
A Six Sigma quality level generates fewer than 3.4 defects per million operations in a manufacturing or service process. GE is running at a Sigma level of three to four. The gap between that and the Six Sigma level is costing the company between $8 billion and $12 billion a year in inefficiencies and lost productivity.
Still, it was no small decision to launch a quality initiative because it called for massive investment in training tens of thousands of employees in a disciplined methodology heavily laden with statistics. To make the ideas take hold throughout General Electric would require the training of so-called master black belts, black belts, and green belts to impose the quality techniques on the organization.
Welch launched the effort in late 1995 with 200 projects and intensive training programs, moved to 3,000 projects and more training in 1996, and undertook 6,000 projects and still more training in 1997. So far, the initiative has been a stunning success, delivering far more benefits than first envisioned by Welch. Last year, Six Sigma delivered $320 million in productivity gains and profits, more than double Welch's original goal of $150 million. This year, he expects GE to get about $750 million in net benefits. "Six Sigma has spread like wildfire across the company, and it is transforming everything we do," boasts Welch.
The success of the program was evident this January at Boca Raton, where Welch kicks off each year with a confab for the top 500 executives. Amid the ocean breezes and palms, it is Welch's opportunity to set the year's agenda and toast the company's newest heroes. An invitation by Welch to pitch in front of GE's most accomplished executives is like winning an Olympic medal in GE's intense locker-room culture. This past January, 29 managers gained the privilege, most of whom spoke glowingly about their Six Sigma projects.
With Welch in the front row of the auditorium furiously scribbling notes on a yellow pad, the managers recounted how they used new ideas to squeeze still more profit out of the lean machine that is GE. One after another explained how quality efforts cut costs and mistakes, enhanced productivity, led to greater market share, and eliminated the need for investment in new plant and equipment.
It's more than a bragging fest. The show-and-tell routine allows managers in plastics to exchange lessons with their counterparts in GE Capital. It's a place, like Croton-on-Hudson, where "best practices" get transferred among GE's differing businesses. In between sessions, managers who make bulbs or locomotives swap ideas with those who finance cars and service credit-card accounts.
Welch seldom disappears early. One night, for example, he was up until 3, shooting the breeze with 20 executives--half of them fast-rising women. But the main event is Welch's wrap-up comments when he steps out onto the stage under a spotlight and a pair of video cameras. Even though GE had just ended a record year, with earnings up 13%, to more than $8.2 billion, Welch wants more. Most CEOs would give a feel-good, congratulatory chat. But Welch dispenses with the kudos and warns the group that it will face one of the toughest years in a decade. It's no time to be complacent, he says, not with the Asian economic crisis, not with deflation in the air.
"The one unacceptable comment from a GE leader in '98 will be `Prices are lower than we thought, and we couldn't get costs out fast enough to make our commitments.' Unacceptable," he shouts, like a preacher. "Unacceptable behavior, because prices will be lower than you're planning, so you better start taking action this week."
Then, after asking every GE business to resubmit annual budgets by the end of the month to account for deflation, the ideas tumble out of him for how they can combat it. "Don't add costs," he advises. "Increase inventory turns. Consolidate acquisitions. Use intellectual capital to replace plant and equipment investment. Raise approvals for price decisions. Make it harder to give away prices."
Welch then throws out yet another challenge. "The market is rewarding you like Super Bowl winners or Olympic gold medalists," he says. "I know I have such athletes reporting to me. Can you put your team against my team? Are you proud of everyone who reports to you? If you aren't, you can't win. You can't win the game."
When the executives return to work on Friday morning, a videotape of Welch's talk is already on their desks along with a guide for how to use it with their own teams. Within one week, more than 750 videos in eight different languages, including Mandarin and Hungarian, are dispatched to GE locations around the world. Welch's words will be absorbed and reinforced by as many as 150,000 employees by month's end.
What happens in Boca, in the management development courses at Crotonville, or in the quarterly CEC sessions promptly spills down into the organization's guts, where people at every layer digest it. William Woodburn, a 47-year-old former McKinsey & Co. consultant who heads GE's industrial diamonds business in Worthington, Ohio, was one of this year's heroes at Boca. Since taking over the business four years ago, Woodburn had increased the operation's return on investment fourfold and halved the cost structure.
Employing Six Sigma ideas, he and his team have squeezed so much efficiency out of their existing facilities that they believe they have eliminated the need for all investment in plant and equipment for a decade. Some 300 other managers from GE have visited the plant to learn directly how Woodburn has done it so they, too, can transfer the ideas to their own operations.
Like so many GE managers raised in Welch's intense hothouse, Woodburn's tough talk is pure Welch. To get the improvements, he has had to "take out" over a third of the workforce, including more than half the salaried staff. "We've been open and fair," he insists. "That doesn't mean being easy. You perform, or you're gone. There's tension in the rubber band."
On Monday, after returning from Boca, Woodburn gathers his 15 direct reports and uses Welch's video as the centerpiece for a discussion of what he learned in Florida. They then do the same with their staffs. On Wednesday, Woodburn uses the video again with 100 staffers in the plant. A week later, he goes through the process yet again with the region's "orphans"--GE staffers in the area who aren't in a major facility. "They see the tape. They hear the message. It gets people pumped up," he says.
Most great leaders, of course, are masters at communicating their desires. In his early years as chief executive, Welch discovered that you can't will things to happen, nor can you simply communicate with a few hundred people at the top and expect change to occur. So he doggedly repeats the key messages over and over again, reinforcing them at every opportunity.
Welch is uncommonly conscious of the signals and symbolism of leadership. Rarely does he miss a chance to make his presence felt. His handwritten notes sent to everyone from direct reports to hourly workers possess enormous impact, too, because they are intimate and spontaneous. Moments after Welch lifts his black felt-tip pen from the chairman's stationery, they are sent via fax direct to the employee. Two days later, the original arrives in the mail.
They are written to inspire and motivate as often as to stir and demand action. Two years ago, for example, Woodburn turned down a promotion from Welch that would have required a transfer because he didn't want to move his teenage daughter out of school. Woodburn does not report directly to Welch but to Gary L. Rogers, CEO of GE Plastics. Yet Welch spoke to Woodburn about the decision on the telephone and within a day dashed off a personal note to him.
"Bill," wrote Welch, "we like you for a lot of reasons--one of them is that you are a very special person. You proved it again this morning. Good for you and your lucky family. Make Diamonds a great business and keep your priorities straight." To Woodburn, the note was an important gesture. "It showed me he cared about me not as a manager but as a person," he says. "That means a lot."
Not everyone sees that side of Welch. Some rank-and-file employees, for example, grumble about the unrelenting pressure on them to perform, and they summon up the moniker Neutron Jack. "No matter how many records are broken in productivity or profits, it's always `What have you done for me lately?"' says Stephen Tormey, who negotiates the United Electrical Workers contract for some 6,000 GE employees. "The workers are considered lemons, and they are squeezed really dry."
Other critics have questioned whether the pressure Welch imposes leads some employees to cut corners, possibly contributing to some of the defense-contracting scandals that have plagued GE or the humiliating Kidder, Peabody & Co. bond-trading scheme of the early 1990s that generated bogus profits.
Few would dispute that Welch is seen as a demanding, no-nonsense executive who arouses a mixture of awe and fear. Aware of the daunting effect he can have on people, Welch works hard to counter that image. Not long ago, recalls human-relations chief William J. Conaty, one manager who had to make a presentation before Welch was so jittery he was shaking. It was the first time he had met Welch, who was swinging through St. Louis to meet with 10 different managers. "I'm so nervous," the manager confessed to Welch. "And my wife has told me she'll throw me out of the house if I can't get through this presentation."
At day's end, when Welch was back on the corporate plane, he immediately arranged for a dozen roses and a bottle of Dom Perignon to be delivered to the man's home. He then penned a note to the wife: "Your husband did a fantastic job today. We're sorry we put him and you through this for a couple of weeks."
There are no form letters from Welch, not to employees, managers, executives, or even directors in the GE boardroom. Every salary increase or decrease, every bonus, and every stock-option grant to Welch's 20 or so direct reports comes with a candid talk about expectations and performance. "There are carrots and sticks here, and he is extraordinarily good at applying both," says Gary M. Reiner, senior vice-president. "When he hands you a bonus or a stock option, he lets you know exactly what he wants in the coming year."
Rarely do surprises occur. Welch sets precise performance targets and monitors them throughout the year. And every one of Welch's direct reports--from his three vice-chairmen to each of the operating heads of GE's 12 businesses--also receives a handwritten, two-page evaluation of his performance at the end of every year. "I do the evaluations on Sunday nights in my library at home," says Welch. "It gives me a chance to reflect on each business." Attached to the detailed notes are his jottings from a year earlier, with new comments written in red pencil in the margins: "Nice job." "Still needs work."
As if in lockstep, each business chieftain then emulates the behavior of his boss, and their reports, in turn, do the same. After Welch's Boca meeting in January, for instance, Lloyd G. Trotter, CEO of GE's electrical-distribution and -control business, had his own 2 1/2 day leadership conference in Orlando with his top 250 people. And in February, after Welch gave him his bonus and reiterated the targets for the remainder of the year, Trotter then followed through in similar fashion with the 97 people in his organization who received cash bonuses. Other GE businesses follow the same format. As Thomas E. Dunham, who runs services in GE Medical Systems, puts it, "Welch preaches it from the top, and people see it at the bottom." The result: Welch's leadership style is continually reinforced up and down the organization.
Above all, however, Welch skillfully uses rewards to drive behavior. Those rewards are not inconsequential at GE, in part because of Welch's determination not to hand out the kind of standard $1,000 raise that he got back in 1961. To this day, Welch demands that the rewards a leader disburses to people be highly differentiated--especially because GE is in so many different businesses. "I can't stand nondifferential stuff," he says. "We live in differentiation. You can't run these 12 businesses as if they were one institution."
Although GE set an overall 4% salary increase as a target last year, base salaries can rise by as much as 25% in a year without a promotion. Cash bonuses can increase as much as 150% in a year, to between 20% and 70% of base pay. Stock options, once reserved for the most senior officers at GE, have been broadly expanded under Welch. Now, some 27,000 employees get them, nearly a third of GE's professional employees. More than 1,200 employees, including over 800 below the level of senior management, have received options that are now worth over $1 million.
Unlike many companies that hand out options as automatic annual grants, Welch doesn't want GE's program to be perceived as a "dental plan." So everyone who receives option grants doesn't necessarily get them every year. In fact, Welch insists that at least 25% of the employees receiving options should be getting them for the first time, and no more than 50% of the executives should get more than three grants in a row.
Welch, of course, along with every CEO of every major company in America, has been a major beneficiary of stock options. Last year alone, he exercised options that brought him $31.8 million. Yet few things energize Welch as much as reviewing a list of GE employees who cash in their rewards. Combing through the names, Welch can hardly contain his enthusiasm--not for how well his company's stock has performed but for the wealth he has put into the hands of people whose names are unfamiliar to him. In the first quarter of this year alone, some 3,900 employees exercised 8.7 million options with a net value of $520 million. "It means that everyone is getting the rewards, not just a few of us," he says. "That's a big deal. We're changing their game and their lives. They've got their kids' tuition or they've got a second house. That's a real kick. We've all got plenty. We're fat cats."
Welch's reach is long, frequent, and idiosyncratic. "It's part of living with Jack," a former General Electric executive says. "If you're doing well, you probably have more freedom than most CEOs of publicly traded companies. But the leash gets pulled very tightly when a unit is underperforming."
Truth is, it often gets pulled, period. Outside of the obvious--a $200 million-plus acquisition, a new strategic initiative like Six Sigma, or the naming of a top executive--it's almost impossible to predict when Welch will swoop down. How does he decide what to involve himself in? "It's this," laughs Welch, putting his forefinger to his nose. "I smell it. I try to pick out what matters."
When Welch intervenes, he is rarely indecisive. "Welch will say yes. Welch will say no. But he never says maybe. A lot of CEOs do, and decisions lay there like three-legged horses that no one wants to shoot," says George Stalk Jr., a partner with Boston Consulting Group Inc. who has worked with GE. Late last year, for instance, GE Capital argued in favor of buying AT&T Universal Card, the credit-card operation of AT&T. Within 24 hours of the presentation, Welch vetoed the idea and sent a note to the GE Capital manager who had spent hundreds of hours studying it. Welch wanted her to know that despite his decision, he had been impressed with the quality of her analysis and her presentation.
Welch understands that an organization can be as impressionable as an individual. Every time he intervenes, the stories reverberate through the company. Barely four weeks before CNBC and Dow Jones & Co. formally launched their joint- venture cable program on Apr. 1, for example, Welch called up NBC head Robert C. Wright to tell him he wanted to examine the blueprint for the launch. Less than 24 hours later, a group of managers and programmers marched into Welch's New York office for a detailed presentation. "They had a month before the launch, and I think that's an important moment," says Welch. "That [request] will create a frenzy, and we'll have a discussion about it. Not that I'll add a helluva lot of value, but I'll be there banging away at it," he adds, clearly satisfied that the hustle he provoked will give the project a renewed intensity that can only favor its success.
Or consider how Welch became involved in the excruciating details of the tubes that go into GE's X-ray and CAT-scan machines. Five years ago, Welch, who spends 15% to 20% of his time interacting with customers, heard some gripes about the poor quality of the tubes. The product was averaging little more than 25,000 scans, less than half what competing tubes were getting.
To fix the problem, Welch reached two levels down into the organization in mid-1993 and summoned to corporate headquarters Marc Onetto, 48, who had been general manager for service and maintenance in Europe. His marching orders, recalls Onetto, were simple and direct: "Fix it," Welch demanded. "I want 100,000 scans out of my tubes!"
For the next four years, Onetto faxed weekly reports direct to Welch, detailing his progress. Back would come notes from Welch every three to four weeks. Some would nearly growl for greater progress; others would flatter and cajole. "You're not going fast enough," Welch scrawled at one point.
The experience astonished Onetto, a Frenchman who had joined GE in early 1988. "I was just running a little business here, about $450 million in revenues, and I was so amazed that he could find the time to read my reports and then even send me back notes," he says. Since then, Onetto's team has created versions of the tubes that average between 150,000 and 200,000 scans. The improvements added about $14 million in productivity benefits to the division last year. "It's a double-edged sword to be under Jack's detailed look," says Onetto. "If you do well, it's great. If you don't, it's bad news. Jack is not famous for patience--which is an understatement."
While analysts on Wall Street or GE's own investors view Welch's likely legacy as creating the world's most valuable company in stock market terms, Welch himself sees things quite differently. The man who spends more than 50% of his time on people issues considers his greatest achievement the care and feeding of talent. "This place runs by its great people," says Welch. "The biggest accomplishment I've had is to find great people. An army of them. They are all better than most CEOs. They are big hitters, and they seem to thrive here."
He believes he has to know people well enough to trust them and their judgments. "I don't know how to build an aircraft engine," he says. "I don't know what should run on NBC at 9 p.m. on Thursday nights. We're in the cat-and-dog insurance business in England. I don't really want to be in that business, but the guy who brought me that idea wanted to be in it, and I trust him. He'll take it and make it work."
Welch knows by sight the names and responsibilities of at least the top 1,000 people at GE. "He knows their names. He knows what they do. That's an incredible reinforcement to the individual that he or she counts," says Dunham of GE's Medical Systems business.
His premium on people knows no bounds. Three years ago, GE's transportation business, struggling to attract topnotch talent at its headquarters in Erie, Pa., began recruiting junior military officers. So successful were they that other GE units did the same. When GE had 80, Welch asked all of them to come to Fairfield, where he spent an entire day with them. Impressed with the quality and track record of the recruits, he insisted that the company hire 200 junior military officers annually. In less than three years, GE now has 711 of them on the payroll and many have already gained significant promotions.
While many companies profess to run as meritocracies, in reality, they are often conscious of both class and credentials. At GE, however, many of the company's most successful executives were, like Welch, the first in their families to earn college degrees and rarely boast Ivy League diplomas. They are promoted without regard to titles or seniority. When it came time to pick a new CFO, for instance--a key position with some 7,800 finance people reporting to it--Welch passed over several candidates in line for the job in favor of then 38-year-old Dennis D. Dammerman two layers down in the ranks because he was impressed with how he had handled other tough assignments. "What counts is what you deliver," insists Welch.
That message has been consistently hammered home by Welch since he became CEO in 1981. Nowhere does Welch put greater focus on people and performance than in the company's annual Session C reviews that begin in April and last through May. With three of his senior executives, Welch travels into the field to each of his 12 businesses to review the progress of the company's top 3,000 executives and keeps closest tabs on the upper 500.
Typically, Session C reviews begin at 8 a.m. and end at 10 p.m., with the CEO of the business and his senior human-resources executive. These are intensive reviews that force those running the units to identify their future leaders, make bets on early-career "stretch" assignments, develop succession plans for all key jobs, and decide which high-potential executives should be sent to Croton-on-Hudson for leadership training.
How can Welch possibly weigh in with intelligent comments about so many diverse managers and executives? Largely, it's because he has met so many of them. In an average year, Welch directly meets and interacts with several thousand GE employees. At the session, moreover, he sits behind a briefing book that contains every employee's assessment of their strengths and weaknesses, developmental needs, and short- and long-term goals, together with their supervisor's analysis. Photos of the employees being tracked and reviewed accompany the package.
At lunch, the officers of every business are expected to bring the women and minority managers they are currently mentoring so Welch can get to know them better. Moving women and minorities through the pipeline is a priority because there are so few in GE's ranks. No women occupy the top 20 jobs at the company, and of the 120 highest-ranking executives in operating management, only four are women. While GE's macho culture may be off-putting to some women, Welch insists that their poor representation reflects the industries in which GE has traditionally competed. Adds a high-ranking female executive who recently left GE: "It's the pipeline issue. I didn't see anything that discouraged women or put up real or perceived cultural barriers."
Throughout the day, Welch will openly challenge upcoming promotions, assignments, and succession plans. "Guys will pick guys, and I'll have an argument about it, and finally I'll say, `This is your call,"' says Welch. "`You want him? You can have him. But this is what I think about him....'If I am right, they'll have to do something. If they are right, God bless them."
In every potential leader, Welch is looking for what he now calls "E to the fourth power." That's his term for people who have enormous personal energy, the ability to motivate and energize others, "edge"--the GE code word for being instinctively competitive--and the skill to execute on those attributes. He's also pressuring leaders to ditch their C players. "He doesn't suffer fools gladly, and he doesn't have a high tolerance for mediocrity, that's for sure," says director Gertrude G. Michelson.
Some critics say that Welch can even be mean-spirited and petty, rushing to quick judgments about people on the scantest of experience. "He'll go to a meeting and someone will be intimidated by his presence and won't say anything," says a former GE executive. "He'll turn around and tell everyone after the meeting that the guy is a dud. He'll have to be convinced he's not." Yet, the executive says, the good news is that Welch can be convinced.
Welch didn't always get rave reviews. When he first came to The Pit shortly after succeeding the statesmanlike Reginald Jones, Welch stared into a sea of scornful faces. They could not fathom why a stable and highly profitable company should ditch businesses and one out of four workers to comply with Welch's dictum that GE be No.1 or No.2 in every business.
"I went there when 60% of the audience would sneer at me," recalls Welch of the days when he was in the midst of massive layoffs. "Most of them wondered, `Is this guy a nut? Should he be arrested?' It was difficult."
Yet, if Welch has regrets, it is that he moved too slowly at first. "What I did then compared to what's been done in the revolutions at IBM, GM, and other places was toy stuff," he says. He remembers seeing GE skewered in a 1981 60 Minutes segment for closing a steam iron plant employing 650 workers in Ontario, Calif. "American society accepts competitiveness today.... It's getting out of the old and getting into the new. That's the game."
The rules for this game have been honed and taught at Crotonville, ironically a place that Welch never came to as a student. When he bolted up the corporate ladder, Crotonville was hardly a mandatory stop. It was, in Welch's words, more of a "consolation prize" for many who failed to get promotions.
After becoming CEO, however, Welch made the place a central part of his mission to transform GE into an informal learning organization. Its courses were directly linked to the strategic priorities of the company, and executives went there to work on issues that perplexed them back at the office. "Jack calls Crotonville the coffee pot," says Steven Kerr, vice-president of leadership development. "It doesn't just percolate. It gives off aromas that draw people from all over the company."
Welch's frequent teaching assignments at Croton-on-Hudson are clearly one of the favorite parts of his job. He typically appears at these three-week courses toward the end, after an array of other GE executives have psyched the group up to ask Welch tough questions. His appearance is unscripted, without notes. If there aren't a dozen hands up wanting to take a swat at Welch at any time, the CEO would consider the group a dull bunch, a group of turkeys.
Nearly four hours after this session at Croton-on-Hudson began, when the class disbands at 5 p.m., Welch doesn't just head for the chopper on the nearby pad. Instead, as he always does, he invites the class to have a drink with him at the White House, the spacious rec center on campus. There, at the bar, with a Buckler nonalcoholic beer bottle in hand, Welch is just one of the guys. "I was expecting this halo above him, this deity," says Robert Callahan, who has been with GE Plastics for six years. "It was like talking to your grandfather. You feel comfortable around him. You don't expect him to be so down-to-earth."
Back in his office at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, Welch can't contain his excitement. "Ro!" he shrieks through a sliding door to his secretary, Rosanne Badowski. "Bring it in! You know what it is. Bring it in!" he shouts. "This is the most exciting thing that has ever happened to me."
A few moments pass and the sliding door disappears into a wall with a whoosh. His secretary gives Welch a scorecard from his latest golf game. He hides the results with his hand and jumps into the story. "I'm playing golf, O.K.?" he says. "And the players are Jack, Matt Lauer, Bob Wright, Greg Norman, and Wayne Huizenga at Wayne's course. Greg plays terrific. He shoots a 70, two under par."
Welch's hand slowly slides down the scorecard to reveal Norman's name and score. "Bob has a 96. Wayne has a 92. Matt has a 78. And Jack has a 69 and beats Greg Norman!" declares Welch, finally revealing his total score. "Isn't that the greatest thing? Is that a turn-on? That's everything! The rest of it is all nonsense. This is the real stuff. If you are going to shoot a 69, what better moment?"
Indeed. The Irish-Catholic kid who learned to play golf as a 12-year-old caddy beat a champion. "If I had my preference," Welch says, "I would have loved to have been a great professional golfer. Oh, God! But if you've got to pick a job in business, this is the best job God ever created. Every day is a whole new event. You're not dealing with products as much here as you're dealing with people. It's a kick."
In 2 1/2 years, Welch will lose that kick when he steps down as chairman and CEO of General Electric after nearly 20 years at the top, as he reaches the mandatory retirement age of 65. No one, not even Welch, knows who his successor will be. Nonetheless, Welch's leadership style has become so embedded in the organization that even his retirement is unlikely to erode his impact.
As for what Welch will do next, he doesn't hesitate to answer the question. While he will consider teaching an occasional business course, he has no intention of amassing corporate directorships. Instead, he intends to play golf with his second wife, Jane. Clearly, he will miss the job, the action, and the fun. "A lot," he says, "a lot. But succession is part of the rebirth of an organization. I'm not going to be around. I am not going to be near the board. It's a free swing for a new team." But can anyone ever run this company with the power and influence of a Jack Welch? Don't count on it.


