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Fred Whitfield shows a little emotion from time to time.
But it's usually contained to his 'raise the roof' gesture.
Yesterday, he simply couldn't contain himself.
Whitfield, the first man out of the box, set the bar high by wrapping up his calf in 7.0 seconds.
Before he even got back on his horse, he fired his hat in the air in celebration.
"I was pumped up," he said. "And I was a little nervous because those guys were tying the barrier back up.
"I thought 'Man, I didn't break the barrier did I?' I looked down on the ground and there were no penalty flags."
Whitfield's time put the pressure on the three remaining ropers.
All three -- Oklahomans Hunter Herrin and Blair Burke and Texan Trevor Brazile -- came up with no-times.
"You've gotta come out and put the pressure on 'em," Whitfield said. "Blair's probably one of the best calf ropers in the world, along with Trevor Brazile and Hunter Herrin.
"I knew it was going to take a phenomenal run to get by those guys today."
1. Whitfield, Fred $100,000
2. Brazile, Trevor $25,00
3. 3. Burk, Blair NT
4. Herrin, Hunter NT


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CI Students to Receive Honors, Awards at Honors Convocation Ceremony
CSU Channel Islands (CI) will bestow honors on high-achieving graduating seniors during its 2014 Honors Convocation, Saturday, May 10, at 6:30 p.m. at the John Spoor Broome Library Plaza. The ceremony is open to all students earning honors and graduating from fall 2013 through summer 2014.
To receive honors at graduation, a student must have completed a minimum of 30 units at CI for a letter grade and earned a grade point average of 3.50 or above in all CI and transfer coursework. Graduates may receive honors at one of the following three levels: cum laude for GPAs of 3.50 – 3.74; magna cum laude for GPAs of 3.75 – 3.89; and summa cum laude for GPAs of 3.90 – 4.0.
CI also celebrates the outstanding achievements of graduating seniors in areas that span the campus. Graduating President's Scholars will also be recognized during the ceremony. The CI President's Scholars Program provides stellar incoming students with a scholarship that is renewable for four years, and includes full resident fees, a generous textbook allowance, and the use of a laptop computer.
CI also recognizes outstanding students in each major with Program Honors, and acknowledges students with achievements in the areas of community engagement and integrative, multicultural, and international perspectives with Mission Center Awards. Graduating students who are members of the Mortar Board Four Pillars Chapter, the nation's premier honor society, will also be recognized during the event. Additional awards will include the Senior Leadership Award, granted to students who have demonstrated exemplary student leadership, scholarship and service, and the Silver Dolphin Award, granted to student leaders who have contributed significantly to the quality of life at CI.
Students and guests may park in any 'A' lot. Parking permits are not required during the event and citations will not be issued. Follow directional signs for event location and parking. Free bus service to and from the campus is also provided for attendees from the Camarillo Metrolink Station every 30 minutes. For exact times, check the schedule at www.goventura.org.
For additional information, contact Merissa Stith, Events Coordinator, at 805-437-8548 or firstname.lastname@example.com.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
It Was On This Day…
I am a huge fan of 80's movies, because, well, that's what we watched when we had sleepovers. I just realized today was a very important day for Bender, Clark, Brian, Allison and Claire.
I hated slasher movies and so did my friends, so John Hughes films basically took over when we were planning on watching a movie at a sleepover.
Today was the day The Breakfast Club met for detention.
Johnny Bender, Andrew Clarke, Brian Johnson, Allison Reynolds and Claire Standish walk into the library at Shermer High School in Shermer, Illinois at 7:06 am, Saturday, March 24, 1984 as strangers. They go home that afternoon leaving a letter to Principal Vernon signed, "The Breakfast Club."
I know the film line for line, and just for giggles, I went back and watched the trailer. Check it out:


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The lights are on
Do you have shelves that need filling? Do you like video games? Are you a fan of that crazy 8-bit retro thing that the kids just seem to go wild over these days? If you answered "yes" to at least two of those questions, this could be the most incredible day of your entire life. 72 Pins is selling genuine NES carts plastered with spiffy retro art based on contemporary games. And they are awesome.
72 Pins has a bunch of games in its roster, from a variety of different artists. They're $20 a pop, and include art based on such heavy hitters as God of War, BioShock, Halo, and Dead Space. Better still, Okami is available (love it!!!), and carts based on Resident Evil, Super Meat Boy, and PaRappa the Rapper (lovelovelovelovelove) are coming soon.
The carts are technically functional, though they're not related to the games pictured on them. Think of it this way: In addition to getting a nice little chunk of art, you're also getting a surprise! Wow ! Also, these will eliminate the embarrassing problem of Bare Shelf Syndrome.
And that completes my mandatory public service for the day.
Source: 72 Pins via Joystiq
Email the author Jeff Cork, or follow on Twitter, Google+, Facebook, and Game Informer.


text: With all the bans going in place, besides the manufactures, why have we, liscensed aplicators insist our states not allow places like lowe's, Home Depot to sell ANY type of pesticide\fertilizer. Today, for example, I had a new client ask me why he had all these brown spots. At first, I thought they were urine burns from his dogs. Upon closer inspection, notorious "round-up" burn. Me: Did you spray anything on your lawn? Customer: Yes, the guy at Orchard Supply Hardware said this would kill the weeds in the lawn. The point that I'm trying to make is why allow places mentioned above to sell ferts and hebicides??? It's the homeowner 90% of the time that causes all the problems with excess use or improper use of products. Just a thought.... John


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SOUTH SALT LAKE — The Granite Education Foundation is seeking nominees for the Excel Awards.
The foundation recognizes and honors educators and administrators with a track record of improving student achievement, using innovative instructional strategies and making a difference in the lives of students, according to a news release.
Ten individuals are highlighted as winners annually. Recipients receive a cash award from the foundation.
Nominations must be received by Nov. 22. Excel nomination forms can be filled out at www.granitekids.org.


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Atterbury-Muscatatuck, in conjunction with Jefferson Air Range, provides outstanding opportunities to the developmental (pre-operational) testing community.
In accordance with studies out of DoD's Test Resource Management Center, the following standards are observed:
As listed in Urban Terrain Building Types publication, ARL-TR-4395, the facilities have a set of representative geotypical building types comprised of a comprehensive data set of types and specifications.
In the evolution and development of the site, specific requirements and data sets for each building type are maintained as follows:
UTZ attributes that define the character of the facilities at the site are:
The site has a robust telecommunication architecture consisting of the older copper and multimode fiber as well as a significant amount of new single mode fiber covering the 400+ structures on the Muscatatuck site.
Telephone Systems
The site currently has the following operational systems:
Data Networks
Key data networks are available for use at the site. The sites utilize Virtual Local Area Networks (VLAN) technology to deliver these services via the core network backbone. This includes commercial internet as well as Joint Training Enterprise Network (JTEN) 2.0. This allows peering into other networks such as SDREN, JMETC and Joint IO Range (JIOR) which is vital to our National Testing Network capability with our Crane NSWC partnership and the national Testing and Evaluation (T&E) capability.
Other ElectroMagnetic / other testing Capabilities
The Marine Corps Warfighting Lab is hosting the Intuitive Robotic Operator Control Challenge (IROC) at Muscatatuck Oct. 20-24, 2014.Robotics Challenge at Muscatatuck
The United States Special Operations Command Research, Development, and Acquisition Center (SORDAC) conducts Technical Experimentation (TE - formerly TNT) experimentation events at Atterbury-Muscatatuck on a rotational basis. The TE experimentation events provide opportunities for government, academia and industry technology developers to interact with operational personnel to determine how their technology development efforts and ideas may support or enhance the warfighing Special Operations Forces capabilities. The TNT was hosted at the Atterbury-Muscatatuck complex in 2012 and again in July 2014. Click here to learn more about the SORDAC TE.
Page last modified / updated: Monday, November 20, 2017 at 10:08 AM EST


