text:
Tiny Points of Life
Nothing to Worry About
"Stuart! Be careful up there! You shouldn't be doing this! Come down! On the ladder – come down on the ladder! But be careful coming down! I'm worried about you up there! Stuart?!"
My mother shouts out of a living room window. She has taken the screen out of the window frame so that she can clear the roofline with her head, twist her face skyward, and project her voice up over the top of the house. Bracing at a place close to her elbow, she is cantilevering the upper third of her body out into the frigid airspace two stories above the ground so that my father might hear her.
The snow is still falling.
It's the tenth day in a row. I've been counting. We all have. The whole city.
And not just kind of snowing either. Really snowing. Dr. Zhivago snowing. Antarctica snowing. We're not used to this.
On the fifth day my father came home from work covered in the stuff. He was soaked through. His car had gotten stuck twice in our neighborhood and he had helped push Mrs. Wilson out of her own driveway. He had been within a block of the house for nearly two hours.
My mother had called him on his cell phone to find out where he was. Just to check and see if he was okay. He told her to look out the kitchen window toward the end of the street. And there he was. He waved.
"If this keeps up, I'm going to have to shovel the roof," he said, standing in a puddle of water spreading out over the square of slate tile just inside our front door. "I don't think this house was built for that kind of weight. I'm worried about the house collapsing."
My mother and I looked at each other, brows furrowing.
By the eighth day, my father's concern had metastasized its way into nearly every expression and thought. After dinner that evening, I found him standing in the kitchen pouring boiling water into a coffee cup over a bag of Earl Grey. His face registered a concern wholly disproportionate to the activity.
He kept glancing furtively up at the ceiling.
Like it might suddenly split open and flatten him.
His lack of concentration caused him to miss the cup, scalding his hand. It was a favorite mug, too. A father's day present from my sister. Don't Worry, Be Happy! it commanded.
The word Worry came off in a nice clean shard of porcelain.
Now the mug is out in the garage, all six pieces of it, in a bag on top of an already full garbage can. The trash is backing up in our house, like it is in every other house, because the snow has disrupted garbage pickup services throughout the city. My sister, Katie, has found occasion to pause her preoccupation with fruit-flavored lip gloss and painting her toenails the color of the rainbow to worry that the trash pickup might not resume without a serious decay of the social order.
If it ever resumes at all.
"What are we going to do with all of it?" she asked once over dinner. "Burn it? Where? If everyone starts burning trash, do you know what that will do to the environment? Should we buy gas masks just in case? Which one of you guys are going to start parking in the driveway when the garage fills up with trash?"
Her environmental concern is laudable but entirely unexpected. Katie is fourteen. She still sleeps on a unicorn pillow, a vestigial remnant of a dying fetish. In the past year her concerns have shifted sharply from mythical horses with sparkly spires to pouty, unshaven vampires and a collection of alarmingly precocious friends. One of them, Candice, looks and talks like a pole dancer trying to make a clean break selling real estate.
Physically, Katie is developing fast; expanding up and out before our averted eyes like some sort of dehydrated, hyper-compressed sponge that has just made first contact with water. My parents are at pains to suppress their worry. Pouty vampires are one thing, occupying as they do an imagined reality not unlike the unicorn. But the prospect of real boys in the real world is looming large on the horizon.
So far, unlike some of her friends, Katie has shown little interest in sexual matters, even kissing. But she has shown a highly sophisticated discernment when it comes to lip gloss. She collects the little tubes and displays them in the shape of a rainbow on her dresser, from Apricot Ambrosia to Zulu Nut Zest.
This, too, worries my parents. When Katie decides to start kissing, it's going to be epic.
So Katie's stated concerns about the impact of burning trash on the environment were a fairly radical departure from the norm that might have been welcome and even encouraged. Except that it ended up provoking my father's own worries about the snow load.
"Stop worrying," my father said, glancing up at the light fixture above the table and sticking his fork into nothing. "It's all going to work out fine."
By the tenth day, my father's worry about the roof could not be effectively managed by looking up at the ceiling and trusting in a benevolent God. Because he knows my mother too well, he took matters into his own hands without any prior notice. This morning he put on his coat and boots and hat, pulled the ladder out of the garage, grabbed a shovel, and went up onto the roof.
We discovered what he was up to only because, while it was truly snowing hard outside, it was not snowing so hard as to explain snow flakes the size of young farm animals plummeting out of the gun-metal sky past the living room windows. Two or three of those and my mother looked at me and Katie in confusion and then rushed across the living room to rip the screen out of the window frame.
He has been at it all morning and it seems to be snowing harder by the minute. It must feel like bailing water out of a leaking boat.
Snow-drowning. That's what they should call it.
That, to me, feels like the real worry here. That it won't stop. That it will just keep coming and coming and coming as we are all buried alive in our houses watching television until the power goes out and the timbers snap and the windows implode and we are all snow-drowned. Others who live elsewhere will excavate the scene after it is far too late, finding us grotesquely frozen on the sofa, mouths packed with snow, clutching our phones.
But I know that I have surrendered appropriate perspective to worry. My mother is probably right that whatever the future ultimately holds in store, the real danger is that my father will fall off the roof and shatter into a million pieces like his once-favorite mug. I am forced to remember Butch and Sundance up on that ledge, the posse hot on their trail, and Sundance afraid of drowning in the river below. Are you crazy, asks Butch. The fall will probably kill you.
So, focused on the real danger, my mother hangs perilously out of our living room window, snow coating the side of her face, shouting admonitions up into a dingy oblivion that my father, who is all the way on the other side of the roof, cannot possibly hear with his hat on.
As riveted as I am to the unfolding events that might well render me an orphan, I am in danger of being late for my interview with Mr. Wells, the principal of my high school. I tell my mother I am leaving. She doesn't hear me.
All of the schools have been closed now for nine consecutive days, prompting in some a kind of nervous-joking sort of a concern that if the snow keeps coming the children of our community will forget everything they have ever been taught. Lesson plans are being blown off track like so many trains broadsided by out-of-nowhere avalanches. The slacker lifestyle is getting a huge assist, if not a seal of approval, from Mother Nature. Refocusing attention in the classroom after weeks of snow will be as hard or harder than reprogramming the relaxed rhythms of summer in the fall, when we, the future of the free world, actually have to remember how to think and care about seemingly irrelevant abstractions and niggling concepts like "being on time" and beating the Chinese.
I put on my boots and my coat and a baseball hat. I sling my backpack over one shoulder. I say goodbye to my mom who still cannot hear me and close the front door on Katie's less-than-sincere concern about whether I plan on wearing any gloves like I'm supposed to.
"You should worry about frostbite," she chides disapprovingly from the other side of the door. I step off the stoop and out into the snow up to my knees.
She's right, of course. It is cold out. I probably should worry about frostbite. Now I kind of am worried about frostbite.
But I cannot go back inside and get my gloves. Some things are worse than having your hands amputated. My sister's face at the moment of concession is one of those things.
So I stuff my hands into my coat pockets and start walking into the white beyond, snow falling so hard I worry about how such a radical redistribution of weight on the planet will effect the Earth's rotation, not to mention polar bear habitats and ski resorts and the igloo economy. While I cannot deny a certain thrill at any climatological novelty, all of this snow is probably desperately needed by people and animals somewhere else. What are they going to do without it? All I can do is press on.
It so happens that Principal Wells lives in our neighborhood only a block and a half away. I had originally planned to interview him over the lunch hour in his office but the sudden ice age and the resulting school closure has prevented me from so conveniently scheduling my report research. So, while I am not so happy about having to walk – nay, trudge – through oceans of snow to conduct this interview, a block and a half is not so bad.
I suppose that, like everyone else, I could have used the snow as an excuse. I could have waited until both Principal Wells and I were back in school. But now, because of the snow, the report is already past due. And I worry. I worry that somehow I will not be given the lenience I would need; that the report will be officially "late" and that I will not receive credit for all of my hard work. Twenty-five interviews. Hours of asking and listening and writing. All wasted. I worry about getting a bad grade and missing out on college and having to spend the rest of my life standing on a slippery floor serving trans-fats with a smile. I don't like paper hats.
Accordingly, unwilling to encounter such risks, the day after West Franklin High School closed its doors to children and snow, I sleuthed out the Principal's home phone number and called him up to schedule the interview.
"Sure, Peter! Come on over!" He seemed delighted.
But then, Principal Wells always seems delighted. He's one of those people who always looks to be having the best day of his entire life. His face is a carnival of unconvincing restraint and decorum. You always feel like you're sharing a moment. Or about to share a moment. Like you've happened upon some freakish crack of daylight in a storm. He leaves you feeling privileged to have crossed his path at that particular time and simultaneously uneasy, if not resentful, that the rest of your day will not even remotely resemble that inexhaustible moment in his day. It is like walking past your neighbor's house as the Publisher's Clearing House van is pulling into the driveway. You stop. You watch. You move on, violently ambivalent.
But maybe that is not quite the right metaphor because the strangely disquieting experience of Principal Wells is not so much about envy as confusion.
And worry. Worry that your capacity for appreciating life is somehow stunted, or that the psychological machinery that might otherwise allow you to experience an uncompromised feeling of joy is defective. You feel like the woman in the diner watching Meg Ryan writhing in ecstasy, ostensibly over the food. I'll have what she's having. Because the food you're eating does not do that for you. Not even close.
So then, you think, what's wrong with you? It's enough to make you worry.
That, in a nutshell, is the secretly disquieting experience of Principal Wells.
Which is exactly why I decided to interview him for my Social Sciences research project, which is titled, rather unimaginatively, What Makes Us Worry? I thought it would be interesting to canvass a cross-section of my acquaintances on the general subject of their concerns. I wanted to learn what people are worried about? What keeps them distracted at school or work? What keeps them awake at night? What makes them snap unconsciously at people they love, morphing them in unguarded moments into savage neurotics?
I wanted to interview Principal Wells because I knew that one way or another, his answers would be interesting. If he is never worried about anything, as his general demeanor would suggest but that human nature renders extremely unlikely, then I want to know why, and I want to know how the rest of us can feel that way. Or at least me.
