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Join and browse our exclusive open discussion forums and talk about whatever you like.
Anyone noticed that PFB isnt getting the traffic it use to?
Very few people post based on the number of letters. Shoot the top 25, someof them are months old!
What happened to the regulars?
What happened to letter of the week?
What happened to the kitchen table?
I'm sure someone will say oh, the traffic is up, it may be, but thepostings are clearly down.
oh well
good day
2 lines from it below
This would apply to all business open, malls, supermarkets, restaurants.
Lets keep our cool people and not take it out on retail clerks.
Thank you
As a final word of Thanksgiving advice, Seaney urged travelers to not venttheir frustrations on airline and airport employees.
"The people who are working those holidays are just as frustrated aboutbeing at the airport as you are on the holiday, and you're not going to getwhat you want if you blow up at them," he said.
Has anyone thought of instant messaging for PFB?
You know like many other message boards, you can see who is logged on, andsend them instant messages directly through the site, or leave them anemail etc.
Might also be an effective way of letting them know they have received ademerit, they may not always check their email.
Think of the possibilities!
Good Day
Why if you cant find something in the store, instead of asking, you make agame of it.
Instead of asking.....Where are the envelopes?
They respond.....If I were an envelope where would I be?
I respond, the envelopes are on aisle 5.
I guess they want me to laugh, and act like I have never heard that linebefore.
Or should I say something like.....oh if I were an envelope I am sure Iwould be at the postoffice, maybe in a bin ready to be sorted. Hopefully Iwould be a card that would bring someone cheer, and not a collection bill. After that, I would walk off from the customer never giving them theiranswer. Well I guess it wouldnt be an answer since they asked me STUPIDQUESTION!
Good Day
Why is PFB posting pixels of businesses that you can't even read, or makeout the writing?
Like, if there is a priceline letter, there is a priceline pixel next toit, you cant even read what is shown.
That is just one example.
If you cant make it clear, dont post it, its just annoying.
Good Day
Perhaps this story
should be the standard to judge the letter of the week.
I agree with so many points of it, and its not just applicable to cruiselines. I was searching out cruise deals when I found it though :-)
Good Day
It always makes me laugh when I go to the gym and see people trying to getthe closet parking spot.
Its not like it raining, which I would understand.
Its called exercise, whether in the gym or outside it walking to your car.
Good Day
I was on vacation a few weeks ago. Didnt really go anywhere. Had to catchup on some things around the house.
Anyway, we "had to go see the baby", like the Seinfeld episode. The neicehad a girl, so we had to go see. Even though she has posted numerous picksand we know what she looks like, we had to go.
We packed up the car, and drove to Midland Texas.
On the way back, the wife was hungry.
I always pack things with me to eat, because I dont eat at restaurantshardly at all.
So she decides on Subway.
I swear every Subway is located inside a gas station.
There is no way she would eat at a place like that. I cant blame her forthat either.
The employees that work in these subways, chicken places, etc, also workthe gas station. I know because I asked them once when we went to Vegasrecently and did a tour to the hoover dam/grand canyon. We had to stop at agas station type place like this.
The gas station type of Subways, the people their just dont seem to be thetype of people that subway would hire, they are a bit rougher looking andless hygenic.
I wouldnt eat at either restaurants, but a gas station one is even worsefor me!
Good Day
Ugh, Mrs Rowdy loves the Smart Cars
Fortunately there werent too many used ones out there! Woo Hoo!
I personally dont like them, but I see why she would.
I cant talk her out of them.
Ive tried safety, that doesnt work when I want
another 1 liter crotch rocket
I tried premium fuel requirement, the 1 liter bike does too.
2 seats, thats goos she says, people wont ask her to drive.
Insurance is cheap on them
Anything other arguments that I can use? HELP!!
Good Day
This is hilarious!
Good Day
Read the hersheys candy bar story for this to make sense.
I always find it humorous that when settling with a company for damagesthat people tend to say, "I never want this to happen to anyone else", aspart of their argument for getting a bigger payout to them.
Good Day
There was a mother with her 7 year old looking son walking in the store.
He had a note pinned to his shirt, typed out, saying, "I'm Austic, what'syour problem?"
I thought it was a bit tacky and could be humiliating to the child.
On top of that, the kid appeared well mannered to me, had that note notbeen there, I would not have even noticed.
What do you think?
Why is it that some teachers feel the need to moan and complain about theirjobs, especially in public?
I know everyone has things about their jobs they dont like, but twoteachers were in the store the other day complaining publicly about schoolstarting.
Of course, they are the type that stand right in front of all thechecklanes and block people.
Of course, they are shopping for their kids on the last day too, so itmakes me wonder if they are last minute type of people.
Last minute to get the week planner done, last minute to schedule anappoinment with the parents, etc.
Their last minute habits may be short changing other peoples children.
Good Day
Finally its over!
It was really busy over the weekend at work, because as always, people waittil the last minute for everything.
They wait til the last minute for Turkeys for Thanksgiving.
They wait til the last minute for Halloween candy, and get mad when "allthe good stuff" is gone
They wait til the last minute at easter, when all the dye kits are gone.
You would think parents would put their kids education first....nope, theywait til the last minute.
They get mad because all of the prepackaged school supplies for theirdistrict are gone.
I would really really love to tell them, that my back to school set hasbeen up for over 5 weeks, they sat there for the longest time.
Why do people wait til the last minute, then complain???
Good Day
When are people going to learn to put down the flap on their grocerycart.
You know ladies, that area where you put your purse.
Please put the flap down, so the jar of spaghetti sauce you put there doesnot fall through the hole, where the childs legs usually go, and break onthe floor.
I see this almost everyday.
Im getting quite tired of this.
Good Day
I am so ready for this one!
Im not a big fan of September cruises due to the hurricanes, and choppywaters but they are usually cheaper then.
Mrs Rowdy loves it when the waters are rough though, me, not so much.
I do however like the cost savings.
Good Day
Did you read the post about the "Air Condission: at the store.
I was afraid to call it "Air Conditioning" for fear of being accused ofmaking fun of her.
But then again, if I would have referred to it as "Air Condission", I mighthave got demerited too.
So I just called it AC. Sometimes being PC is so stressful!
Good Day
This is what customers do quite often:
And it doesnt always have to pertain to milk, can pertain to almost anyitem.
Customer buys too many gallons of milk
Notices the one in the refrigerator is expired
Takes the milk with her to the store, leaves it in car.
Goes in store to buy a fresh milk.
Goes back to car, puts milk in the car.
Gets expired milk out of car brings back to store
Produces receipts, accuses store of selling expired milk!!!
Gets money back!
And yes it happens quite often.
I tried to read a post today written in all caps.
It was very long, and hard to read, everything just ran together.
Im not even sure there were paragraphs.
So I didnt read it all.
It looked interesting, but I couldnt get far
Good Day
Isnt it funny how nobody responds to the letters about Verizon cellphones?
Id never go with that company, they are like laptops, too many issues.
Good Day
Read a post about this recently
People dont seem to understand the difference
At my store, Dairy Sour Cream's date is Sept 30, 2009.
Too many people think they can go home and open it today and it will stayfresh til Sept 30, 2009.
They do not read the side of the package that says consume within 7 days ofopening.
The same applies to refrigerated Orange Juice, it may have a date prettyfar out, but once you break that seal, most say 7-10 days
My Deli in my store uses Milk. When the health department comes, they arelooking for a label, that we put on there, when the milk expires.
We are told it is 7 days from when it is opened. Regardless of what thepreprinted date on the milk says.
Good Day
My wife and I were invited to a get together.
Unfortunately it was a restraurant.
I do not like to eat at them often due to hygenic practices people do notfollow.
We went to CiCi's pizza. I, of course, had the salad. I knew fromexperience, that all of their lettuce is bagged.
So I was eating my salad, and had a clear view of the kitchen area.
I watched one guy hand the apparent shift leader cash money from hispocket.
I watched the guy that handed the money to see where he was going.
My suspicions were correct, he was the one making the pizzas. Never oncewashed his hands, got the hand sanitizer, nothing.
This is why I dont like to eat out.
I was watching what was happening, and made a face.
Of course the wife without knowing what was happening, knew what I waswatching and mouthed to me "Stop it!"
And this place is in full view for all customers, imagine what they do inrestaurants where you can't see them.
Ever been in the restroom and seen an employee not wash their hands, knowhow often that happens?
Or what gets me is the smokers, they lite up, come back in, and get rightback to work, no washing of their hands.
Good Day
In response to the Service disconnection post:
My response would more than likely be pulled if I posted in the main room.
Ok here goes:
If you were late in making your payment to them, why do you expect them tohurry over and turn your gas back on.
She never states that she was "late" only that she made a large paymentover the phone. I am assuming this, and that cannot be tolerated.
Good Day
This will be the shortest line in the whole park.
Too bad they will never make a profit on this stand, and thereby lose moneyon this endeavor.
Good Day
Bought a new Air Conditioner for the home the other day.
Our outside unit was about 10 years old, the inside was original.
A guy from work was buying a new unit, and unloaded his used compressor tome for 50 bucks. That thing lasted 10 years!!! Its not quite dead yet, soI am selling it to a guy that says he rebuilds them. I made 25 bucks onit.
We ended up buying a 3 ton 2 Speed Rheem unit, inside and outside. Gotsome additional vents installed, oversized ducts, and a new return air aswell.
Funny thing is, the guy asked, how will you be paying for it. Said he had afinancing plan, or do I want to put it on a credit card?
I said, no thank you, I will write you a check. He said he didnt get toomany of those,but gladly accepted it.
Nothing better than flipping on the switch of a new AC unit, feeling thecold air, knowing its paid for, and you dont owe a dime.
Good Day
I about fell over when I mentioned it to my Frito Lay Salesman.
I jokingly asked him, "So when's the Restaurant Style Salsa coming back" He told me he had it a few days ago, and its sold out. I was like no way.A few days later it was back.
Oh well, thought I would pass on the news.
Good Day
Okay I am back.
I was working with my wife on her facebook. She got caught up on thisgame on their called Farmtown.
I helped her get to the highest level (34), so the game is essentiallyover. She was spending so much time on there I wanted to hurry her up so itwould be over.
Good Day
I am off today and started on the ol yard work.
When it stops raining our fence will be installed. The back fence isfalling down, and on the side its almost completely gone. We can see intoour neighbors backyard.
This does not bother me much, but is upsets Mrs Rowdy. I built one fencebefore, and it fell over after the first storm, so I tried. I am leavingthis one to the professionals.
Anyway, I am working on what I call "Wall of Bush".
I let the shrubs get overgrown on the front and side of the house, itfollows the sidewalk, so much that they have grown together to form on bigbush. We have a garden home so the front door is on the side.
So now I am out there on my hands and knees pulling out all the old leavestrying to find the roots so I know where to get the saw to cut thebranches. One of the shrubs grows with almost vines so it chokes out theother ones, so I had to cut that mess out.
Prior to this I had to uproot two bushes that got tall, that are next tothe gate.
I was looking for an excuse to get rid of them, they are too close to thenew gate, which they are going to stain for free!
So I uprooted those things, that was a pain.
Im also trying to design a new area there but right now its just all muddue to the rain.
Im hoping all of this hard work gets recognized when I plead my case againnext year for the Kawasaki Ninja.
Good Day
Yes I got it alright!!! I am so happy!!! I dont know what I am going to dowith all that money!!!
Thats right, you all guessed it! I got my six dollar jury duty check in themail the other day.
They shuffle you in this room filled with 400 other people or so. I sat onthe wall where there were chairs and watched where people sat. Most peoplesat with a chair in between them so they dont get too close to each other.
Everyone is on their cell phone or laptop or are acting like they arereading a book. The gal next to me never made it very far. She seemed toointerested in looking at my paperwork.
The judge tries to crack some jokes to loosen the mood. Then they show youthis sappy movie about how important jury duty is, yah yah yah. I know allof this.
I was disappointed to find out that I can no longer wear my politicalshirts. I found them a great way to get out of jury duty.
This particular one is the face of obama, the whole "hope" mantra thing hehas going on. The one I have the face of obama with some big ears, withthe word DOPE, instead of HOPE underneath it.
Nope I can no longer wear this, censorship rears its head again.
Anyway, the court lady says there are low numbers of cases today so todayis a good day if you are not wanting to get picked.....so I amhmmmmmmmmmm.
I need to reschedule, but will take my chances. I need to reschedulebecause I am to testify in in a case.
The first group called up in a group of 50, whew I did not make that one,that was the case I was to testify in.
The one I get called for, has to show back up the next day! Just my luck.
I hang around, and find out that the case I was to testify in, she and herlawyers made a plea bargin when they found out how many people had shownup.
Then I got a call that the other case plea bargined so I didnt have to comeback the next day.
In the past I have found that if you are called and have to listen to thepre trial case, that if you sneer or roll your eyes when they lawyerspresent the case, they will not pick you.
Good Day
Alaska is a beatiful place. We went on a Princess Cruise. I think it was a4 day, maybe a 5. It went out of Vancouver to Ketchiken.
Mrs Rowdy Retailer was hesitant to do an Alaskan Cruise due to it beingcold. However she did love it, so we will be back to do the 7 day to moreplaces in Alaska.
We rode the Seaplane that went over the mountains and glaciers, we landedbetween some of them and stood on the floaties of the plane and tookpictures, it was really beautiful.
Then we went on a Zipline. I dont mind those too much but the suspensionbridge was a bit much.
We had the anytime dining, something we have never done before, and reallyenjoyed it.
Usually on Carnival, we eat at the earliest dinner. On a 7 day cruise, bythe last day or so, most of the couples know each other pretty well. Thisis why I liked the anytime dining, you get to know each other for a shortperiod of time, but you get to meet more people and see them on the shipthe entire time.
We are taking another cruise in September out of San Juan to Antiqua,barbados, ST Kitts, St Thomas maybe one more place I forget. This one is onCarnival.
We like to vacation alot. However I do have my eye on a Zx-10r Kawasaki.
Good Day


