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Friday, October 31, 2008
Trick or Treat
The USA and New Zealand both enter their last week of crucial election campaigns, in which the issue is "Trick or Treat?"
I do so hope the voters will see through all the right wing trickery and opt for Obama and Clark, the ones who will treat us the best.
It's all about Me-Ow
"In ancient Egypt they were worshipped as gods. This makes them too prone to set themselves up as critics and censors of the frail and erring human beings whose lot they share."
- P.G. Wodehouse
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
New Resource Online
Spurious Polls
There's no inquiry into how representative the sample for a phone-in poll might be, but the results are trumpeted as if having any authority at all.
Last night another of these sickening pieces of garbage was dished up by TV One. Viewers were asked to "vote" whether they wanted to retain or ditch the MMP electoral system. And the commentators appeared to take the "result" seriously, despite the momentary hitch when the laughable "result" (75% anti MMP) was incorrectly reported as 75% pro MMP. (A subversive act perhaps, by scandalised technicians, disgusted by the right wing bias of the "poll" as well as the "panel" hired to "discuss" it?)
Not one of the so-called "experts" commented on the unreliability of a text-in poll that cost $1 per vote, and how that favoured the rich, and therefore was skewed in favour of a right-wing big-business response.
And the wording of the poll was so opaque that even TV One wasn't able at first to interpret whether the results were in favour of or against the Mixed Member Proportional voting system.
I wasted my time on Sunday watching the ultra right-wing Guyon Espiner on Agenda nanny-coach an insipid John Key. Whenever Key flagged in his self-promotion, Espiner gently provided sympathetic avenues to explore. (Eg: GUYON: You talked this week about a five headed monster when talking about the prospect of a Labour led government, do you think that international investors and perhaps even credit rating agencies are going to be worried about the prospect of a multi party coalition under Labour?)
And is it only me, or is another TV one "commentator" Therese Arseneau coming across this year as though she's a paid-up PR lackey for the right wing?
So why is MMP suddenly under attack? And why is the right wing media so desperately launching a last minute attack on the credibility of MMP?
Because the opinion polls that matter are starting to turn in the favour of a coalition led by Labour.
So we have the fanciful (and frankly desperate) suggestion that a Labour-led coalition is a "monster". Hehehe. Just imagine if Key and his journalist minions got their way and persuaded the country to accept a National government merely on the basis that the National party had more votes than the Labour party (never mind the minor parties).
Huh? But the votes were garnered in an MMP environment. So every vote for a minor party was motivated by the knowledge that minor parties count.
The first time this monstrous National minority government tried to pass a bill, they would soon discover they were outvoted by a majority of MPs (Labour, Green, Maori and Progressive, and maybe the self-serving fence sitters NZ First and United as well).
The nation would soon discover the truth, that it is not useful to analyse or declare an MMP election in FPP terms.
If National were in a position themselves to cobble together a 5-party coalition do you think they'd hesitate for a moment? Of course not!
Roll on the only poll that counts, on November the 8th.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Staircase wit
[From French esprit de l'escalier, from esprit (wit) + escalier (stairs).]
Easy to see where the name came from. You leave the lively, verbally jousting company, and halfway up the stairs think of that clever riposte that would have gone down so well a moment or so ago.
The distance between the gathered throng talking at the top of their game and your lonely boudoir at the top of the stairs is a large part of what separates you from Dorothy Parker and Oscar Wilde.
Simon Barnes suggests that "this affliction, esprit de l'escalier, is one of the principal reasons why people become writers.
"I wish I'd said that!"
"You will, you will..."
Writers sit up late in their solitary rooms and put the one-liners down on paper, cleverly taking out any evidence of the time delay, and what's more, if they're skilful enough, they can take credit for both sides of a witty exchange.
Having a tendency to hindsight wit clearly suits the blogger rather than the user of a real-time forum, such as MSN or a chatroom, where it is necessary to think, and type quickly.
I do understand the concept of staircase wit, but I can't say I have ever suffered from it.
I'd be over the moon if I ever thought of the clever rejoinder as soon as halfway up the stairs!
Is there a kind of wit called three o'clock in the morning two days later?
Friday, October 24, 2008
Burn after reading
Saw this movie the other day and was very impressed. Brilliant. Another masterpiece from the Coen Brothers.
I laughed like a drain all the way through. It's pretty funny. Or at least I thought it was.
Most of the rest of the audience were silent though, but I didn't find that surprising because Dunedin audiences are usually quite repressed. I watched a movie once in Dunedin that scarcely raised a titter, and watched the same one again in a Sydney theatre that had people falling off their chairs and in fits of hysterics.
I put the lack of response of the rest of the audience to Burn After Reading down to the dour Dunedin Presbyterian Scots heritage.
But I have been surprised to find since watching it, that many of the NZ reviewers of the movie don't agree with me about Burn After Reading. Critics seem to be finding it disappointing and not up to the usual standard of the Coen brothers.
Why are people not getting it?
In my opinion, they are not getting the point of the film. OK it doesn't have the surface glitter and easy wit of some other movies. But you can't read it literally, you have to see it as a metaphor.
It's powerful, it's deeper, its emptier.
It's dealing with paradoxes by becoming a paradox itself.
It's more than nihilism, which offers no solution. Because of its art, and the way it steadily unflinchingly examines the empty heart of today.
It mocks that old paradigm of the cold war: the enemy is no longer Russia, the new enemy is ourselves, and we're divorced from ourselves.
The new conflict is in all of us and we are all corrupt and we have lost something – we don't even know what it is, but all we strive to be now is hard bodies, and we're empty hard bodies.
The 'hard bodies' is a central concept. People are so hollow, all they've got is their shell.
The hollow heart is the subject. It's a very powerful satire on the fruits of the Bush era.
In a way it is an old-fashioned movie.
Because of the art in showing the corruption, the focus on the hard bodies (we're always working on our outer being and not addressing our inward being) we see what a hell of a world it is without a core.
It is vicious satire. And yes it is bleak. But because of its dispassionate examination of this contemporary syndrome there is muted potential for change.
The film doesn't suggest how to solve our dilemma, but it coolly offers a diagnosis, which gives hope for a cure.
And starring the politically enlightened and frankly adorable George Clooney and Brad Pitt, among other acting luminaries (John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton), what's not to like?
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Stuff on our cats
Sooner or later our cats have to pay for all that adulation and pampering. That seemingly implacable dignity must be challenged. Every household cat at some stage has to put up with having stuff put on it.
There's even a website called Stuff on my cat where you can send in your own photo of your attempt to break your cat's composure, by putting something on it.
The cats in the supplied photos are long suffering and usually seem oblivious to having a variety of inappropriate objects put on them. That's what makes it so funny I guess.
I tried it with the Tabby and discovered she's not a good subject for having something strange put on her. The Tabby is a scientist and naturally curious. She responded with interest.
A good "stuff on my cat" will rarely even roll its eyes.
But we don't generally indulge in tormenting cats, even mildly, in this household. They have too many ways they can seek revenge.
The Difference is Clare
She's fresh, competent, energetic, smart, runs a small business, has a young family, and she has been a tireless campaigner. She has a great team behind her. The Dunedin South electorate is what is called a "safe Labour seat" but nobody is being complacent this year, given the wave of misleading propaganda the right wing have been pummelling the public with for years now, attempting to blind them to the value of the strong reliable leadership Helen Clark's coalition government has delivered for the past 9 years.
The tories want the people to think there won't be much difference under a National/Act regime.
I strongly disagree. The difference is very clear to anyone who remembers the last time those types were in power.
Our assets get sold off so that private interests can strip the profits. The rich get tax breaks and the poor get wage cuts. Beneficiaries get penalised and blamed. Social services that were funded through responsible taxation are run down and user pays introduced even for people who can't afford them.
No way. If a sharebroker is elected as Prime Minister of this country I will be so ashamed, I will be on the first plane to Australia.
Good luck Clare! I'll be happy to deliver leaflets over the holiday weekend if that helps at all!
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Red Herrings
My sincerest apologies to the person from Lithuania who Googled "volcanic eruption" and was directed to the Tabby's blog. I'm sure the last thing they wanted to come across was whimsical pictures of somebody's moggy interspersed with poetry and obscure references to local body politics.
At a stretch, if they were keen to hear first-hand anecdotes of falling ash, or see eyewitness photos of lava explosions, they may have been mildly entertained by the snapshots I've posted, of steam trains I have known. But that's about as exciting as my life gets, I'm afraid.
I do wish I had more to say about volcanic eruptions. I only mentioned them in a book review.
I do wonder why my poor blog even figured in the Google search, given the competition. Or was the researcher so obsessed they had already trawled through 25 pages of results?
I like to think that the person in Pretoria who Googled "DH Lawrence cat poems" and was carried swiftly on a smooth cyberwave straight to Schroedinger's Tabby, would have found more to detain them, in the company of The Paradoxical Cat, who is a great fan of Lawrence's poetry.In fact I too must go now, and Google "DH LAwrence cat poems" and see if I can find one.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Burns Unit
Where else can you spot the likes of Keri Hume, Maurice Gee, Owen Marshall, Witi Ihimaera, Roger Hall, Sam Hunt, Peter Olds, Cilla McQueen, Brian Turner, Ian Wedde, David Eggleton, Paula Boock, Renee, Stuart Hoar, Rawiri Paratene, Catherine Chidgey, Ted Middleton, Christine Johnston, Philip Temple, Lynley Hood, John Dickson, Alison Wong, Jo Randerson, Bernadette Hall, Laurence Fearnley, Elspeth Sandys, James Norcliffe, Michael Noonan, Nick Ascroft, Kate Duignan, Paddy Richardson, Sue Wootton, all at once?
There was also a launch of an anthology of reminiscences of and the work of all former fellows. (And the current fellow Sue Wootton.) Fascinating reading.
Crime writer and blogster Vanda Symon has reported on several Burns Festival sessions in her blog - Vanda's summaries make excellent reading: she attended panels on Maori Writers, NZ Identity, and a stunning stock-taking session including a rare and memorable appearance by the great novelist Maurice Gee.
I was there too and taking it all in. There was a poignant side to the celebration; I was also at the similar reunion 10 years ago for the 40th anniversary, and this time a lot of the faces were missing. Couldn't help feeling that loss keenly on occasion as the familiar names came up again and again. I've counted quite a few Burns Fellows as personal friends - lucky me to keep such exalted company! - and so also have many other of the other attendees, so the tribute session for those fellows who aren't amongst us any more, was a real tear jerker. Just this year three fellows have died - Hone Tuwhare, Ruth Dallas and Diane Pettis, and the memory is also fresh of the recently departed Janet Frame and Michael King, who were both present and larger than life for the 40th anniversary celebrations.
Can't stay sad all day though - and there were plenty of convivial gatherings in the spirit of Robbie Burns himself. A magnificent banquet was hosted by the University - including bagpipes and haggis of course - and the wit and wine and warmth was overwhelming. Saw quite a few peaky faces the next morning.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Trains that pass
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Wikipedia: "Mob Rule"
An excellent and revealing article on the travesty that is Wikipedia at MIT's Technology Review.
It seems that it is generally agreed that Wikipedia is very unreliable, for various reasons.
Many people find the handy availability of smug factoids makes up for the fact that details are possibly inaccurate or have been presented in slanted contexts.
But why should we care?
"Because Wikipedia's articles are the first- or second-ranked results for most Internet searches."
"On Wikipedia, truth is received truth: the consensus view of a subject."
On Wikipedia "something is true if it was published in a newspaper article, a magazine or journal, or a book published by a university press--or if it appeared on Dr. Who."
If the person something purportedly happened to, knows it isn't true, that cuts no ice with the mob rule.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
A Braunias at my Table
So when I heard that a bunch of his Sunday columns had been collected and published as Fish of the Week, I ran to the UBS and bought a copy immediately. Brilliant. Now I could have saved myself $29.99c if I have cut all the columns out and carefully filed them in a folder, but we have already established that I like books. And I have a nice new one now. Among the highlights I have spotted already, there is also a very funny take-off of a blog, that if I had read in time might have served to prevent me being here now talking like this. Too late, alas.
I stopped. He looked quizzical. We were on a hill and I could just have been catching my breath. You could tell that was what he hoped it was, anyway.
"Are you Steve Braunias?" I said.
He flinched. And straightened up. And winced. And backed away, just a bit. He was ready to run or be kicked.
Who was I, and how had he offended me? I could tell it was a constant threat.
There are two other recent titles from Steve Braunias. He's been highly praised for How to watch a bird - I haven't yet managed to look at it, but as it's so highly recommended maybe I'll put it on the Xmas list.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Gorgeous Gondwana
There is a luscious book on my coffee table. The substantial volume A Continent on the Move: NZ Geoscience into the 21st Century is just what the doctor ordered for me - a penetrating look at a subject I love, but as I'm no expert, I do appreciate that it's not too obscure and academic. On the other hand it isn't simplistic or patronising either. It's a challenge, an education and an entertainment all rolled into one and it gets top marks.
And at only $50 NZ, what amazing value, compared to some of the exploitative poorly written pap that gets churned out at the same price range.
This book has been published by the Geological Society of New Zealand in association with the government-owned research organisation GNS Science. It is a New Zealand contribution to the 2008 International Year of Planet Earth:
Earth scientists are today's key players in building a sustainable world. For our children's sake we must be able to use the Earth's riches without wasting resources that cannot be replenished, and without upsetting the dynamic equilibrium of the Earth System that sustains us all.
Chief Editor Ian Graham, of GNS Science (they're the ones who are already my heroes because they run one of my favourite websites Geonet that has info on, among other things, the latest earthquake in these shaky isles) says the book has a dual purpose – to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Geological Society of New Zealand, and to provide a useful guide to the diverse applications of geoscience in today's society.
"I hope this book helps to further enlighten policy-makers and the public, as well as providing an inspiration to future generations of geoscientists."
The book explains that geologically, New Zealand is an exposed fragment of a large continental landmass – Zealandia – split by the boundary of two large geological plates. It is directly in the path of the moisture-laden winds of the 'Roaring Forties'.
This means New Zealand experiences frequent earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, rapid erosion, and landslides. New Zealand also has supplies of natural resources – metallic minerals, coal, oil, gas, and water.
"This puts New Zealand in the position of being both 'the best of worlds and the worst of worlds'."
I have to agree with that!
It's a beautiful book, attractive design. Highly recommended. But sorry - you can't borrow mine, I'm going to be burrowing away into it for a long time to come...
Sunday, October 5, 2008
My Favourite Things
Here are some of the stats for how many people share some of my enthusiasms, enough to have said so on their profile:
Bloggers with an interest in travel: 129,000
Bloggers with an interest in family: 79,800
Bloggers with an interest in coffee: 23,800
Bloggers with an interest in trains: 1,600
Bloggers with an interest in earthquakes: 112
Bloggers with an interest in cats: 23,800
Bloggers with an interest in politics: 84,000
Bloggers with an interest in movies: 244,000
Bloggers with an interest in Buddhism: 5,000
Bloggers with an interest in reading: 533,000
Bloggers with an interest in writing: 254,000
Bloggers with an interest in fireworks: 1,300
Bloggers with an interest in space: 3,100
Bloggers with an interest in thunderstorms: 2,200
Bloggers with an interest in sunflowers: 458
Bloggers with an interest in poetry: 2,200
Bloggers with an interest in Josquin des Pres: 8
Bloggers with an interest in vampires: 203
Bloggers with an interest in dictionaries: 479
Bloggers with an interest in phrase books: 4
Bloggers with an interest in booksbooksbooks: 13
Bloggers with an interest in satire: 86
Bloggers with an interest in silence: 524
OMG who AM I?
As a consequence I've come face-to-facebook with a social networking identity crisis. I spent many hours totally engrossed in the endeavour of deciding how to represent myself. But I'm not much closer than when I started out, to solving any of the myriad problems one faces when setting up a nice cosy profile and sitting down for that first scribble on the wall of an old chum.
Setting up on the likes of Facebook involves struggling with some of the most persuasive and annoying software I've ever tangled with and also involves the heaviest attempts at manipulation that I've ever encountered apart from door-to-door evangelists. For a start, some of the most unwise things you can ever do (like tell everyone your birthday and your email address) seem to be the default. So you have to run around catching all the horses and putting them back in the stable.
And that's even before you face the decisions about who to tell you're there, and whether it's work or play you're really there for.
Should I have TWO identities, like I do in blogland: one that's only for work and one that's only for ME? (This is the personal one, btw, if that wasn't obvious!)
One for work and one for play works reasonably well here in blogland. But then again I doubt whether readers of the work blog are going to be particularly thrilled to hear about my latest outstanding meal at Plato (it was a whitebait omelette so delicious I swear the tender tasty little fishies had leaped into the frying pan voluntarily just to be part of the exquisite dish).
But it does seem a little weird dividing me up into who I am and what I do, because that's always going to be an unnatural division, so if possible I don't want to run with the dual identities that are working so well on blogland. But will that mean some important part of me will have to be repressed?
Am I going to "go there" into that tricky field of politics, when some of the contacts are going to be work ones? And how about my poems? Will I post them? Or should I just have another location where I only put my poetry and nothing else? (I've seen some people do that.)
After all the decisions about photos and quotes and favourites and invitations and groups to join and what colour to paint the walls and shall I decorate in art deco or bauhaus, zen garden or pop art, it was nice to get back to homely little Schroedinger's Tabby and find the cat purring contentedly on the hearth and the green linoleum recently swept. That other stuff is far too razzle-dazzle for me. I'm certainly too old for Myspace, it seems, and I suspect I don't nearly have enough friends to justify being on Facebook!
And the sound-bites are way too brief for a long-winded old battler like meself...
So why did I go there? Well - whether or not you are on one or some or all of those sites, you will at least have experienced the regular procession of email invitations to join, sometimes from someone you haven't spoken to for five years. And you'll also probably be familiar with that part of the conversation with an old or new friend or acquaintance, that goes: "Look me up on Myspace/Bebo/Facebook/whatever else there is".
I had resisted blogland so well until recently, but the experience has been so positive for me now that I've at last succumbed and bought the t-shirt and got the tattoo, that it just took one more invite from a friend to join Myspace/Facebook to convince me I was missing out on a good way to keep in touch. So I went and signed up for Myspace. But then when I went looking for the friend who had invited me there, I found that I'd got my wires crossed and discovered they weren't on Myspace, the invitation had actually been to join Facebook. But now I was signed up for Myspace!
So I joined up on Facebook as well. Boy am I connected, eh.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
The youth of today
We'd been at Eureka - another favourite restaurant - for an early evening meal and I had emerged after consuming a very pleasant hot smoked salmon filo parcel on greens, washed down by a glass of crisp Allan Scott Sauvignon Blanc, into what seemed like a film set full of improbable sights.
My first clue that the lunatics had taken over the asylum, was that a tall slender young man wandered past me, glassily eyed, swigging from a large beer bottle. He was naked except for a loin cloth, but his whole body was painted with mud, ash and paint. He seemed to have come through a time warp from some primal era. He walked out in front of passing cars as though he'd never encountered "traffic" before, but somehow managed to survive to plod out of view around the corner of the University Print Shop. I fully expected to see mammoths wander by.
To my eyes there had been a rift in space/time admitting a parallel chaotic universe. It seemed as though there was, or had been, or was about to be, a riot. Which is not unknown in this area by any means. Piles of rubbish were burning in the streets. The fire brigade was attending one massive couch fire on the pavement, alarmingly very close to parked cars - including ours! - and it was still only dusk. The streets were full of impossibly drunk students and most of them were dressed in picturesque costumes. A twittering angel in bare feet fluttered brainlessly across a debris-bedecked street. Filthy rubbish was strewn everywhere, upturned from bags and bins, and there was a sound of crashing and breaking glass. Thankfully we spotted no angry scenes, just a senseless vandalism that seems to have become an unfortunately expected part of the culture at the University of Otago.
Rebels without a cause: one of the attractions of tertiary student life in Dunedin appears to be the much bemoaned couch burning culture
I was not impressed, and grumped on about these same selfish stupid little prigs being destined to be right wing parasites by this time next year, and that I was quite sure they were all studying commerce and were from Auckland, and were all full of middle class entitlement, their drunken couch-burning bankrolled by mummies and daddies who encouraged them to come all the way down here so they would do their foul initiation rituals in someone else's nest.
We would never have done such things in "my" day. And if we did we had a damn good cause to do it for. We had political nous. We protested, we didn't just mindlessly destroy things.
Or did we?
Or is it just that I am the one who has slipped through the thirty-year rift in the space/time continuum, taking one day at a time to find myself on the other side of the generation gap?