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Plan your stay with us
Visitors consistently rank Cedarburg as one of Wisconsin's favorite small-town getaways. The city's beautifully preserved downtown offers a delightful array of specialty stores, restaurants, spas, museums, and our own historic Bed and Breakfast Inn. Add a full calendar of festivals, shows and special events, and it is no surprise that so many people find Cedarburg Wisconsin an irresistible getaway.
Discover Cedar Creek Settlement, a village of shops, galleries, and restaurants set in the century-and-a-half old restored woolen mill on the banks of beautiful Cedar Creek. You also won't want to miss a visit to the local Cedar Creek Winery, or the Silver Creek Micro-brewery.
The Cedarburg area offers biking on our Ozaukee Interurban Trail (32 miles of paved biking and walking trails), championship golf courses, hiking, and a museum dedicated to quilt enthusiasts. Holiday and seasonal celebrations make a visit to Cedarburg especially festive throughout the year.
Small enough to maintain a quiet pastoral setting, but large enough to offer amenities and services one would expect in a contemporary city, Cedarburg Wisconsin is a place to visit season after season. Metropolitan attractions of Milwaukee are only minutes away.


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The search for four men lost in rough waters during a shark-hunting competition in the Atlantic Ocean on Saturday was widened yesterday, Coast Guard officials said.
Given that the boat the men were in could have floated a great distance since the weekend, officials yesterday searched a 6,800-square-mile area off Long Island's South Shore, using two four-engine planes.
The men had not been seen after leaving from the Jones Inlet on Long Island's South Shore at 6:30 a.m. Saturday. An earlier search had been more extensive, involving several planes, helicopters and large and small boats.
''There may be a chance that they are above the water in some manner, floating, and if so, we want to give them every opportunity to be found,'' said Cmdr. Dennis M. Sens, chief of search and rescue for the Coast Guard Atlantic Area. However, he added, ''Most people succumb to hypothermia within 60-degree water.''
Petty Officer Scott Whitney, a Coast Guard spokesman, said, ''The Coast Guard will continue to search until the chance of survival has passed.''Continue reading the main story
The men, identified as Robert Hammond, 59, his son Robert Hammond Jr., 35, both of Oceanside, Robert Wright, 46, of Island Park, and Peter Quinn, 35, were in Mr. Hammond Sr.'s 25-foot Wellcraft pleasure boat, the Eleni II, officials said. They were participating in the Freeport Hudson Anglers Shark Tournament, an annual event that was preceded by a Friday evening barbecue and raffle.
The authorities said they believed the first sign of trouble came at 9:30 a.m., when Coast Guard towers in New Jersey picked up a distress signal. The towers are designed to detect signals within 20 miles of the New Jersey coastline, Commander Sens said. Similar towers on Long Island did not pick up the call.
The Coast Guard sent a helicopter and boat to search for boaters in distress. The search was called off after three hours, officials said, after nothing was found.
''The Coast Guard gets hundreds and hundreds of false Mayday calls every year,'' Commander Sens said. ''We take every one of them very seriously, as we did this one.''
At 7 p.m. Saturday, a friend of the Hammonds' contacted the authorities to say that the men had not returned to shore. At that point, an intensive search began.
Yesterday, some boaters suggested that the group overseeing the event, the Freeport Hudson Anglers, should have canceled it because of waters so turbulent that a number of boats voluntarily turned around after the competition began.
''We went out there and sure enough, there were seven- to nine-foot swells, and every once in a while we'd get a rogue wave,'' said Dennis O'Leary, who had entered the competition with three friends but turned their 30-foot boat around two hours into the competition because of the conditions.
Several leaders of the organizing group did not respond to e-mail or telephone messages seeking comment.Continue reading the main story


text:
My Nonprofit Reviews
Review for Cancer Research Institute, Inc., New York, NY, USA
I was a recipient of 3 year postdoctoral fellowship from CRI. I think CRI is playing a crucial role in supporting young scientists to develop their career. It role is very important for our future of science, particularly when public funding is affected by economic crisis and politics.
More Feedback
I've personally experienced the results of this organization in...
It was very important to develop my career as a scientist.
If I had to make changes to this organization, I would...
Since the duration of postdoctoral training is getting longer, if transitional fellowship from postdoc to faculty can be provided by CRI, that would be great.