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Almost £9,000 in grants have been given out for projects to commemorate the First World War.
Tidworth Area Board's meeting on Monday was a themed First World War evening with a special display by historian Richard Broadhead showing how Wiltshire was involved and affected by the war.
Communities updated on the plans they have made to remember The Great War including:
• A remembrance orchard with 12 fruit trees in Collingbourne Ducis
• An exhibition on November 8 and 9 in Ludgershall
• A history exhibition and commemoration service in Netheravon.
• Renovation of the war memorial in Enford
• An exhibition in Tidworth comparing life now to 1914 and a special event where people can bring in treasured items from that time to be viewed by experts
• Commemorative mugs for every Everleigh resident, designed by school children.
There will be a special service on July 30 in Tidworth cemetery at 10am organised by Wiltshire Council and HQ 43 Wessex brigade, where children will lay crosses on a memorial wall accompanied by a band.
Chair man Chris Williams, who was elected again alongside vice-chairman Mark Connolly, said: "These commemorations are really bringing all our communities together and it's good to see how the grants from the area board will help create special moments for each area to remember their own soldiers who went to war."
The meeting also awarded a number or community grants. A grant of £3,523.50 was given to Phoenix Hall, Netheravon to upgrade audio-visual equipment, Ludgershall Memorial Hall received £1094.50 for CCTV equipment and £950 was given to Castledown Bowls Club for a shed to store equipment.
A grant of £1,946 was awarded to fund four weeks of young people's summer activities from August 4 to 29 including parkour (free running) and art in parish locations.
There was also a grant of £3,000 for Tidworth Community Area Partnership.
Details of Wiltshire soldiers can be found Mr Broadhead's website www.wiltshiresoldiers.co.uk

subset: commoncrawl


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BLUEFIELD, W.Va. — Bluefield police say a dispute over a social media message led to gunfire that nearly hit an infant.
Michael Hopkins, 34, of Bluefield, was charged with wanton endangerment, felony possession of a firearm and brandishing a deadly weapon after the Monday shooting, the Bluefield Daily Telegraph reported. Hopkins was arrested late Wednesday is being held in the city jail in lieu of a $1 million bond.
Patrolman A.B. Palmer said Hopkins argued with another person over a comment posted on Facebook, then went to that person's home and fired about three shots into the residence. None of the three people inside was hit by the gunfire, but Palmer said one round was found close to a crib that had been occupied by an infant.


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Trinity Rep Hosts Free Panel Discussion for THE HOW AND THE WHY Tonight
Trinity Rep has announced a free panel discussion tonight, December 3rd at 6pm in the Dowling Theater in conjunction with their latest production, Sarah Treem's The How and the Why. The panel, titled "She Blinded Me With Science: the (r)evolutionary biology and relationships of The How and the Why," will feature notable experts in the field of female evolutionary biology in conversation with The How and the Why's director Shana Gozansky. Panelists and audience members will discuss the controversial themes and scientific theories of the play, as well as the role of gender in the sciences and academia. Admission for the panel is free, but seating is limited. Please RSVP to firstname.lastname@example.com.
Panelists include Dr. Sandra A. Carson, medical director of Women & Infants' Center for Reproduction and Infertility and director of the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at Women & Infants Hospital, and a professor at The Warren Alpert Medical School oF Brown University; Dr. Sohini Ramachandran, Assistant Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Brown University; Anthropologist Kay Warren, Ph.D, director of the Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women at Brown; and the show's director Shana Gozansky. The event will be moderated by Associate Artistic Director Tyler Dobrowsky. Light refreshments will be provided.
The How and the Why began previews on November 29 at 7:30pm with a First Look Thursday preview performance, featuring a special post-show talkback with the production team and cast. The production opened last night, December 2 and will run until December 30, 2012.
This panel discussion is made possible through funding support from the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities, an independent state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. (Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.)