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Engaged with regulatory authorities such as Corporate Affairs Commission, Inland Revenue and Bureau of Public Enterprises in conducting due diligence, making correct and timely returns and ensuring accuracy of records.
Engaged in Financial Advisory Services with High Net worth Individuals, portfolio management, discretionary and non-discretionary services and asset management services.
Responsible for the preparation and in depth analysis of financial statements for majorly start ups in manufacturing and oil and gas trading.
Managed financial records as well as conducting market research to observe trends, pricing, challenges and propose adequate mitigants to forestall investment failures
Engaged in the "DUMPFLOOD", Associated Gas AG, Non Associated Gas NAG and FOD study team on the Egbema Integrated Project in Partnership with Shell Petroleum Development Company.
Team Member in Well Review: Production Optimization using Industry Tools.
Engaged in Surface Production as a PE at the Egbema, Egbema West Oguta flow stations in Imo state.
Responsible for collation of Field Production Report.
Member of team commissioned for the evaluation Prequalification, Technical Tender Bids for the contract jobs for a 2000 HP Rig to be drilled by NPDC. Held the role of a secretary, was in charge of the organisation, collation of data and evaluation of results.
Fully participated in Sand Face Completions: ESS Design, Selection, Insallation and Testing.
Also participated in the deployment of the ESS in a SHELL RIG (ImoRiver08) in Abia State.