On the other hand, if he is worried about something, anything, then I desperately want to know what that something is so that I can remind him of it on those occasions when his range of expression (stretching from unqualified contentment to euphoria) gets on my nerves.
I have saved Principal Wells for last. He is number twenty-six. His predecessors have come in all shapes, sizes, genders and ages. But their responses have proven considerably less varied. It would seem that a lot of us are worried about the same kinds of things.
The kids from West Franklin High are worried a lot about fitting in and being liked. It is not possible to over-emphasize how much the general subject of fitting in plagues their conscious and unconscious existence. Insufficient approval from their peers is a mountainous concern. Variations on that theme included the manifold reasons that may cause one to fall out of favor, be cleaved from the herd and devoured; to wit: being too tall, too short, too fat, or too skinny. Nose size. Muscle tone. Voice tonality. Eye separation. Eyelash curl. Feet too big. Feet too small. Breasts too big. Breasts too small. Penis too small. Proving that social science findings need not always come in dichotomous pairs, there was no apparent stigma among my fellow students associated with having a penis that was too large.
Becky Heinland told me she was worried her breasts were already different sizes and getting worse, citing as evidence the fact that her mother's breasts are different sizes. I offered that maybe the problem was not so much actual unequal breast size as the appearance of such caused by carrying one shoulder higher than the other, due either to a genetic quirk or her heavy purse. She accused me of likening her to Quasimodo and terminated the interview. I tried to tell her that having a hunchback, or a back-breast I may have called it, was not the same as either an asymmetrical carriage or even an overdeveloped shoulder. But at that point Becky was beyond listening.
Imperfect teeth are a big worry. Also breath, finger size, hair color, hairstyle, and clothing choices. One interviewee worried that he might be gay. One was worried that she might not be gay. In fact, all manner of sexual neurosis are simmering right beneath the surface of the student body, even among those who have never been sexually active. No—especially among those who have never been sexually active. We worry the most about the things we know the least.
Worry about grades and academic performance showed up, as did anxiety about post-secondary education and the job market beyond. Steve Simms worried whether he would ever be able to make enough money to support the family he worried he might never have. Steve has eight siblings. Family is important to him. I asked him what career choices he was considering. He listed newspaper reporter, poet, and working for the U.S. Census Bureau.
"What do you think about Purina?" I asked.
"As a career?" he asked. He didn't understand.
Kelly Sweet is already worrying about becoming a serial bride, marrying the wrong kind of man over and over again. She sees herself as damaged goods by the time she's forty-five. I asked her why she would think that about herself and she told me her mom gave her the slutty genes. I asked why her mom would give her slutty jeans and she said not jeans, idiot, genes, and terminated the interview. Kelly Sweet could be a bit mercurial like that. She has also "dated" half the senior class.
Slightly more than fifty percent of my peers worried that their parents were headed for divorce. That figure happens to track with the general statistics on marriage in this country, so I choose to interpret it as a validation of my data collection. Interestingly, none of the adults I interviewed said that they were worried about the prospect of divorce. In fact, two of them considered the question for a disturbingly long time. I had to ask them if they understood the question. Each of them blinked, smiled and said something to the effect that divorce was not on their worry list.
The things that were on the adult worry list had a lot to do with money and politics. Every last one of them worries about money, specifically, whether there will ever be enough. I asked whether they were worried about the prospects of winning the lottery and having too much money, enough money to inspire a lot of bad, reckless, life-changing decisions; enough money to ruin relationships and attract the wrong kind of attention from friends, family and strangers. No one is worried about the financial equivalent of having too big of a penis. No one.
They are worried about the country. I have interviewed six adults and every last one of them believe the country is headed into the abyss. Three of them say the country is not what it once was. The other three say the country is not what it could be because people are unwilling to let go of the past. Everyone feels underserved by the machinery of democracy. Two were worried about legitimization of homosexuality. Three worried about terrorism. Everyone worries about guns, although there is rather vehement disagreement as to whether there are way too many guns or not nearly enough.
All of the adults worry mightily for the next generation. Two of them called us the Lost Generation. Mr. Somner called us the Degenerate Generation. I asked him what he meant by that and he said we have been raised in a degenerate and amoral culture.
"That generation has no guiding moral compass," he said. "They're over-entitled and selfish and only live for the moment. The Internet has destroyed their attention span and corroded their values. They don't invest in anything. I don't … Not you, Peter," he said suddenly realizing that I was a member of the generation he was maligning. "I just mean your generation, you know, generally."
"And this worries you?"
"Who's going to take care of me when I grow too old to do it for myself?"
"Your kids?"
"Precisely. They're going to rob me blind."
I wanted to ask him more about his fear of predation by his own children but he terminated the interview with a hurried apology because his on-line poker game was about to start.
It is not an overstatement to say that the adults were as worried about growing old as the kids were worried about fitting in and being liked. Death was the single most recurring worry behind incontinence and consumer electronics. Mr. Dunlap, my assistant softball coach, said he was worried about erections lasting more than four hours. He elbowed me in the shoulder and told me he was just kidding. I think he was worried about having been improvidently honest.
The snow has not let up and there is a wind now that makes it hard to keep my eyes open. It is much easier to walk in the middle of the street than along the buried sidewalk. Fortunately, the snow is keeping everyone inside. The road is mine.
My hands are freezing. I worry about frostbite. Not really, but kind of. You never know what could happen when you are not prepared for the worst. The Donner Party did not setout on their trip to California worrying about being eaten for lunch. Things can go wrong. That's where worry comes from. All of it. Things can and do go wrong. I think about my dad up there on the roof and my mom hanging out the window and I worry about them. Katie could choke on a lip gloss.
I reach Principal Wells' house and stamp my boots on the stoop to get the snow off. He opens the door before I can knock.
"Peter!" he exclaims, like he recognizes me from the back of a milk carton. His Christmas morning face is on. It goes perfectly with his retina-scorching red wool vest.
"Come in! Come in!"
I thank him and step inside his modest but tidy home. He helps me with my backpack and my coat. I pry off my boots, losing my socks in the process. I am embarrassed at my bare white feet suddenly on display in the home of my Principal. I worry about what he thinks of them, just as if I had pulled a couple of sea bass out of my boots and flopped them out on his carpet.
I mutter an apology as I fish out the socks and put them back on.
"Ever seen anything like this snow?" he asks. "Isn't it spectacular?"
"Spectacular?" I ask. "Yeah. I guess. There's sure a lot of it."
I follow him into the kitchen where he points to a round oak table. I sit. He makes hot chocolate and I make small talk about school and my teachers. Mr. Wells thinks that they are all gifted educators and marvelous human beings. I find this a dubious assessment – my science teacher sniffs his own earwax, my English teacher keeps Xanax in an aspirin bottle, my trigonometry teacher is meeting the lunch lady everyday at 3:30 in the empty band room, and I could go on—but I am willing to take it on faith.
"So," he says, handing me a mug and sitting down. "Let's get down to business."
I take a good look at the mug. Don't Worry! Be Happy!
"My dad has this exact same mug," I say. "I mean had. It broke."
Mr. Wells finds this coincidence remarkable and pleasing. Amazingly, it appears to have brightened his day.
I launch into my spiel, giving him a more detailed explanation of the project than I had previously. He is attentive and enthusiastic. He has a balding pattern that has the effect of elongating the expressive area of his face, lending more acreage for his enthusiasm.
"Fire away, my boy!" he says.
So I do.
"What is it that most worries you, in descending order of concern?"
"I really don't have any worries," he says, smiling and sipping.
"You don't?"
If he is joking, there is no sign of it. The social scientist in me wants to test the answer. This is not something that, unlike his assessment of my wax-sniffing, pill-popping, fornicating teachers, I can simply take on faith.
"You know that the ocean temperatures are rising along with water levels."
"At the current rate of deforestation, all of the rain forests on the planet will be completely gone in less than a hundred years."
"That doesn't surprise me."
"That's an acre and a half of forest land every second."
"I know. We really need to fight for those forests."
"Iran is steadily working its way toward a nuclear weapon. And North Korea is quickly figuring out how to deliver one."
"Obesity is epidemic."
"I know."
"Thirteen percent of American kids and sixty percent of adults are overweight."
Mr. Wells nods his head enthusiastically, eyes wide, smiling.
"That's why we got rid of those vending machines."
"But that's not something you worry about?"
Mr. Wells shakes his head enthusiastically, eyes wide, smiling.
"Worry about it? No."
I hit as many worry buttons as I could remember from my other interviews. Storms are getting bigger. We are due for a mammoth earthquake. Shark attacks are at a ten-year high.
Nope, nope and nope.
Drugs, guns, violence, the economy, moral decay, tooth decay, unequal breasts, incontinence and erections lasting more than four hours. Death.
As to each, he claims that the issue is not something he chooses to worry about. It's not that he doesn't care about these problems, he says, or most of them anyway. He does care about them. Even passionately. It's just that he doesn't see the point of worrying about them. So he doesn't.
"Okay, but how can you avoid worrying about what might happen because of these things?"
"Like what?" he asks. Incredibly, I think it is a sincere question.
"Like what? Like what? Like we could all die, that's what. Everybody. We could all perish in gun battles over drugs and snack food after the world economy collapses and we use up the last available oxygen on a planet with boiling, acidic seas and a never-ending nuclear winter. Long before that happens, everyone will be divorced, broke, addicted, toothless and stupid. No one will care about anyone or anything that does not fit in the palm of a hand and come with an earphone jack. When a couple of big solar flares completely take out the grid, cell phones will become the riot rocks of choice and the world as we know it will become one big 3-D reality show called Armageddon. Again," I say taking a breath, "we could all die."
Mr. Wells takes a drink of his hot chocolate. Somehow he is able to do this while smiling. That should not be possible, but he does it anyway.