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Once-vocal Cuomo now quiet on casino expansion as referendum nears
ALBANY – In two straight State of the State addresses, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo made expansion of casino gambling one of his major themes.
Last spring, in pushing lawmakers to go along with his plan to permit up to seven new casinos, Cuomo spoke regularly and forcefully about the economic-development potential that new casinos would have on upstate.
But now, in the thick of the campaign season when casino expansion goes to a statewide referendum Nov. 5, Cuomo has been curiously silent on one of his top policy agenda items in the last two years.
Instead of personally claiming the benefits of more casinos, Cuomo has dispatched surrogates to do the work. Lt. Gov. Robert J. Duffy has been on a tour of upstate newspaper editorial boards carrying with him estimates of the millions of dollars that could be coming to schools and local governments if more casinos were built in New York.
Private-sector groups such as business organizations and unions are lobbying and spending, trying to persuade voters to approve the referendum.
But where is Cuomo when it comes to pushing an idea that was his?
With less than a month before Election Day, Cuomo has chosen to work behind the scenes, using advisers to help these surrogates shape messages and plan for a possible television advertising blitz in weeks right before Nov. 5.
'Appearance of hands-off'
While the record is well-established that Cuomo wants more gambling in New York State, the head of an anti-gambling group says it's no accident the governor has been absent from publicly promoting the casino plan at a key moment.
"I think he wants to have an appearance of hands-off," said Stephen Q. Shafer, chairman of the Buffalo-based Coalition Against Gambling in New York.
Shafer believes that Cuomo was stung by reports that his administration was involved in efforts to rewrite the language of how the casino question appears on the November referendum ballot language, making the proposal sound more rosy than neutral.
"It's possible the fracas about the rosy language has made him want to stand back a little bit," Shafer said.
The administration says casino developments in other parts of the state would end up driving $93 million annually to schools and localities in Western New York and the Finger Lakes regions; $22 million would go to Erie County.
Critics say the numbers are bloated and don't take into account the social ills that new gambling will cost in treatment, criminal justice and other systems.
There are numerous theories about Cuomo's strategy. One is that casino expansion is ahead slightly in public and private polls and that it would be better for the governor to run a stealth campaign so as not to stir up opposition.
The opposition groups, including church organizations, are not spending any major amounts of money, while casino, business and labor interests have recently talked of raising $5 million and running a statewide get-out-the-vote effort using top union political operatives and their phone, mail and other campaign tools.
Another theory is that Cuomo is merely timing his personal effort to occur closer to the referendum and in areas of the state where he has high popularity.
Anti-casino groups acknowledged that Cuomo's silence during the campaign season so far has likely reduced the number of news stories that would have then naturally driven reporters to the opponents to balance the governors' position.
Casino advocates who also hope to become developers of future casinos say they are not worried that Cuomo has not personally taken a public role lately and that his administration is directing the efforts of surrogates.
"He seems, to me, as engaged as a governor would normally be about a constitutional ballot issue. He's been very positive and supportive throughout," said James D. Featherstonhaugh, an Albany lobbyist and part owner of a Saratoga Springs racetrack likely to be in the mix for a Las Vegas-style casino if the referendum is approved.
Other advocates say that Cuomo will be involved soon and that it makes sense for him to roll out surrogates before he hits the trail.
"Yes, if the governor was upfront, it would help," said Assemblyman J. Gary Pretlow, a Westchester County Democrat who is chairman of the Assembly's Racing and Wagering Committee.
Pretlow offered another possible explanation: "I don't think the polls are showing overwhelming support, and I don't think he wants to be on the side of something that might not pass, not that I think it won't pass," Pretlow said.
A few weeks ago, State Sen. John J. Bonacic, a Catskills-area Republican who heads the Senate's Racing, Gaming and Wagering Committee, openly wondered why Cuomo wasn't doing more to promote the casino issue. Wednesday, in a statement, he said, Cuomo "is doing what needs to be done."
"I don't think these pro-gaming coalitions are appearing magically. These folks are Cuomo supporters," he said.
The first public round of surrogates-for-casinos event was held Wednesday in Buffalo – a region barred from getting any of the new casinos under the governor's plan because of the deal Cuomo struck with the Seneca Nation of Indians earlier this year to preserve its gambling exclusivity in the area.
But Buffalo Mayor Byron W. Brown, Western New York Building Trades Council President Paul Brown and others used the numbers floated by the governor's Budget Office to try to convince Western New Yorkers to vote for the referendum.
Facing challenge in court
There also are other considerations for Cuomo, insiders say.
One is that his job-approval rating with voters is down to their lowest levels since taking office, especially with voters upstate. So he might have to choose carefully where to lobby for the casino.
Also, a governor is not legally supposed to spend state money promoting a ballot issue, critics note.
That will be one of the issues a state judge will hear today in Albany in a case brought by a Brooklyn lawyer seeking to have the referendum pulled from the ballot, in part because state officials used state time to create the non-neutral-sounding ballot question.
State officials are allowed by law to "educate" voters about a ballot measure, as Cuomo's Budget Office did recently when it released revenue estimates from casino development. But state officials or agencies are restricted in using state money to "promote" a ballot initiative.
There would, however, be nothing to stop Cuomo from using some of the $28 million in his own campaign account to promote passage of the referendum.
Cuomo told reporters that he would work to pass the referendum.
"He can't do it using state resources," said Eric J. Snyder, the Brooklyn lawyer seeking to halt the ballot initiative.
"Everyone has a right to state their position on a particular issue," Snyder said, "but when it crosses the line into spending state money to become an advocate for an issue, that's when, I think, the constitutional prohibition of spending public funds on a constitutional amendment comes into play."
email: firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
Online Shop
Welcome to our online shop. Here you'll find a hand-picked selection of great books and distinctive gifts which we've themed to help you find just what you're looking for. Take a look and be inspired!
Great offers – as simple as that!
There are no products in this group.
Pages: 1


text:
Great idea, I will look into adding this.
i dont know how hard this would be but psp411 has an area in your profile that lists the psp games you own. maybe do the same for wii games.
Great idea, I will look into adding this.
That would be kind of fun. I guess it would work sort of like the Nintendo PIN number that comes with each game and then you register the said game on Nintendo.com
Would be cool to implement that feature with a bar code input program like Ebay uses for quick entry of your gaming titles.


text:
Trombone music (Jazz)
From Library of Congress Subject Headings
Trombone music (Jazz)
- http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh92004504
- info:lc/authorities/sh92004504
- http://id.loc.gov/authorities/sh92004504#concept
Instance Of
Scheme Membership(s)
Collection Membership(s)
Broader Terms
Exact Matching Concepts from Other Schemes
Closely Matching Concepts from Other Schemes
- found: Work cat.: Just for a thrill [SR] 199-.
Change Notes
- 1992-08-14: new
- 2005-07-11: revised
Alternate Formats
Suggest terminology
The LC Linked Data Service welcomes any suggestions you might have about terminology used for a given heading or concept.
Would you like to suggest a change to this heading?
Please provide your name, email, and your suggestion so that we can begin assessing any terminology changes.
Fields denoted with an asterisk (*) are required.


text:
'The Voice' is a Stupid Idea, According to Queen Rocker Brian May
The television show 'The Voice' is not one of Brian May's favorite shows.
For those of you who do not know, Brian May is the guitarist with the band Queen. He has opened up how he feels about 'The Voice,' the show that is on the NBC television network. In a recent blog about the show, Brian, in his words, say's he hopes "this vile program dies a natural death very soon." He goes on to say that "When we (Queen) sing or play for real, we are not screaming at the top of our lungs trying to persuade someone to notice us."
So I guess he will not be watching the show any time soon. My wife loves the show, but I don't think she screams when she sings. At least I will not tell her that.