subset: commoncrawl


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Current rating:
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Babel Review
Caught a screening of Babel last night. How did Brad Pitt measure up? Even ex Gwyneth Paltrow told NYDN that he'll take home an Oscar: "It's the best performance Brad's ever given. [Babel] makes you want to take good care of your children." Here's how it went down…
3 different countries. 4 groups of people. Lives forever changed. A man in Morocco is sold a rifle that he gives to his two sons to protect their goats from jackals. While practicing their shooting, the younger son accidentally shoots an American woman, (Cate Blanchett) who is vacationing with her husband (Brad Pitt) aboard a tour bus. The movie establishes the characters that are further connected to the American couple, the children who are with their Mexican nanny back in the States and the original owner of the rifle, a Japanese businessman whose daughter is deaf-mute.
GALLERY :: Click here for HQ movie stills of Babel!
(Continued after the jump)
(Continued before the jump)
In the course of a few difficult days, these people will find themselves lost but ultimately discover that their bonds with their families are what finally help them rediscover what they have lost. Although lengthier than most feature films, Babel is not a slow film, going back and forth between the characters, never leaving one hanging. Furthermore, director Alejandro González Iñárritu of 21 Grams, Amores Perros, is able to capture the true essence of these countries with a soundtrack that is a myriad of trans-continental compositions and the issues that people there deal with and how audience members can relate.
Caution: Not for the light-hearted. This film will touch upon issues that are very much alive in our society today. So if you liked Syriana and/or Crash, then chances are Babel is a must-see film for you.
Babel opens in theaters in NY/LA tomorrow, Oct. 27, and Nov. 10 everywhere else.


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Vision Appointments
The new Vision Appointments app lets you book, cancel or change your patients' appointments faster than ever before.
Click here for more information.
Vision Anywhere for your iPhone
A new version of Vision Anywhere for iOS is now available to download from the Apple app store. The new iOS version is faster, more reliable and beautifully designed with a simple intuitive user interface that works on your iPhone, iPad mini as well as your iPad.
Click here for more information.
Import groups of patients
Patient Group Import app
The new Patient Group Import app allows you to import patients from Excel spreadsheets. This app will help with sending recall letters, SMS texts or general patient reporting.
Click here for more information
Improved home visit reporting
Home Visit Report app
This app enables you to define and print a number of home visit style reports. This allows you to set up templates for different types of visit, for example GP's, District Nurse's.
Click here for more information
Remind your patients with a text
You can now contact patients directly on their mobile phone, with appointment reminders and healthcare invitations via text.
Click here for more information.
New website for your patients
In the summer we will be replacing the current Vision Online Services website with a brand new website that is simpler and has been designed to work perfectly on smartphones and tablets as well as PCs. A small number of practices will begin piloting the new website, which will be branded as 'Patient Services' within the next few weeks. We will use the experience gained during the pilot phase to make sure the transition is smooth and hassle-free for practices and their patients.
Click here to find out more
View and update actions quicker
We have improved the display of test result actions in Consultation Manager. Previously when actions were added to test results in Mail Manager it took a number of steps to see the allocated actions in Consultation Manager.
The display of tests has been enhanced so that any actions are now displayed as a tooltip when you hover your cursor over a result. The tooltip will display the action text together with either the "Due by" date or "Completed" if the action has been dealt with.
Click here for more information.
View patient events in one place
Patient Diary app
It's now possible in Vision to easily see events for a patient which could have been dealt with in a single visit. The patient diary app will display all events that have a due date, review date or event date in the future such as appointments, medication reviews and recalls. The diary will also enable you to add, move or update items quickly and easily.
Click here for more information.
Easily manage patient requests
Patient Overview app
You've told us that patients often ask reception multiple questions, for example questions regarding repeat prescriptions, appointments and test results. Usually the receptionist would need to open several different applications and search for the patient each time in multiple places. Now you can view and manage the majority of patient requests from a single place including; appointments, tasks, reminders, contact details and mail. There's even a link to therapy for the selected patient.
Click here for more information.
Update staff profiles quickly
User Profile Manager app
Do you need to change the way Vision is set up for yourself, an individual, multiple staff members or a new staff member? In the next Vision update you will be able to update user profiles in one place instead of spending time updating individual users computers.You will also be able to set up user profile templates of GPs, Nurses or reception staff (for example), then if a new member of staff joins you can simple assign the relevant template to their user profile.
View and print attachments easily
Clinical Document Viewer app
Vision has a handy new solution when dealing with patient record attachments using Vision. Now if a patient leaves or if you are generating a medical report (for example), the new document viewer will enable you to easily view and print, all or a selection of attachments in one go instead of having to print each attachment individually.
Click here for more information.
Vision for Healthcare Management
Vision offers a range of clinical solutions that revolutionise the way GP practices, CCGs and health boards manage the health of their population. It catalyses outcome improvements across clinical domains by encouraging compliance with local policies and changing the behaviour of clinical decision makers. Best of all these solutions integrate with SystmOne, EMIS and Vision systems. We can build bespoke pathways for local initiatives, or you can use standard solutions for anticoagulation,CKD, DMARDs and the Unplanned Admissions DES.
Click here for more information.


text: Nic Owen will be joining 72andSunny as Managing Director. According to ECD Bryan Rowles he was hired to "further round out the agency's global perspective." Owen has 15 years of experience working at M&C Saatchi London, W+K, Mother and Anomaly New York. Owen about his new position: "When I was presented with the opportunity to join 72andSunny Amsterdam, I had no choice but to cut my American adventure short." We hope he'll be enjoying this new adventure.