"Peter," he says. "As you sit here in my kitchen, drinking a steaming mug of hot chocolate, the planet is spinning like a tilted top, at over a thousand miles an hour, as Earth hurtles through space at more than eighteen miles every second. We orbit a nuclear ball of fire so enormous that even at 93 million miles away you can feel it on your face when you walk outside. Move the Earth just a little bit closer in, or a little bit farther away, and there is no way any of us could ever have existed in the first place. The planet would either be a charcoal briquette or a ball of ice.
"We ended up with an atmosphere with the perfect mix of elements to support life and protect us from the microwave of space. It deflects or burns up the meteors that would otherwise pulverize us and it keeps us within the very narrow band of temperatures required to make life possible. It's cold today, granted, but it's not 450 degrees below zero.
"Our entire solar system, meanwhile, is rocketing through the galaxy around a supermassive black hole with the density of a billion suns. And we're circling that galactic drain at the speed of half a million miles an hour right along with a hundred billion other nuclear balls of fire, each roughly a million times larger than the Earth.
"And if you want to get personal, forget about the planet for a second. Just consider me as an individual. Bernie Wells, Principal of West Franklin High School. Do I care what happens to me? Of course I do. Do I want bad things to happen to me? Of course not. But worry? Not for a minute."
He pauses for a reaction. I have none. All I can do is blink.
"See, the DNA that makes me who I am is the product of a string of events—including the right sperm meeting the right egg—that puts the odds against me at four hundred quadrillion to one. And that's without factoring in the odds that each and every one of my ancestors would live to a reproductive age and that they would each reproduce in the exact combinations required to ultimately create me, Bernie Wells, your Principal. There's no name for a denominator that big. It's a 1 with 2.6 million zeros after it. By comparison, the number of atoms in the known universe is estimated to be a 1 with 80 zeros. Every grain of sand on every desert and beach in the world… Care to take a guess?"
I shake my head.
"Only eighteen zeros. Eighteen! Compared to two point six million zeros!"
He wants something from me. His expression is frozen in a kind of existential ecstasy, floating over the table like a balloon. My brain feels broken. He doesn't wait.
"So I guess here is what I'm saying, Peter. It's this. That you and I exist to have this conversation in the first place is nothing short of … of… well, Peter, it's nothing short of miraculous. We have stolen every millisecond of existence from the laws of probability. Statistically speaking, you're an impossibility. So am I. So is every microbe on this planet. So, no, I don't lie awake at night worrying about obesity or illiteracy or deforestation. I care. Of course I care. But worry? About money? Guns? Sex? Politics? Death? No.
"Drink your hot chocolate, Peter," he says. "Don't worry. Be happy."
All I can do is stare at him. My notebook is still in my backpack on the floor next to me. My cup is still mostly full and I'm referring here to being full of liquid chocolate, not optimism about the future. I don't know what to think about the future. I don't know what to think about anything.
The truth is, I'm feeling a little sick. I need air and lots of it.
I thank him and tell him that I need to get home. Mr. Wells laughs at nothing in particular and leads me to the door swinging his arms. He goes on about how beautiful the snow is as I wrestle with my boots. I fully expect him to make snow angels when I am gone.
"See you when I see you!" he sings from behind as I step back out into the white curtain of a full-on blizzard. "Don't die of exposure! Ha-ha!"
I walk home slower than I had to the interview. I take the sidewalk, this time, watching my boots disappear with every nearly silent step. It's snowing so hard I can barely see four feet ahead.
I'm trying to put it together. Trying to know my own mind.
I think of Mr. Wells. I think of all the others. I think about my parents and my sister. I wonder whether they're all still alive and/or married and living in a house with a roof. I wonder if they're worried about me. I wonder if I should worry about them worrying.
My hands are cold.
I think again of Butch and Sundance, soaked to the bone.
We're all down here in the river, thrashing around and worried about how well we can swim.
But it's the fall that should have killed us.
Prevented us.
But it didn't. It's a miracle we're even in the water.
I hear a truck approaching fast from behind, its engine revving. I turn in time to see that it is my friend Ethan and his girlfriend Lindsay in Ethan's white pick-up. They blow past me with the windows open in a nearly impenetrable cloud of frozen frothy water. I see arms flailing out the windows of the invisible truck. Ethan is shouting something and Lindsay is making a shrieking sound as they float away down the street.
She's either screaming in terror or laughing hysterically.
I can never really tell.
If you are interested in making a gift to that person in your life who could benefit from a healthy shift in perspective, this story is available for purchase in hardback, soft back and ebook at the publisher's cost from Blurb.com:
It is also available as an ebook: http://store.blurb.com/ebooks/pfdeef368b65fbb1e7291


text:
When you purchase a digital subscription to Cake Central Magazine, you will get an instant and automatic download of the most recent issue.
Fondant baby boy for top of baby shower cake.
Boy Baby Shower Sheet Cake
Baby Shower Cake
Boy Baby Shower
what a sweet baby...love the rosy cheeks!
Very cute! I want a bed of buttercream! Man, would I be in trouble then!
so sweet - love the little cap he is wearing....
(if this is a private computer)
Yes please, register now!

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Written on: 04/07/2009
I bought my Celestion Ditton 44 new in 1974 and I've had them ever since. They followed me home from England to New Zealand. I've never heard any other speakers that have tempted me to change
As rated by our community of reviewers
" Sound is Good " Read More
Written by MillerClark
" Original Xiaomi Mi Bluetooth 4.0 Speaker " Read More
Written by Seizov
" Mission 702e " Read More
" Astounding for the money!! " Read More
" Excellent speakers " Read More


text:
Contact Us
Easily available Parts for 2003 TOYOTA ECHO. Scroll and Click on the part you need.
AC - Condenser
Bearings - Wheels
Blower Motor
Body parts - Bumper Cover
Body parts - Fender
Body parts - Grille
Body parts - Headlight Assembly
Brake Parts Brake Caliper
Brake Parts - Brake Shoes
Brake Bleeder
Brake Caliper Bolt
Brake Caliper Bushing
Brake Caliper Piston
Brake Clutch Master Cylinder
Brake Disc Hardware Kit
Brake Drum Brake Hardware Kit
Brake Parts - Brake Drum
Brake Parts - Brake Pads
Brake Parts - Clutch Master Cylinder
Brake Parts - Rotor or Disc
Brake Parts- Master Cylinder
Brake Parts- Power Booster
Brake Slave Cylinder
Brake Wheel Cylinder
Cabin Air Filter
Clutch - Clutch Kit
Computer/ECC/ECM/Control Module for engine
Cooling - Radiator
Cooling - Water Pump
CV Joint Boot
Drivetrain - CV half axle/shaft
Engine - Oil Pan
Engine Cooling Fan Assembly
Engine Cooling Fan Motor
Fuel - Fuel Pump
Headlamp Socket
Heating - Heater Core
HVAC Heater Hose
Lug Nut
Lug Nut Lock
Lug Stud
Motor - Wiper Motor
Oil Drain Plug Gasket
Power Window Switch
Radiator Coolant Hose
Radiator Drain Petcock
Sensors - Mass Air Flow Meter
Sensors - Oxygen Sensor <==> O2 or Lambda Sensor)
Serpentine Belt
Steering - Power Steering Pump
Steering - Rack and Pinion Assembly incl tie rods
Steering - Tie Rod End
Suspension - Ball Joint
Suspension - Camber Alignment Kit
Suspension - Stabilizer bar link kit
Window - Window Lift Motor
Window - Wiper Motor
Window Regulator
If you did not find the part you were looking for it does not mean we do not have it. Please
contact us!
Copyright © 1995-2010, all rights reserved. All brand names used are trademarks of their respective companies.


text:
DEAR FRIENDS, As the health care environment continues to evolve in New York State, the experience of Fidelis Care is one that remains rooted in our core values, focused on responding to the challenges before us, and looking ahead to new opportunities. In our growth and success over the years, we have also strived to work and live in humility, grateful for all that we have accomplished, and mindful of the standards that must be met if we are to continue to fulfill the expectations of our corporate Mission. 2015 was certainly a significant year for Fidelis Care, defined by innovation, product expansion, unprecedented growth, the attainment of milestones in quality care, and dramatic change across regional markets. Each month, it seemed, brought new opportunities for Fidelis Care to embrace change, to be nimble and responsive, and to illumine a future in which many of the elements will continue to be neither fixed nor clear. There was much to do, much to reflect upon, and also much to celebrate. While the accomplishments were many, a few highlights were particularly noteworthy. For the first time ever, Fidelis Care
reached five-star status in the 2015 Consumer Guides to Medicaid and Child Health Plus Managed Care, published by the New York State Department of Health, and was recognized by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services as a four-star Medicare Advantage plan. These outstanding ratings are the result of concerted efforts over time, across multiple departments, and in partnership with our providers, working together toward a common goal. Membership growth also tells a positive story. During the year, Fidelis Care grew by nearly 200,000 members. This happened through a multi-channel combination of grassroots outreach in the communities we serve, the departure of health plans in certain markets, advances in technology that made it easier for individuals to enroll online, and relationships with providers and community partners – who are often on the frontlines of care. Each of these relationships is a gateway to a better, healthier life for children, adults, and entire families across the State – from the largest cities to the most rural farmlands. This is what we believe, and this is what matters.
Fidelis Care's culture of excellence and our commitment to view the work we do through the lens of humanity and social justice begins with our sponsors, the eight Diocesan Bishops of New York State, and our Board of Directors, who provide invaluable leadership and insight. We are immensely grateful for their time, enthusiasm, and expertise. We remain especially proud of our 3,000 employees, who embrace the Mission and all that it encompasses every day. Our Mission and Gold Award winners from the Fidelis CARE Employee Recognition Program embody what it means to have a remarkable sense of purpose for their work that transcends the routine, and inspires all. On the pages that follow, we invite you to read more about our journey in our 2015 Annual Report, This is What We're Made Of.
Rev. Donald J. Harrington, C.M. Chairman of the Board
Rev. Patrick J. Frawley President and CEO
$3 million
in charitable grants and contributions
66,000 providers in Statewide network
16 community offices across New York State *3 NEW PRODUCTS TO SERVE MEMBERS:
1,300,000+ members with
membership growth of nearly 200,000
1 in every 14
New York State residents is a Fidelis Care member
Sweet 116!