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|Half Baths
|2,500 sq. ft.
|Property type
|Minimum Stay
Enhance your next retreat to New York's picturesque Finger Lakes region by reserving a stay at this stunning Geneva vacation rental home, ideally situated in a quiet, very upscale neighborhood just 1 mile away from Seneca Lake! This stately house has 4 bedrooms, 1.5 bathrooms, and enough sleeping arrangements for 7 guests. Close to local wineries, country clubs, Hobart and William Smith College, skiing, outdoor recreational activities, and other notable attractions!
Featuring 4 bedrooms, 1.5 bathrooms, and enough sleeping arrangements for 7 guests throughout 2,500 square feet of beautifully appointed living space, this stately residence is a fantastic accommodation choice for families and friends seeking a rejuvenating New York getaway with an elegant touch. You'll find the home's impressive interior adorned with plenty of comfortable furnishings, tasteful decor, 9-foot ceilings and lots of windows that flood the space with an abundance of glorious natural light. Gather with your companions in the inviting sitting room area, boasting brand new carpet and a cozy wood burning fireplace. Stay entertained during your downtime by unwinding on the charming sun porch, where you can kick back and watch your favorite show on the cable TV. Everything you want in your ultimate home-away-from-home is here, from air conditioning and complimentary wireless internet access to a detached garage and in-unit washer and dryer, complete with a laundry shoot down to the laundry room.
Look forward to preparing delectable homemade meals in the unit's wonderful brand new kitchen, fully equipped with laminate countertops, oak cabinets, spices and basic condiments, brand new floors, a brand new table, and all the other essential cooking appliances and tools. Convene with your loved ones for dinner in the grand formal dining room, offering seating for 12 and a lovely china cabinet. Additional delightful features throughout the house include a classic grandfather clock in the hallway, new bathroom downstairs, full bath upstairs with shower and tub, and a terrific office desk space with fax machine, scanner, copier and computer available for guest use, should you need to get a little work done during your stay.
Outside, you'll find a pleasant small porch leading out to the large private backyard, containing a gas barbeque grill, table, and chairs in the lawn. The property sits on a massive 15,000-square foot lot on one of the most exclusive streets in the city of Geneva, creating a wonderfully serene, high-end atmosphere for your vacation. At the end of an eventful day, you'll be happy to retire to any of the home's spacious bedrooms - the master bedroom boasts 300 square feet of living space and a plush king-sized Sterns and Foster bed, the second and third bedrooms are 15-by-12-feet in size and have nice queen-sized beds, while the 80-square foot fourth bedroom offers a comfortable twin-sized bed, all of which will ensure a restful night's slumber for the duration of your visit.
From this magnificent property, you won't have to venture far to access the area's most notable attractions! The pristine Seneca Lake, one of the Finger Lakes, is conveniently just 1 mile from the house, where you can partake in exciting water-based activities such as boating, water skiing, jet skiing and boat tours. Hobart and William Smith College is nearby, making this property an ideal home base for parents of students or those visiting the school.
Indulge in a leisurely afternoon of wine tasting by touring the local winery just 5 miles away from the home, or spend a day exploring the 20 or so exceptional wineries all situated along the lake. The golfers in your group will be pleased to find 2 country clubs fairly close to the property. If you're here during the winter months, this home is conveniently only 15 minutes away from the nearest ski hill. No matter what season you plan to visit and regardless of how you choose to pass the time, this exquisite Geneva vacation rental house will surely become a place you want to return year after year!
Evolve Vacation Rental Network is on a mission to make vacation rental easy for guests. Every property in our network has been vetted and verified so you can book with confidence. If you have questions prior to your trip, we are happy to assist you 7 days a week. During your stay, your designated Guest Contact will be available 24/7 to help with any issues that may arise.
Key Residence Features:
- Amenities include a brand new full kitchen, wireless internet access, air conditioning, well equipped laundry room with laundry shoot, grandfather clock, cable TV, small private porch, expansive private backyard, detached garage, and much more
- Outstanding location in a quiet, upscale neighborhood just 1 mile away from the pristine waters of Seneca Lake!
- Close proximity to local wineries, country clubs, Hobart and William Smith College, skiing, outdoor recreational activities, and other notable attractions
Bedroom Configuration:
- Master Bedroom: King-sized Bed
- Bedroom 2: Queen-sized Bed
- Bedroom 3: Queen-sized Bed
- Bedroom 4: Twin-sized Bed
- No smoking
- No pets allowed
- Must be at least 25 years old to book
- Additional fees and taxes may apply
This HomeAway partner has demonstrated and is committed to fast response times, the best rates, and a great traveler experience.
Stayed in this 4 bedroom home in a quiet neighborhood in Geneva and thoroughly enjoyed it. Lots of room in the TV from, living room with fire place, and 3 big and 1 small bedroom. The master bedroom is huge. There are 1.5 bathrooms so you have to share but the house is very warm and roomy, and it is well stocked with spices, utensils, dishes, etc if you plan to cook.
I stayed at Sheila and Steve's house while in Geneva to run the Seneca 7 Relay with my teammates. We loved the house and it was perfect since there were 7 of us. The home is clean and comfortable. It is in a great neighborhood within walking distance (about a mile) of the lake in Geneva. We had a great time and would highly recommend it!
My husband, some friends, and I stayed at Sheila's for a long weekend. Our trip could not have been more perfect. The house is a beautiful older home, clean and comfortable, and well-stocked with any linens, cookware, and tableware we needed.
The location, though not ON the lake, was in a gorgeous town very close to everything- grocery store, liquor store, department stores, etc., and only a very sorry drive to Lake Seneca's gorgeous views and wineries.
Sheila and Mike were very communicative, offering assistance and recommendations for the area. They were very accessible by email and phone, and very willing to help with anything.
This was a great place to stay with the nicest owners who showered us with hospitality. They were so genuine in their desire for us to have an enjoyable stay. House is lovely with lots of room!!