text:
Tomorrow's growth depends on innovation and reinvention. Brands and Retailers must WOW the customer at every possible moment. Join WPP's Global Retail Practice, The Store as we share the most inspiring examples of digital, physical and organizational breakthroughs.
The cost for WPP employees is US $1,000. Two WPP clients or non-agency guests may attend free of charge with a paying WPP delegate. A limited number of spaces are available for Industry Guests ($1,000 USD).


text:
This product has been retired from our catalog and is no longer for sale. This page is made available for those looking for datasheets and the simply curious.
Description: Magnet mount antenna for GPS modules operating at 3V. Designed for used with automobiles - the magnet will hold the antenna in place at speeds greater than 100mph. 5meter cable terminated with MCX connector.
Check out our GPS buying guide!
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i need an active gps antenna for the tc6000gn-em. the connector is a MM8030-2600 from Murata. Do you have any?
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Guests are invited to work out in the fitness center. Business travelers will appreciate conveniences like voice mail and access to copy and fax services. Banquet and meeting facilities that accommodate up to 75 people are available for most events and business functions. All spacious guest rooms include refrigerators, coffee makers, hair dryers, irons and ironing boards. Some rooms also include microwaves and whirlpool bathtubs. Non-smoking and handicap accessible rooms are provided upon request. This Latham hotel also features valet cleaning services and tour bus parking. Pets are welcome in select rooms. Whether traveling for business or pleasure, come stay at the Comfort Inn Airport & Conference Center. We provide friendly customer service, inviting accommodations and affordable rates to everyone visiting the Latham and Albany areas.
Welcome to the Comfort Inn Airport & Conference Center, a Latham hotel near Albany International Airport Located in the heart of the Capital District, the Comfort Inn Airport & Conference Center is less than one mile from the Albany International Airport. Free airport transportation and Stay & Fly packages are available; contact the hotel for more details. This Latham hotel is just minutes from Union College, SUNY University at Albany, the Times Union Center (formerly the Pepsi Arena) and the New York State Museum. Visitors will enjoy shopping at the nearby Colonie Center shopping mall and Crossgates Mall, the region's premier shopping and entertainment destination. Be sure to visit the on-site restaurant, Devin's Place at the Airport, and enjoy happy hour in the lounge. Fine hotel features, services and amenities include: Free deluxe continental breakfast Free high-speed Internet access in all rooms Free USA Today Free local calls
Extended parking available only through Park & Fly Package (PPKFLY). Pet accommodation: 25.00/stay (limit: 1 pet/room). Pet Deposit: $75.00 smoking rooms only. Refunded upon
Room Facilities:
Satellite cable TV
Wheelchair accessible


text:
|2,238 sq. ft.
|Property type
|Minimum Stay
|7 nights
Villa Spirini dvori is located only 10 km from the ancient town of Zadar in a peacuful countryside ambiance. Feauturing 6 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms and a private pool it is an ideal accomodation for few families or a bigger group. You will wake up by chorus of birds and have a first coffe of the Day on a charming covered terrace next to the swimming pool. Within a few minutes drive you can reach Adriatic Sea and choose between sandy, pebbled or deserted beaches.
Spacious 208 square meter Villa is decorated with upmost care combining Mediterranean with vintage style.
On the ground floor there is a spacious living/dining room with direct access to the covered terrace. Open plan kitchen is fully equipped including dish washer. On the same floor there is a playroom, paradise for children equipped by table tennis, football table, video games and TV. 6 Bedrooms are located on the first floor, 4 of them having access to the balcony.
Special place is Villa's Taverne with open fireplace where you could enjoy in gastronomy and taste local wines.
Beside total rest and watersport activities this area offers variety of activities: biking, riding, windsurfing, diving, rafting.
Within the driving distance of 1.5 hours there are 4 National parks which could all be seen in 1 Day trip.
Classification: Ground floor: (Open plan kitchen(cooker(4 ring stoves, electric), oven, microwave, dishwasher, fridge freezer), Living/diningroom(2x Double sofa bed, TV(satellite, digital), DVD player, stereo, balcony or terrace, airconditioning), bathroom(shower, washbasin, toilet), bathroom(shower, washbasin, toilet), games room(TV, game computer, airconditioning, table tennis, table football), 4x Cot)
On 1st floor: (Hall(airconditioning), bedroom(Double bed, balcony), bedroom(Double bed, balcony), bedroom(Double bed), bedroom(Double bed), bedroom(2x Single bed, balcony), bedroom(2x Single bed, balcony), bathroom(shower, washbasin, toilet), bathroom(shower, washbasin, toilet))
outside kitchen(reachable from the outside), fireplace, washing machine, balcony or terrace, garden(private, fenced), BBQ, parking, swimming pool(private, fenced, 6 x 4 m.), play area, bicycle(s) available(on request)
These costs are charged on site. They are not included in the rental price.:
Deposit; No
Final Cleaning; Mandatory: € 50
Pets; Max. 2; € 10/Pet/Night
Bed linen; Included
Bath towels; Included
Kitchen linen; Included
Electricity; Included
Gas/Oil; Included
Wifi; Free
Tourist tax; Mandatory, indication: € 1 /person/night
Das Ferienhaus ist sehr schön
Die Lage ist sehr ländlich und ruhig
Zum Meer oder ins nächste Geschäft muss man mit dem Auto hin
Centre Zadar 10.0 km., Forest 1.0 km., Lake 30.0 km., General supplies 1.0 km., Public transport 1.0 km., Tourist information office 5.0 km.
*Plus compulsory or optional charges based on actual occupancy or consumption. The payment has to be made in the currency offered by the property manager, before use of conversion tool. Payments in other currencies have to be negotiated beforehand with the property manager. The currency conversion tool is provided for your convenience only and is non-binding.


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Brady Blank Signs with Preprinted WARNING Header
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Manufacturer: Brady 88945
SpecificationsDescription & Specifications
- Made of aluminum, polyester and plastic materials
- Header: WARNING
- Color: Black on Orange
- Size: 35.5W x 25.4cm H (14 x 10 in.)
|Material: Self-sticking Polyester
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text:
Quick Navigation.
Your most important features, instantly accessible.
You need to get key apps, fast. With the all-new Quick Nav feature, notifications like missed calls and texts are just a touch away. Access them with a simple push and hold of the remote control Select button. You can even manage your smartphone set-up directly from Quick Nav.


text:
Father: Luther Arnold Williams b: 14 Oct 1909
Mother: Roberta Ellen Marler b: 2 May 1912 in Simpson, Mitchell County, Kansas
Marriage 1 Living Heyman
RootsWeb.com, Inc. is NOT responsible for the content of the GEDCOMs uploaded through the WorldConnect Program. If you have a problem with a particular entry, please contact the submitter of said entry. You have full control over your GEDCOM. You can change or remove it at any time.