Oldest woman in the world is a Fidelis Care at Home member! Happy birthday, Miss Susie!
New corporate advertising campaign launches across all regions
Fidelis Care becomes 1st plan to offer Managed Long Term Care in
10,000 grocery vouchers for healthy, hearty holiday meals
New community offices in Rochester and Jamaica (Queens)
New Data Center Debuts in Buffalo
all 62 counties
NYC, Buffalo, and Albany regional offices expand
rating in NYS Consumer Guides
rating in Medicare Advantage
participation rate in Employee Satisfaction and Engagement Survey
$46.9 million AWARDED TO PROVIDERS FOR QUALITY CARE
It's a home run...
New partnership with SNY, the official television home of the New York Mets
THIS IS W H AT W E ' R E M A D E O F. 2 0 15 M I L ESTO N ES During the past year, Fidelis Care: nn Identified six key strategic areas of focus over the next five years: Data and Analytics, NCQA Accreditation, Employee Recruitment and Retention, Customer Experience, ValueBased Contracting, and Care Management Experience. nn Grew by nearly 200,000 members and achieved a 24.7 percent market share Statewide, ending the year with an enrollment of more than 1.3 million. Achieved a 20 percent market share in NY State of Health metal-level product enrollment – the highest in the State. nn Experienced record growth in the Medicare and Dual Advantage programs, adding more than 20,000 members throughout the year. nn Achieved an outstanding overall retention rate of approximately 83.4 percent. nn Responded to the needs of thousands of children and adults who were left without health insurance following the sudden exit of their health plans from local markets.
nn Met the needs of the lowincome elderly by becoming the first health plan to offer Managed Long Term Care in all 62 counties, with the expansion of Fidelis Care at Home. Expanded Fidelis Medicare Advantage into 10 new counties and Dual Advantage into 19 new counties. nn Launched three new programs to serve members: Fully Integrated Duals Advantage (FIDA); HealthierLife, a Health and Recovery Plan (HARP); and the Essential Plan (EP). nn Achieved the highest rating of five stars in the Consumer Guides to Medicaid and Child Health Plus Managed Care published by the New York State Department of Health. nn Achieved a four-star rating from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for the provision of quality care and services for our Medicare Advantage and Dual Advantage members. nn Partnered with more than 66,000 providers in our Statewide network to serve members. nn Awarded providers approximately $46.9 million for the provision of quality care through our Quality Care Management Incentive (QCMI) program. nn Transitioned to the new ICD-10 medical coding system to be fully compliant with the federal government's October 1 deadline.
nn Supported wellness and routine care with nearly $400,000 in incentives for members. nn Began the process of achieving NCQA accreditation – a milestone that will demonstrate Fidelis Care's compliance with the rigorous standards of the most widely recognized accreditation program in the country. nn Opened new community offices in Jamaica (Queens) and Rochester to serve local members and residents. nn Expanded regional office space in New York City, Buffalo, and Albany. nn Opened a new Data Center in the Buffalo Regional Office. nn Experienced the highest-ever participation rate in the Employee Satisfaction and Engagement Survey at 92 percent. nn Provided more than $3 million in charitable grants and contributions for health initiatives and outreach in underserved communities, including $2.5 million through the Community Grant Fund. nn Distributed nearly 10,000 vouchers for groceries to help needy families have a healthy, hearty meal for the holidays. nn Debuted a Statewide, multimedia advertising campaign to promote and extend the Fidelis Care brand.
5,941 9,173
¾ Strategic Initiatives At the beginning of the year, members of Fidelis Care's leadership team embarked on a five-year process to assess, strengthen, and chart a course for success in six core areas that were identified as critical for Fidelis Care's continued success: Data and Analytics, NCQA Accreditation, Value-Based Contracting, Customer Experience, Employee Recruitment and Retention, and Care Management Experience. Progress was tracked and plans were developed throughout the year for a multitude of interdisciplinary initiatives that are designed to support members and providers, streamline business operations, assess our brand strength and identity, and position Fidelis Care for the future. For each of the core areas, an assessment was made on where we stand currently, where we want and need to be, and the resources that will be needed to get us there.
¾ The Cornerstone of Quality Care At the heart of Fidelis Care's work has always been a commitment to the provision of quality care for members. This includes preventive care like immunizations and well child exams, breast cancer, colorectal cancer, and osteoporosis screenings, diabetes
management, flu shots, and more. Aligned with State and national standards, Fidelis Care's focus on quality health care for members often begins in the provider's office. Each year, we undertake a variety of initiatives to encourage and foster the vital relationship between members and providers. Illustrative of our commitment in this area, Fidelis Care secured a five-star rating in the 2015 Consumer Guides to Medicaid and Child Health Plus Managed Care, published by the New York State Department of Health. The five-star rating for Fidelis Care is the highest achievable and represents an increase from four stars in 2014. The ratings are based on measures such as preventive and well care, quality of care, and member satisfaction. Only one other plan in the State earned the same distinction. Similarly, Fidelis Medicare Advantage was recognized as a four-star plan by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), based on the quality of care and service provided to members. The Medicare Star Rating system reflects 48 measures related to quality, member satisfaction, and access to care, among several others. It is also important to note that Fidelis Care received a 4.5 star rating for our Part D Prescription Drug Program.
Achieving four stars was a significant accomplishment because the rating promotes ongoing membership growth and retention, and identifies Fidelis Care as a health plan that meets nationally recognized quality standards. It also demonstrated significant progress toward our goal of being a five-star Medicare Advantage plan.
¾ Incentives Awarded to Providers, Members The Quality Care Management Incentive (QCMI) program is at the center of Fidelis Care's quality initiatives. Each year, the QCMI program is based upon recognized State and national guidelines from the State Department of Health's Quality Assurance Reporting Requirements (QARR) and the National Committee on Quality Assurance (NCQA). In 2015, Fidelis Care awarded providers approximately $46.9 million in incentives for the provision of quality care to members in the prior year. Fidelis Care members were also awarded approximately $400,000 in incentives for the care they received in areas such as childhood wellness, BabyCare, behavioral health, women's health, osteoporosis management, and diabetes training.
¾ Planning for NCQA Accreditation In the spring, Fidelis Care embarked on a multi-year process to achieve accreditation from the NCQA – a nationally recognized evaluation that reviews the quality of care provided to a health plan's members. To earn accreditation, NCQA evaluates how well a health plan manages all parts of its delivery system, which covers providers, hospitals, and administrative services. NCQA accreditation provides consumers with the ability to evaluate the quality of health plans and to make decisions based on demonstrated value rather than simply on cost. In 2015, Fidelis Care began the interim accreditation process as the first step on the path to achieve full accreditation, which is estimated to be in October 2017.
¾ Product and Geographic Expansion Several notable additions and expansions during the year enhanced Fidelis Care's product portfolio and strengthened our ability to serve a diverse membership with a variety of health care needs.
Fidelis Care at Home (FCAH): Fidelis Care became the first health plan to offer Managed Long Term Care (MLTC) in all 62 counties of the State, after approval was received from the State Department of Health to expand the FCAH product in the final 12 counties where we had not been operational – primarily across the North Country, Southern Tier, Finger Lakes, and Central regions. By the end of the year, FCAH had a membership of more than 11,000. One of the highlights during the year was the birthday of the oldest woman in the world, 116-year-old Susie Jones, a Fidelis Care at Home member who lives in Brooklyn. FCAH staff were on hand with Miss Susie's family and friends for the celebration. Essential Plan (EP): In the fall, Fidelis Care prepared for implementation of the new Essential Plan offered through NY State of Health, which replaced the Silver 150 and Silver 200 metal-level products. Designed for lower-income adults ages 19-64 who are not eligible for Medicaid or Child Health Plus, EP features year-round enrollment, with monthly premiums of $0 or $20 based on income. Initial interest and enrollment in the EP product were strong, as Fidelis Care had 70,000 members for January 1, 2016 coverage.
HealthierLife: A new Health and Recovery Plan (HARP) called HealthierLife was implemented for eligible members in New York City on October 1. The focus of HealthierLife is to provide additional assistance and resources to individuals with serious mental illness and/or substance use disorders diagnoses. In November, Fidelis Care received conditional approval for HealthierLife to expand in the rest of the State. On a related topic, Fidelis Care and other managed care plans began managing expanded behavioral health benefits for Medicaid members as of October 1. Also at that time, members whose behavioral health benefit was covered under Fee for Service Medicaid through SSI began to receive those benefits through Fidelis Care as well. Fully Integrated Duals Advantage (FIDA): Fidelis Care was one of 22 health plans selected by the State Department of Health to serve enrollees who have Medicare and Medicaid coverage and are eligible for community-based long term care services. The goal of FIDA, which launched on January 1 in New York City and Nassau County, is to simplify access to care and improve care coordination for members. By the end of the year, Fidelis Care had nearly 300 FIDA members.
Medicare Advantage: As part of our geographic growth, Fidelis Care expanded the Fidelis Medicare Advantage program into 10 new counties, and the Dual Advantage program into 19 new counties.
process for those who had not selected a plan for December 1. Through this process, as well as our own proactive outreach, Fidelis Care implemented a variety of initiatives to enroll Health Republic members before the December 15 deadline for January 1, 2016 coverage.
¾ Membership Growth
In the Buffalo Region, Independent Health (IHA) announced in late fall that it would no longer provide Medicaid Managed Care in Niagara County, leaving 15,000 members to find coverage with a new plan by the end of the year. Through extensive community outreach and working closely on special enrollment sessions with local providers, Fidelis Care enrolled approximately 8,300 of the former IHA members.