text:
These pork chops come together in 15 minutes. That is my kind of weeknight main dish. They are broiled, not baked, which I find locks in the juices. The combination of herbs and cayenne pepper gives them a great flavor. My whole family loves these.
I often cut my own chops out of a boneless loin. I like to choose my own thickness. Also, there is very little waste that way. Some of those "assorted" chop packages you find on sale at the grocery stores have some mighty scary looking pieces of meat under the pretty ones on top.
If I don't have a loin in my freezer and they aren't on sale, I opt for the meatiest pork chops I can find. If all of the packages at the grocery store are the same price, I will buy a small package of two or a long one of four instead of the family pack. That way I can see all of the chops and I know what I am buying. I also prefer those flatter packages because they fit into my freezer better than those big, bulky packs. If only the family packs are on sale, I will only buy them if I am out of pork and desperate for a meal of pork. Otherwise, I bide my time.
- 1½ pounds pork chops
- 2 Tbsp butter, melted
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp tarragon
- ½ tsp thyme
- ½ tsp paprika
- ⅛ tsp ground pepper
- ⅛ tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 Tbsp honey
- Combine butter and garlic powder; brush over pork.
- Combine seasoning; sprinkle over pork.
- Place in two greased 15 X 10 inch pans.
- Broil 4-6 inches from the heat for 5 minutes.
- Turn and broil 3 minutes longer.
- Brush with honey; broil for 1 minute or until meat juices run clear.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Complete the form below to have a Dell desktop virtualization expert contact you.
Simplify client management, strengthen security and increase workforce productivity with Dell Desktop Virtualization Solutions (DVS)
Store your data on protected servers, enable highly-centralized control over your distributed environment and scale your clients with the needs of your business.
Turn to Dell for VDI that's easier to deploy and manage throughout the solution life cycle. You can choose from a broad portfolio of end-to-end VDI solutions that integrate purpose-built hardware, software and services.