text:
ORLANDO (AP) JaMychal Green scored a late tiebreaking basket and then made the lead hold up.
Green scored 20 points, including a go-ahead dunk with 5 seconds to play, and Alabama beat No. 15 Michigan 68-66 in the Old Spice Classic on Sunday night.
Green also blocked and sent a last-second layup attempt by Darius Morris into the stands.
"It feels good," Green said. "I was at the right place at the right time."
Charvez Davis added 12 points for Alabama (4-2), which won two of three games in the tournament.
"I'm really proud of our guys," Alabama coach Anthony Grant said. "We had some adversity that hit us early. We overcame some things and I think it was a great learning experience for our team."
Manny Haris had 26 points and 10 rebounds for Michigan (3-2), which was coming off a 79-65 loss to Marquette on Friday. The Wolverines had an 83-76 overtime win over Creighton in their tournament opener Thursday.
"It's still early, but it did let us know that we've got a ways to go and that we probably wasn't the Top-15 team in the country," said Michigan forward DeShawn Sims (FSY), who had 16 points and six rebounds.
Michigan coach John Beilein second-guessed his own call for the Wolverines' last offensive play.
"We still got to the rim, but if Manny gets to the rim something else may happen," Beilein said. "If I had to do it over again, I'd make sure Manny got the ball somehow or used another time out."
Alabama went up 61-57 on Mikhail Torrance's (FSY) three-pointer with four minutes left. A free throw by Justin Knox tied it at 66 with 49.6 remaining.
After Stu Douglass made a long jumper, Harris then scored on the fastbreak to give Michigan a 66-65 lead.
"We just came across another good team," Harris said. "We've got to find a way to close out the game and get a win."
Harris had 16 points, helping Michigan take a 34-29 lead at halftime. He scored 20 or more points in all three tournament games.
"I don't think the timing of our offense was real good," Beilein said. "They did a great job of holding us down."
Green made two short baskets to put Alabama up 51-50 with 7½ minutes left. The Crimson Tide took a 56-55 lead on Knox's three-point play with 6:08 remaining.
Laval Lucas-Perry made a three-pointer and Anthony Wright (FSY) had a layup to give Michigan a 48-40 advantage midway through second half.
Harris hit a three-pointer and added a free throw as Michigan went ahead 9-2 three minutes into the game. The Wolverines used a 10-0 run, featuring six points by Harris, to go up 28-15 with 6:34 left in the first half.
Davis had 12 first-half points, coming on four three-pointers. The last one, along with a rebound basket from Green, cut the Crimson Tide deficit to 32-29 with 34 seconds to go.
The Wolverines scored 14 points off 12 Alabama turnovers during the opening 20 minutes.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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text:
John Curtis Christian (River Ridge, La.) linebacker Kenny Young has remained very neutral throughout his recruitment even after picking up offers from some of the most successful college programs in the country. Offers are still rolling in for the 6-2 225 pound Young and he is preparing to dive head first into the recruiting process during his remaining summer months. For now, Young is just taking everything in stride and learning as much as he can about the programs that have offered him.
"It's been pretty routine the last couple of months," Young told TSD. "I'm at a point where I'm trying to figure out what colleges I want to visit and which ones I want to eliminate. I'm also just building relationships."
For the rest of the summer, Young will visit colleges around the country to try to get a better idea of what schools will make the final cut for him. While he hasn't spoken with his family about which schools will receive visits, he is already sure of one campus that he will be on in the near future.
"I haven't really visited anywhere yet, but I plan on visiting some schools," said Young. "I'll have to talk to my parents to figure all of that out. I'll be at LSU at some point this summer for sure."
"I don't have any top schools yet because I haven't visited all of the schools that I want to check out. I want to give everyone a chance and I want to see the campuses."
Young hopes to have his list narrowed down by the end of the summer, but as he said, he is giving everyone a fair shot. LSU was one of the first schools to offer Young, but he hasn't spoken with the coaching staff in a couple of weeks, something he hopes to change very soon.
"I talked to coach [John] Chavis a couple of weeks ago," said Young. "I tried to call him a couple of days ago, but I didn't get a hold of him because they have been busy. I'll get back in touch with them soon."
Even though he hasn't spoken with the LSU staff recently, Young explained that he still maintains high interest in the Bayou Bengals because of how familiar he is with the program.
"I think the interest is still there with me and LSU," said Young. "The interest will always be there because I grew up watching them and they are the home state school. As far as the recruiting process, I'm still open to everybody and the interest has always been there for LSU."
With Young being from Louisiana, there has always been the expectation that he would be a Tiger one day. Young explained that while he is receiving pressure to stay in state for college, he is enjoying what people are telling him in the recruiting process.
"I always get some kind of pressure from people at school or just the fans that know me from LSU," said Young. "They all want me to go there and it makes the process fun. It's cool that people want me there."
Young is listed as a four-star middle linebacker by Scout.com, but LSU is recruiting him at a different position. Young is comfortable with any position that he might have to play once he gets to college.
"Sam linebacker is where LSU is recruiting me," said Young. "It really doesn't matter where I play because I have played all three positions in high school and I am very familiar with all them. Wherever they want to put me is where I'll play."
LSU signed former Curtis standout Duke Riley in the class of 2013, someone that Young is very close with. Young speaks with Riley on a regular basis about what being at LSU is like, but he explained that the freshman linebacker for the Tigers being in Baton Rouge won't have much of an impact on his recruitment.
"I talked to Duke yesterday and we are very good friends," said Young. "He tells me everything about it and he is like a brother to me. I have always been close with him and I try to follow in his footsteps and he was a great influence."
"However, I don't think him being at LSU will affect me that much. He knows I have to make the best decision for me."
Young also explained that he intends to make his final decision on signing day in February.
Young knows of one summer visit
Big Red Report Top Stories
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Big Red ReportYesterday at 9:21 AM
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Big Red ReportMonday at 8:05 AM
Williams next man up for media daysNebraska is counting on a strong season from the junior safety.
Big Red ReportMonday at 7:55 AM


text:
Just in shield you skipped the term of this article, I will pen it again.
Dating online is not reality!
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Anyone can transmit a representation of whoever they poorness to be and mean solar day online as a young-begetting or a female.
However, women who deprivation to actually meet men in the existing world should have no difficulty wanting to come together you sooner fairly that after that.
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Of track if you savor qualitative analysis online by all routine continue alive in your own pretence.