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If my dad were still alive I know what Dad would say. Dad loved the library. No matter where he traveled, he always made a point to stop at the local library. It was an inspiration to him and Dad did so much research for his books in the library.
Enlightening and Inspiring Generations with Generations of Ideas


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Geriatric Psychiatry Fellowship
Program Description | Seminars and Conferences | Primary Faculty | Eligibility Requirements | Application Process | Application Instructions
Psychiatric care for the elderly poses a unique set of challenges for elderly with late onset psychiatric disorders, frail elderly, and those with a range of cognitive impairment. More than any other area, care must be streamlined, coherent and effectively coordinated with multiple disciplines, and requires an additional body of knowledge, interviewing and evaluative skills.
Two Institute of Medicine reports highlight the Geriatric Manpower Shortage and need for better training with this population. We anticipate a return of differentiall y higher salaries and fee schedules for Board Certified individuals in priority areas once health care reforms are finalized. At the University of Tennessee, there is a push to make significant enhancements in education and training in Geriatrics.
Program Description
- Primary sites are the Memphis VA Medical Center, Lakeside Behavioral Health System, and University of Tennessee Health Science Center
- Group and Individual Supervision
- Work with Dementia
- ECT Experience
- Inpatient and Consultation Experience
- Psychotherapy Experiences
- Long Term Care Experiences
- Selective Committee Participation Quality Improvement Research
- Teaching Medical Students and other Residents
- Rural Telepsychiatry
Seminars and Conferences
- About 4 hours of didactic education (seminars, lectures, online learning) per week
- Seminars in gerontology, dementias, med-psych interface, systems of care, geriatric psychopharmacology
- Geriatrics 03 Cognitive Aging and Dementia (monthly, 12 sessions)
- Geriatric Case Conferences
- University lectures
Primary Faculty
There will be many faculty and allied health involved in your training, but your main psychiatry mentors will be:
- Paul B. Hill, MD, Assistant Professor and Program Director
- Sandra Baltz, MD, Assistant Professor and Coordinator of Psychiatry Training at the VA
- James Green, MD, Professor and Chair of Psychiatry
- Kenneth Sakauye, MD, Professor Emeritus, VA Outpatient Geriatric Psychiatry
- Jack Tsao, MD, Professor, Neurology
- Daniel Boyd, MD, Instructor Psychiatry
- Radwan Haykal, MD, Professor and Site Director at Lakeside
- Christopher White, MD, Instructor Psychiatry
Eligibility Requirements
- Must be eligible for an unrestricted medical license in TN
- Must have successfully completed core requirements in an ACGME accredited General Adult Residency (Board Eligible)
Application Process
- Complete the Universal Application for Fellowship
- Submit 3 letters of recommendation (one from the Program Director)
- Submit a Personal Statement
- Complete an interview with us (hotel and meals for 1 day are supplied)
- There is no deadline for applications. (Interviews and applications will be accepted until positions are filled early decisions are possible)
Application Instructions
Please include the following items with your completed application by mail, fax or PDF file by e-mail to the address information below. Application to the Geriatric Psychiatry Fellowship is made directly to the Section of Geriatric Psychiatry, not through ERAS.
Complete the Universal Application for Fellowship.
Include the following with your application:
- A curriculum vitae
- A personal statement (one typewritten page) describing your interest in geriatric psychiatry
- A copy of your current medical license (verifies primary degrees and education)
Please have the following letters sent:
- Director of Residency Training Program verifying your satisfactory completion (or pending completion of general residency training) and providing a reference
- One additional letter of recommendation from a faculty member you have worked with.
- 3. Any addition letter you feel is appropriate as a character reference
An interview is required. Although we cannot reimburse you for travel, but can supply overnight lodging at a University residence, and will arrange dinner, and lunch meetings with residents or staff.
We can arrange for interviews to applicants based on the above, but before acceptance you will be asked to supply primary verification of degrees, certificates of training, and licensures. Before starting, you must have an unrestricted Tennessee Medical License.
Leigh Ann Barns
920 Madison Avenue, #212
Memphis, TN 38163
e-mail: email@example.com
Program Director
Paul B. Hill, MD
Assistant Professor and Program Director of Geriatric Psychiatry
Phone: 901-448-2400
Email: email@example.com
Department of Psychiatry
920 Madison, Second Floor
Memphis, Tennessee 38105
Program Director:
Paul B. Hill, MD
Leigh Ann Barns
Phone: 901-448-2302
Fax: 901-448-1684
Sponsoring Information:
The University of Tennessee College of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry
A Recent Publication:
W.W. Norton & Co., New York
"Geriatric Psychiatry Basics is that increasingly rare exposition by a master clinician. Seasoned clinicians and resident students alike can learn from him."
Dan G. Blazer MD, Ph.D., (Duke University)
"...the best practical guide yet for those who have to navigate the complex world of geriatric psychiatry. Psychiatric residents, mental health professionals, family physicians, and psychogeriatric specialists should all have this excellent book in their libraries."
Joel Sadavoy, M.D. (University of Toronto)


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A man suspected of shooting a woman to death outside a Greenville nightclub in 2006 has been arrested in Arizona.
Authorities said Tuesday that 26-year-old Delfino Escorza Dimas was arrested last month as he was trying to cross the border from Mexico into Arizona illegally. Dimas faces charges including murder, weapons possession and assault.
Police found the body of 19-year-old Sonia Zuniga in the passenger seat of a pickup truck parked in a lot outside Club Miami in December 2006. Investigators said the shooting happened after an argument at the club, but Zuniga was hit by several shots fired from another vehicle.
Dimas is now being held without bond at the Greenville County jail. It wasn't known if he had an attorney.
Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved.


text:
Welcome to the Muppet Central Forum!
You are viewing our forum as a guest. Join our free community to post topics and start private conversations. Please contact us if you need help with registration or your account login.
Your Thoughts: Studio DC Hosted by Selena Gomez
Discussion in 'Muppet Appearances' started by Phillip, Oct 5, 2008.
Page 6 of 9
Page 6 of 9


text:
And, of course, the fine print:
Get free shipping on your next order when you spend over $100. The discount will be automatically applied to your purchase; no promo code required. The subtotal of your purchase must be $100.01 or greater after any promotional discounts have been applied. Additional fees such as tax or shipping and handling do not apply toward your minimum subtotal requirement of $100.01. Offer applies to standard shipping only. Certain items that require additional shipping and handling are excluded from this promotion and do not apply towards your $100.01 subtotal minimum. Offer subject to change.
Perfume oil made with a combination of sandalwood fragrance oil, clove essential oil, victorian rose fragrance oil, and clear cosmetic grade jojoba oil. Two cloved buds and a few organic rose petals are suspended in the oil.
Comes in a 9 mL clear roll-on bottle topped with a shining silver lid.
This product ships from the maker within 7 days, via USPS
Unused and unopened items may be returned within 14 days


text:
Kingstonian slumped to a fifth defeat in their past seven Ryman Premier League games with a 2-0 reverse to Billericay Town on Saturday.
Two goals in 15 minutes either side of half time were enough for the visitors to leave Kingsmeadow with the points and condemn boss Alan Dowson's men to a second successive defeat.
The result leaves Ks fifth in the table but only two points ahead of Lowestoft Town - who have a game in hand - in sixth and three points ahead of seventh placed Bognor Regis Town.
Dowson, who saw Tom Jelley and James Clark leave the club last week, will look to Tuesday's Surrey Senior Cup trip to Ash United to give his side a lift ahead of Saturday's league trip to Margate.


text:
Topic: Prayers Needed for Dad
It's been another crazy day! This afternoon as Dad was getting dressed, blood started pouring out from the sides of his drain tubes. He has been on an antibiotic for a few days now for an infection. Once at the ER, it was determined that he needed to be treated at the cancer center and after talking with his Dr. he ordered for him to be transported to the OSU Cancer Center (about 75 miles from their home). I am a nervous wreck and waiting to hear from my mom what's going on. Mom said that he has turned very jaundice again and having stomach pain. I pray that he is ok!