text:
Website Designers - Website designer Joomla, business web site designers Sussex
News Blog
Contact Us
Website Design
Why Choose Us?
Web Design Portfolio
Support and Maintenance
Web Design Portfolio
Website Ideas
Why use Joomla?
Reciprocal Links
Social Media
Marketing Services
Get a Quote
Free Online Quote
If you would like free online quote please complete the form below and we will get straight back to you.
We hate spam as much as you, so we won't add you to any email or telephone lists, or keep chasing you.
Our Standard Web Build includes:
Marketing led approach to web design with a dedicated Project Manager
Website designed with your brand and more importantly your customer in mind
Fully Content Manageable system in one of the world's most widely used software programs
Comprehensive and thorough image search and licensing
Custom Slideshows for Joomla
Unlimited page set up (subject to agreed scope at time of briefing)
Contact form (Contact form mails directly to your chosen email address)
Cross Browser compatibility testing (Firefox, IE, Chrome)
Search engine submission, meta tags and descriptions for initial pages
Social Media Bookmarking and site feeds
Sitemap generation and publishing for SEO
Testimonials – Joomla display modules and pages
News Pages of Blogs, content manageable
Google Analytics Installation and guide
User tutorial documents
A Money Back Guarantee (Please enquire for details)
Monthly payment terms (Direct Debit required)
We can also offer a wide range of extras:
Custom Coded Forms (Like this quotation form)
Custom Coded Contact Forms
Advanced Custom Databases
Web Advertising Banners
Radius Searches
Auto Responders and Email Systems
Local Area Pages for SEO development
Social Media Integration
On-site Video Hosting
e-commerce Shop with Product Pages
Mobile Compatibility
App Development
Invalid Input
And many more.. If you would like something we have not listed please let us know below:
Invalid Input
Your Details:
Name (*)
Invalid Input
Company (*)
Invalid Input
Email (*)
Invalid Input
telephone (*)
Invalid Input
Current Website
Invalid Input
Invalid Input
We can also help with:
Logo and Branding design
Search Engine Optimisation to improve Google ranking
Social Media strategy and management
Google Adword Management
Invalid Input
Please select any of the above if you would like to know more.
Security Code
Invalid Input
Website Design & SEO
by Spiritas