text:
I wanted to do an AU SasuSaku. I was talking to Cheryl and she put the seeds of this little demon in my mind. That naughty girl. . . I was trying to go to oneshots entirely. But there was no way this couldn't be a chapter thing, so there you go. Hope you all like it and think I kept everyone IC enough. Things always get tweaked when they modernize in my brain.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the characters in it. This is but humble fanfiction and I am borrowing their likenesses and personalities for a jaunt into the ether of my brain meats.
Chapter 1
"Welcome to the Konoha family!" The pleasant voice of her boss did nothing but set the young woman ill at ease. She grasped a pen in her hand, tensing and releasing the muscles as she tried to determine what she needed to write down to remember later.
"Thank you Mr. Hatake. I can't tell you how grateful I am to get this job."
"We'll see if you still say that by tax season. . . if you make it that long. And call me Kakashi, we really don't stand on formality here." The way he smiled when he said things took all the bite out of his ominous words. Really, he had been nothing but kind to her during this entire tour of the building. He didn't need to do something so nice on her first day, and she keenly felt how she must be encroaching on his valuable time.
Sakura saw her desk again, all set up except for the metal name plate that would soon reside there, and she smiled tentatively at her boss. He seemed like he was in his mid to late thirties, and the lazy way he was looking at her made her feel as he were seeing something she wasn't. Once more, she looked down at herself nervously, checking to see if she had a run in her stockings or if the slip under her skirt was peeking out. Today was an important day for her and she wanted to make a good first impression. When nothing seemed to be obviously wrong, she looked up with another bright smile and opened her mouth to ask a question.
"Kakashi! Where have you been? I need these forms signed before I can send them off." A deep voice behind Sakura made her start in surprise.
"I was going to get to those soon Shino. You don't need to worry. Everything has its time." Kakashi's eyes glinted. "I felt it would be more expedient to acquaint my new department assistant with her surroundings. Ms. Sakura Haruno, this is one of the two stars of the accounting world for our company, Mr. Shino Aburame."
When she turned around she got a shock. The voice had been so deep, she had expected a much older man, but this Shino didn't look to be any older than she was albeit much taller. The sunglasses indoors were also a bit unnerving. It was winter after all. She wondered if it would be polite to ask why he wore them, but then again she could probably get the answer from Ino if she was patient.
"It's good to meet you, I hope I can do my job well enough to make everyone feel like I'm a valuable assistant." Her humble words belied her absolute confidence in doing this job. After the last one she had had, office monkey work was a cinch. Kakashi seemed almost too easygoing to be real.
The glasses focused on her for a disturbing moment, and then they were back on Kakashi. "I'm serious. This is important."
"Yes yes. Look at the time! I think I'm late for a lunch appointment, you know how these things go. I'll see you two around." Kakashi patted them both on the back at the same time and sauntered down the hallway. If he was late, he certainly didn't look it.
They watched their boss make his way around a corner, and then Sakura gave her second most winning smile to the obviously irritated young man still holding a pile of forms in his hands. Shino handed them to her as soon as he was certain Kakashi was not going to miraculously return and become responsible.
"Give these to him when he gets back. I'll be in my office until noon when everyone else in this building actually does have their lunch break." Shino wandered into one of the three closed offices on the floor, rather than one of the many cubicles in which men and women were pushing numbers. The door didn't slam, but the way it shut firmly didn't invite her back in for any questions or conversation. Shino was as businesslike as Kakashi was casual.
No one had actually told her what she was supposed to do, so Sakura wandered around and took a longer look at her new surroundings. She was grateful to be in a new job so soon. Not a lot of places were looking to hire, particularly during the holidays when everyone was rushing around and thinking of other things. Sakura figured this was an early Christmas present from the cosmos. She felt justified in getting one when she had been so rudely ejected from her last job the day before Thanksgiving.
It was December 1st and Sakura was the proud new member of Konoha Inc., one of the largest bath and beauty companies in the country. They had branches all over, but this was their head, their corporate base, in which the President and most infamous user held court. This was not the biggest building the President owned, nor was it the best maintained, but everyone who worked here knew that if they could get the ear of the President long enough then they might be shipped off to be head of bigger and better branches. Tsunade, the President, liked being surrounded by ambitious and hardworking people. Sakura wondered how Kakashi had ended up here. Then again, he was head of accounting and looked like he was perfectly happy to stay there and go no further if his work ethic was anything to judge by.
"I knew you'd be slacking off." Sakura's reveries had been going on longer than she suspected and she was jolted back into the rapidly emptying office.
The familiar voice of her friend made Sakura smile and she looked at Ino's reflection in the window. "I thought I smelled something. Is that bacon?"
"Ha ha. I get you a new job and this is how you repay me? With insults?" Behind her, Ino bumped her friend's head into the windowpane. "Careful, with that wide forehead of yours you might overbalance at any time, crash down five floors onto the street."
Sakura rubbed her mildly smarting head and turned. "Couldn't resist could you?" She leaned back on the window, ignoring the many people vacating the building as lunch beckoned. "You were worried about me, weren't you?"
"Maybe." Ino looked sly. "Or maybe I was down here to catch a glimpse of some of those dreamy accounting men. Of course I was worried!"
"So no designs on Mr. Hatake? Or Mr. Aburame?"
Ino looked at the offices which held those names on the doors. "I see you've already met two of the power trio. Just wait until you meet the third. He's really something."
"You tried and failed already then?" Sakura was canny when it came to her friend sometimes, and when Ino winced she knew she was on target.
"Shino's a bit of a cold fish, and Kakashi's as slippery as one. They aren't the real prize in the department. Every woman on this floor knows that, not that those two don't have quite the following." Ino looked at the third office, across from Shino's. "It's Sasuke Uchiha that you need to keep your eye on. Just remember, I warned you. Look but don't try to touch. You'll get burned. Then again, when you see him you may try anyway."
Sakura laughed at her friend. They had similar taste in men most of the time, and Sakura was sure that Ino's judgment was spot on. Whatever this Sasuke Uchiha was like, she felt like she was ready. No one could be as bad as. . . well, she didn't want to think about that. Sakura wanted to keep her good mood today.
"As for me, I'd say come have lunch, but I have lunch date with this lovely man who owns a swanky and very pricey restaurant downtown. Chouji something. I'll remember his name on the way there." Ino checked her makeup and hair in the reflective surface of the window. "Wish me luck."
"You don't need it."
"I know." Ino winked and ran off as fast as her designer heels could carry her. Sakura knew this Chouji guy must be more important than Ino was letting on if Ino was actually hurrying to meet him. That was a question for another time. Right now, Sakura was perversely interested in her boss' coworker from whom she had been expressly warned away. All she had to do was wait for him to come out of his office, and then she would go grab a bite to eat at one of the many little places that littered the downtown area in which the Konoha Inc building was located.
She was lounging by a potted plant when Shino happened by her. He stopped and towered over her, pausing as if trying to find words. "Sakura, right?"
"Yes." His words were sure, but Shino didn't seem to know where to go after that.
"If you're waiting for Kakashi to come back, you shouldn't. You take your lunch and I'll tell you what you can do to start out a project later." It took Sakura a moment to realize he was trying to be helpful, possibly even nice to her, and that the deep tone and flat delivery were part of his style and not an indication of displeasure at her personally.
"Thank you. I'd hate to have my first day be unproductive." Just spout out that crap, Sakura told herself, that 'oh I'm so efficient and wonderful' stuff and then when you know what you can get away with. . .
Shino nodded. "Excellent. I shall see you at one then. Good bye."
"Bye." Sakura waved him off to the elevator and continued her vigil. She was going to have to hurry to get lunch if this man was going to keep her waiting. In a way, she wasn't sure why she was doing this other than that Ino had peaked her curiosity.
A hand on her shoulder nearly made her jump out of her skin.
"Pardon me," Came a soft voice. Sakura tried to place the face of the timid looking woman next to her, but other than a vague feeling of familiarity she was drawing a blank. "Are you lost?"
"No. I was. . . just thinking to myself. That's all." Sakura narrowed her eyes, as if squinting would help matters, but the fierce expression made the smaller woman back away as if Sakura had raised a hand against her. Immediately, she felt bad for it, but wasn't sure why. "Sorry if I scared you, I'm trying to remember where I saw you before."
The woman seemed to deflate. "We spoke a day ago. Ino came to me about hiring you. Hinata. . . director of human resources."
Sakura felt guilty. Hinata was strangely forgettable, but then part of that could have been the way she seemed to be trying to hide whether it was behind her desk or behind the plant they were next to like she was attempting at that moment.
"Would you like to have lunch with me, Hinata? I'm new here and I'm not sure what good places there are to eat in this part of town. I worked in private offices a ways away from here and I was never adventurous when it came to getting food so I'm at a loss." Cutting short her stakeout was not something she wanted to do, but with only fifty minutes to beat the crowds and get a bite to eat before Shino drilled her in her new duties Sakura knew she had to move.
Hinata hesitated visibly, then capitulated with a quivering smile. "That sounds nice. Ok."
As they left, Sakura and Hinata were passed by a blond haired blur that almost knocked them both over and yelled back an apology as he stormed into the nearly empty accounting department.
"Some people don't have any manners." Sakura mumbled. Hinata looked down at the ground and mumbled something under her breath.
"Tell me about your department, Hinata." While Sakura didn't fall easily into calling her superiors at the company by their first names, Hinata seemed to warrant it. The girl, for being the head of her department, seemed far too passive. How had she ended up in such an influential and people oriented job? It was unusual.
The girl looked down at her nibbled on sandwich and then at her lap. Sakura wished she would meet her eyes even once during the meal. "It's. . . ok. The people I work with are. . . ok."
"Huh. That's good. Why don't you tell me about them?" Hinata fumbled with the question in her brain. "What are their names?"
That got a faster response. "Mostly I only speak with Lee. . . and Neji. Lee is always very nice to me." The conspicuous absence of description for Neji forced Sakura to probe further.
"What's wrong with Neji?"
"Did I say something was wrong?" Hinata looked around, as if she thought they were being watched. Sakura suspected briefly that this Neji person was doing something to poor little Hinata, and her protective vibes kicked in.
"If this person is giving you trouble, you should do something about it. You're his boss right? You could threaten him a little to keep him in line. If there's anything I hate, bullies are right up there." Sakura managed to bring a smile to Hinata's face and for the first time the girl met her eyes.
"You sound like. . . like Naruto."
"Who is Naruto?" Sakura took a sip of her soda, flinching at the strange aftertaste. She was drinking diet today because the holidays were coming and she wanted to make a preemptive strike against those dreaded couple pounds she would no doubt gain. Mild depression over being fired before Thanksgiving had resulted in her scarfing down several pounds of turkey, stuffing, pie, and at least one carton of ice cream in addition to enough alcohol to kill half her brain cells. She had sworn off of all those things as a pre-New Year's resolution.
Hinata's face flushed and the girl began to fidget, turning her paper napkin in her hands. "Naruto works in the advertising department. He told Neji off once for his 'reminders'." At Sakura's look of confusion, Hinata clarified. "Neji sends people who he thinks aren't working efficiently enough 'reminders'. If you get too many, he puts a notice on your door until you improve. He says it's a good shame based motivator."
"This guy sounds like a nightmare."
"Well, Naruto found the sticker on his door and he scraped it off. Then he found everyone else who had a sticker and scraped those off and marched into Neji's office and dumped all the scrapings on his desk. Neji was. . . not happy." Hinata lit up as she told the story. This was an action in Hinata's book worthy of a demi-god it seemed. This Naruto sounded like someone she admired.