text:
Emily Herrera listened carefully to the first few notes of the aria emanating from the audition hall. The "Caro Nome" aria, she thought. From Rigoletto.
The singer's voice pierced the quiet like a dagger. She's good, Emily thought. But she's a coloratura soprano. Emily, a lyric soprano, relaxed. She listened to coloratura sopranos for pleasure, not competition.
Caro nome che il mio cor. Festie primo palpitar. Dear name that is in my heart. Who first made my heart beat.
So far, Emily had not heard any other lyric sopranos, which boded well for her chances in the Central City Opera apprentice auditions. The hundreds of young artists from around the country--from baritones to sopranos--were, in a sense, competing for just a dozen or so places in the prestigious program. But if the judges made their decision with an ear toward next summer's Central City Opera schedule and needed a lyric soprano to understudy one of the featured roles, the less competition the better. As it was, Emily faced the stiffest odds, because lyric soprano is the most common female range.
So many beautiful voices, so few spots. At this level, nothing came easy; she'd have to be at her best to win. And the competition would get even rougher in a few weeks, at the Metropolitan Opera National Council regional auditions in mid-January.
Still, Emily knew that her real challenge came from within. She had been given la voce, the voice she sometimes thought of as an independent entity, but that didn't give her a free ride to stardom. She had to work hard. It had taken nearly a dozen years of dedication and sacrifice, including the end of her marriage, to get this far. Now 28 years old, she'd done well in regional opera contests over the past two years.
Suddenly the singing stopped. Cara Johnston walked out of the University of Denver audition hall and into the waiting room. She rolled her eyes and smiled as Emily and a half-dozen other singers turned to gauge her reaction to the judges.
Cara looked like a young woman from Kansas, which is exactly what she was. A pale, thin, pretty blond, lightly freckled and fresh-scrubbed, except for the ruby red lipstick. As a coloratura, her quick, light voice came at the high end of the soprano scale, seemingly capable of ascending into a realm where it could be heard only by dogs and angels.
At the other end of the scale is the dramatic soprano, with lyric in the middle. Compared to a coloratura, a lyric soprano voice is expected to be heavier, perhaps not as nimble, but richer, warmer. Sexier. Emily looked the part, with her cafe au lait skin and dark eyes. You had to look closely to see the faded, cross-shaped scar below her left eye that was a reminder of her days as a tomboy.
Emily walked over to where Cara was talking quietly with tenor Ken Gayle, who'd come to Denver from Seattle for the auditions. Their conversation soon turned to such operatic shop talk as the best way to get rid of phlegm. "I gargle for a half-hour every morning. It's like a cat coughing up a hairball," Emily said, as the other two laughed and nodded.
The three were strangers but old hands at auditions. And so their banter was relaxed rather than mean-spirited, as they critiqued the singers marching one at a time into the audition hall, where they would sing two selections--one of their own choosing, one from a list they had submitted as being prepared to sing. For them, this was a form of continuing education. No one expected to make it through an audition unscathed; there was always something to be learned, or a lesson reinforced, by dissecting another's performance.
A young woman rushed up to the threesome, half-wild with anxiety. She was scheduled next, but the woman currently before the judges, another coloratura, was singing the aria she had selected. "Should I change?" she asked, her eyes darting from Emily to Cara to Ken.
They all shook their heads. "No," said Emily. "Sing what you sing best." Secretly, she was pleased: not a lyric soprano.
At an audition, Emily liked talking to the other singers; they understood how difficult the path had been to get to where they were today. But others in this waiting room had different ways of dealing with the stress. One woman sat in a corner with her eyes closed, her hands clasped on her lap, holding down her music as though it might fly away. A thin young man with a ponytail paced around the room, avoiding all eyes. He didn't appear to have gotten much sleep the night before; his skin was sallow and his face unshaven. When his name was announced, he grabbed his music and stalked off as if heading for a firing squad.
Emily shrugged. "Some are so competitive or nervous, they can't even look at you," she said. "I can't imagine going through life that way. The way I see it, they're here to do the best they can, and I'm here to do the best I can."
She looked off in the direction where the young man had disappeared, her mouth slightly twisted. Remembering, perhaps, when her best was never good enough.
A small girl with wild black hair scrambled up the old pecan tree to the peaked roof of the garage. She was following her older cousins, who had already crossed to the other side. As usual, they were where they weren't supposed to be, but the adults in the backyard below didn't notice.
Ten-year-old Emily paused, hidden from adult view by the tree's branches. Watermelon juice stained her chin...it just wasn't a picnic unless there was watermelon to cut through the summer dust of San Antonio, Texas. A cross-shaped wound on her round left cheek struggled to heal, slapped there by a branch of the pecan a few days before.
"Emilia, you're going to put out your eye someday, climbing around like a boy," her grandmother, Celia Delgado, had scolded after the accident, using the Spanish pronunciation of her name.
From the garage roof, Emily could see a good part of the neighborhood, only a few miles from the famous old chapel known as the Alamo. It was no barrio, but neither were the residents well-off. The people who lived in this area were what white San Antonians called "the Mexicans," although some families--like Emily's maternal grandmother's--had settled in the area before Mexico was even a country. Neighborhood activities centered on the Catholic church on the corner; every family attended the baptisms, weddings and funerals of every other family.
Even then, Emily knew she didn't want to stay forever in this neighborhood where her own mother had grown up. The girls here, including some of her older cousins, all seemed to have babies before they were out of high school. Then they spent the rest of their lives in one of the small houses in the neighborhood, or a neighborhood just like it, lucky if their husbands or boyfriends stuck around. She had other dreams.
As Emily began to inch out of cover, sounds floated up from the backyard. Looking down, she saw her grandmother, Celia, sitting in a chair, surrounded by Emily's uncles and neighbors. Many of them were playing instruments: a guitar, a violin, a trumpet, an accordian. But it wasn't the impromptu band that held Emily's attention. It was her grandmother, who gripped a long-necked bottle of Lone Star beer in one hand, the other reaching out as she sang.
A donde era veloz y fatigaza
La Golondrina que ve aqui se va
The song was "La Golondrina," The Swallow, a traditional Spanish ballad about the heartbreak of leaving one's country for another, and missing small things.
Celia Delgado was small, less than five feet tall. She was round as a pumpkin and had a large mole on the side of her nose that never ceased to fascinate the two granddaughters--Emily and her younger sister, Christine--who had come to live with her almost three years earlier. She dressed in black, still in mourning for her husband, Antonio Delgado, who had died a few months earlier.
The dark-skinned Celia had taken great care to explain to her granddaughters that they were of Spanish, not Mexican, descent, and that their people had settled north of the Rio Grande when Tejas was still an outpost for Spain. Family legend had it that another ancestor had been Apache--a princess, no less.
Antonio Delgado's people were also from Spain, but they'd settled first in the Caribbean before immigrating to Louisiana. There, Spanish blood mixed with German, which accounted for the light eyes and fairer complexions of some family members who'd since moved to Texas.
Antonio and Celia had purchased their two-bedroom house just before World War II. Then, while her husband was away with the Navy, Celia had saved every cent and paid off the mortgage.
After the war Antonio landed a job with the civil service at nearby Lackland Air Force Base, where he remained until his retirement. But he was truly happiest working around the house. Whatever carpentry or plumbing or electrical work needed to be done, he did it, taking great pride in his craftsmanship.
Antonio would add on to the house as their family grew. He and Celia eventually had four children. Emily's mother, Velma, was the fourth and something of a surprise, coming along twelve years after their third child.
Celia was a true character in the neighborhood. No wedding was complete until she seized the microphone and launched into "La Golondrina." But Celia didn't limit her singing to weddings. She was quite a pool shark at the local cantina, where she'd won numerous trophies and had been known to belt out a ballad or two while hustling games. Velma spent a good part of her childhood sleeping on a cantina bench or playing beneath the tables while her mother shot pool or sang, always with a Lone Star in hand.
Velma's father, Antonio, was his wife's opposite. More than a foot taller, he was a quiet, reserved man with a receding hairline who liked to work quietly with his hands or sit in an old chair on the porch and watch the world go by. Antonio and Celia were very different, but their love had lasted through the years.
Those who had known him longest said Antonio had been changed by the war. But when his children or grandchildren asked him about those experiences, he would only say that half the men on his ship had been killed. Then he would begin to weep, and they would get no more out of him as he beat his chest with a fist in a futile attempt to stop crying.
By the time she was a teenager, Velma's siblings were grown and out of the house. She knew early on that her education would end at high school. "I'm not going to pay good money when you'll just go get married," Celia told her, remembering an older daughter who had done that many years before. So it should have surprised no one when Velma, only sixteen, announced that she was pregnant. She was soon married to her boyfriend, Fred Herrera Jr.
With his smoldering eyes and a dazzling white smile set off by dark skin, Fred was considered the best-looking guy in their high school. Other girls wanted him, but Fred said Velma was the only one for him.
Fred and Velma dropped out of school when they married, only to discover that her pregnancy had been a false alarm. But three months later she was pregnant for real. With a baby on the way and few job possibilities, Fred joined the Army. He was in basic training at Fort Bliss when Emily was born on August 7, 1968. A short time later he was on his way to Vietnam. Velma and her infant moved back in with her folks.
One afternoon when Emily was about three years old, she heard her mother calling her. Toddling to the screen door of her grandparents' home, she looked down the porch steps at a man in a uniform standing next to her mother.
"Emily," her mother said, "come meet your father." Fred had just returned home after two tours of duty in Vietnam. He smiled. The little girl turned and ran away.
The relationship between father and daughter would never get much better.
While Fred was stationed in San Antonio, Emily's sister, Christine, was born. Soon after, Fred was transferred to Virginia Beach, Virginia. He took his family with him.
Emily didn't understand why they had to move. She wanted to stay near her grandparents, especially her grandfather, who doted on her. This other man who had come into their lives seemed to like Chris better than he liked her. She didn't know why, but she knew it hurt.
As she grew older, Emily realized that her father wasn't very nice to her mother, either. The screaming and yelling would begin almost as soon as he came home from work. Most of it went on behind closed doors, but Emily could hear him hit her mother and hear her mother crying. Fred Herrera drank a lot, and when he drank, he liked to hit.
Although he didn't beat Emily, her father could still be cruel. A bright child who was reading second-grade books in preschool, Emily studied hard and tried to be good, hoping her father would appreciate her efforts. But nothing she did was ever good enough. And if she failed at something, his derision was unbearable. So Emily taught herself not to fail.
Gradually she grew to hate her father, even as she desperately wanted his approval. Sometimes he called what he did to her teasing. He would call her "little nigger" because her skin was darker than her sister's. Emily began to think she knew why her father preferred Chris.
Once, her parents returned from a trip to Mexico with a pinata for Emily's upcoming birthday. Her mother hung the pinata in Emily's closet, where she could look at it each morning when she hopped out of bed and counted the days until her party.
One morning, though, she looked in the closet and the pinata was not there. She climbed back into bed and went to sleep, hoping that when she awoke the pinata would reappear. But when she got up again, the closet was still empty.
Emily knew better than to ask her father what had happened to the pinata. He might fly into one of his rages, and her mother would pay the price. Fred had recently broken Velma's nose, and there was no telling what else he might do.
Emily's mother later told her that her father had torn up the pinata after they'd fought over his treatment of Emily. Velma recognized her elder daughter's pain. She saw how Emily's eyes brightened on the rare occasion when Fred said something nice to her. It hurt to watch her sweet, generous daughter try so hard, as though she could fix whatever was wrong with her father.
"Do your best," Velma would console her daughter. "Don't worry what he or anybody else thinks if you're doing your best."
Secretly, Velma was planning to leave her husband and take her daughters with her. When Fred left for work, she studied so that she could pass the tests necessary to join the Air Force.
Once when Emily was looking through her mother's drawers, she spotted official-looking paperwork with Air Force seals. When she asked what it meant, her mother revealed her plan. "Don't tell your father," Velma warned her seven-year-old daughter.
"Why would I tell him anything?" Emily asked. She only hoped her mother's plan wouldn't take much longer.
It didn't. One Saturday afternoon Fred turned on Emily, accusing her of misplacing his TV Guide. Drunk, and enraged by her denials, he undid the heavy metal buckle of his belt and began hitting her. When Velma rushed into the room to rescue her daughter, he struck her, too. Somehow Velma managed to get the girls past him, though, and they fled to a neighbor's house. Emily's back was covered with welts, some made by the belt and others clearly showing the imprint of a hand.
Velma took the girls home to San Antonio, to Celia and Antonio. They kept the girls while she started basic training.
For Emily, it was like going to sleep in hell and waking up in heaven. If anything, she was her grandfather's favorite because she had dark skin. He called her "my Emilia" and would hold his arms open so that she could jump into them. He was soft-spoken, but he loved to laugh, and she could tell him anything.
Emily and her sister were now surrounded by family. Most of the aunts and uncles on their mother's side lived within walking distance of Antonio and Celia, and the numerous cousins seemed to spend as much time at the house as the two sisters. They rarely heard from their father, and they didn't care if they ever did again.
The modest home--the ceilings were so low that the girls could touch them by bouncing on their beds--was filled with loving sounds and the smells of Tex-Mex cooking. On Sundays Antonio would go to the butcher for barbacoa--meat placed in a calf's head and cooked slowly underground--which dripped with fat destined to be sopped up with homemade tortillas. And at Christmas, there were always Celia's famous tamales.
Celia was the taskmaster and disciplinarian. Antonio's job was to play with the girls. He scolded them only when they broke one rule: The various dogs and cats that roamed the yard were not allowed in the house. But one day Emily slipped and let in a cat, which promptly relieved itself.
When he found out, Antonio threw a rare fit. Emily was frightened, but the old man quickly forgave his granddaughter.
Two weeks later Antonio was suddenly taken to the hospital, where he died.
Hundreds of people attended Antonio's funeral--family and neighbors and people he had met through his work. But Emily could take little consolation from those who assured her that her grandfather had lived a rich, full life and had gone on to a better place. She was sure she had caused her grandfather's death by letting in the cat. It was her guilty secret that she felt she would probably carry to her own grave.
But a week or so after the funeral, Emily was sitting on the bed in her grandfather's room with one of her cousins when both girls felt a weight on the mattress behind them and a warm pressure on their backs, as though someone had placed a hand there. Knowing they were alone, the frightened girls ran from the room without looking back.
After she caught her breath, Emily decided that the presence must have been her grandfather, coming back to assure her everything was all right. "Grandfather, grandfather!" she called, running back into the room. There was no reply, but from that day forward she believed that Antonio Delgado watched over his Emilia.
She was still missing her grandfather a few months later when she climbed on the garage roof and stopped to listen to her grandmother sing. It was as if she was hearing music for the first time.
Celia had never been Emily's favorite grandparent; she was strict and far stingier with her hugs than Antonio had been. And Celia would scold her when she didn't understand something said in Spanish. "Emilia," she would ask, "why don't you know the language of your people?" About the only thing Emily knew was a little song she'd learned in kindergarten called "Cielito Lindo."
But now, crouching on the roof and hearing Celia sing, Emily felt herself drawn to the old woman as surely as if a string ran between their two hearts.
Although untrained, Celia's soprano had a natural vibrato that imparted so much warmth and emotion that Emily felt she could almost understand the words of the old Spanish song. Taking in the scene below, she thought about her grandfather looking down on her while her grandmother's voice soared past her, up to the heavens like la golondrina, the swallow.
Mi corazon al tuyo estrechare. My heart will be bound to yours.
Oira tu canto tierna la golondrina. The swallow will hear your sweet song.
Recordare mi patria y llorare. I will remember my country and cry.
When Emily was ten, her mother was transferred to an air base in England. This time she took her children, as well as a new husband, with her. Velma had gotten married because she thought her children needed a father figure, especially now that her own father had passed away. But the man turned out to be an overbearing dictator, and the trip overseas almost lasted longer than the marriage.
Velma soon married again, this time to Richard Koehndorf, a service man eight years her junior. Although Velma initially resisted his advances and the girls gave him a hard time, he persisted in his pursuit. He took Velma to Paris and proposed beneath the Eiffel Tower--which the girls agreed was so romantic--and Velma said yes.
While the family was living in England, Emily began to study music in earnest. An earlier attempt at piano lessons had been short-lived, but now she picked up the recorder and, when that became too easy, the flute. She had a good ear and learned to read music as easily as she had learned to read English.
Emily began to daydream about a future as a musician, perhaps with the woodwind section of a major symphony. She had the right idea but the wrong instrument.
In 1981 Velma and Richard were transferred to Blytheville Air Force Base in Gosnell, Arkansas, where a third sister, Sylvia, was born two years later. Richard was a good and decent man, and he treated Velma's girls as his own. He could be strict about such things as curfews, which Emily discovered when she reached high school, but she realized that was because he cared about her.
Emily was a perfectionist who pushed herself to get straight A's. Although outgoing and friendly, she had little patience with peers who failed to meet the same standards she set for herself. A lot of the popular girls in the school spent their time experimenting with drugs and sex; Emily dedicated herself to her studies and music.
After a falling-out with the band director, Emily joined the high school's tiny, twelve-member choir. She had never thought much about singing; when she sang hymns in church, she'd been told she had a nice voice, but she'd never really let it out.
She soon got her chance, at a concert for which the choir had been preparing when she joined. With her mother and Chris in the audience, Emily sang in public for the first time, quickly overwhelming the other singers with the power and beauty of her voice at full throttle. Chris was so impressed, she sat in the back of the auditorium weeping; next to her, Velma found herself flushing with pride and then with embarrassment when other parents came up to her after the concert to remark on Emily's talent.
When a friend complimented her, Emily joked that someday she was going to be a rock-and-roll star.
"Oh, no," the other girl replied. "I just know that someday, I'm gonna turn on the TV, and there you'll be, singin' opera."
Emily rolled her eyes. Opera? Who sang opera anymore? It wasn't even in English.
But soon Emily wasn't even singing with the choir. Velma's luck with men--all of it bad--held true when Richard was electrocuted in a freak accident at the base.
In 1985 Velma and her girls moved to Colorado. Velma wanted to be near Richard's parents, Jon and Mona, who lived in Aurora and couldn't have loved Emily and Chris any more than if they had been Richard's natural children.
Emily transferred to Rangeview High School. She felt lost at a school five times the size of the one she'd left back in Arkansas. She missed her friends. She missed her place as the star of the show.
On her first day, she was sitting in Spanish class, when the teacher asked if anyone knew a song in Spanish.
No one raised a hand. Suddenly, the words to "Cielito Lindo" came to Emily. Her voice had been a way of winning acceptance in Arkansas; perhaps it would do the same here.
She began to sing the little song whose tune most Americans recognize from the old "Frito Bandito" commercials.
When she stopped, everyone was looking at her like she was some ventriloquist's dummy. Where had that voice come from? At last the teacher cleared her throat and said, "I know that song, too. But I sure can't sing it like that."
The response gave Emily confidence enough to try out for the Rangeview choir, where the competition would be much more intimidating than it had been in Arkansas.
On the afternoon of the auditions, the choir director divided the students into quartets--bass, alto, tenor, soprano--and instructed them to prepare to sing "Come Follow Me."
Emily liked the song immediately. It reminded her of how lonely she felt transferring to a new school.
Everywhere I go, there's a voice I think I know.
It's calling, "Come follow me."
As she sang, Emily found herself fighting tears. She suddenly felt small and unwelcome, the way her father had made her feel. She sang louder, as though she could chase away loneliness with the power of her voice.
No one in the room, not even Emily, was prepared for what they heard. Her voice filled the auditorium and flew around the walls as if looking for a way out. When she finished, the other students and even the choir director applauded.