text:
Hello my loves, did you see this really beautiful wedding dress, in navy blue no less? Before I share our second wedding of the day, I wanted to tell you about a lovely new collection of sparkly wedding accessories created by designer Alan Hannah, which is just perfect for my readers who have a smaller wedding budget to spend.
This month, dress designer Alan Hannah launches 'Alan Hannah Devoted' – a 30 piece collection of bespoke bridal jewellery designed to provide brides with a touch of luxury at very affordable prices…
Designs include a beautiful pearl
and crystal spray flower set, which includes a statement collar length
necklace, matching earrings and a beautiful spray comb – the combined price for which is only £95. Free UK delivery is provided by the way for all orders placed via the Jon Richard online boutique.
Lovers of pearls and their perfect vintage romance look might want to also take a look at this statement pearl cluster matching
necklace and earring set.
Nature motifs are also highlighted with floral
designs such as the crystal flower and leaf headband, adding a touch of dainty elegance to this pretty collection of sparkling wedding accessories. Also, a more fashion forward look has been showcased
for the new collection, such as the new oversized pearl bubble headband
and cuff set – a lovely choice for any bride seeking a look of vintage glamour on her wedding day.
Designed with the timeless glamour of Alan Hannah bridal gowns in mind,
the range has been launched this month at Debenhams stores nationwide
and is also available to purchase via the Bridal Boutique section of website
www.jonrichard.com. The Collection is
priced from just £12.
Love to keep my readers breast of new designs and collecitons that suit all budgets, so I hope you find this useful – happy shopping all!
You might also want to visit the Alan Hannah website, and also view some of his very beautiful latest bridal wear designs on Love My Dress here.