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GIGABYTE Launches New HD Series - Brings HDMI and DVI Outputs to Value Motherboards
Subject: Motherboards | November 29, 2012 - 01:27 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: gigabyte, amd, Intel, Z77, z75, h61, a85, a75, A55
City of Industry, California, October 28, 2012 – GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd., a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, today launched its latest HD series motherboards, bringing unprecedented dual digital display support, including HDMI and DVI, to a range of value segment motherboard models.
The new GIGABYTE HD motherboard series defies the current ethos that means true digital display outputs are reserved for upper mainstream models, adding both HDMI and DVI ports to a range of motherboard models at attractive and affordable price points. All DIY enthusiasts can now enjoy true HD display capability using the most commonly integrated digital output technologies on today's HD displays and TVs.
"The new GIGABYTE HD motherboard series means our customers can get much more bang-per-buck from their value segment motherboards," commented Henry Kao, Vice President of GIGABYTE Motherboard Business Unit. "Adding dual digital display ports to this segment really sets GIGABYTE apart from the competition, raising the bar for value segment motherboard design."
HD_WhiteMaking Digital Display Support a Standard Feature
Digital output technologies like HDMI are becoming the de-facto standard on most HDTVs and PC monitors, with the advantage of carrying both HD audio* and video signals over a single cable. As well as offering higher screen resolutions than analog display outputs, digital display outputs also offer support for the latest 3D media content as well as access to protected content via HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection).
Having access to dual digital displays is also a great way to increase productivity, offering much more on-screen real-estate than entry-level motherboards typically provide. GIGABYTE HD series motherboards are ideal for a range of business, office and education scenarios where adding an additional digital display or projector is paramount.
GIGABYTE Ultra Durable 4 Classic
GIGABYTE HD series motherboards integrate GIGABYTE Ultra Durable™ 4 Classic technology with built-in features that prevent common malfunction threats. Protection against humidity, electrostatic damage, power failure and high-temperatures is achieved using a range of technologies and features including glass fabric PCB technology, Lower RDS(on) MOSFETs, anti-surge ICs, solid capacitors and GIGABYTE Dual BIOS™.
Intel models
AMD models
You learn more about GIGABYTE Ultra Durable 4 Classic technology here: http://www.gigabyte.us/microsite/297/images/overview.html
BioStar's inexpensive Hi-Fi A85W is one BIOS update away from greatness
Subject: Motherboards | November 26, 2012 - 03:16 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: amd, a85, socket fm2, biostar, Hi-Fi A85W
Biostar's Hi-Fi A85W is a low cost way to start building a new AMD system, currently after MIR it is $85 on NewEgg and comes with 8GB of free G.SKILL RAM. You get a board that supports Hybrid CrossFire and sports a pait of PCIe 2.0 x16 slots (only one is full speed), two PCIe 2.0 x1 slots and a pair of legacy PCI slots. It has eight SATA 6.0 Gb/s, eight USB 2.0 ports and four USB 3.0 ports to give you a lot of flexibility for drives and peripherals as well as DVI, HDMI and VGA outputs and a feature dubbed "PURO Hi-Fi"; a sheild for the better than average onboard audio codec. TechPowerUp were impressed with the wide variety of overclocking options in the UEFI BIOS, until they tried overclocking and found a variety of issues with TurboCore and other overclocking settings. Hopefully Biostar wil release a BIOS update to fix what is otherwise a solid choice of FM2 motherboard.
"Biostar is at it again with a mid-range entry level product, the Biostar Hi-Fi A85W. Ready to rock out with AMD's new Piledriver FM2 APUs, the Biostar Hi-Fi A85W comes with an audio-oriented theme that's usually reserved for high-end products. Did it play sweet music, or is it a bit out of tune?"
Here are some more Motherboard articles from around the web:
- ECS A85F2-A Golden FM2 Motherboard Review @ TechwareLabs
- Asus F2A55-M LK @ eTeknix
- MSI FM2-A85XA-G65 Review @ HCW
- Gigabyte GA-F2A75M-D3H Budget FM2 @ SPCR
- BIOS Option Of The Week - DQS Training Control @ X-bit Labs
- ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z @ Bjorn3D
- ASRock Z77 Extreme11 Motherboard @ Hardware Secrets
ASUS offers high end options for your Socket FM2 processor
Subject: Motherboards | November 9, 2012 - 03:21 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: asus, a85, F2A85-V Pro, trinity
The ASUS F2A85V Pro is a high end AMD board with a quite reasonable price for the features present on the board. The two PCIe-16x slots can handle Crossfire with both cards running at 8x and the spacing between the slots means that even a three slot GPU will fit with no problems. There are 7 SATA 6 Gbps ports which support a variety of RAID settings, as well as four USB 3.0 ports and a single eSATA port but it is the graphics outputs which really shine, HDMI, DisplayPort, VGA and DVI outputs are all available for your Trinity processor. Take a look at those features, the new Network iControl software to manage your connections and the UEFI BIOS at Bjorn3D.
"ASUS has released their the F2A85V-Pro for the socket FM2. The board retails at around $140, but is packed with features."
Here are some more Motherboard articles from around the web:
- Sapphire Pure Platinum A85XT @ Hardware.info
- Three AMD A85X Socket FM2 motherboards @ Hardware.info
- Sapphire Pure Black 990FX Review @ OCC
- apphire Pure Platinum A85XT (A85X) Motherboard Review @ eTeknix
- ASRock FM2A85X Extreme6 (A85X) Motherboard Review @ eTeknix.
- BIOS Option Of The Week - FPU OPCODE Compatible Mode @ TechaRP
- Gigabyte Z77X-UP7 @ Kitguru
- ASRock Z77 Extreme 4 Review @ OCC
- EVGA Z75 SLI Motherboard Review @ HCW
- GIGABTYE Z77X-UP7 Motherboard @ Bjorn3D
- ASUS Maximus V Extreme @ Bjorn3D
- ASRock Z77 OC Formula Review @ OCC
- MSI Z77 MPOWER LGA1155 Motherboard @ Benchmark Reviews
- MSI Z77 MPOWER @ Tweaktown
- ASRock Z77 Extreme4-M Motherboard @ Hardware Secrets
- Asus P8Z77-V Premium Review: Flagship Mainboard from Asus @ X-bit Labs
- Biostar Hi-Fi Z77X @ Hardware.info
- Gigabyte H77N-WiFi Review – First Look at Ivy Bridge with mITX @ AnandTech
- GIGABYTE Z77X-UP7 @ [H]ard|OCP
- GIGABYTE Z77X-UP7 @ Tweaktown
Podcast #219 - NVIDIA GTX 660 and 650, Luicid Dynamix technology, A85 Motherboards and more!
Subject: General Tech | September 20, 2012 - 02:57 PM | Ken Addison
Tagged: podcast, gtx 660, gtx 650, 660ti, lucid, dynamix, a85, gigabyte, fm2, trinity
PC Perspective Podcast #219 - 09/20/2012
Join us this week as we talk about the NVIDIA GTX 660 and 650, Luicid Dynamix technology, A85 Motherboards and more!
You can subscribe to us through iTunes and you can still access it directly through the RSS page HERE.
The URL for the podcast is: http://pcper.com/podcast - Share with your friends!
- iTunes - Subscribe to the podcast directly through the iTunes Store
- RSS - Subscribe through your regular RSS reader
- MP3 - Direct download link to the MP3 file
Hosts: Ryan Shrout, Josh Walrath, Jeremy Hellstrom, and Allyn Malvantano
This Podcast is brought to you by MSI!
Program length: 1:13:13
Podcast topics of discussion:
Week in Reviews:
- 0:03:00 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 2GB
- 0:16:30 Corsair HX850 Power Supply
- 0:17:23 Lenovo IdeaPad U410
- 0:18:18 This Podcast is brought to you by MSI!
News items of interest:
- 0:19:10 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650
- 0:22:20 Trinity APUs to be binned as CPU only?
- 0:24:50 Lucid Dynamix adjusts quality in real-time
- 0:32:30 ASUS Skills Challenge contest
- 0:34:40 Intel NUC PCs coming soon
- 0:37:15 You missed our Borderlands 2 event Tuesday!
- 0:38:10 OCZ CEO heads out the door
- 0:44:10 Gigabyte A85 motherboard spotted
- 0:47:30 AMD Sea Island 8800 series leaks
- 0:51:35 ASUS Tablet pricing leaks
- 0:54:15 Helium in upcoming hard drives
- 0:58:05 Intel WiDi 3.5 with Miracast Launched
1:02:00 Hardware / Software Pick of the Week
- Ryan: Apple Ear Pods
- Jeremy: Scotch tape, what can't it do?
- Josh: Still so cheap. Watch for Specials!
- Allyn: RushMyPassport.com
- 1:02:00 Hardware / Software Pick of the Week
- 1-888-38-PCPER or firstname.lastname@example.com
- http://pcper.com/podcast
- http://twitter.com/ryanshrout and http://twitter.com/pcper
- Closing/outro
Podcast #205 - News from Computex 2012! - Ultrabooks, Trinity Motherboards, New products from Corsair, and much more!
Subject: General Tech | June 7, 2012 - 03:21 PM | Ken Addison
Tagged: trinity, ROG, PSU, podcast, nvidia, LAMD, Intel, corsair, computex, asus, amd, a85, 680M
PC Perspective Podcast #205 - 06/07/2012
Join us this week as we talk about all of the news from Computex 2012! - Ultrabooks, Trinity Motherboards, New products from Corsair, and much more!
You can subscribe to us through iTunes and you can still
The URL for the podcast is: http://pcper.com/podcast - Share with your friends!
- iTunes - Subscribe to the podcast directly through the iTunes Store
- RSS - Subscribe through your regular
- MP3 - Direct download link to the MP3 file
Hosts: Ryan Shrout, Jeremy Hellstrom, Josh Walrath, and Allyn Malvantano
Program Schedule:
- 0:00:25 Introduction
- 1-888-38-PCPER or firstname.lastname@example.com
- http://pcper.com/podcast
- http://twitter.com/ryanshrout and http://twitter.com/pcper
- 0:03:15 MSI Radeon HD 7950 Review
- 0:10:00 ASUS Sabertooth X79 Review
- 0:11:10 DV Nation RAMRod system review
- 0:18:25 Samsung Series 5 Chromebook review
- 0:19:10 Intel Ultrabook Ivy Bridge reference review
- 0:21:47 AMD loses monthly Catalyst updates
- 0:25:20 Ultrabooks
- 0:36:00 MAINGEAR 11-in gaming machine
- 0:37:00 Sandisk PCIe SSD competitor
- 0:42:00 Trinity / A85 Motherboards
- 0:45:30 ASUS says THEY have the overclocking record
- 0:46:30 Macbook coming with ultra high-res display?
- 0:51:00 Gigabyte X79S motherboard
- 0:53:00 LSI shows SF-2000 driving smaller flash
- 0:59:30 Corsair has...
- 1:05:30 NVIDIA wants discrete GPUs in Ultrabooks
- 1:07:30 NVIDIA shows GeForce GTX 680M GPU
- 1:11:00 ASUS MARS III dual GTX 680 card
- 1:13:00 3DMark for Windows 8 Screenshots
- 1:15:00 AMD releases Brazos 2.0
- 1:16:45 New ASUS ROG Gear
- 1:21:00 ASUS shows off beastly concept motherboards
- 1:24:10 Hardware / Software Pick of the Week
- 1-888-38-PCPER or email@example.com
- http://pcper.com/podcast
- http://twitter.com/ryanshrout and http://twitter.com/pcper
- Closing
PC Perspective
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Tom Clark Gnome "Monty" (Race Car Driver Series)
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- Sold Date:
- Source: eBay
=WELCOME=The following authentic Tom Clark gnome/sculpture from Cairn Studios located in Davidson, NC (Made in the USA) is up for auction: Name: Monty (Race Car Driver Series) Edition Number: 29 Date on Gnome: 1988 Approx. Size: 4 1/4" High X 5 1/2" Base Condition: Mint Hand Signed: Yes, short Story Card: Yes COA: No Release Date: 7/00/89 Retire Date: 3/31/95 Original Box: Yes with label Shipping & Handling: $8.00 (Priority mail) ****Sorry - No combined shipping**** Monty is named for Monte Carlo, home of the Monaco Grand Prix. You can tell from Monty's hat that he's going fast, and the look on his face says that he thinks he's going to win. It's a red car, green lifesaver steering wheel with wiper blades. Dr. Tom Clark is the most well known sculptor in America today, and is best known for his warm and whimsical gnomes, woodspirits and other limited edition collectible sculptures. I'm amazed to think someone can sculpt a face so tiny and seem so real! His woodspirits (gnomes) are clay sculptures, made from crushed pecan shells. He is a former professor of religious art. Each sculpture is a limited edition collectible. The story card tells a little bit about the statue or what prompted Tom Clark to create ... read more