A few days later, a friend in the choir suggested that Emily see a voice teacher she'd been training with. The woman's name was Anne Van Etten.
Emily went home and asked her mother if they could afford voice lessons. Velma said they'd find the money; after what she had been through, she would do whatever it took to see that her girls could pursue their dreams.
Emily was fifteen minutes late and had forgotten the check for her first voice lesson, neither of which sat well with Anne Van Etten, a tall, lithe, blond woman who towered over the shorter Latina girl. But Anne's pique wilted in the face of seventeen-year-old's Emily's dazzling smile. And it disappeared entirely when Anne heard her sing.
She sings slightly flat, Anne thought, but that's a technical fault, easily corrected if she has any kind of ear. The exciting thing was that Emily had a real voice--a professional-caliber voice. It was more than pretty. It had power, too. Untrained though it was, Emily's voice had a unique depth and color that was particularly rare in one so young.
Anne was fond of telling students that since opera was larger than life, an opera singer's voice must be larger than life. "To succeed, the opera singer, without microphones, must be able to reach out across a large stage, past the orchestra, and pull the audience in," she said.
Anne looked the girl over: It helped that she was beautiful. There was an exotic sensuality to Emily's dark features and an innocent friendliness to her smile. She could play the ingenue, the villainess or the heroine with equal success.
The more Anne talked to the girl, the more she came to appreciate Emily's natural charisma. That should carry over to the stage, she thought. A successful opera singer's personality had to fill a theater. And a truly great one extended her persona beyond the halls, adding to the mystery and drama. It was no accident that the term prima donna originated with opera. But while the words had been corrupted to describe a person with an exaggerated sense of self-importance, in opera they were not a slight. To be the "first lady" was a title of distinction.
This was not a career for the weak-spirited.
Still, while Emily's voice was a gift most people would never have, there was much work to do. In the opera world, there are thousands of voices for every opening--and sometimes more when the opening is for a lyric soprano. Many hurdles lay between a seventeen-year-old warbling at the baby grand piano in Anne's basement and the Central City stage, much less the Met in New York. Emily would have to learn to act. She would need a good ear for languages; in America, opera singers were expected to be at least phonetically familiar with Italian, French and German, and to understand the languages well enough so that they could know what their character was saying.
Anne could coach her through much of this. But the girl would have to find the will to succeed from within. No one could give that to her.
Anne knew that lesson well. Born in Norway in 1944, she, too, had a real voice. After receiving her master's degree in vocal performance at the prestigious Boston Conservatory of Music, where she'd studied with John Moriarty, she'd gone on to study in Germany and had been offered singing jobs in Europe.
But Anne had lacked the drive to push herself to the next level. Rather than enjoying it, she found performing stressful.
The turning point was the birth of her son, Lars. In order for her to succeed on the stage, opera would have to come before anything else. Anne wasn't willing to make that sacrifice. Weighing opera against motherhood, she chose to raise her son.
In the process, though, she found a career she truly loved: teaching others to sing. The year before Emily started taking lessons, Anne and her husband, Karl, had moved to Colorado, where Karl became the dean of the Community College of Aurora. Anne worked there as a vocal instructor and occasionally took private students.
Like Emily. As she talked with the girl about what she expected from her students and warned of the long, hard road ahead, she wondered if Emily could stick with it. Developing even a real voice took years of constant practice and fine-tuning. Indeed, it would be ten years--at least--before Emily would be ready for her break.
In the meantime, such a voice was extremely vulnerable to social pressures--like smoking, drinking and staying up late to party. Even talking too much could ruin a voice for the opera stage. Would this pretty, gregarious girl be willing to give up those youthful pleasures? And if she did, she would be following a long, lonely road with no guarantee that she'd reach her destination.
But wait: Emily had just announced her musical aspirations. She wanted to be a Broadway star!
Anne shook her head. She arched an eyebrow and announced, "A Broadway musical is all well and good." With her Norwegian-accented English, well and good came out vell ahnd goot. "But you have a voice for opera."
It would be years before Emily's voice was strong enough to even attempt an aria without risking irrevocable damage. In the meantime, Anne concentrated on strengthening her student's voice and correcting her technique.
Anne and Emily started with weekly lessons. Emily had been born with a superior voice; the goal now was to train that voice to sing evenly from the top to the bottom of its register without getting breathless or weak at either end.
The teacher told her how to stand, showed her how to open her mouth--Emily had a habit of opening hers too wide, which resulted in her "swallowing" her vowels. It was a minor technical flaw, but one the experts would pick up on.
As her voice grew stronger, Emily fell in love with opera--as Anne had known she would. Opera appealed to the perfectionist in Emily. There was much more involved than singing on key; those listening would know if you mispronounced your German vowels or if you were the slightest bit late.
But Emily also loved the pomp and pageantry of opera. The tradition and the costumes (especially the beautiful dresses). And the stories! Opera depicted human beings at their angelic best and devilish worst. They killed for reasons good and bad, sacrificed themselves for love. There were heroes and heroines, villains and fools.
Most of all, she loved the voices--Maria Callas, Beverly Sills, Placido Domingo. Emily dreamed of singing like that someday in a dark theater, where the audience would hunger for each note the way a starving man waits for a bite to eat.
The sounds of opera would even drown out the voice of her father, telling her she was never good enough.
Anne was the perfect match for the sometimes temperamental Emily. The teacher saw her role as being a combination of coach, mother, friend and psychologist. She boosted Emily's confidence when needed and applied the brakes when the girl started looking too far ahead.
When Emily graduated from high school, Anne helped her get into the Boston Conservatory. When Emily got homesick and fretted over her family's financial strain in sending her to the expensive school, Anne suggested she transfer to the College of Music at the University of Colorado. And when that experience proved frustrating because Emily didn't get much of a chance to perform, Anne promised her her time would come--if she just kept trying.
In the summer of 1990 Emily landed a role in A...My Name Is Alice, a musical review produced by the Theatre on Broadway. The show was an enormous success, and although Emily earned only $200 for the entire summer, it was her first "professional" engagement.
The real payoff, though, came when she met Josie Noble, a big, bubbly redhead who sang with the Opera Colorado chorus. Josie suggested Emily show up for open auditions.
Emily went and was surprised to find Josie helping Louise Sherman, Opera Colorado's music director, with the auditions. "You're going to love her," she overheard Josie tell the music director. "She has a great personality that comes across on stage."
Nervous, Emily sang as well as she could. She finished, and no one said anything at first. Her confidence was slipping away when Louise Sherman looked her in the eye and said, "You're not really chorus material, are you?"
"I can be," Emily pleaded.
Louise shook her head. "I want you to sing for Nat."
Suddenly, it dawned on Emily. She wasn't being rejected: Louise wanted her to sing for Nat Merrill, Opera Colorado's director--and Louise's husband--who'd been an internationally renowned stage director with the Met for years before he took on the new challenge of Opera Colorado over a decade ago.
"Come to my house this weekend," Louise told her.
Emily listened in a daze. She could hardly wait to get home to call Anne. "Goot," was all the voice teacher said. Emily smiled. Anne never got too excited; it was her job to make sure her student kept everything in perspective.
The invitation opened the door to much more than Louise's home. After singing for Nat, Emily was offered two roles. They were small, but they were opera.
For her Opera Colorado debut, Emily played an androgynous angel who rose out of the stage in a production of Burning Fiery Furnace. She sang a word: "Ahhhhh." In May 1991 she was the pageboy, Tebaldo, in Don Carlo, and got to sing a duet with a princess.
But as Emily's operatic career got under way, another part of her life ended. In December 1989, while still in school, she'd married Ken Werner. Although he looked like Woody, the daft bartender on Cheers, Ken also reminded her of her grandfather. He, too, was soft-spoken and gentle and would listen as long as she needed him to when she complained bitterly about the lack of roles in college or talked about her dreams for the future. He was funny in a low-key way, but he was also smart and worked hard at his studies. And just as she did, he held himself to a higher standard.
Two years into her marriage, though, Emily realized she faced a terrible choice. She knew Ken, by now an environmental analytical chemist, wanted to put down roots and have a home and children. But she also knew that, more than anything else, she wanted to see the world from a stage.
They never fought or bickered. There were no recriminations or accusations. She loved him as much as ever. But she loved opera more.
If she was going to make it, she was going to have to focus almost entirely on her career in the next few years. After that, if she was successful, she would be gone. It was better to part now, while they were still friends.
"The life you want can't be with me," Emily told Ken one evening, as they talked calmly about the different directions their paths were taking.
Ken looked at her sadly. They both had tears in their eyes when he nodded and said, "I agree."
They split up in late 1992, although it would be another year of procrastinating, both reluctant to make the final cut, before they signed the divorce papers.
Emily threw herself into opera. When she wasn't singing, she was learning languages or memorizing the words to another opera. And in the odd moments when she wasn't working on her voice or earning a living, she had to have the television or radio on. Otherwise, the songs would keep running through her head.
In order to keep her studying hours flexible, she waited tables at night. But at restaurants she worried constantly about the effects of secondhand smoke.
When she found time to date, the relationships always ended badly. For reasons she didn't understand, the men kept turning out to be a lot like her father--emotionally abusive. One even abused her physically. She'd swear off one and then find herself with another...always sure that this time she'd be able to fix things. She missed Ken.
She could be as tough on those around her as she was on herself. Emily badgered her sister Chris about doing something with her life. When another singer didn't learn her part on time, Emily scolded her for lacking drive. Eventually, several of her friends confronted Emily. She was too hard on others, they said. She was rude and insensitive.
Emily accepted the criticism. She tried to hold her tongue, and she turned to Anne when she felt down. Sometimes she would go to her voice lesson and all they would do was talk. Or cry.
But they also worked on Emily's voice. And for the first time, in 1993, Emily entered both the Metropolitan Opera National Council competition and the Denver Lyric Opera Guild competition, the two most important events for young opera singers in the area.
To advance in the Met competition, singers must first get through a preliminary round, then district competition, then a regional contest. The sixteen regional winners are whisked off to the national auditions in New York. Of the sixteen, half receive two weeks of intensive coaching and $10,000 scholarships for further study.
If they're lucky and very, very good, some singers are awarded contracts to sing smaller roles at the Met or join its young-artist development program--either one a career jumpstart. But the Met's national competition opens other doors, too; the event is attended by opera-company officials from around the world, as well as agents looking for promising young talent.
The Denver Lyric Opera Guild competition is open only to Colorado singers, its main enticement a $10,000 study scholarship. But it also propels its winner to the forefront of area lyric sopranos.
That first year, Emily made it through the Met preliminaries but got no further than the district finals; she placed fifth in the Denver Lyric contest. She still opened her mouth too wide on some notes, and the judges noticed.
Emily decided to skip the 1994 Met auditions. If a Met competitor doesn't advance beyond the district level after three attempts, he or she is not allowed back. This didn't seem to be Emily's year. Stress and late hours were wearing her down; she'd lost a lot of weight, and the power behind her voice was gone. She decided to go ahead with the Denver Lyric competition, however.
A few days before the contest, Emily was driving to an interview for another restaurant job when a car ran a red light and struck her car broadside. Emily's body was thrown against the dashboard and her face smashed up against the windshield. By the time a paramedic arrived, her ribs and shoulders felt like someone had attacked her with a bat, and her jaw was throbbing.
"You may have dislocated it," the paramedic said.
Emily began to cry. "It can't be," she sobbed. "I'm a singer." She saw her dreams disappear in a wreck of broken glass and steel.
Although it turned out her jaw had not been dislocated, the pain was so excruciating she could hardly open her mouth. And her bruised body couldn't support her well enough for her to sing properly.
Still, she went to the Denver Lyric competition and did her best. She managed to place eighth.
1994 was not Emily's best year. The only good part was her job singing two nights a week at a small Italian restaurant, strolling between tables. Emily soon developed a loyal group of fans who came just to hear her.
However, her patrons, Nat Merrill and Louise Sherman, were not as supportive. For years they'd talked about establishing a young artists' center, which would provide a stipend for budding young performers and also offer intensive coaching in dance, acting and singing. But when the Joseph and Loretta Law Young Artist Center of Opera Colorado finally opened, Emily was not invited to participate.
She was hurt--and angry.
It was Anne who told her to get over the anger. Nat and Louise had been good to her, Anne pointed out, giving Emily experience with Opera Colorado that other young singers would have killed for. Maybe they felt she wasn't quite ready...that she needed a little prodding and maturity.
Emily cooled off. Anne was right: She wasn't as focused vocally as she needed to be. She wasn't ready now--but she would be soon.
Emily still sometimes thinks of her accident as the car crash from God. Although she needed extensive physical therapy as well as corrective dentistry, once she healed it turned out that one of her injuries had been a blessing in disguise. Emily could no longer open her mouth quite as wide as she had before. In fact, it had become almost impossible for her to open it wide enough to swallow her vowels.
She wondered if her grandfather had been watching over her. Surely someone had. In February 1995 she placed second in the Met regionals and third with Denver Lyric.
In 1996 Emily moved easily through the early rounds of the Met competition. She was sure it was going to be her year.
It very nearly was. After singing two arias, Emily found herself locked in a dead heat with three other singers, including 28-year-old mezzo Leah Creek, one of those chosen to participate in Opera Colorado's Young Artist Center. The judges called for an unprecedented third round.
Leah sang Rossini's "Una Voce Poco Fa" from The Barber of Seville. Emily countered with "Unbeldi" from Puccini's Madame Butterfly. The judges said each was impressive. But in the end, they gave Leah first place and Emily second.
Emily stewed privately over the loss. She had to believe she was the better singer; if she didn't, there was no reason to continue in competition. Publicly, she resolved to do better. The Denver Lyric competition was coming up in a month. She wanted to win the $10,000 scholarship and study in Italy that summer.
For the Denver Lyric competition, singers are required to list five arias, in different languages, that they are prepared to sing; the judges then choose from the list.
For her first song, the judges picked Emily's English-language choice: "Steal Me, Sweet Thief," from the American opera The Old Maid and the Thief.
"Steal me, sweet thief," one of the judges called out, playing off the aria title, as Emily took the stage.
She looked out into the theater. It was dark, and she could barely see the judge who had spoken. She smiled. "Well, if you insist."
It broke the ice, and the judges laughed, then quieted down when she began to sing:
Steal my lips before they crumble to dust.
Steal my heart before death must.
Steal my cheeks before they're sunk and decayed.
Steal my breath before it will fade.
Emily stole their hearts and won the contest.
A Central City Opera apprenticeship is one of the most sought-after in the country. In 1996 alone, there were more than 2,000 applications to the program. Several hundred hopefuls were invited to audition in December in one of five cities: New York, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco and Denver.
Opera requires much more than singing. Since it is essentially a play set to song, opera singers must also be actors. So Central City's apprentice artists study diction and audition techniques as well as choreography, acting and stage combat.
But the apprentices also get invaluable experience in front of an audience, appearing in supporting roles and choruses for the three operas Central City produces every summer. They perform in salon recitals, too, and in the cabaret opera The Face on the Barroom Floor, a Central City tradition.
They watch, listen and learn from the featured performers, whom some of them understudy. There is always the possibility that a star will not be able to take the stage some night and that the understudy will be called upon to save the show.
In the waiting room at the University of Denver, Emily and the others listened as the anxious young man with the ponytail began to sing. Like everyone invited to these auditions, he had an excellent, well-trained voice. But that was no guarantee of success.
Partway through an aria from The Marriage of Figaro, the young man stopped. A mistake. Emily, Cara and Ken looked at each other. The young man resumed, but a moment later stopped again.
When the young man finally returned to the waiting room, stopping a moment to compose himself, the others avoided looking at him. As the next audition began--the young woman who'd been sitting alone--he crossed the room swiftly. Throwing on his coat, he knocked a music book to the ground.
Cara's mouth dropped open at the loud bang. The singers were very careful not to hurt each other's chances; this transgression was like screaming in a library. But the singer in the next room, perhaps made of sterner stuff, proceeded without missing a note. As the young man made his way out the door, his eyes filled with tears.
"Nerves," said Ken after he left.
"And a lack of preparation," Emily added quietly, reminding herself how the little things could make a difference. It would be her turn soon.
Yet Emily had reason to feel confident. She had finally been invited to join Opera Colorado's Young Artist Center and had landed a number of upcoming roles: the female lead in Opera Colorado's Young Artists production of Hansel and Gretel set for February; the ingenue Zerlina in Opera Colorado's May production of Don Giovanni at Boettcher Concert Hall; Annina, the faithful lady-in-waiting and friend of the doomed heroine in La Traviata, coming this March to the Buell Theatre.
Even Anne agreed she was ready. There were many well-trained lyric sopranos with nice voices out there, but Emily, she said, had it all. Beauty. Presence. And a magnificent voice.
It was time to seize her chance at making dreams come true. In her dream, Emily is older, having sung her way around the world. Her voice has grown deeper and darker, like a well-aged burgundy. She is alone on the stage, wearing big diva hair and a beautiful nineteenth-century dress studded with gold and jewels.
She is Tosca, the actress-heroine from the opera of the same name. Her painter-lover Mario is imprisoned by the evil Baron Scarpia, who has just raped her. Lying on the stage, she tries to rise and sings a prayer to God for help. Vissi d'arte. Vissi d'amore.
I lived for art. I lived for love.
"Emily Herrera?" The woman coordinating the Central City auditions at last called her name. Emily gathered her music and headed for the audition hall.
"Good luck," Ken called after her.
"Thanks," Emily said, and smiled. She planned to make her own luck.
Head held high, Emily walked into the hall. But her heart fell when she saw who stepped forward to take her music. It was John Moriarty, the artistic director of Central City Opera, Anne's former teacher and a musical perfectionist if ever there was one.
Emily had known he would be one of the judges. But playing the piano, right alongside her? He'd know if she made the slightest mistake.
She smiled. He smiled back. Then Moriarty began to play. It was a little faster than Emily was used to singing the aria, but if that was Moriarty's pace, she thought, that would be the pace she'd sing.
Emily had chosen the aria "Ain't It a Pretty Night," from the Carlisle Floyd opera Susannah. That past summer, while studying in Italy, she'd driven far into the country one night, away from the lights of the city. Stepping from the car, she'd looked up at the sky. A shooting star arced across the heavens and she thought of the aria, which she had just begun to study.
When she sings this aria, Susannah is sitting on the porch of her Appalachian home, gazing at the sky and wondering what lies beyond the mountains.
Ain't it a pretty night
Just think, those stars can all peep down
an' see way beyond where we can.
They can see way beyond them mountains
to Nashville, and Asheville and Knoxville.
I wonder what it's like out there,
out there beyond them mountains.
As she sang, Emily became Susannah. Her hand floated above her to the starry skies. She was young and innocent and beautiful, her voice full of longing for the world beyond.
I aim to leave this valley someday
and find out for myself.
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On Sunday, Emily tied for first place with two other singers at the Met competition district finals. That qualifies her for this weekend's regional competition, from which she hopes to move on to the Met nationals in New York next month.
Although the winners of the Central City Opera auditions have yet to be announced officially, Emily Herrera's name will not be included on that list. According to a Central City Opera spokeswoman, Emily was not selected for this year's apprentice program.
In a few years, Emily may be thought of as too old for a program designed for young artists. In the meantime, she plans to keep trying. "Winning would be fabulous," Emily says. "But if I don't, I'll just have to find another way to New York.