During the year, Fidelis Care's membership grew by close to 200,000, which led to the achievement of a 24.7 percent market share Statewide, and a total enrollment of more than 1.3 million. A variety of factors, including our own strategic initiatives as well as unexpected changes in regional markets, dramatically impacted the opportunities to reach new populations of individuals who were seeking health insurance coverage for either themselves or their families. Perhaps the most notable of these factors was the sudden exit of Health Republic Insurance of New York, the largest nonprofit cooperative, which was shut down by the State Department of Financial Services and the NY State of Health Marketplace effective November 30. To help ensure coverage and continuity of care for the more than 70,000 Health Republic members with individual coverage who were impacted, Fidelis Care worked with the State on an auto enrollment
Overall, for 2015 coverage through the Marketplace, Fidelis Care ranked first among 20 health plans, securing 20 percent of the metal-level product enrollment. This marked an increase of three percent from 2014. During the past year, Fidelis Care also became one of the fastestgrowing Medicare Advantage plans in the State, with a membership growth of more than 20,000 and a total membership of more than 46,000. Community Offices: Throughout the year, Fidelis Care's communitybased offices continued to be a growing focal point of our initiatives
to serve current members, as well as local residents in need of health insurance. By year's end, Fidelis Care had 16 community offices Statewide, including our two newest locations: Jamaica (Queens) and Rochester (Monroe County). Both offices held ribbon-cutting events in October, attended by Fidelis Care staff, community partners, and local dignitaries. Our mascot, Fidelisaurus, was also on hand to welcome visitors to each location, and in Jamaica, Mr. Met's surprise visit was a big hit. The Chinatown office, long established in the community, was relocated to a more spacious and convenient location, and the Spring Valley office in Rockland County also relocated to new space in the same shopping mall. Each of the community offices was staffed by a Retention Services Advocate – a new position that was created to improve the customer experience and provide a full complement of enrollment and retention services to members and visitors. Across the State, Fidelis Care's community offices served more than 214,000 walk-ins, and were responsible for approximately 30,000 enrollments. Additional community office locations are planned for 2016. Affordable Care Advisor: Two years ago, Fidelis Care implemented a new initiative that provided
individuals with the ability to get a quote through an online tool called the Affordable Care Advisor, which is featured on our website, and had been installed on kiosks conveniently located in shopping malls in targeted locations. In 2015, two new mall locations were added, bringing the kiosk total to five across the State. The program continued to be successful, with more than 22,400 unique users receiving quotes for their health insurance – all in 60 seconds or less.
¾ Working with Providers With more than 66,000 providers in our network, Fidelis Care engaged in several initiatives to promote our ongoing relationship as partners in quality health care access and service. As one of these initiatives, Fidelis Care launched a redesigned Provider Portal in February. While there were some enhancements to the look and feel of the Portal, the majority of changes focused on a new security and user account methodology. The new Portal featured mobile-friendly design, a new home page layout, additional controls for account administrators, enhanced security features, and improved search capabilities.
ICD-10: In preparation for ICD-10, a medical coding system of more than 14,400 codes used throughout the world, a dedicated team of Fidelis Care staff members worked throughout the year to ensure a smooth transition and full compliance by the October 1 deadline set by the federal government.
¾ Value-Based Contracting Dating back to 2011, part of the State's Medicaid Redesign Team (MRT) plan was to obtain a waiver that would allow the State to reinvest $8 billion in federal savings generated by MRT reforms. Finalized with the federal government in April 2014, the waiver amendment is designed to address critical issues throughout the State and allow for comprehensive reform through a Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment (DSRIP) program. The DSRIP program is described by the State as the "largest effort to transform the Medicaid delivery system" through community-level collaborations and a focus on system reform. The key objective of DSRIP is to reduce avoidable hospital stays by 25 percent over five years. This goal will be attained through provider contracting models that will transform fee-for-service reimbursement into value-based payment (VBP) methodologies. Fidelis Care worked throughout 2015 to develop a VBP contracting model
that will meet the five-year goal of DSRIP in converting 90 percent of managed care payments to providers into VBP methodologies.
¾ Information Technology In 2015, Fidelis Care implemented two major releases for Salesforce, our Customer Relationship Management application. The first involved the integration with Facets for member data in April. As part of our continuing efforts to streamline workflow, Transportation Services was added to Salesforce in late October, providing for enhanced vendor relationship management, custom vendor searches, and increased automation. Enhanced IT Security: In 2011, Fidelis Care started an Information Security team with just one member. Four years later, there was a 15-member team overseeing security operations. Throughout the year, Fidelis Care's Security team provided additional training for employees and implemented new protocols based on best practices, as well as on reviewing and assessing the data breaches that had been reported by other health insurance companies. Fidelis Care employees received information on how to spot phishing and other hacker scams. Guidelines for Protected Health Information (PHI) also were reviewed, and an
adjustment was made to enable our secure mail platform to automatically send any unsecure emails that appeared to contain PHI to the secure messaging system. Among other initiatives, the Security team also implemented two-factor VPN authentication for remote access users, and an emergency contact card in case an employee lost or misplaced a laptop or smart phone. New Data Center: A new Data Center at 490 CrossPoint opened for processing beginning on April 10. IT staff worked diligently over several months to move servers from two locations located at the PCI Data Center and 480 CrossPoint to the new state-ofthe-art location, which houses 1,500 computer servers.
¾ Communications Initiatives To provide a baseline understanding of the brand image of Fidelis Care across the State, a vendor was selected in late summer to conduct an online survey with Fidelis Care members, as well as with members of other health plans in each region. The goal of the study was for Fidelis Care to further refine a brand identity strategy based on who we are, how we perform, why people choose and stay with us as a health plan, and what our plan stands for.
The study revealed that the overall brand image of Fidelis Care is solid, but there is a need to build greater consistency and cohesiveness across the regions. Interestingly, respondents identified the ideal health plan as being a caring company that is passionate, smart, and neighborly. While there is no one health insurance company identified as behaving exactly the way that members say they want it to, Fidelis Care comes closest to the ideal, and we have a significant opportunity to differentiate ourselves from other plans in this regard. As part of our branding initiatives, Fidelis Care launched a new corporate advertising campaign based on the theme, "This is what we're made of." The multimedia campaign launched in the fall and featured TV, radio, high visibility outdoor and digital billboard locations, transit, and social media advertising across all regions. Unique opportunities for placement included three "station domination" locations in New York City at selected subways, a digital billboard "spectacular" across from Madison Square Garden on 7th Avenue, and a public relations opportunity with Univision, the flagship station of the Spanishlanguage television network Univision Communications, which broadcast live during the evening news from Fidelis Care's Call Center to highlight the beginning of open enrollment.
We also continued our partnership with the WNBA's New York Liberty, which focused on grassroots community outreach in key neighborhoods, and included a sponsorship of the team's popular senior dance group, the Timeless Torches. A new relationship with SportsNet New York (SNY) brought a variety of opportunities for advertising and public relations, particularly during New York Mets games.
¾ Human Resources Highlights With a record-high 92 percent participation rate, the 2015 Employee Survey results showed that Fidelis Care employees are overwhelmingly proud to work for the company, and continue to be motivated and inspired by their connection to the corporate Mission. Further, the high participation rate demonstrated that employees see the direct relationship between the feedback they provide on the survey, and the actions taken by Fidelis Care leadership to enhance and improve upon the employee experience. Other areas of strength identified in the survey were the organization's commitment to quality and customer focus, supervisor-employee relationships, performance management, and enhanced communication with senior leadership. Areas of opportunity included: communication within and between departments, processes, 10
procedures, and technology to support the company's growth, and individual opportunities for growth and development. Professional and career development for all staff was a focal point during the year, as Human Resources developed and facilitated 13 new classes for employees and managers, published an online training calendar and course descriptions, offered 53 Microsoft training sessions, launched a revised new employee orientation program, and developed targeted management training programs. Additionally, the talent management platform, Taleo, was fully launched in the fall to promote and streamline the recruitment of top talent, and facilitate a positive experience for job seekers at Fidelis Care. Highlighting the dedication of employees was the focal point of a new initiative called "Be the Mission," which was showcased on myfidelis and our social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter. The "Be the Mission" graphic series featured employees who inspired members, providers, or community partners to share their positive experience through a phone call or letter to Fidelis Care. More than 20 employees were profiled through the series during 2015. To promote a healthy worklife balance and in response to
employee survey feedback, Fidelis Care launched a new wellness program on myfidelis called HealthyYou, designed to help employees make healthier and smarter lifestyle choices. Throughout the year, HealthyYou provided a variety of activities, resources, and information for employees to access at their convenience. Another new initiative for staff was the introduction of the EveryMove @Work program, which enabled employees to log activities – from gardening to bike racing – either manually or through a fitness tracker. Employees earned points based on their activity level and were eligible for rewards. Several friendly competitions between departments and regions fostered participation in EveryMove throughout the year. As a related activity, Fidelis Care fielded teams in corporate and workforce challenge running events in each region.
¾ Facilities Expansion In 2015, key expansion projects were completed to provide Fidelis Care with the ability to accommodate the company's growth. In the Buffalo Region, more than 160 employees settled in to the new Call Center at 490 CrossPoint Parkway, adjacent to
the original building. The move by the Call Center employees in January was the culmination of a yearlong expansion project that saw the addition of an 87,000square-foot building with room for 700 employees. The dining area at 480 CrossPoint was also expanded, and new cubicles in a "honeycomb" configuration, replaced old work stations on the third floor. In the New York City Region, the 10th floor was expanded to provide space for approximately 90 staff members, primarily from the Retention Department. In the fall, Fidelis Care at Home staff moved to new space at 97-77 Queens Boulevard. Approximately 10,000 square feet of space were added to the Albany Region office, providing for 343 staff members. The dining area for staff was also expanded and enhanced.
¾ Giving Back Fidelis Care provided more than $3 million in charitable grants and contributions for health initiatives and outreach in underserved communities, including $2.5 million through the Community Grant Fund. Support went to Diocesan initiatives such as educational programs, emergency food pantry assistance, and family services offered by Catholic Charities,
programs to reduce unnecessary emergency room visits, and outreach to migrant families. With providers at the forefront of reaching those most in need, discretionary grants supported vital, community-based health initiatives such as equipment for a new geriatric inpatient unit, hearing screenings, and other programs designed to improve access to care. Through the Catholic Schools Grant Fund, Fidelis Care awarded about $500,000 to support school-based personal growth, moral development, and health programs. In the communities we serve, Fidelis Care took every opportunity to reach individuals of all ages and from all walks of life who needed health insurance. Provider office and community partner locations were staffed regularly by Fidelis Care Health Benefit Representatives who were on hand to help local residents learn about their options and apply for coverage. Fidelis Care sponsored hundreds of events throughout the year, participated in food and clothing drives, and donated nearly 10,000 grocery vouchers to help those in need have a hearty, healthy holiday meal.