text:
Updated for 2016!
Years ago, travelers talked about planning a Disney vacation when it "wasn't busy." They wanted to travel to Orlando when lines were less than five minutes for average rides and less than 15 minutes for thrill rides. I took a couple of those fabled vacations myself, usually with my kids playing hookie from school. Man oh man, those were the golden days.
Now? Disney World is a very busy place. That's probably an understatement; Walt Disney World can be an absolute elbow-to-elbow insanely crowded place for a vacation. Searching for those fabled "down times," I have spent hours reading planning books and websites, and the general Mickey Mouse rules of thumb is that if the kiddos are out of school, you don't want to go to Disney. But for some of us, pulling the kids out of school just isn't going to happen, and to get our Disney vacation in, we have to travel when we can. Lots of people travel when the kids are out of school, and that's why it's so busy.
So if you choose to go to Disney World when the whole world will show up in Orlando, what are the "worst" of the worst times? Let's take a look at five busy times at Disney World, in reverse order, from crazy to just pull your Mickey ears off insanity.
Avoid These 10 Mistakes That Can Wreck a Disney World Vacation
5. Special Events
Disney has added all sorts of reasons for you to take a vacation at the Happiest Place on Earth all year 'round, with celebrations, discounts, free dining, and amazing events scheduled nearly every month of the year. Marathon weekends, Candlelight Processionals, any minor holiday when school lets out, and special events like Star Wars Weekends, Night of Joy, and Mickey's Halloween and Christmas party days will always be more crowded than normal.
Is there a normal when it comes to Disney crowds?
While it may not be crowded for a week at a time, if the schedule says "weekend," (i.e. Star Wars Weekend) there will be more people in town before, during, and shortly after that weekend's events. It's kind of a go early stay after mentality, and since you paid all that mont to get there, rightly so.
There is No "Bad Time" to Visit Walt Disney World. True or False?
4. Holidays Other than Christmas
If the kids are out of school, people are loading up their cars, catching flights, and heading to Disney by the thousands. This obviously makes the most scheduling sense, with work and school schedules, but it can cause you to stand in long lines and wind up parking what seems like miles away from the parks. Thank goodness for trams.
Thanksgiving week will be packed, as many schools, including my own school system, now take the whole week off. Any nationally celebrated holiday that gives you a Monday off, so that you have three days to play, will put you in the middle of streams of people all heading for roller coasters and Fastpass+ machines to get in one more ride.
Thomas left a comment about his Thanksgiving trip, "We visited during Thanksgiving week and the week after in 2012. Contrary to your expectations, the crowd level was extremely low. Only around December 1st did the crowds start picking up again. Also, the last few weeks in August before school are very hot, but the parks are deserted. In 2009, we were at rope drops for both Magic Kingdom and EPCOT that had less than 20 people (not families, total bodies) waiting to get in."
I believe crowd levels have increased in the last 5-6 years, despite numerous ticket price increases, and if the crow levels were that low during these times now, I'd take myself off from work just for some shorter wait times. You may get lucky on certain days in certain parks, but in general, holidays are a busy time.
If You Do This on a Disney Vacation, You May Totally Regret It Later
3. Summer
Keeping in mind that unofficial rule about when kids are out of school, from just about the second week of June when kids run out the school doors, through the second week of August when parents drag them kicking and screaming back to school, Disney will be crowded. Not only that, but summer means heat, humidity, and possible rain showers.
Traditional Disney planning wisdom tells you to get to the parks bright and early, take a break and maybe a nap after lunch, and head back to the parks late afternoon or after dinner. Summer offers many Extra Magic Hours opportunities that can save you time if you are staying at a Disney Resort.
If staying all day in the summer works for you, then so be it. I personally wouldn't be caught on Main Street, U.S.A., between noon and four p.m. in the summer, because it's brutally hot outside and the most crowded during mid-day. You'll find my family at the pool or snoozing off lunch, nap-dreaming of heading back to the roller coasters after dinner.
Is Summer the Best Time to Visit Walt Disney World?
2. Spring Break
You have a three-month period of schools letting out for spring break, which means thousands of pre-k to post-graduate kids, teens, parents, and grandparents will flock to Orlando. February through April are busy times at Disney, when the weather is somewhere between shivering and sweating, (some days are both) although it's probably more crowded on weekends during these month.
"Easter week," which runs from Easter weekend through the next week, will be especially crowded as people enjoy the lovely weather and spring decorations at the resorts.
Did you know that Disney World's Epcot Center made U.S.A Today's 2013 Trashiest Spring Break Destinations? That's because of something called "Around the World in Beer" that draws in college-age spring breakers, despite the family nature of this park. Tantruming toddlers vs. intoxicated college students…that's a toss-up as to who you want to stand in line with you for a 120 minute wait for Space Mountain.
Top Ten Cheapskate Tips Every Disney World Visitor Needs to Know
1. The Day After Christmas to New Years.
This is it ladies and gentlemen, the time the Disney Resorts and Parks are the most crowded, ultra crowded, and with good reason. School is out, lots of businesses are closed or people have just taken time off, and "The World" is alive with Christmas music and twinkly decorations. There may be no more beautiful time at Disney World than when the Christmas decorations are hung by the resort chimneys with care.
Yup, from Christmas to New Years is the most crowded and most expensive time of year. To see a price comparison, use this link: Can a Cheapskate Afford to Stay at Disney World During the Week of Christmas?
Daily crowd levels will increasingly steadily, as you move to standing room only on the monorails and easily over 120 minute waits for busy rides, from around December 20 and running through the New Year.
It takes a special person with a get-it-done attitude to vacation during this week.
Cathy, "We learned the lesson about Christmas and the week after by mistake one year. We took our then four and six-year-old to Disneyland as a surprise. Surprise to us, it was so crowded you couldn't see from one end of Toon Town to the other! We talked to a Cast Member, and they informed us of what you said….Christmas Day and the week after is the most crowded time of the year."
Ready for Christmas at Disney? You May Need Some Advice…
If the kids are out of school, they are hoping their parents will take them to Walt Disney World. Not to open a can of school make-up work worms here, but if you ever took the kids out of school so the Space Mountain line would be shorter, and your vacation patience level would be higher, then you just might be a Cheapskate Princess! We don't advocate doing this multiple times each year, but if your Disney trip is just occasional and the kids are younger, well, you'll enjoy a trip where you fight less crowds.
We had a lot of thoughts about missing school from our readers, so we've added them into the article.
Lena commented, "There is no reason to take your kids out of school for a vacation. Please don't ruin their education for a shorter ride line."
Several parents commented in response to Lena's thoughts.
Sarah, "Taking the kids out of school will not ruin their education! I am a teacher of 20 years, and I take my own kids out of school to go. Keep in mind, there are many things one can learn while at Disney.
1) Learn about the different countries at Epcot
2) Map skills- my 5-year-old became proficient at reading maps because she wanted to know where everything was
3) Math skills- keeping a budget of their money
4) Animal Kingdom- learn about animals
5) Magic Kingdom- Hall of Presidents teaches one about US history
6) Epcot- Spaceship Earth-history of the world
I could go on and on! Please remember that one can not only have a great time at Disney, but one can learn a lot!"
Disney World Tips for Kids: "Free Day" Fun Activities
Angela, "We went to Disney Land last September. My kids were four and three, so it was perfect. We hit the first Halloween Party of the year, which was busier than the rest of the week had been but it was doable. We just didn't ride anything until 11 p.m. We hit all the trick or treat stations; it was the best Halloween EVER!
This year we are going the week after Thanksgiving. My oldest will be missing a week of school, but she's only in first grade and I figure she'll survive. Plus the decorations will be up and hopefully the crowds will be lower. I'm tempted to go at Christmas, but I think I'll wait until the kids are older and more tolerant of long waits."
Emily, "Being a K-2 school librarian, I used to be of the mindset DO NOT TAKE THEM OUT OF SCHOOL! You have ALL summer to vacation (and so does every other kid in the world!)!!! We went this past September for a week (yes, I missed a week of school, too), and it was the best decision and trip we had in a long time! We didn't feel rushed, we enjoyed our trip more as a family, the parks were less crowded. FREE DINING was in also effect! The kids had the opportunity to learn, too! One week shouldn't make or break their education (but DON'T go during State testing), and chances are, their teacher will be glad, and a little jealous, they went. Family memories are important, too!"
Michele, "Took my son out for a week of school several years in a row. He just graduated at the top of his high school class and just started college on a full scholarship. Go figure!"
How a Walt Disney World Trip Alters Your After-Vacation Reality
Susanne, "Seriously…'Ruin' their education! One week, or maybe a little longer, missed from school is totally worth the family fun you can have at Disneyland or Disney World.. We did it more than once, and our kids came out just great. I wouldn't trade those times for anything!"
Glena, "School is important but in the grand scheme of life, there are a LOT of years to sit in a classroom. A trip to Disney might be a once in a lifetime experience for a family. There is no reason that a child can't get the work they missed and make it up when they return in the evenings or during recess.
We all need a break every once in a while and putting school on such a pedestal exempting all the rest of life for it, well seems pretty boring to me. Life is learning and children learn everywhere, not just in the classroom!"
In fact, we asked our Cheapskate Princess Facebook Fans if they took their kids out of school, and their answers could help you plan your next vacation. Use this link:
Should You Pull Kids Out of School for a Disney Vacation?
Thanks for stopping by, and we'll see you on vacation during the best times visit Orlando. When is that you ask? We can tell you that as well.
What Are the Best Times to Visit Walt Disney World?
To see more of our Cheapskating Guides, use this link.
Disney's Cheapskate Princess
Now let our vacation planners help you plan your trip, totally for FREE!
Earn $20 Rewards for Vacation Referrals!
Use this link for a free no obligation vacation quote from Julie, Elizabeth, and Erin, our Disney Vacation Planners with Destinations in Florida travel.
You can also e-mail them at firstname.lastname@example.com.
Amanda Major is the creator of cheapskateprincess.com. She remembers her first visit to Magic Kingdom like it was yesterday, because she had a ham sandwich tucked in her shorts pocket. The whole family snuck in their lunch; you can't make that kinda stuff up. 40 years worth of trips to Orlando later, she is still trying to save money on vacations.
Amanda is a Disney Vacation Club Member and Annual Pass holder. Her amazing husband, band director Carl Major, plus three teen children and two dogs keep her busy. Amanda teaches Leadership to high school seniors in the almost-coastal town of Foley, Alabama. Read about her cheapskating local vacations with this link. When she's not writing, she's reading, walking somewhere, or paddling a kayak. Life is indeed a blast.
We hope we can help save you some money too. Use this link for a free no obligation vacation quote from our Princess Travel Experts with Destinations in Florida travel, Julie, Elizabeth, and Erin. You can also e-mail them at email@example.com.


text:
Newbie tire question
I apologize in advance for asking, I just need to make sure before I buy tires. I have a 2001 330ci sports package with Style M68 rims which i believe are:
Size: 17x7.5 & 17x8.5 (Staggered)
Tire: 225/50/17 & 245/40/17
Right now I have 225/45/17 Blizzacks in the front and need new rear tires for winter as my old ones have worn out. I was wondering what other size tire would fit for the rear as the 245/40 are pretty expensive. From the TireRack website they say there two sizes that should fit. Either 205/50 or 225/45. So I am very naive and was just wondering if either of these two will work for the rear? If not are there other sizes that would work? Just trying to get the cost down a little. Thank you in advance!!
Tires http://www.tirerack.com/a.jsp?a=BN4&...ires/index.jsp
|All times are GMT -5. The time now is 11:01 PM.
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2017, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
(c) 1999 - 2016 performanceIX Inc - privacy policy - terms of use


text:
VIDEO: Brian Braun's Buzz
Long term readers of this blog are already familiar with Brian Braun. The behind-the-scenes video from his McLaren MP4 12-c shoot still ranks among the most popular posts we have ever published. If you have not yet seen that one, you definitely should.
Now, Brian returns with yet another behind-the-scenes video. This one shows Brian using a Canon 5D Mark II, a 24-70 lens, a Profoto Pro 7b battery generator and a couple of Pro-B Heads to shoot a series of portraits of the staff at BuzzShift digital strategy agency.
The full post, including lighting diagrams and additional info on the set up, can be found over at Brian's blog.
Tags: Brian Braun, Portrait photography
Trackback from your site.


text:
Japanese heavyweight situation
By Joe Koizumi
We, in Japan, have many excellent boxers in smaller classes, but a very few good ones in heavier divisions than the middleweight category. We see our national champs only up to the 160-pound class. Therefore, it is delightfully shocking that the Japan Boxing Commission (JBC) has authorized sensational tournaments to decide the new Japanese heavyweight champion.
Fast-rising ex-martial art fighter, Kyotaro Fujimoto (6-1, 4 KOs) will cope with 40-year-old Japan-based Ugandan Okello Peter (21-6, 19 KOs) in a quest for the vacant national heavyweight belt in Tokyo on July 25. Fujimoto, 26, once produced a great sensation as he defeated world-rated American Chauncy Welliver by a unanimous decision to be rated in the top fifteen by the WBC.
His sweet dream didn't last long as he badly tasted his first setback at the hand of Australian Solomon Haumono via fifth round stoppage in a bid for the long vacant OPBF throne last September. Kyotaro, strange enough, looked to have left his fighting spirit in Tokyo prior to his Haumono defeat in Osaka as he showed nothing but moving around only to be flattened by a single shot of the more experienced Aussie.
Beneath the Fujimoto-Peter headliner, once-beaten Rio Hidaka (10-1, 8 KOs) will face compatriot Masataka Takehara (7-8-3, 3 KOs) in an eliminator to decide the next challenger to the winner of the main event in his initial defense. The previously unbeaten Hidaka, a stocky and sturdy puncher, lately dropped a unanimous decision (79-75 twice and 78-76) to tall French heavyweight Gregory Tony over eight frustrating rounds on May 24. Tony utilized his advantageous height and reach to nullify Rio's vaunted power-punching throughout the contest. Takehara also suffered a very bitter defeat by Lucas Browne only 68 seconds into the first round in Richmond, Australia, this March.
Speaking of technical level of these four heavyweights including the ageing Ugandan Okello, none of them belong to world class at this moment. But our customers seem to get interested in watching big boys compete each other with a higher expectation of a knockout or TKO than in such bouts of smaller boxers.
In Japan young athletes, tall and big, seldom enter the boxing world—chiefly because of low purses and less attention—but try their abilities in baseball, sumo, or other amateur sports. We just wish the new Japanese national heavyweight champ's coronation might be such a stimulation for youngsters to test their fists for fame and fortune in the near future.