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Dhamma Wheel is an environment for the discussion of the Theravada.
Dharma Wheel is an environment for the discussion of Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism.
withing wrote:Is there a good book you all would recommend to start with as a 'novice?' Most of the books I've read are business/goal oriented, but I would like a more 'organic approach.' Thank you!
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Perhaps Tuesday's bounce technically set up the market for a selloff, but there is little question that President Obama's re-election is being used Wednesday as an excuse to dump stocks. After the knee-jerk bounces on Tuesday, we didn't have a very attractive technical picture to begin with, so once the selling kicked in, it picked up momentum quickly.
Breadth is very poor, at about 750 gainers to 4,400 decliners. All major sectors are down, while bonds are flying. The bigger problem is that the S&P 500 is now breaching key technical support at recent lows around 1400. If the index takes out that level, it will be pretty clear sailing to the 200-day simple moving average at 1380.
We're seeing a few things as active election plays. Gun stocks are up, coal is being hit and there is some interest in solar-energy names. I took a small position in First Solar (FSLR), which is a "green energy" play, but I'm almost totally in cash at this juncture and have no interest in putting money to work until the price action improves.
Unlike many other market commentators, my style is to bet on strength rather than weakness, and right now there is no strength. Be careful -- this market is in free fall, and history says post-election moves tend to gain momentum.