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Live football streaming: Watch Real Betis v Barcelona in La Liga
Click here to watch Real Betis v Barcelona on our live football online video streaming service via Bet365.
High flying Real Betis host undefeated Barcelona on Sunday night (20 00 GMT)in what should be a close encounter.
Bet365 are showing Real Betis v Barcelona live, legal and straight onto your computer via 101 Great Goals. Simply click on this link or the Live Streaming tab above and follow the simple step-by-step instructions to watch.
Barcelona currently hold a 6 point gap over Atletico Madrid and an 11 point lead over Real Madrid. They'll be hoping to keep them at arms length with a victory over 4th placed Real Betis.
Barca have only dropped two points all season but could be without star man Lionel Messi after picking up a knock in the midweek draw with Benfica. Messi is only one goal of Gerd Muller's record of 85 goals in a calendar year.
Real Betis have proved to be the surprise package so far, even defeating Real Madrid 1-0 just two weeks ago. Since then they've beaten Valladolid 3-0 in the cup and picked up 3 points away at Deportivo.
Andres Iniesta and Jordi Alba are available again for the Catalans. Alexis Sanchez and Dani Alves are both sidelined through injury.
Ruben Castro has scored 3 goals in his last two outings for Betis and it's no secret the Barca defence isn't as outstanding as it's offense. Joel Campbell and Benat are other dangermen Gerard Pique & co. will need to watch carefully.
Barcelona have scored at least 3 goals in every league game since they only managed two against Real Madrid in a 2-2 draw. In those 7 games they've only managed two clean sheets… so expect goals. And Lots of 'em.
Watch Real Betis v Barcelona, legal and online via Bet365 here.
Check out the full listing of all the weekend's live online & legal games here.


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Financials - Killing Your Business
Today's CFOs are strapped with old systems that are inflexible and holding back their business. It's no surprise that innovative CFOs are finding freedom with cloud-based financial management applications. See the infographic to learn how CFOs are transforming their organizations in the cloud.
Provided by: Workday Topic: Project Management Date Added: Mar 2014 Format: Other Download


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Scorpion HD Skid Plate KTM 450/500 2012KTM-1850
Scorpion HD Skid Plate KTM 450/500 2012KTM-1850
Product Details
Scorpion Heavy Duty Skid Plate KTM 450/500 XC-W/EXC 2012
The all-new Scorpion Heavy Duty Skid Plate, in our opinion, is the best skid plate available on the market today. With a 3/16� thick aluminium construction, Hand Tig welded wings with a Scorpion logo carved into each side for bling factor, aluminium mounting brackets and high-grade metric fasteners, you simply can�t go wrong. Also comes with 1/4" thk x 3/4"W foam tape to place between the frame and skid plate for a nice snug fit that will eliminate any possible vibrations. And to complete the ultimate package, a block of open cell foam is also supplied to place between the skid plate and the engine to reduce the build up of material between the skid plate and engine case. This is the perfect product for the hard core off road rider.
- Manufactured Out Of High Grade 3/16" Aluminium Makes The Scorpion Heavy Duty Skid Plate Arguably The Strongest Skid Plate Available
- Both Side And Bottom Protection Against Impact
- Snug Fit Spacers Make This Skid Plate Quick And Easy To Install
- Front Vented Mud Guard (Helps To Keep The Mud Out)
- Foam Tape To Put Between The Frame And Skid Plat For A Nice Snug Vibration Free Fit
- Open Cell Foam To Put Between The Skid Plate And Engine Case To Eliminate The Build Up Of Dirt And Mud
- Scorpion Engraved In Each Wing For Some Bling Factor.
- Proudly Made In Canada
- Replaces KTM OEM 78103990000