¾ Employee Recognition Through the Fidelis CARE Employee Recognition program, we acknowledge and reward staff each year whose performance and commitment are exemplary, and who go "above and beyond" in areas such as: C = Customer Service, Creativity, Communication A = Appreciation for Quality Service R = Respect for Innovation and Change E = Empathy for our members and Enthusiasm for Fidelis Care The Gold Award recognizes staff for continuous noteworthy performance in the achievement of Fidelis Care's success, while the Mission Award recognizes an individual who is collaborative, visionary, and goes beyond the normal boundaries of his or her position. The profiles on the following pages illustrate the special dedication and unique spirit that our most recent Mission and Gold Award winners bring to their work every day.
¾ "My greatest accomplishment is that people in the community recognize I am here to help. The Fidelis Care Mission guides me every day, and people respond to those values."
More than 20 years after coming to the United States as a refugee from Bosnia, Nezir Jasarevic still remembers the struggles of leaving his home and starting over in a strange land. Those powerful memories guide him every day as a Fidelis Care Health Benefit Representative. Nezir understands refugees' worries and makes it his goal to ease their fears. His 15-year career at Fidelis Care is built on trust and strong relationships with members and organizations, including the Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees, St. Elizabeth Medical Center, and the Rescue Mission of Utica. "My greatest accomplishment is that people in the community recognize I am here to help," Nezir said. "The Fidelis Care Mission guides me every day, and people respond to those values." Nezir is known throughout Oneida County as the "face of Fidelis Care" and as a person you can rely on. He makes it a point to go wherever he is needed. In addition to his many outreach sites, he attends events during nights and weekends to reach those in need. His dedication is a primary reason that Fidelis Care's market share for Medicaid Managed Care and Child Health Plus reached 71.5 percent in the county in 2015. Nezir is constantly looking for outreach opportunities. When the Oneida County Department
of Social Services decided to hold Medicaid information sessions as far back as 2000, Nezir made sure Fidelis Care was well represented. When the focus of the sessions changed to also reflect NY State of Health enrollment, Nezir adapted easily, educating potential members on Fidelis Care's many options. He also explained to Medicaid members about the need for a primary care provider and walked them through the process. "Some people, especially refugees, may not understand the concept of health insurance and why they need it," Nezir said. "I can help them with this important step, which relieves a tremendous amount of stress in their lives." Nezir's work in helping members renew their health insurance is another testament to his abilities. He is dedicated to providing the same level of service that he would want for himself. Fidelis Care's commitment to members makes his achievements possible, he said. "Our Mission remains the same as it has always been," Nezir said. "Fidelis Care's strong foundation has enabled the company to grow and succeed." Nezir's translation skills also have been a valuable resource. In addition to helping nonEnglish-speaking members and prospective members in Oneida County, he travels to Onondaga and other neighboring counties to work with people who have
difficulty understanding English. He also serves as a resource to interpreters in the region, helping to teach them about health insurance. "Nezir is always enthusiastic about his job," said Tom Julian, Director, Marketing. "He treats everybody with an immense level of caring and respect, and goes out of his way to help others." Nezir is thankful for a strong support system that includes Tom Julian; Gina Price, Manager, Marketing; Nicole Patrei, Supervisor, Marketing; and other managers and colleagues. He credits them for giving him the opportunity to succeed. "Fidelis Care is my family," he said. "I trust them fully. When you have great support, you can do your best."
¾ Nezir lives in Oriskany, Oneida County, with his wife, Azira, and their two children. He is based out of Fidelis Care's Syracuse office.
¾ "I strive to develop and maintain networks that are not just adequate, but exceptional."
After only two years at Fidelis Care, Senior Contract Management Representative Courtney Gagnon has become known as an integral member of her department, playing major roles in the implementation of HealthierLife, Fidelis Care's new Health and Recovery Plan (HARP), and the Statewide expansion of Fidelis Care at Home, the company's Managed Long Term Care (MLTC) product. "The HealthierLife implementation and the Fidelis Care at Home expansion were tremendous accomplishments for the company," Courtney said. "I was proud to be involved and help our provider network grow." With HealthierLife, a program for people with behavioral health or substance abuse issues, Courtney worked closely with contacts at the New York State Department of Health (SDOH), the Office of Mental Health (OMH), the Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS), and new and existing providers to help establish the program at Fidelis Care. When contracting with providers, Courtney focused on making sure they were familiar with Fidelis Care's products and Mission. For her strong efforts in representing Fidelis Care during meetings across the State, Courtney was praised by leaders of the Managed Care Technical Assistance Center of New York (MCTAC), an agency contracted
by the State to facilitate the HARP transition. Providers saw her as a subject matter expert on the new program because of her breadth of knowledge and consistent presence and engagement. Courtney also was a key member of the Fidelis HARP Steering Committee, a multi-disciplinary group that worked to meet the requirements set by SDOH. She helped train Contract Management employees on how to sign up new providers, many of whom had never been involved with managed care organizations. "Courtney helped providers feel comfortable coming in to the Fidelis Care network," said Dani Heifetz, LCSW, Assistant Vice President, Behavioral Health Services. "Her knowledge, focus, and patience were reassuring and helped to create a robust HARP network." Courtney's ability to embrace new opportunities was also seen during the expansion of Fidelis Care at Home into the 12 remaining counties in the State. The threemonth process involved building a network that met SDOH's standards, even in rural areas served by fewer providers. "I strive to develop and maintain networks that are not just adequate, but exceptional," Courtney said. In addition to those high-profile projects, Courtney also excelled in maintaining strong relationships
with the provider networks she was assigned to work with on routine contract issues. "I owe my success at Fidelis Care to the support of Louise Donato, Director, Contract Management, and my co-workers," Courtney said. "They are always there and willing to help."
¾ Courtney lives in Saratoga Springs, Saratoga County, with her family. She is based out of Fidelis Care's Albany office.
¾ "The responsibility is on us to show we care. My team and I are constantly reviewing audits to learn how to give our members an even more positive experience."
Melissa Mata is always looking for ways to improve members' experiences with Fidelis Care. As Supervisor, Quality Assurance, Melissa oversees the company's Quality Improvement Specialists and Associate Operational Auditors, who monitor the Call Center to ensure members are receiving the best possible support. "The responsibility is on us to show we care," explained Melissa, who joined Fidelis Care two and a half years ago. "My team and I are constantly reviewing audits to learn how to give our members an even more positive experience." To improve the Call Center audit process, Melissa helped design a system that automatically assigns calls to Associate Operational Auditors for review. Prior to the new system, an Associate Operational Auditor had to spend time manually assigning the calls. The change has boosted the department's efficiency. Each Member Services Associate now receives nine audits a month, up from six audits previously. To keep up with the changes in health care, Melissa cited the importance of ongoing training. Audit reports and staff feedback allow her to identify certain trends, such as an issue with validation of members' identities. The Department can then provide necessary coaching to staff members. Melissa also has
stepped in to help with the training of new employees. "We have to be prepared for any situation," Melissa said. "A lot of times we encounter members when they are going through a difficult time. We have to be empathetic and put ourselves in their shoes." Melissa also helped to shepherd audit delivery improvements that have encouraged collaboration between Associate Operational Auditors and Member Services Associates. Audits are now immediately accessible to employees, and the Associate Operational Auditors work directly with the Member Services Associates to help them with any issues. Her methodology has been embraced by employees and helped to further strengthen the department's bonds. "Melissa is a natural leader who inspires others to perform at their highest level," said Natalie Wagner, Director, Operational Performance Improvement. "She always wants to help staff find the best ways to achieve member satisfaction." Melissa, who started as a Member Services Associate before being promoted to Quality Insurance Specialist in April 2014 and Supervisor, Quality Assurance in May 2015, also works directly with members. When a member has a question or concern on Facebook, Twitter, or another of Fidelis Care's
social media accounts, Melissa is contacted by the Communications Department for assistance. She and her team identify the member, research the situation, and contact the member to resolve the issue. Whether it's working with one member or implementing policies that affect thousands, Melissa is proud to be part of Fidelis Care's Mission. "It impacts everything I do. I am always thinking of the member," she said. Melissa credits her success to the support and guidance she has received from her team and the leadership of Natalie Wagner; Jesse Silva, Manager, Member Services; and John Galvez, Assistant Vice President, Member Services.
¾ Melissa lives in Glendale, Queens County, with her husband, Onix. She is based out of Fidelis Care's New York City office.
ELIZABETH McALLISTER MANAGER, MEDICAL CODING, CL AIMS
¾ "My team was dedicated to finding solutions to any issues that arose. We worked alongside other departments to ensure a seamless transition."