text: EYECARE: A Greater Vision Donor Support Helps Create Partnership between SUNY Optometry and Bowery Mission By Staff Friday, December 27, 2013 12:21 AM NEW YORK—The Optometric Center of New York (OCNY), the philanthropic arm of the SUNY College of Optometry, has received a series of recent grants that have helped to establish a unique partnership between the College and the Bowery Mission in New York City that provides high-quality vision care for a segment of the city's underserved population. The Lydia Collins deForest Charitable Trust, The Chatlos Foundation, the Ethel Kennedy Foundation, the Hyde and Watson Foundation and the Tides Foundation, along with donations from private donors, have contributed valuable funding in recent months— totaling over $30,000 in support—to help build on an existing, volunteer collaboration between faculty and students at the College and the Bowery Mission, an organization that has served thousands of transient and homeless New Yorkers since 1879. Over the past several years student volunteers from the College, coordinated through the Fellowship of Christian Optometrists and supported by the organization Hope for New York, have made semi-regular trips to the Bowery Mission in lower Manhattan to provide eye exams and other services, including dispensing eyeglasses free of charge, to people served by the Mission. The OCNY has been actively seeking funding in recent months to help the existing volunteer project grow into a formalized program and these efforts have paid off. The College has now been able to institute regular, twice-a-month rotations at the Mission and provide equipment and other assistance thanks to the foundation support as well as gifts from individual donors. The rotations are supervised by SUNY graduate, Jack Chen, OD. "We're very grateful for the recent support that we've received to help develop what we expect will become an important program for the College," said Richard Soden, OD, SUNY's vice president for clinical affairs. "Part of our mission as an institution is to help care for our community and to instill a spirit of community involvement in our students and this program will help us do both of those things."