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Fitness Lifestyle
Living a Fitness Lifestyle is something I talk about in many of my articles. Living a Fitness Lifestyle is something that we should all strive to live. It does not happen overnight, but is a progression of small steps that leads to a healthier you. A small step toward living a fitness lifestyle is incorporating regular exercise into your life. Regular exercise can play a key role in living a fitness lifestyle by reducing the risk of medical problems, and aiding in any existing medical problems. Striving to live a fitness lifestyle is literally a matter of life and death. Exercise in your life can be used as a medical prevention.
Living a fitness lifestyle can help control and even treat many of the issues sedentary people can face. Living a fitness lifestyle means you should make exercise part of your daily activities. Your life depends on it!
Fitness Lifestyle: defined
Fitness lifestyle is simply the combination of the two words as follows:
Fitness: Good health or physical condition, especially as the result of exercise and proper nutrition.
Lifestyle: The set of habits and customs that is influenced by the life-long process of socialization; all of which have important implications for health. (medilexicon.com)
Fitness Lifestyle: The set of habits and customs that is influenced by the life-long process of good health or physical condition, especially as the result of exercise and proper nutrition; all of which have important implications for health.
Fitness Lifestyle and Fat Loss
Fat Loss Through Aerobic Exercise
There is an obesity epidemic in America where over 25% of our citizens lead a sedentary lifestyle. Some of these unconditioned people will have a higher rate of: allergies, anxiety, cholesterol problems, depression, and high blood pressure; and these mentioned are just tip of the iceberg. Today the average American is obese and fat. Striving to live a fitness lifestyle is a key method to losing fat and gaining control of your life. The way that you loss fat is through the aerobic pathway. The word aerobic means in the presences of oxygen, or occurring with the use of oxygen.
Most people think of aerobic training as cardiovascular training to the maximum and want nothing to do with it because it looks hard and exhausting. This is not the case at all. Aerobic training can be considered activities that are performed continuously for a minimum of 15 to 20 minutes at a level 70% to 90% or maximum heart rate. Plainly put, it is not the all-out effort that most people think of when they hear the word aerobic training.
Resistance Training
With a fitness lifestyle, fitness is achieved through aerobic training which will lead to larger muscles. Larger muscles are the key to fat loss. I'm not talking about the muscles that you see on body builders. You will not get that big unless you live at the gym and start taking "supplements". That is not living a fitness lifestyle. The reason I mention the body builder is because I hear time and again "I don't want to lift weights because I don't want to look like a body builder". Trust me, by living a fitness lifestyle where you incorporate resistance training (weights lifting) you are not going to look like the body builder.
However, resistance training with weights is the preferred method of choice and the best way to loss fat. Larger muscles burn more calories than little unconditioned muscles. Where do you think the calories and energy are going to come from to feed these larger conditioned muscles? They come from stored fat. So the secret is out. To start down the road to living a fitness lifestyle it is as easy as getting off your butt, doing aerobic exercises, growing bigger muscles, and you will loss fat.
Bigger Muscles
Let's take a side-by-side look between someone living a fitness lifestyle and and unconditioned person. A person that lives a fitness lifestyle that has larger muscles compared to an unconditioned person of the same weight, will burn more calories just sitting than the unconditioned person. Don't despair, there is hope for the unconditioned person. If the sedentary person can take the first step toward living a fitness lifestyle and take their unconditioned muscles and get them back to their normal size; they will be heading in the right direction toward a fitness lifestyle.
The fact of a fitness lifestyle is that the bigger your muscles are the more fat that you will burn 24 hours a day. Bigger muscles are simply the best method to keep fat away. This is because if all you do is restrict the amount of food you eat, your body will adapt to this new lesser level and your metabolism will slow down to match this lesser calorie level. Now you are burning fewer calories just to maintain everyday bodily life functions. So now your lesser food intake will have the same effect of storing fat as previously. It is a scientific fact, that 95% of the people who lose weight following a commercial or fad diet, will gain all the weight they lost (plus more) within one year. (source: FDA)
The reason they gained the weight back is that they did not incorporate exercise as part of a fitness lifestyle. What these people did was sacrifice lean body mass to lose weight. The real danger to sacrificing lean body mass to lose weight is that you can actually become fatter after these types of "diets" because the weight you will gain back will now be made up of more fat.
Sacrificing lean body mass to lose weight, during these "crash diets"; drives down the body's metabolic rate. What this means is that because your body has less lean body mass you simply can't burn as many calories.
The Road to hell is Paved with Good Intentions
Another fact is that 80% of people who start out with good intentions of losing weight will fail within 8 months (source: FDA). Why do they fail? Because of all of the above reasons. They may have started to see some results, but they don't see results that were lasting because they are not living a fitness lifestyle. At this point they gave up because their "diet" did not work.
Living a fitness lifestyle is the cure to problems of over eating, being overweight, being unconditioned and living under active lives. The goal of living a fitness lifestyle is to stay fit for life. It is not a fad, it is not a diet; it is a way of life. When you live a fitness lifestyle you will lose fat, gain muscle, and leave it off forever!
A Fitness Lifestyle Needs a Good Foundation
Living a fitness lifestyle does not happen overnight. A fitness lifestyle is a step-by-step process that starts slowly and gradually works towards results. To lead a successful fitness lifestyle you first need to lay the proper foundation. The goal of the fitness lifestyle foundation is to build more muscle mass and have less body fat. Think of living a fitness lifestyle as training for life, rather than just letting life happen.
The fitness lifestyle foundation can be built easily. Any form of human movement can be beneficial to better fitness and health. The fitness lifestyle foundation can be built on: power walking, weigh training, aerobic exercises, hiking, cycling, etc. Build it on activities that you enjoy, don't force it.
Living a fitness lifestyle will open up possibilities in your life that you may have never imagined. A fitness lifestyle will allow you to start to realize the potential of human movement and where it might lead you in the options that you make in your life. A fitness lifestyle can be the door to running your first 5k, hiking with your grand children, being able to play tennis again since you last played in high school.
My view of living a fitness lifestyle is that I can do ANYTHING that an unconditioned person can do, but that unconditioned person can't do all the things that I can do. However, if that unconditioned person realizes the potential of living a fitness lifestyle: then they have it within themselves to be able to do what I can do and possibly even more!
You Should be Afraid of the Consequences of not Living a Fitness Lifestyle
Embrace the challenge of a fitness lifestyle, because if you don't the consequences can lead to a life of health problems. Why do people brush their teeth? Because they are scared of the consequences of not brushing their teeth. Why do people go to church and pray to God? Because they are scared of the consequences of not going to church and praying to God. Why do people not sleep in all day every day? Because they are scared of the consequences of not sleeping in all day. People should be this scared of the consequences of not living a fitness lifestyle. The consequences of not living a fitness lifestyle are literally life and death.
Living a fitness lifestyle does not mean that you need to sacrifice and stop eating the foods that you love. However, living a fitness lifestyle means that you need to have some control and moderation in your life. You can eat the foods you love but not every day all the time.
Living a fitness lifestyle does not mean following a military regimen of activities that you do not like to do. A fitness lifestyle is just the opposite. Try a variety of different types of exercises and activities. Discover what you like. Your success of living a fitness lifestyle depends on you finding activities that you like to do because then you will be more likely to stick with them.
Start Living a Fitness Lifestyle Today!
A fitness lifestyle does not necessarily need to start at the gym. Contrary to what is commercialized and marketing to the masses, over 80% of people who adopt a fitness lifestyle will do so by sports or outdoor activity, not the gym (source ISSA). Living a fitness lifestyle does not require a membership card, it can be done anywhere. Living a fitness lifestyle will give you more options to do with your life. Living a fitness lifestyle offers you the opportunity to focus on the strengths that you already have and to build on them. Living a fitness lifestyle will make a better you!