text:
Gallagher Sisters Win Medals At NYC Mayor's Cup
Congratulations go to Bishop Kearney's freshmen cross-country team on their outstanding performance at the NYC Mayor's Cup held last Saturday. The race was held over the rugged hills of Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. Forty-eight teams from the CHSAA, PSAL and private schools all compete for the tile of Mayor's Cup champion.
Tessy Gallagher (Belle Harbor) sprinted to the front of the pack with the sound of the starter's gun and never looked back until she crossed the finish line and was crowned the 2012 freshman Mayor's Cup champion. Medals were awarded only to the top three finishers in the race of 350 runners. Tessy's sister, Jackie Gallagher (Belle Harbor), was awarded the third place medal. Kailey O'Grady (Marine Park) finished in fifth place and just missed medaling, but showed tremendous effort with a blazing kick to the finish line running a personal best over the hills. Congratulations to the Kearney team as they prepare for this Saturday's Manhattan College Invitational, which is the country's largest high school cross country meet.
Best of luck ladies!


text:
Care for cats, dogs & other domestic/companion animals
Care for horses & livestock/farm animals
[April 10, 2013; Philadelphia, PA] – The University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine (Penn Vet) has named Ashley Berke Director of Communication. In this role, Berke will oversee media relations, marketing, internal and external publications and communication, web and social media.
"We are so pleased that Ashley has joined our team," said Melissa von Stade, assistant dean for development, alumni relations and communications. "Her energy and experience will ensure that the School and both hospitals benefit from an integrated communication plan as we position Penn Vet as a leading veterinary institution."
Berke comes to Penn Vet from the National Constitution Center, where she served as Director of Public Relations, responsible for positioning the Center as both a nationally renowned museum and a leader in constitutional issues. In addition to leading media relations for the Center's annual Liberty Medal ceremony, she oversaw campaigns for world premiere exhibitions and high-profile political events, including the 2008 Democratic presidential primary debate. Berke joined the Center in 2005 as the Public Relations Coordinator, and her first campaign – "Philly's Got BENergy!" – won a 2005 Pepperpot Award from the Public Relations Society of America.
Berke currently serves on the Boards of the Philadelphia Public Relations Association (PPRA) and Ready, Willing & Able - Philadelphia. She was the recipient of PPRA's Fast-Track Award in 2010, which honors a member who has made great contributions to the organization, profession, and the community and who exemplifies PPRA's vision for the future.
Berke graduated magna cum laude from Cornell University in 2005 with a B.S. in Communications. She originally attended Cornell as an animal science major, with dreams of becoming a veterinarian. When allergies interfered with that plan, she switched to Communications. Her new job affords her the opportunity to incorporate both passions.
Berke currently resides in the Fishtown area of Philadelphia with her husband and their beloved cats.
Ashley Berke
Director of Communications
John Donges
Communications Coordinator


text:
Preliminary Hearing Set in Deadly Forklift DUI Case
Daniel Castillo charged in double fatal crash last August.
SANTA MARIA, Calif. - 37 year old Daniel Castillo is charged with felony vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence causing death in a crash that took place in the Santa Maria Valley last August.
Investigators say Castillo was driving a farm forklift southbound on Philbric Road north of East Betteravia Road when he tried to turn left into a farm field and struck an older model Honda Civic heading in the opposite direction.
The 18 year old male driver of the Honda and his 49 year old female passenger died at the scene.
Two other women in the Honda were seriously hurt.
"We've done enough investigation and we believe the evidence is going to show that he was not even negligent in his driving", says Castillo's defense Attorney Adrian Andrade.
Andrade says he plans to produce evidence at a preliminary hearing later this month that will show that Daniel Castillo was not negligent at the time of the crash.
"They've got to show that he was under the influence and we believe that they are not going to be able to show that", Andrade says, "this is a very serious case, so its going to be approached serious both the by the prosecution and by ourselves, i'm sure they are going to have a number of experts to testify to various issues and we will be defending those issues."
Daniel Castillo remains in Santa Barbara County jail.
A preliminary hearing in the case has been scheduled for January 23.


text:
Labor Day weekend marks the end of summer and soon the leaves on the trees will be changing color. My family and I had a wonderful summer spending time at the beach, hiking and camping in the mountains, trips to the zoo, and laying out by the pool. I wish the lazy days of summer could last forever.
How did your family spend their summer?


text:
Senior basketball player Quinton Hooker and junior volleyball player Sydney Griffin received the University of North Dakota's top individual honors tonight at the athletic department's annual Night of Champions awards gala at the Empire Arts Center.
The University of North Dakota's men's and women's cross country teams have garnered national recognition for academics, extending a streak for both that dates all the way back to the 1990s.
The University of North Dakota placed 58 student-athletes on the 2016 Big Sky Conference Fall All-Academic Team, it was announced on Friday afternoon by the conference office.
The University of North Dakota closed out the 2016 cross country season today at the NCAA Division I Midwest Region Championship, hosted by the University of Iowa at the Ashton Cross Country Course.
The University of North Dakota men's and women's cross country teams ran into a Northern Arizona juggernaut on Saturday at the Big Sky Conference Cross Country Championship.
Following the 15th annual UND Ron Pynn Classic Open, run in front of a hearty gathering of alumni on Homecoming weekend, North Dakota head coach Dick Clay held a lengthy team meeting with his cross country squads.
This weekend is the University of North Dakota's 100th Homecoming. Start the weekend off with the UND Fan Luncheon on Friday afternoon at the Alerus Center.
The University of North Dakota men and women's cross country teams will host the 15th annual Ron Pynn Classic on Saturday.
University of North Dakota cross country coach Dick Clay has emphasized all season long that he wants his runners to build toward the Big Sky Conference Championship at the end of October.
University of North Dakota cross country coach Dick Clay indicated earlier this week that he was looking forward to the high level of competition at today's 40th annual Montana State Bozeman Running Company Invitational, a meet not normally on his program's schedule.
Normally during the middle of September, the University of North Dakota cross country teams would be in the midst of preparing for Nebraska's Woody Greeno Invitational. But not so, this year.
GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- Fans attending tonight's UND Coaches show in person at the Ground Round Bar & Grill can pick up their FREE 2016-17 UND Athletics Calendar.


text:
Rafter seat cut options
1 Attachment(s)
Traditionally most rafters have a birds mouth cut where they rest on the top plate (as shown on the left).
Is there any reason not to cut the seat as shown on the right with the rafter tail reduced in height?
Is there a code or practical reason for sticking with the birdsmouth?
I want to use the style on the right to leave more room for air to circulate in the eaves and eliminate the need for continuous soffit vents in a cathedral ceiling.
I'm not seeing anyway the one on the right is going to give you more.
Looks like a lot less to be.
Unless your going to have this ceiling spray foamed I see no way your going to fit the required amount of insulation plus the baffles in that small an area.
1 Attachment(s)
There will be a build down framework on the interior to give me the needed insulation depth.
Structurally there is no problem with the detail on the right.
You do understand that no matter the point of narrowing the rafters, a smaller fascia makes the house look cheaper. That's why trusses with just 2x4 top chords (tails) have larger 2x6 or 2x8 "hang-down" sub-fascias added to them.
The fascia will still be about 7" tall. This is an addition and it will match up well with the existing house.
Awesome, thanks.
I take it you are doing the work yourself? I ask because the additional time required to build down the ceiling for more insulation space.
With R-38 batts plus the 1" foam board I will be using to create an air space this will give me a total R-44 value. Plus the drop down will break the thermal bridging that happens through solid lumber. All at a pretty reasonable price tag.
sounds good, thanks for sharing
|All times are GMT -5. The time now is 05:55 AM.
vBulletin Security provided by vBSecurity v2.2.2 (Pro) - vBulletin Mods & Addons Copyright © 2017 DragonByte Technologies Ltd.
User Alert System provided by Advanced User Tagging (Pro) - vBulletin Mods & Addons Copyright © 2017 DragonByte Technologies Ltd.