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ONCE they were the respective captains of Blackburn Rovers and Burnley, but now Ryan Nelsen has been fined by the MLS after offering his support to Steven Caldwell.
Nelsen is Caldwell's boss at MLS side Toronto and was unhappy when the defender was sent off for a high tackle against Sporting Kansas City.
"If they gave Steven a yellow, nobody would have blinked an eyelid," Nelsen said.
"But because (referee Baldomero Toledo) has set a precedent throughout his refereeing career that he always likes to influence games, he decided to give a red for what was really a yellow card."
Nelsen has now been fined an undisclosed amount by the MLS for those comments.


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Shipping Soon: Ada Wong, 1/4 Scale Batman, Mark XLII, More...
Hot Toys passes along a product update for fans. Items expected to ship in the near future include Tony Stark (Mark XLII Autonomous Prehensile Propulsion Suit Test Version), the PPS Mark XLII Collectible and Iron Patriot Collectible Bust from Iron Man 3, 1/4th scale Batman from The Dark Knight Rises, Ada Wong from Resident Evil 4, and Spider-Man from The Amazing Spider-Man.
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To buy action figures, take a look at BigBadToyStore.com, AlterEgoComics.com, Toynk.com, BriansToys.com, ToyWiz.com, and MonkeyDepot.com.


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PLAQUEMINE —Police investigated a fatal shooting Wednesday afternoon that the alleged shooter claimed was a case of self-defense during a drug dispute, a spokesman said.
Police were called to 58853 Allen St. around 1 p.m., Plaquemine Police Capt. Kenny Payne said. Officers found Wilbert Myles, 17, 23720 Cypress St., suffering from gunshot wounds, Payne said.
Myles was taken to Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, where he later died, Payne said.
Cordias Walker, 22, 58853 Allen St., called 911 after Myles was shot and surrendered to authorities when they arrived, Payne said.
Walker told police he shot Myles in self-defense over an apparent drug dispute, Payne said.
However, Payne said, no other evidence at the scene suggested it was a self-defense killing.
"We have no other weapon," Payne said, noting that police found only one gun in Walker's possession.
Walker was booked into the Iberville Parish Jail on a count of second-degree murder, Payne said.


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- MAC Cosmetics — 15% off with code THANKS15, ends 9/25.
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MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA--(Marketwire - January 31, 2013) -
"Our newest Rainbow laser iteration still features the high-energy pulses of user-selectable, visible-wavelength output that researchers can use to deplete dye fluorescence in super-resolution microscopy experiments," said Dr. Gregory Keaton, Mobius Photonics chief scientist. "But it has additional advantages over the prior version. Among these is a considerably more compact laser head to save valuable lab space. And for added flexibility, the new Rainbow can be externally triggered."
Mobius' new Rainbow prototype can produce output at nine discrete wavelengths between 532 nm and 654 nm. Individual wavelengths can be switched on-the-fly, allowing users to tailor output to the fluorescent marker in a particular application. Rainbow produces approximately 1-ns pulses at repetition rates up to 20 MHz. The system is externally triggerable, allowing synchronization to another laser source near 20 MHz. Typical minimum pulse energy is 5 nJ per pulse, but varies depending on the wavelength. Rainbow's compact laser head measures just 285 mm x 150 mm x 100 mm and weighs less than 5 kg.
Mobius plans to display its latest Rainbow laser prototype at its Photonics West 2013 exhibition booth, #130. The Photonics West exhibition is scheduled for February 5-7, 2013, at Moscone Center in San Francisco, California.
About Mobius Photonics
Founded in 2005, Mobius Photonics, Inc. produces fiber-based laser sources for applications ranging from material processing for solar cell manufacturing, semiconductor fabrication and assembly, and flat panel display manufacturing, to scientific uses such as super-resolution microscopy. The Mobius Photonics team combines in-depth understanding of customer needs with manufacturing experience, and pushes the state-of-the-art by working in close collaboration with suppliers and customers around the world.
For more information, visit www.mobiusphotonics.com or call (408) 496-1084.
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Main Page | Risk Factors | Symptoms | Diagnosis | Treatment | Screening | Reducing Your Risk | Talking to Your Doctor | Resource Guide
A risk factor is something that increases your chances of getting a disease or condition.
Genital herpes is more common in women than in men, and the infection is more easily transmitted from men to women. The risk is highest among adolescents and young adults who are more likely to take risks with their sexual behavior.
The most important risk factor for genital herpes infection is the number of sexual partners in a person's lifetime. Other factors that may increase your chance of genital herpes include:
For people with no or mild symptoms, genital herpes can't be seen, so you can't tell if someone has it. Since most people are unaware they are infected, genital herpes can get transmitted from person to person without their knowledge.
Beauman JG. Genital herpes: a review. Am Fam Physician. 2005;72(8):1527-1534.
Bradley H, Markowitz LE, Gibson T, McQuillan GM. Seroprevalence of herpes simplex virus types 1 and 2—United States, 1999-2010. J Infect Dis. 2014;209(3):325-333.
Genital herpes. EBSCO DynaMed Plus website. Available at: https://www.dynamed.com/topics/dmp~AN~T114875/Genital-herpes. Updated August 22, 2016. Accessed October 6, 2016.
Genital herpes—CDC fact sheet (detailed). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/std/herpes/stdfact-herpes-detailed.htm. Updated February 13, 2013. Accessed October 15, 2014.
Roberts C. Genital herpes in young adults: changing sexual behaviours, epidemiology and management. Herpes. 2005;12(1):10-13.
Workowski KA, Berman S. Sexually transmitted diseases treatment guidelines, 2010. MMWR. 2010;59(No. RR-12):1-110.
6/14/2012 DynaMed Plus Systematic Literature Surveillance https://www.dynamed.com/topics/dmp~AN~T114875/Genital-herpes: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Neonatal herpes simplex virus infection following Jewish ritual circumcisions that included direct orogenital suction—New York City, 2000-2011. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2012;61:405-409.
Last reviewed June 2016 by James Cornell, MD
Please be aware that this information is provided to supplement the care provided by your physician. It is neither intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. CALL YOUR HEALTHCARE PROVIDER IMMEDIATELY IF YOU THINK YOU MAY HAVE A MEDICAL EMERGENCY. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider prior to starting any new treatment or with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
Copyright © 2012 EBSCO Publishing All rights reserved.
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Vice President Biden discussed foreign policy and national security in a speech yesterday:
"On this fundamental issue, foreign policy, keeping America safe, the contrast between President Obama, his record, and Governor Romney, and his rhetoric, in my view cannot be greater.
"Three and a half years ago, when President Obama and I took office, and stepped into that Oval Office, our nation had been engaged in two wars for the better part of a decade. Al Qaeda was resurgent and Osama bin Laden was at large. Our alliances were dangerously frayed. And our economy—the foundation of our national security—was on the precipice of a new depression.
"President Obama began to act immediately. He set in motion a policy to end the war in Iraq responsibly. He set a clear strategy and an end date for the war in Afghanistan, which has been going on for close to a decade. He cut in half the number of Americans who are literally serving in harm's way. He decimated al Qaeda's senior leadership. He repaired our alliances and restored America's standing in the world and he saved our economy. He saved our economy from collapse with some very unpopular but bold decisions that have turned out to be right, including the rescue of the automobile industry, all of which has made us much stronger not only at home, but abroad.
"If you're looking for a bumper sticker to sum up how President Obama has handled what we inherited, it's pretty simple: Osama bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive."
You can watch highlights from the Vice President's recent campaign speeches here.


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Society Cafe at Encore resort
Tags: American
Added by: FOOTBALL
The Strip
Las Vegas, NV
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jjkeyes is now a fan
A Magical LunchAlthough the entire Wynn/Encore resort is over-the-top beautiful, I especially liked the Society Cafe just off the Encore casino. Decked out in black, white & pink, their definition of a "casual" dining venue rivals most of the best restaurants you've been to. For lunch, I can't recommend enough the Lobster Club served on a light roll with avocado, tomato and bacon and a side of fries. At $24, it's not a cheap lunch, but oh so satisfying.
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bullseye is now a fan
Nice placeExcellent service, particularly breakfast which is the best meal. The room decor is nice and food is diverse and tasty from french toast to hamburgers, though not original. Prices are steep overall but reasonable for the location on the Strip and the quality of food and service.First to Review
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