Even though Elizabeth McAllister, Manager, Medical Coding, works primarily with numbers, the faces and stories of Fidelis Care members are foremost on her mind. "When I'm working at my computer on medical coding issues, I really feel like I'm working with our members," Elizabeth said. "I think of how I'm helping the mother of a sick child, or the son of an elderly parent who needs care. It's personal to me." Elizabeth's diligence in regard to medical claims coding ensures members receive the care and services they need. She and her team of 10 Certified Medical Coders help to translate new procedure codes into their appropriate classifications, and then work with other departments to confirm benefits are available. "We try to get in front of any changes, so staff on the frontlines have the answers they need," said Elizabeth, who has been with Fidelis Care for two and a half years. "It's important that we always give our members and providers an excellent experience." Over the past year, Elizabeth and her team faced a major undertaking when they helped transition Fidelis Care from the International Classification of Diseases, 9th revision (ICD-9) to the new ICD-10 code set. Approximately 88,000 diagnosis codes needed to be translated before the October 1
deadline set by the federal government. Her team had to find solutions for significant shifts in some codes. For example, there were some instances in which a single ICD-9 code had more than a dozen translations in ICD-10. "My team was dedicated to finding solutions to any issues that arose," Elizabeth said. "We worked alongside other departments to ensure a seamless transition." One way Elizabeth guaranteed Fidelis Care's success was by organizing a four-day ICD-10 training program for her team and members of the QHCM, Finance, and IT departments. A trainer from the AAPC, a national organization that focuses on medical coding, worked with Fidelis Care employees to explain the ICD-10 code set and answer questions. Attendees found the program to be extremely beneficial. "Elizabeth was instrumental in the successful implementation of ICD-10," said Alicia Delmont, Vice President, Claims. "Her teamwork and service were extraordinary." Elizabeth also was heavily involved in updates to the Facets Clinical Editor, which improved the claims processing software's functionality and accuracy by automating certain features. The Medicare Risk Adjustment Chart Review was another project that Elizabeth took great pride in
overseeing, especially as Fidelis Care's Medicare enrollment grew to more than 46,000 members in 2015. The annual audit, which requires one complete chart review for every Medicare member, ensures we are fulfilling the company's mission to provide exemplary care, she explained. "Our Mission Statement isn't just a thing on the wall; helping people is what we are made of," Elizabeth said. "It makes me feel proud to go to work every day."
¾ Elizabeth lives in Williamsville, Erie County, with her husband, Bruce, and their two sons. She is based out of Fidelis Care's Buffalo office.
¾ "Maintaining a high level of quality is very important. It shows Fidelis Care's commitment to providing a great experience to members and providers."
For Mohammad "Mo" Sepehrrad, the key to success is collaboration. As Manager, Quality Assurance, Mo works hand in hand with Information Technology (IT) Business Analysts and Developers, as well as employees from other departments at the onset of new projects. He and his team perform extensive tests and find solutions to ensure the projects' successful implementation. His goal is to resolve any concerns before they impact the company and members. "Maintaining a high level of quality is very important," said Mo, who joined Fidelis Care nearly two years ago. "It shows Fidelis Care's commitment to providing a great experience to members and providers." Mo participates in project meetings, reviews his team's work, and determines which projects need closer attention. His strong organizational skills helped guide his team to success on several initiatives, including updates to NY State of Health: The Official Health Plan Marketplace products and the implementation of the International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision (ICD-10) code set. With NY State of Health, he worked closely with Enrollment to ensure new and returning members would have a worry-free experience. For the ICD-10 transition, Mo provided testing support to the IT and
Claims departments by creating thousands of test claims to run through Fidelis Care's systems. "User Acceptance Testing is a critical part of quality assurance," Mo explained. "It's not enough for a project to meet IT standards; we want to make sure it will meet the day-to-day needs of each department using the application." To continually improve quality assurance, Mo advocated for the adoption of Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) software to manage projects. Numerous teams on more than 30 projects have now used the software, which manages requirements, test cases, defects, and reporting. Mo also is a proponent of automating processes. For example, he and his team developed a script to validate electronic claims from CVS/Caremark, our pharmacy vendor. By implementing the script, Fidelis Care is now able to perform a full file validation instead of a sample, and in less time than before. Another script examines provider agreements to validate providers' tax ID numbers. "Mo has proven to be an indispensable resource to Fidelis Care," said Kathleen Velasquez, Director, IT Business Analysis and Quality Assurance. "He is continuously sought out for his expertise and knowledge, and always puts the company first."
Mo is appreciative of the support he has received from senior leadership, and added that they have always been responsive to suggestions such as the ALM adoption. "From day one, senior management has been committed to quality improvement," Mo said. "Anything I brought to the table was looked at and supported." Knowing his team's efforts make a difference in people's lives means a lot to Mo. "It feels good to work here and to help people in need," he said. "I feel blessed to have a great team and be part of Fidelis Care."
¾ Mo lives in Tonawanda, Erie County, with his wife, Heather, and their daughter. He is based out of Fidelis Care's Buffalo office.
¾ "Not every medication is right for every member. There might be better alternatives for some people. It's our duty to find those solutions."
Lynn Tran, Pharm.D., Supervisor, Pharmacist, is committed to changing people's lives for the better. Her proactive approach to health care has allowed thousands of Fidelis Care members to get the medications they need and the care they deserve. Because several of Lynn's projects and initiatives involve newly developed medications, she focuses on ensuring members respond positively to them. "We want members to take their medications correctly," said Lynn. "We offer support and guidance so they get the best results." One of Lynn's key initiatives in 2015 was a drug utilization review of Suboxone, a medication that is often used to treat addiction to prescription painkillers and other opioids. Lynn and her team studied the utilization of Suboxone and created a strategy to confirm appropriate use of the medication. She then worked with Fidelis Care Medical Directors, Communications staff, and providers to develop member communications. She also urged providers to implement laboratory monitoring of members when necessary. By creating safeguards in Suboxone treatment, Fidelis Care was able to limit restrictions on the medication without delaying member care. "We are one of the few Medicaid plans in New York State that doesn't require a prior authorization for Suboxone,"
Lynn said. "We want to make it easy for members to seek and receive addiction treatment." Another area where Lynn collaborates with providers is in finding safe treatment alternatives for members when they have adverse reactions to medications. For example, some medications can reduce the potency of another medication the member is taking, she explained. "Not every medication is right for every member," Lynn said. "There might be better alternatives for some people. It's our duty to find those solutions." Fidelis Care's Hepatitis C program has also benefited from Lynn's dedication. New medications are very effective at curing the disease, but only if they are taken as directed. Lynn works closely with providers and pharmacies to oversee treatment, which results in more successful outcomes and greatly reduces members' risk of developing liver failure. "Lynn works with members who are often very ill," said Anish Patel, Manager, Clinical Pharmacy. "She is always compassionate and understanding. Her work embodies the Fidelis Care Mission." Lynn serves as a mentor to Staff Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians, and is regarded as a knowledgeable and patient teacher. Lynn believes that her
staff has been instrumental in her success. "They are a fantastic team and have such great attention to detail," she said. "They are always looking out for members' best interests." Lynn was hired as Fidelis Care's first Pharmacy Resident in 2010 before being promoted to Staff Pharmacist a year later and Supervisor, Pharmacist in March 2015. She has watched the Pharmacy Department grow from six employees to about 70 and has been involved in several milestones, such as the Medicaid prescription drug carve-in in 2011. "I am so glad I have been here for the Pharmacy Department's amazing transformation," Lynn said. "Erick Moncayo, Assistant Vice President, Pharmacy; Alyssa Im, Director, Pharmacy Services, and Anish have played such a large role in our success. They guide me every day."
¾ Lynn lives in Secaucus, N.J., with her two sisters. She is based out of Fidelis Care's New York City office.
Reverend Donald J. Harrington Chairman of the Board
Thomas L. Kelly
Karl Adler, M.D.
Reverend Leo O' Donovan
Jack Balinsky
Gino Pazzaglini
M. William Benedetto
Reverend Monsignor Alan J. Placa (Emeritus)
Sister Patricia Burkard James M. Corrigan Reverend John Coughlin Thomas F. Doodian Reverend Patrick J. Frawley John J. Hurley
Reverend Patrick J. Frawley President and Chief Executive Officer David P. Thomas Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Thomas Brown Chief Administrative Officer Thomas Halloran Chief Finance Officer
Donna A. O'Brien
John J. Rydzewski Joseph Slavik Michael J. Tooley Frank J. Thomas, M.D. Mary Thompson John A. Werwaiss
Pamela Hassen Chief Marketing Officer Martin Krebs Chief Information Officer Santo F. Russo Chief Legal Officer Sanjiv Shah, M.D., M.P.H. Chief Medical Officer


text:
- Description
- Our Celtic Knot Filigree Necklace is sterling silver with yellow gold plating.
The Celtic Knot Filigree pendant measures approximately 28mm.
It comes on a sterling silver 18 inch chain.
Exclusively by The Irish Jewelry Company
Every jewelry gift from The Irish Jewelry Company comes gift boxed in our signature style, a simple white glossy gift box sealed with a satin emerald green ribbon and our gold label. Included at no additional charge is an Irish Blessing, toast or story card. If this is a gift included at no additional charge is a card for the recipient, hand written for that extra personal touch.
This design and its images are copyrighted © by The Irish Jewelry Company™
- Additional Information
Additional Information
Choose Stone No Choose Style Celtic Knot Brand No Manufacturer The Irish Jewelry Company
- Reviews
Customer Reviews 2 item(s)
- my hard to shop for twin fell in love with this piece
great service great jewerly
Your Rating
- gifts
The earrings and pendant I bought as a gift for my daughter, she absolutely loved them and my wife was impressed by the gold intertwined with the silver and in a Celtic motif, what could be finer! I will shop with you again.
Your Rating
- Product Tags


text:
Study Type – Therapy (case series)
Level of Evidence 4
What's known on the subject? and What does the study add?
For small renal tumours, partial nephrectomy provides excellent cancer control and preserves renal function. The RENAL Nephrometry Score is useful for quantifying anatomic features relevant to surgical decision-making.
In patients undergoing laparoscopic partial nephrectomy, this study shows a correlation between RENAL Nephrometry Score and estimated blood loss, warm ischemia time, and length of hospital stay, suggesting that the RENAL Nephrometry Score may be useful for predicting the technical challenge posed by a renal tumour.


text:
I actually wrote this a while ago and forgot to update :S sorry for the delay, i just started year twelve so things are a little hectic haha but thats means that theres only a year left until theres no more destractions :D
Chapter 22
"You seem so distracted young one," Tanya murmured to me on Christmas Eve.
The two of us were in the wilderness in Denali, sitting on an icy log. I didn't feel the cold, but I assumed a human would find the snowy landscape freezing this time of year. I picked up a chunk of ice and watched as it melted against my burning skin.
Tanya leaned a little closer, "Are you having boy troubles?"