Sakura leaned in, interested. "What did Neji do?"
"He told Naruto that he should lodge a formal complaint before wasting him valuable time. And the next day all the stickers were back up, except for Naruto's. Naruto had a plaque. . . screwed into his door."
"I can see they are the best of friends." Sakura said sarcastically. "But Naruto had the right idea. I'm sure the plaque didn't bother him, did it?"
Hinata looked at Sakura as if she had revealed she was clairvoyant. "No. It didn't."
"You should take a page out of his book and stand up for yourself then." Sakura liked giving advice. Whenever she got a chance, she took it. Being a busy body was something she had always done, as a consequence of feeling wiser than most of the people around her. Having a big brain and a big ego did that sometimes.
In a voice that Sakura couldn't hear, Hinata mumbled something into her sandwich.
"I said," Hinata tried again, still blushing. "I was waiting for him to come down when I saw you standing there."
Sakura paused. "Oh. I see. I'm sorry I ruined your plans then."
"No! That's not what I meant at all!" Hinata seemed deathly afraid that she had offended her new friend. "I usually wait, but he brushes by me every day on his way to see Sasuke."
There was that name again. "Is Naruto a friend of Sasuke's?"
"Yes, sort of." Hinata screwed her face up as she tried to determine how to say what she was thinking. "Or at least, Sasuke is Naruto's friend. Sasuke doesn't seem to want to be anyone's friend."
"You don't speak to him much then."
Hinata shook her head. Sakura switched the subject to holiday plans and the two of them enjoyed a pleasant lunch for the rest of the hour.
Shino droned on in a voice that made Sakura feel oddly sleepy. It wasn't merely that what he was telling her was boring but it was the pitch of his voice that seemed to lulling. If he sang, like at karaoke, then she could see him doing Barry White or someone else with a powerful but low voice. It was a voice that would be sexy if he were talking about something else then what she should be filing where, who should get mail when, and making sure she knew how to take dictation and type. It was when she was ready to start stabbing herself in the leg with her pen to keep her eyes from drooping that Kakashi breezed in, forty minutes after the lunch hour, and whisked her away to his office.
"Copy this and this for me, give me five, duplexed, and stapled. Give one to Shino and one to Sasuke and leave the rest in my box. Are those the forms to sign? Great. I'll have filing for you tomorrow and I'm sure I'll need something typed up after you do these too, naturally. Don't bother to come get me if anyone asks, I'll be gone in another hour. Terribly important meeting. I think you're doing splendidly though, for your first day." Kakashi left her with a pile of documents, and a feeling like she had been steamrolled by a friendly but vague man in a dark grey three piece suit.
Shino looked at Sakura as she was coming out of Kakashi's office. He had been waiting, it seemed. "I'll take those." He grabbed the papers he had wanted signed. "The last assistant couldn't take the stress. Between doing nothing and doing too much they've all quit on him. Best one made it two months before she cracked." Sakura turned to face him, surprising him with the way she seemed entirely steady and prepared to face her tasks.
"Compared to my last boss, Kakashi is an angel." She meant it. "I think I'll like it here."
What he said next actually did make Sakura twitch as Shino walked back into his office. "Wait until you meet Sasuke, and then if you can still tell me that I might believe you."
That was it. Sasuke Uchiha was already bugging her and she hadn't even met him. So far as she could tell, he hadn't left his office. Maybe he was a figment of everyone's imaginations, but she couldn't see Hinata or Shino being the lying type even if Ino was a sometimes questionable source.
She spent the rest of her day, as she went about her tasks, trying to imagine what made Sasuke Uchiha so formidable. The typing was a snap and the copier was the main difficulty as she tried to figure it out. Copiers and fax machines were hated contraptions to her, being the sorts of things that broke down on her at all the wrong times. Computers fared slightly better with her, but that's because she could find ways around the problem when there was one. Either a copier worked or it didn't, and its inner workings were not something she wanted to deal with. Sakura tried to picture what Sasuke Uchiha was like as she fiddled with the copier.
Attractive, no doubt, otherwise Ino would never have given him a second glance. Dark hair and eyes were the usual attention getters for Ino's radar and Sakura was similarly guilty. He was ambitious if he was in his own office and working in the corporate office, and dedicated since he was always busy doing something inside of that office. A man like that couldn't smile much. One of the rules of business seemed to be the longer the hours worked the less you smiled or laughed. Kakashi smiled a lot. Shino had attempted one when he was explaining things to her not long ago. Maybe he had a temper, a fiery temper where he yelled at people and veins in his head throbbed.
Sakura giggled to herself and then hit the copier as it made a hiccupping noise and spat out a copy with lines down it. What else could be wrong with this Uchiha? Hm. . . he might have terrible body odor. That was a deal breaker with her, since she had met many men who seemed perfectly nice until they opened their mouths and rotting odors issued forth. There was that guy she had gone on one date with who smelled of the garlic he loved. Odors bothered her.
What had Hinata said? Oh yes, this Naruto person liked him but Uchiha didn't need a friend like that. So either Naruto was very annoying and persistent while Sasuke was solitary and cold, or some exciting other option that she wasn't aware of. She preferred to think of Sasuke as a broody loner. Wrapped in an expensive suit? Yum. Sakura was excited to meet this construction, but wary as well since reality was so much more disappointing than the beautiful image in her head.
"You'll break it if you hit it like that."
"I'm sorry, I'm new and I have bad copier karma." Sakura looked up from the lighted panel she had been punching at with some ferocity and felt her mouth go dry as she beheld the most gorgeous man that she had ever had the pleasure to be glowered at. And she had been glowered at by some devilishly handsome men in her time.
"Move. I need to copy this and I'm not walking up to advertising to do it."
Sakura was instantly moved from lust to anger at his rudeness. "If you helped me I could finish faster, and if you can't be bothered I know that there's another copier on the other side of the floor."
"This kind makes better copies, and if you're going to insist on being annoying then I suppose I'll have to do your job for you." He looked down his aristocratic nose at her, and Sakura wished he was less than perfect so that when he left she had something to pick apart about him. Why were the beautiful ones deranged?
"Don't feel like you have to do anything for me."
"I don't. You asked." He pinched the bridge of his nose like she did sometimes when she had a headache. "Are we going to argue or are you going to finish your copies?"
Sakura pulled out a piece of paper from the holder and gave the man a tight and unfriendly smile. "While you were throwing a fit about my competence I finally found the button I was looking for. Please, make these copies you need so desperately." Her sarcastic tone seemed to be lost on him.
"If you weren't new I'd report you to Hyuuga." Even his hair was perfect, Sakura noted as he bent over the panel.
"Hinata and I spoke just today and I don't think she'd have a problem with me trying to figure out a copier."
The man looked at her as if he thought she were mentally challenged. "Neji Hyuuga, not Hinata." He lazily leaned against a counter and seemed to actually look at Sakura for the first time since they had begun talking. "You'd better shape up if you're going to make it at Konoha. We don't have room for weak links."
"And Happy Holidays to you too." Sakura stormed out of the copy room, ending the conversation before she got charged with assault and battery on her first day at Konoha Inc.
There must be a water cooler or something where the office ladies gathered. There is no way this man could be as big of an ass as he was and not have some sort of gossip going around about him. She almost regretted not getting him name, but talking to him any longer would have been bad for his health when her well manicured nails cut through the skin of his neck. It was almost quitting time, she noticed when she slammed her things down on her desk. Kakashi was long gone, and she had gotten a huge chunk of work done. If anyone asked, she was taking a memo to advertising.
Ino was on the phone when Sakura got to her office. It made Sakura insanely jealous that she seemed to be so far behind Ino in a lot of ways. They had been making similar incomes, even though Sakura had merely been an assistant at a law firm and Ino was a highly regarded artistic force behind Konoha Inc.'s advertising campaigns. Her last contribution, taking a floral theme to their new product line, had made the company millions and Ino had gotten a nice raise and a new office. Tsunade was known for liking to promote women, particularly if they were capable.
"Give me five minutes." Ino mouthed and then pointed to the phone and rolled her eyes. It seemed she wanted to leave on time today too, but the person on the other end of the line had not realized it yet.
Sakura nodded and waited out in the hallway. She was staring out the window again, this time not looking at anything and internally fuming about that man she had met in the copy room when she noticed that there was someone standing next to her who was definitely not Ino. The goofy smile on the man's face lifted her spirits out of the garbage where she had let them drop, and before she knew it she was shaking his hand and telling him her name.
"Sakura Haruno. I'm new." This gregarious and likeable man, the polar opposite of the person she had been mentally cursing, was also handsome in his own way. His blue eyes were striking and his whole appearance promoted a creative sort of chaos. Even his shirt, buttoned one too high, gave him an off kilter but slightly charming sort of impression.
"I know you're new. I know I would never be able to pass by you twice and not introduce myself. I'm Naruto Uzumaki, but you can call me Naruto. Do you work in my department? If you don't, then lie to me and say you do because I'd be too heartbroken if I didn't get to see your pretty face every day."
It had been a while since someone had tried a line like that on her. It was sweet, but kind of cheesy. "I work in accounting. I'm Mr. Hatake's new assistant?"
The man's face fell and he dragged a hand through his spiky blond hair. "That's just my luck. Not only are you a floor down, but who knows how long you'll even be here!" When he saw the face she made at his explanation he tried to backtrack. "I mean, I'm sure you'll do great as Kakashi's assistant. And if you don't like it I'm sure I could convince Gai that I desperately need a personal assistant of my own. . ."
"Gai would never do that and you know it. He likes it better when we do our own work, no matter how hard it may be." Ino stood with her arms crossed and regarded Naruto who was almost pouting with no pity. "If you're going to hit on my friend, do it on your own time, or at the holiday party like every other sensible lech in this building."
"That's not fair Ino. I'm no Jiraiya."
"And thank everything for that. Now shoo shoo."
Naruto waved as he bounded down the hall. "I'll come see you some time Sakura, you can count on it!"
Sakura tried not to let the day get to her. At this point it was too much everything to take in all at once. She looked to Ino who seemed to find pleasure in her consternation.
"Congratulations Sakura. You're the proud owner of a twenty-seven year old puppy. He'll follow you home if you aren't careful. I've never seen him so smitten. How do you do it, particularly in those shoes?"
"These shoes are sensible, and my calves won't be deformed when I'm forty, unlike yours." She shook her head, pinching the bridge of her nose and then had a vivid flash back that reminded her why she was up here in the advertising department. "At least he was nice, unlike this jerk I met in the copy room. He was so nauseating I had to get off of the floor before I saw him again."
Ino hummed to herself, thinking. "Dunno who it might have been. Did you get his name?"
"No, but he was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen until he opened his mouth."
The expression that lit Ino's eyes made Sakura think that her friend knew something she didn't but instead she brought up Naruto again instead. "Seriously, jerks aside, you might have some trouble shaking Naruto. He's got energy to spare and even if he doesn't look like he has his life together he's a force to be dealt with. He and I are the only two in the running for Gai's job if he ever leaves." Ino sighed. "Which he won't."
"Why not?"
"I'll tell you some other time."
Names clicked in place for Sakura and she groaned. "Oh no! That's Naruto! Hinata's Naruto! This is awful! One day on the job and I'm already waist deep in office drama."
"That's Konoha Inc. for you. When we say we're one big family, we mean it. What we don't tell you is that it's a dysfunctional family." Ino linked her arm into Sakura's and led her away. "Let's get you home. Or to a bar. If I had had the past few days that you did then I don't think I'd want to see anything but the bottom of a martini glass."