text:
Video: Batey Says GM Will Improve Communications with Dealers
McLEAN, Va. (Aug. 29, 2012) – Alan Batey, vice president of U.S. sales, service and marketing for General Motors, recently discussed its Essential Brand Elements program, improving dealer communications and changing the culture at GM during a visit to the National Automobile Dealers Association.
"The face of our business is our dealers. And that's the face of Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac," said Batey, in a two-part studio interview on NADA's AutoFocus with David Hyatt.
Batey, who began his career with GM in 1979 as a mechanical engineering apprentice for Vauxhall in the United Kingdom, said his biggest challenge today is communicating clearly to its 3,000 dealers.
"The key to our partnership with the dealers is open and honest communications," he said.
Batey also discussed the recent visit by members of NADA's Industry Relations Task Force to GM headquarters in Detroit.
"NADA ... offered some great ideas on how we could improve communications to smaller dealers," he added. "We've taken that advice on board, and we're going to lay out a plan so that every dealer in the nation who wants to have face-to-face consultancy with us on a confidential basis can get it."
Click here for the full AutoFocus interview.


text:
super sixes
Who doesn't love a list? These are our pick of the best events from beginner triathlons to the toughest 10k's.
Coombe Abbey, with its landscaped grounds designed by Capability Brown, provides a picturesque flat course and a terrific backdrop for this event, with its choice of 3 races – marathon, half marathon, 10k – around a 3.5k loop. Views across the lake, wild flower meadows and the atmosphere created by the lap format, make this a must-do addition to the running calendar.
Create your free profile to see what events your friends are doingsign up / log in
Some of the smaller (and not-so-small) brands making good stuff for events like this:
Don't have an account? Sign up.
To find out more about how we can spread the word about your next event, drop us a line:
With a clear goal, anything is possible. Find a Race is here to help you get that focus.
Already have an account? Log in.


text:
The WR300NR is the latest in Diamond's line of routers and extenders and is designed for use with your home network or when you're on the road. As an extender, the device will extend your wireless coverage to eliminate any "dead zones" in and around your network.
The best thing about it is that it works as a wireless router itself, making for a really good all-in-one solution. It can also be used as a wireless access point to add Wi-Fi to wired networks. A web-based interface makes installation a breeze. Now only if you they could come up with a more clever name than WR300NR. It retails for $49.99 and is available now.


text:
HYPEBEAST 100: The innovators from all realms of creativity in the spotlight.
With in-depth interviews, focused features and fashion-forward editorials, our print publication features long-form coverage of the topics valued by readers.
Explore and be inspired by the latest women's fashion news and trends.
Former French Vogue Editor-in-Chief Carine Roitfeld has summoned some of Victoria's Secret's
Sign up for our newsletters
Receive the latest in Footwear, Fashion, Music and Creativity in our newsletters.


text:
The cast of Simon Stephens Pornography, a play that delivers a suite of seven stories featuring Londoners up close and personal.
By Simon Stephens. Deutsches
Schauspielhaus Hamburg. Playhouse,
Arts Centre, St Kilda Road, city.
Until tomorrow.
Cameron Woodhead Reviewer
OSCAR Wilde once referred, cattily, to "the Tower of Babel, by whose walls the German language was first heard". His remark leapt to mind on witnessing Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg's production of Simon Stephens' Pornography —a difficult English play performed in German with English surtitles against the backdrop of a gigantic, fragmented rendering of Bruegel's famous painting of the Biblical tower.
The thing that strikes you about Bruegel's painting is that there are no people in it. Pornography rectifies this, delivering a suite of seven stories featuring Londoners up close and personal, as they live through a week that will be burned into their collective memories—the week of the announcement of the city's successful Olympic bid, the Live 8 charity concert, and the horror of the 7/7 terrorist bombings.
It opens in a flurry of comic anxiety. A hectic monologue from a working woman, it charges through the banalities of a high-powered corporate job, speculation about what her spouse is up to in her absence, and a moment's respite as she finds time to be with her infant child.
A chilling portrait of a schoolboy follows. Driven by humiliation, rage and despair, he flirts with neo-Nazism and mass murder, stalks a school teacher and threatens to scrape out her genitals with a fork.
As a counterpoint, a real terrorist appears later, presented much more sympathetically —the terrorist terrified, his hatred of Western culture outstripped by paralysing fear. Perhaps the most compelling performance comes from a little old lady. Filled with disgust at the vapidity of mass culture, she cheerfully muses about biting off the heads of people's pets.
Her vitriolic rants about celebrity charity receive a poignant reversal, however, when she is forced to beg for food in the wake of the terrorist attack.
There are overt sexual references in Pornography: a disturbing and ludicrous tale of brother/sister incest; the pathetic spectacle of a lecturer masturbating over a former student.
But the title refers to a more pervasive kind of objectification. It's summed up in the awful final sequence in which the 51 people who died in the bombings are reduced to radio sound bites, as the actors half-listen, adopt postures of boredom, and munch on apples.
Sebastian Nuebling is a brilliant director. His production is steeped in anti-naturalistic flourishes and alienation devices. But even if you find them infuriating (the Coldplay and Madonna singalongs made me want to chop my own ears off with a rusty machete), there is no denying that they are intelligently deployed, and intricately tied to the drama's thematic concerns.
Although some nuances get lost in translation (from English to German and back to English), and the ending struck me as baldly political and trite, this production of Pornography is a lively and unsettling tapestry of post-industrial angst.
send photos, videos & tip-offs to 0406 THE AGE (0406 843 243), or us.
Subscribe to The Age and save up to 35%*


text:
Gorgeous DD+ Peach spotted lace trim DD-H balcony bra
Item No.1500102136
Item No.1500102136
This peach full cup balcony bra from Seduction by Gorgeous has a pink spotted design with picot trims. It has elegant lace trim cups with underwiring to give more support to a fuller bust.
Sunday to Friday - order by 9pm
Saturday - order by 6pm
Monday to Sunday - order by midnight
Orders over £20 - FREE
Orders under £20 - £2
Show full delivery details
Subject to exceptions, Debenhams is happy to exchange or refund your purchase within 28 days of delivery. Please check here for more details on our returns policy and exceptions.
Open a Debenhams Credit Card today and receive:
Please note: if the amount you pay on your card is less than £500 after the 10% discount is applied, the 0% interest offer will not be available.
Credit available from NewDay Ltd to over 18s only
*Terms & Conditions apply.Find out more & apply now


text:
Julia Collin Davison
Julia Collin Davison is executive editor for the book division of America's Test Kitchen, co-host of America's Test Kitchen, and an on-screen test cook for Cook's Country from America's Test Kitchen. She began working as a test cook for Cook's Illustrated in 1999 and is responsible for the food and recipe development for all America's Test Kitchen cookbooks. She holds an A.O.S. degree from the Culinary Institute of America and a B.A. in Psychology and Philosophy from SUNY Albany. Before coming to ATK, Julia worked in Albany, the Berkshires, San Francisco, and the Napa Valley at several restaurants, catering companies, schools, and wineries.
To see recipes from Julia Collin Davison please visit www.cookscountry.com/tv/


text:
Extended Stay America - Orange County - Irvine Spectrum
Select your stay dates to check availability at Extended Stay America - Orange County - Irvine Spectrum
Extended Stay America - Orange County - Irvine Spectrum
About the Hotel
Property Location
With a stay at Extended Stay America - Orange County - Irvine Spectrum in Irvine (Mission Viejo - South Orange County), you'll be convenient to Irvine Spectrum Center and Verizon Wireless Amphitheater. This hotel is within close proximity of Orange County Great Park and Lake Forest Beach.
Make yourself at home in one of the 149 air-conditioned rooms featuring kitchens with refrigerators and stovetops. 32-inch flat-screen televisions with cable programming provide entertainment, while complimentary wireless Internet access keeps you connected. Conveniences include desks and microwaves, as well as phones with free local calls.
Make use of convenient amenities such as complimentary wireless Internet access, a picnic area, and barbecue grills.
A complimentary continental breakfast is served daily.
Business, Other Amenities
Featured amenities include dry cleaning/laundry services, laundry facilities, and a safe deposit box at the front desk. Free self parking is available onsite.
Hotel Facilities
- Picnic area
- Safe-deposit box at front desk
- Free WiFi
- Free breakfast
- Number of floors - 2
- Laundry facilities
- Coffee/tea in common areas
- Total number of rooms - 149
- Free self parking
- Dry cleaning/laundry service
- Barbecue grill(s)
- Front desk (limited hours)
- In-room accessibility
- Accessible bathroom
Room Facilities
- Kitchen
- Cable TV service
- Weekly housekeeping provided
- Refrigerator
- Iron/ironing board
- Microwave
- Free WiFi
- Flat-panel TV
- Private bathroom
- Premium TV channels
- Shower/tub combination
- Air conditioning
- Free local calls
- Free toiletries
- Hair dryer (on request)
- Cookware, dishware, and utensils
- Desk
- Stovetop
- Phone
- Coffee/tea maker
Hotel Policy
Know Before You Go
- Children 17 years old and younger stay free when occupying the parent or guardian's room, using existing bedding.
- 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).
The following fees and deposits are charged by the property at time of service, check-in, or check-out.
- Pet fee: USD 25 per pet, per day (maximum USD 150 per stay)
- Weekly housekeeping provided; fees apply for additional cleaning
The above list may not be comprehensive. Fees and deposits may not include tax and are subject to change.
Mandatory Fees and Taxes
You'll be asked to pay the following charges at the property:
- Cash deposit: USD 100 per stay
We have included all charges provided to us by the property. However, charges can vary, for example, based on length of stay or the room you book.Show all hotel policy Show less hotel policy