I was about to brush off her comment, when I realised Tanya may be the only person who could understand what I was going through. Aside from Kate, who was busy with Garrett, and my Dad, who I was not going to have this conversation with.
"Sort of," I began, "I'm with this human guy, but I can't… you know..,"
"Be with him?" she suggested.
I looked up at her sympathetic gaze. "Yeah." I rested my chin on my hand, which was in turn rested on my knee. "And I really want to, you know? I love him so much…"
Tanya patted my shoulder. "Well, if you want my advice, practise with other humans. You get better the more you do it, and chances of it being fatal to the human decrease dramatically."
I smirked. "I'm not going to practise." Although I could see her point.
She grinned. "I didn't think you would. Well then, in that case you should take him to a place where you can make a quick getaway if things get too… rough. Or stay near something you can grab a hold of that won't break easily."
I put my hand on her cheek and showed her a picture of a steel bed frame that we both knew I was able to break.
The look on her face made me giggle, and then we both laughed. My mood increased and I smiled a genuine smile.
"Ah, Nessie, you never fail to amuse me. Make sure you've got something you can bite into, and try to stay away from his neck. Let him do most of the work the first couple of times until you get more confident."
I was slighly surprised that it wasn't embarrassing talking to Tanya about sex; I found I could open up to her about any of my worries. I hadn't had to think about these sorts of things with Jacob – we were both as strong as each other. But if I ever wanted to truly be with Caleb, I had to know how to control myself.
I'd never met my maternal great grandmother before, so I was slightly nervous as we drove through the twisting roads of Jacksonville.
Bella was very fidgety, which was unusual for a vampire. She'd been adamant that she wanted to see her mother. It had been twenty two years (A/N: I know I said somewhere that Renesmee was 24 and Tyson was 22, but on further calculations I realised Nessie is 22, so Tyson is 20. This is why I'm failing maths) since she'd last seen her mother, and I knew she missed her.
"I don't like the thought of her wondering what happened to me." Bella had said.
I think they'd been deliberating seeing her for years, but hadn't actually decided to do it until now.
Naturally, we had a pretty elaborate cover story. I knew vampires had a tendency to do things extravagantly, so this situation wasn't much different then one of the many parties my Aunt Alice had thrown. It would make everyone's eyes bug out of their heads and possibly - no definitely - create chaos.
Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Edward and Bella reach out a hand to each other at exactly the same time. They didn't even look at each other, and our drive continued in blissful silence.
I thought it was amazing that two people could be so in sync with each other that they didn't even need to see the other person to know how they were feeling. Bella was clearly ready to shit bricks, and Edward was right there, supporting her all the way.
I hoped me and Kayne could be that close to each other one day…
"We're here." Edward announced, and I looked at the average sized, white boarded house to my right. Even though it was dark outside, I could still see perfectly. We didn't dare come in the day time for obvious reasons.
I reached out to my mum, clasping her hand in mine. Here goes nothing. I whispered in her head.
She turned to me and smiled. An image of the first time she'd met Grandpa Charlie overtook my mind.
Edward was the one to knock on the door. Maybe because Bella was too nervous? I wouldn't know. I'm not the mind reader.
A red-haired girl answered the door. Her eyes were light blue and she looked to be about 17. She gave us a once over, her eyes staying on Bella for a few seconds until Bella asked, "Does Renee live here?"
The girl nodded and called out "Mum!" then walked away as my Grandmother took her spot.
"Hey, what can I - Bella?!"
Renee's eyes bugged out of her head as she stared at the daughter I was sure she thought was dead.
"So what do you think of them?" Nessie whispered to me from the dark.
Both of us were in a small hotel room - as small as five star hotel rooms get - and I was nowhere near sleep after the day I'd had.
"They seem really nice." I answered truthfully. "Do you reckon they bought the whole witness protection story?"
Nessie rolled over on her side to look at me. "Honestly? I don't know. I think it may have been just out there enough to be believable. Renee definitely believed us. And probably Jayden and Phil, but I don't think Hilaree did. She seems to perceptive."
I nodded. Hilaree - Renee and Phil's daughter - seemed uncannily aware about the workings of the world. I'd heard Renee saying something about her having photographic memory, but I highly doubted her memory was that good. Especially if she was just a human. She studied us all with a piercing gaze, as if she was trying to catch us out on a lie. Ironic, since we were lying through our teeth. But if she suspected anything, she didn't make it known.
Jayden was the complete opposite of his twin sister. He was, for lack of a better world, quite "airy-fairy", and I got the distinct feeling he thought of things quite simply. Yet at the same time, like his mother and sister, he too was rather perceptive.
Phil was quite nice and very talkative, although he had competition with Renee in the question asking department. He nodded coolly at Bella's explanation and gave his opinion where he deemed appropriate.
Bella's story was that she and Jacob had witnessed a murder by a drug lord and their families had to go into witness protection. Renesmee was born in witness protection 17 years ago, making her the same age as Bella's sister and brother. I'm sure that if I looked more like my family members they would have pretended I was their daughter as well, but since I looked liked a girl version of my dad they fabricated a girlfriend of Jacob who had had me before both of them were killed, leaving me to be raised by Edward and Bella. We'd apparently only just gotten out of witness protection and the first thing Bella wanted to do was see her mother.
Quite drammatic if you ask me, but it worked.
Our visit ended with a lot of tears from Renee, and Bella promising we'd visit again tomorrow and do something together.
I smiled in the dark. I was glad Bella was finally able to see her parents again and meet her brother and sister, but I couldn't help thinking about my own sister, who hadn't contacted me in over half a year. It hurt that she hadn't called me, and I was so worried that something had happened to her.
I understood how Renee felt when Bella "disappeared". I wanted to be angry at Skye for giving me no response, but I was too scared tha something may have happened, something terrible that was keeping her away. I refused to believe she was dead. I would know if she was.
And if I was this worried, I could only imagine how mum felt.
I turned my head to see her drifting off.
I'll tell her, I thought to myself. If Skye ever contacts me again, I'll tell her. She doesn't deserve to be left in the dark.
I can do this, I told myself as I made my way to Caleb's room. His hand was in mine, and he led the way.
It was the day before school started again, which I was less than eager for. His dad wasn't home, and I'd had a lot of time to contemplate my conversation with Tanya. I hadn't really talked about it much with Caleb, but I'd decided to just let it happen in its own time, and if I couldn't do it I knew he'd understand.
We talked easily about our holidays, and it comforted me to know he and his dad didn't find any vampires. Even if they were evil, I didn't like the thought of one of my possible vampire friends being killed by hunters. I started to tell him a bit about the Denali's, but stopped mid-sentence.
"What's up?" he asked curiously.
I looked into his eyes, "I love you." I said.
"I love you too." He replied, nervously.
"Do you trust me?"
His eyes searched mine, looking for some answer to the million questions that must have been racing through his mind. "Yes. Completely."
I only hesitated a moment before closing the gap between us, bringing our lips together. I wrapped myself closer to him, my arms going around his neck as his wound themselves around my waist. Our kisses became longer and I could feel my skin heating up, which I didn't think could be possible considering I was already a walking oven. Caleb didn't seem to notice the heat, but his skin felt like it could be as hot as mine in that moment.
I found myself being pushed backwards until we both landed on his pillows. I pulled him closer, but it still wasn't close enough. My hands slid down his chest and under his shirt. I pushed it up off him and he moved back to take it off. He unzipped my jacket and slid it down my shoulders.
With every article of clothing that came off, a barrier that had been firmly in place between us came crashing down. His skin on my skin was like the sun that never shined in Forks, and our kisses got harder and harder. My nails dug into the skin of his back.
As his lips moved down my neck I reached behind me, searching for something sturdy to grab onto. If I had to dig my hands into the wall, I would. I squeezed the wooden bar of his bed frame as his lips met mine once again. My grip on the bar tightened with every kiss, every brush of his hands on my skin.
At one point my mouth was positioned dangerously close to his neck. I couldn't resist the urge to bite; I pressed down hard on my knuckles.
That may not have been the best idea. The blood flowed into my mouth and my throat constricted. His scent was overwhelming, and I breathed in. Bad idea. I instantly detected an open wound on his body. It was instinct. I latched onto his shoulder and drank in his sweet flowing blood. He groaned.
His voice snapped me out of it, and I looked at him with wide eyes. I knew I still had blood on my lips when he kissed me again. I twisted my hands in his hair…


text: dry-beat definition October 21, 2017 AZ Dictionary Link to this page verb-transitive: To beat seriously. others: To beat (a thing) till it becomes dried out; hence, to conquer seriously. Related Sources Definition for "dry-beat" To beat seriously. View More Sentence for "dry-beat" Good king of cats, nothing but… View More How would you define dry-beat? All the definitions on AZdictionary were written by people just like you. Now's your chance to add your own! Your Full Name Your definition Post Definition


text:
Crockpot Brown Sugar and Balsamic Glazed Pork Loin
THIS IS AMAZING.. ~~~ And yummy!!!
1 (2 pound) boneless pork tenderloin (or regular pork loin)
1 teaspoon ground sage
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons soy sauce
Combine sage, salt, pepper and garlic. Rub over roast. Place in slow cooker with 1/2 cup water. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. About 1 hour before roast is done, combine ingredients for glaze in small sauce pan. Heat and stir until mixture thickens. Brush roast with glaze 2 or 3 times during the last hour of cooking. Serve with remaining glaze on the side.
|All times are GMT -7. The time now is 11:44 PM.
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2017, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.6.0
Copyright © 2003-2012 JustMommies.com, All Rights Reserved.


text:
News / Arte @en
Third Bloop Festival in Sant Antoni, Ibiza
The upcoming Saturday, the town of Sant Antoni in Ibiza will host the Bloop Festival, an interactive urban art competition that this year is named "Under Control". For over a month the streets of Sant Antoni and enclaves such as Moli d'en Simó or Ses Coves Blanques lighthouse, will become a great art gallery outdoors.
The objective of the City Council is offer to the visitors more than sun and beach tourism. The festival, which runs until 18th of August, welcomed last year 120,000 visitors.