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Cabobbles Hat by Estella Haines
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© Estella Haines
© Estella Haines
© majorknitter
© Estella Haines
Cabobbles Hat
This pattern is available for $5.00 USD buy it now
When my daughter requested a hat "with bobbles" we came up with this design that merges two different cable and bobble panels for a front/back motif and side motifs as well. Cables plus bobbles equal "cabobbles"! The hat is knit in the round using DK weight yarn.


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So, when is a fixed election law passed by Parliament actually worth the paper it's written on? Apparently, never. Just when we thought a federal election was set for Oct. 19, 2015, there is now widespread speculation that Prime Minister Stephen Harper is spoiling for an earlier vote. Press reports swirling around Ottawa last week suggest a federal election will likely take place next spring, immediately after a surplus budget full of election-like goodies.
A fixed election bill was introduced in 2006, shortly after the Tories won their first minority government. Under the bill, which passed in 2007, Canadians are supposed to go to the polls on the third Monday in October, in the fourth calendar year after a general election. In 2008, Mr. Harper convinced Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean that Parliament had become dysfunctional and should be dissolved, sending Canadians to the polls in an election which gave the government an enhanced minority. That decision later stood up to a court challenge because nothing in the law affected the powers of the governor general to dissolve Parliament.
A non-confidence motion precipitated the May 2011 federal election giving the Conservatives a comfortable majority. But, essentially, unless the PM decides to observe the law, he can very easily get around it.
The Ottawa Hill Times quotes various Tory insiders and opposition parties saying Mr. Harper will trigger an early election to take advantage of next year's expected federal budget with billions of surplus dollars. There is little doubt that if Mr. Harper asks Gov. Gen. David Johnston to dissolve Parliament, it's going to happen, law or no law.
Keith Beardsley, former deputy chief of staff to Mr. Harper, supports the idea for an election immediately after a balanced budget, rather than lose momentum. If the next budget is tabled in February or March, Canadians could go to the polls as early as April or May 2015. The bigger the surplus, the more pressure on the PM to call an early election. All party officials are apparently getting ready for the early vote.
Deputy Liberal leader Ralph Goodale says his party doesn't expect the PM to wait past the spring, and neither does the NDP's new national director Anne McGrath. Green Party leader Elizabeth May also agrees with the spring election scenario.
Governing parties will call an election when it best suits them best politically and the longer Mr. Harper waits, the better the odds that longevity and baggage become liabilities. The longer you're in government, the more likelihood something bad going to happen.
The signs are everywhere. The Conservatives are continuing attack advertising against Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau; the government is increasing ads promoting its Economic Action Plan; and it's taking a hardline position against Chief Electoral Officer Marc Mayrand over his criticism of the Fair Elections Act. Media newsrooms across the nation are also feeling the impact of the Tories full mobilization to a war footing. In recent weeks, hardly a news story is broadcast or published critical of the government, that is not immediately challenged with emails or letters clarifying positions or attacking the critic. The story clipping service in Ottawa is running overtime.
Political parties are already busy nominating candidates in the 338 ridings across the country. Nomination battles among sitting MPs are being caused because of redistribution of ridings. It's best to get those in-party floor fights out of the way now.
P.E.I. is also trying to finalize a date for its next provincial election. Ottawa had intruded into the Island's planned 2015 fall vote but now the prime minister may remove that problem for Premier Robert Ghiz, who is also searching for the most opportune time for an election.


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Get your healing medicines
After all kind of activities that you have done your job, you maybe want to have some healing moment. The time when you can spend your night or day just to reflex at your life. You maybe want to have a moment in your life where you can just clean up your mind and make your life feel refreshed and you can fill your mind with a new stuff. There is a church in America that you can join whenever you need healing medicines. Ayahuasca retreats are the best programs that you can join. The Ayahuasca retreats can help you to get your healing medicines. You just need to join them and follow the activities that they make in order to make you feel more relax. You don't need to worry about your work when you join the Ayahuasca retreats. All you need to do is focus on your healing process.
There are many people in America who also feel stress with their life. They feel that they also need a healing moment when they can feel more relax. They really want to throw away all of their worries that they always carry on their back and they want to feel lighter than before. The best way that you can do is joining with this retreats program. There will be a lot of people who will guide you during your retreat. They will help you to make you feel more relax. After joining with this retreat program, you will never need to feel worried anymore. In your daily life, you will be able to overcome your problem and you will be able to find the best solution for all kind of problem that comes to you. You will also be able to find the best method for all of the problem that you have in your life.


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Just wanted to say hi *waving*
I am from New Zealand, scrapper for many years!! Been a member here since 2005, but have only just stumbled back onto the site while looking for tips and tricks for using the new cameo I have coming soon. .....followed a link from the scrapjazz site and .....here I am !!
Looking forward to getting to know you, and sharing scrap tips etc with you.


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A Little Princess
Aladdin, Dec 29, 2009 - Juvenile Fiction - 336 pages
Written by British-born author Frances Hodgson Burnett and first published in 1905, "A Little Princess" tells the story of young Sara Crewe, privileged daughter of a wealthy diamond merchant. All the other girls at Miss Minchin's school treat Sara as if she truly were a princess. But when Captain Crewe's fortune is sadly lost, Sara's luck changes. Suddenly she is treated no better than a scullery maid. Her own fierce determination to maintain her dignity and remain a princess inside has intrigued and delighted readers for almost a hundred years, even inspiring a recent popular feature film.
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Thanks Overstock for helping me find perfect gift!User Review - carolinmichigan - Overstock.com
I was looking for this book at the request of a special little girl. It was on her Christmas list and no book stores had it. Overstock came through and I got it in time to wrap it for Christmas. Thanks Overstock for another special Christmas gift I found on your site! Read full review
Every Girl is Truly a PrincessUser Review - MissBosnian - Borders
One of my all time favorite classics, this book teaches you to be strong when times seem impossible to get through, and although it is a children's book and it does seem childish at times, the magic ... Read full review


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5th Street 2013 HDRip XviD AQOS
Category: Movie
5th Street 2013 HDRip XviD-AQOS | 813.43 MB
File: aqos-5th.Street.2013.hdrip.xvid.avi
Size: 834945262 bytes (796.27 MiB), duration: 01:42:42, avg.bitrate: 1084 kb/s
Audio: mp3, 48000 Hz, stereo, 128 kb/s
Video: mpeg4, yuv420p, 656x272, 23.98 fps(r)
IMDB Title: 5th Street (2013)
IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2222192/
Rating: 6.6
Genre: Crime
Director: Alex Meader
Writer: Eric Arthur Martinez
Cast: Eric Arthur Martinez / Christian Monzon / Joe Voltierra / Annie Fetchu / Anne Leighton / Adam Lopez / Jason Giuliano / Ethan Ednee / Orson Chaplin / Tommy Nash / Randy Irwin / Frank Miranda / Joseph David-Jones / Deadlee / Robin Dionne
Plot: When Joe Montoya loses his wife in a gang related shooting he vows to stop at nothing to exact his revenge on those responsible. Set in inner city Los Angeles, 5th Street is a tale of violence, love, and revenge.
Tag: All it takes is one spark...


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What Is the Most Relevant Standard of Success in Assisted Reproduction? Is There a Single 'Parameter of Excellence'?
Pinborg, Anja
Loft, Anne
Ziebe, Soren
Andersen, Anders Nyboe
Bibliographic Citation
Human Reproduction 2004 May; 19(5): 1052-1054
MetadataShow full item record
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Neurological Sequelae in Twins Born After Assisted Conception: Controlled National Cohort Study Pinborg, Anja; Loft, Anne; Schmidt, Lone; Greisen, Gorm; Rasmussen, Steen; Andersen, Anders Nyboe (2004-08-07)OBJECTIVE: To compare neurological sequelae in twins born after assisted conception with singletons after assisted conception and naturally conceived twins and to assess neurological sequelae in children conceived after ...
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Making sure a child grows up in a safe and supportive environment is of the utmost importance to many parents. But oftentimes, the need to protect and nurture our young can be taken too far. When this happens, parents can become too controlling or overly involved -- not allowing their children any freedom to grow and learn on their own. This is often referred to as "helicopter parenting."
While the actions of these kinds of parents might come with the best of intentions, new research concludes that it might actually be detrimental in the long-run. A study conducted at Florida State University (FSU) shows helicopter parenting can lead to feelings of inadequacy and depression for young people entering into adulthood.
"Helicopter parents are parents who are overly involved. . . They mean everything with good intentions, but it often goes beyond supportive to intervening in in the decisions of emerging adults," said Kayla Reed, a doctoral student at FSU.
Parental involvement
For the purposes of the study, researchers surveyed over 460 college students between the ages of 18 and 25 to gauge how involved their mothers were in life decisions; the researchers focused primarily on mothers because, traditionally, they act as primary care givers.
Additionally, the students were asked to self-assess their own ability to handle difficult situations, as well as factors like depression, life satisfaction, anxiety, and physical health.
Participants were asked how their mothers would respond to various hypothetical situations. For example, they asked how mothers of participants would react to knowing that their child was having a fight with a roommate.
Responses varied, with some mothers encouraging their children to resolve the conflict on their own and others taking a direct hand and talking to the roommate themselves.
Lower self-efficacy and life satisfaction
After analyzing responses from each participant, the researchers found that those who reported higher levels of autonomy from their parents also said they had greater life satisfaction, better physical health, and more confidence in their own self-efficacy.
On the flip side, children of helicopter parents were more likely to report low levels of life satisfaction and self-efficacy, as well as higher levels of anxiety and depression. Physical health was also generally worse for these young adults.
"The way your parents interact with you has a lot to do with how you view yourself. . . If parents are simply being supportive, they are saying things like 'you can manage your finances, you can pick out your classes.' It changes if they are doing that all for you," said Mallory Lucier-Greer, assistant professor of Family and Child Sciences at FSU.
"I think there are good intentions behind these helicopter behaviors, but at the end of the day you need to foster your child's development," she concludes.
The full study has been published in the Journal of Child and Family Studies.