text:
Annual Traditions
- Glow Party: Freshmen dance the night away under the glow of neon lights. Three dueling DJs provide the music. Sponsored by Wesleyan Activities Council.
- Mud Games
Mud Games is a campus tradition where teams compete in physical challenges in a mud pit. Sponsored by Wesleyan Activities Council.
- MarlinStock: A concert held each September on Batten Lawn. Sponsored by Wesleyan Activities Council.
- Airband
Airband is an annual lip sync performance that often includes dancing and skits. Sponsored by Wesleyan Activities Council.
- Chalk the 'Walk
Chalk the 'Walk invites students, faculty, and staff to create fun chalk drawings on the sidewalk between Batten Center and the Hofheimer Library in celebration of Homecoming. These drawings can promote an organization or express VWU pride.
- Homecoming Court Finalists
Homecoming Court finalists are chosen by the VWU student population from a list of nominees. Freshmen, sophomore, junior, and senior court members are announced by campus-wide email and participate in the Homecoming Parade and the Homecoming Tailgate. The King and Queen are announced at the Homecoming Tailgate.
- Homecoming Dance
Homecoming Dance is an annual party with a DJ and photographer. Students dress to impress!
- Homecoming Parade
The parade route begins behind Batten (by the tennis courts) and travels from Village 2 to Hofheimer Library, where registrants perform brief skits or routines.
- Homecoming Tailgate
- Halloween Trick-or-Treat: Residential students wear costumes and hand out candy to children from the community. Craft activities are also offered. Sponsored by Wesleyan Activities Council and Residence Life.
- Halloween Haunted House: Sponsored by Wesleyan Activities Council.
- Christmas Tree Lighting: Students, faculty, and staff sing carols, light candles, and drink hot cocoa before lighting the tree behind Godwin. The highlight is a rousing rendition of the Twelve Days of Christmas. The ceremony celebrates the life of '76 graduate and Navy Seal Lt. Slator Clay Blackiston, III.
- Underpants Run: Students don underwear over their clothes and run around campus to blow off steam during exams. Sponsored by RecX.
- Spa A La Marlin on Reading Day: Students are treated to free massages, relaxing activities, and snacks before exams. Sponsored by Student Activities.
- Special Olympics: The Special Olympics, Virginia Area 2 Basketball Tournament is held on campus. Sponsored by Community Service.
- Seafood in the Dell: Students and alumni enjoy seafood and music on Batten Lawn. Sponsored by Residence Life, Student Activities, Alumni Relations, and Sodexo.
- Spring Fling: Students enjoy live music, games, and food at this annual concert. Sponsored by Wesleyan Activities Council.
- Senior Week: Senior Week events include Wesleyan Wednesday at Shorebreak, Baccalaureate Services, and a fun outing to a local venue. Sponsored by Student Government Association, Wesleyan Activities Council, Marlin Ministries, and Alumni Relations.
- Late Night Breakfast: Students enjoy bacon, eggs, biscuits, and more as a final treat before spring semester exams begin. Faculty and staff help cook and serve the food.


text:
Twin Peaks, Storm Mountain, & Pfeifferhorn
|[ Sizes: Orig | Large | Med | Small | Thumb ]
Broads Fork Twin Peaks (top left), Storm Mountain (below middle), and Pfeifferhorn (right), seen from the summit of Mt. Olympus to the north. 5/24/07
Rate This Image
Current Score: 78.27%
Log In To Vote
[ View 9 Votes | Post Comment ]
Storm Mountain (Mountain/Rock)
Rocky Alps's Image Gallery
Broads Fork Twin Peaks (Mountain/Rock)
Mount Olympus (Mountain/Rock)
Image Data
Image ID: 296336
Hits: 2676
Lat/Lon: 40.65700°N / 111.77°W
Object Title: Twin Peaks, Storm Mountain, & Pfeifferhorn
Image Type(s): Scenery


text:
Printable View
The guy purposely tried to sabotage his team's offense in an important game because he felt that he wasn't getting the ball enough. Let the Raiders and Jets fight over him.
Titus Young is trouble.. pass
i really liked him at Boise st had know idea he was that bad of a teammate though


text:
This is a discussion on How to seduce as an INFJ? within the INFJ Forum - The Protectors forums, part of the NF's Temperament Forum- The Dreamers category; Originally Posted by The Ultimate Square Peg ... But, that's a theory, because...again....I really don't know how to "seduce." and ...
I reckon an INFJ must become comfortable with himself, period. It's hard being an INFJ, and attempting to rock that alpha crap. I think when you just love you for who YOU are, it all comes naturally. I'm not sure if I speak for all INFJ males, but there is a uncanny, stupidity that comes out in our personality, almost subconciously - I have found that a lot of people warm to this almost child-like sillyness. You could use that as a tool!
Best of luck and be yourself! You will attract your best partner upon living to your own ideals
also, Fe can come off as flirting (and be responded to as such)...when really we show that sort of affection to anyone whose feelings/happiness we care about. that has happened to me, i just cared about the guy's feelings and was nice to him, and it elicited a response as if i were flirting. enneagram instinctual variant (such as sx) is probably a factor in whether this occurs or not, also.
not sure about the eye contact idea ~ the results can vary. sometimes staring into people's eyes (which i tend to do without thinking, it just comes naturally) makes people feel too probed, if they are private people who don't feel comfortable with the depths of their soul being revealed, and for some reason our stares make people feel that way. (even my dad has complained to me to stop staring into his soul and looking through him, when all i was doing was looking at him like i normally look at people, not knowing it looked so piercing...) also, the intensity of an INFJ gaze can repel some people who are frightened by intensity, such that they avoid much eye contact with you. it really depends on the person - in my experience, some people seem uncomfortable, while others will stare back for a long time. :)
however if a girl is neutral or mildly attracted towards you, attraction can be built and notched-up by eye gazing...though for an INFJ, this would only work if the girl doesn't find the piercing nature of INFJ stares uncomfortable. i know that i am very attracted to people by their gaze - there are some men who are really attractive just because of the genuine kindness/warmth of their eyes, or the depth/intensity/spark of knowing perception/intellectual brilliance (as long as it's not cold) of their gaze when they are reading someone ~ really don't know how to put the latter into words in any clear way, can only identify it when i see it, and find it difficult to resist.
compatibility may be difficult to find simply because of comparative rarity of the personality type that is said to be most compatible with INFJ...ENTP. supposedly both INFJs and ENTPs are 2-4% of the population (per the website at this link)...i've only ever met one ENTP in real life, that i know of, and am not sure if i've ever met another INFJ. but that doesn't make it impossible at all - dating websites that sort by MBTI type can help you come in contact with people in your area whose personality is more likely to be compatible with your own. :)
and it seems that, often, the more seriously someone takes relationships (long-term, not casual), and/or the more concerned they are not to hurt someone's feelings by leading them on, or the relationship not working out and quickly ending in breakup, the more likely they are to want to really get to know the person before romantically committing to them in any way. if a guy wants to date someone like this, joining the girl's "friend zone" is probably the safest place to start. :)
Last edited by emerald sea; 05-17-2012 at 03:59 AM.
so many girls make the mistake of meeting a guy and getting involved romantically right away...
how do you know you can make it a relationship if you don't even know if the guy would make a good friend first >.>
the best relationships start out as friends
Establish direct eye contact, make them feel that they are really seen, known and understood. Then they will be putty in your hands ...
Long, deep conversations about things that matter to an INFJ (emotions, relationships, theories, etc.) also help ...
This thread that doesn't say how to love an INFJ
Ouch! Just invest some time with us, we're worth it!
I dunno how I feel about the idea of needing to be friends first.
Before my relationship there was a period of "getting to know you," courting I guess you could call it, but we both went into it intending for there to be more than just friendship once we established that the other one was sincere, interesting, and also not batshit crazy. I don't consider someone I court a friend, exactly.