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Filtrete Under-Sink Advanced Water Filtration System gives you cleaner, great tasting water at your convenience, fresh from your tap. Filtrete under-sink water filtration products are easy to install, with no mess, long lasting replacement filters that can be changed with just a twist. Use filtered water from home as an alternative to bottled water. You will need an adjustable wrench and a screw driver. Turn off the cold water supply and remove supply line to faucet using wrench. Install push-in fittings to faucet and cold water supply line. Install filter mounting bracket to area under sink. Install filter to mounting bracket. Cut tubing to length to fit between filter and supply line and from filter to faucet. Connect the tubing. Turn on water supply and enjoy cleaner, better tasting water.
- Removes parasitic cysts to provide healthier water, parasitic cysts may or may not be in your water
- Provides enhanced reduction of chlorine taste and odor, sand, sediment, rust, and soil
- Filters up to 2,000 Gal. / 1.5 GPM flow rate
- Installs in less than 30 minutes and offers 6-month filter life
- Maintains full water flow


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The Help
By Kathryn Stockett
When Open Letters asked me to read a book from the New York Times Bestseller List, they were admirably forthright about what I could expect. Managing Editor Steve Donoghue's exact words were, "I wouldn't get my hopes up, if I were you." And I already knew what he meant; after all, we tend to associate the Bestseller List with the least common denominator of book-reading – this is the stuff everybody reads, and the more exposure you have to just what everybody is like (in airports, at ballparks, in waiting rooms), the lower your hopes sink for the List, no matter how influential an industry standard it is.
But I wasn't ten pages into Kathryn Stockett's debut novel The Help before I'd forgotten all of that and was completely caught up in the marvelous narrative she lays out. The story is set in Jackson, Mississippi in 1962 – Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement are on the news every night, but in the deep South Tupperware suburbs of Stockett's scene, genuine racial equality is as far out of reach as the moon. One of her main characters, Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan, is Harper Lee's Scout grown up – she's gawky, intelligent, considerate, and increasingly seething with outrage at the racist hypocrisy of her social set in Jackson: nervous, oblivious homeowners who have nothing but disdain and condescension for the black women (the eponymous "help") who clean their houses and raise their children. Skeeter decides to write a book about this deplorable situation, and she uses a couple of those maids, wise Aibileen and temperamental Minny, as her Deep Throats.
Readers are no doubt supposed to identify closely with Skeeter's apparently doomed fight against the complacency of racial injustice (a struggle given extra irony by Barack Obama's election as President), but The Help belongs first, last, and completely to Aibileen.
When the story opens, she's working for the Leefolts – the imperious, distant father, the shrill, taut mother, and Mae Mobley, the Leefolts' little three-year-old girl, Aibileen's "Baby Girl," the seventeenth little one Aibileen has raised from baby to grown child. Aibileen's own child, Treelore, a promising intellectual trying to work his way to a better life, had died in an accident shortly before she took employment with the Leefolts, and from them she puts up with all the abuse the time and place can dish out, for the sake of Mae Mobley.
These two are the heart of The Help, and there are times when their conversations turn saccharine enough to strip the enamel off your teeth:
"One day a wise Martian come down to Earth to teach us people a thing or two," I say.
"Martian? How big?"
"Oh, he about six-two."
"What's his name?"
"Martian Luther King."
She take a deep breath and lean her head down on my shoulder. I feel her three-year-old heart racing against mine, flapping like butterflies on my white uniform.
"He was a real nice Martian, Mister King. Looked just like us, nose, mouth, hair up on his head, but sometime people looked at him funny and sometime, well, I guess sometime people was just downright mean."
I could get in a lot of trouble telling her these little stories, especially with Mister Leefolt. But Mae Mobley know these are "secret stories."
"Why Aibee? Why was they so mean to him?" she ask.
"Cause he was green."
But Stockett's shining belief in her own story carries even such scenes easily, and the few weaknesses she displays as an author (this would have been a much more provocative novel if Mrs. Leefolt weren't such a predictable pastiche of a brittle, overwhelmed housewife – Aibileen is far too strong a character to require such a weak foil) are more than countered by the deft control she exercises over how she progresses through her story. One particular trick she's thoroughly mastered is the shifting of mood – she can have you smiling over one of Aibileen's anecdotes only second before she has you grimacing over the same memory:
Now I had babies be confuse before. John Green Dudley, first word out a that boy's mouth was Mama and he was looking straight at me. But then pretty soon he was calling everybody including hisself Mama, and calling his daddy Mama too. Did that for a long time. Nobody worry about it. Course when he start playing dress-up in his sister's Jewel Taylor twirl skirts and wearing Chanel Number 5, we all get a little concern.
I looked after the Dudley family for too long, over six years. His daddy would take him to the garage and whip him with a rubber hose-pipe trying to beat the girl out of that boy until I couldn't stand it no more.
The trick filters even into her evocations of setting. Aibileen's thoughts always bring things to ground:
Even though it's the third week of October, the summer beats on with the rhythm of a clothes dryer. The grass in Miss Celia's yard is still a full-blown green. The orange dahlias are still smiling drunk up at the sun. And every night, the damn mosquitoes come out for their damn blood hunt, my sweat pads went up three cents a box, and my electric fan is broke dead on my kitchen floor.
The maids know that they're jeopardizing their jobs – and maybe even their lives – by helping "Skeeter" with her book (their names are changed, of course, but Jackson is still a small enough town); they're told it in no uncertain terms by those few white employers who get wind of what's going on. But these maids – especially Aibileen – are old enough to remember having nothing during the Depression, and they've read about Rosa Parks, and they've heard Dr. King's speeches on the television sets of the families they tend, and it's affected them. One of the best, most memorable parts of The Help is the way Stockett captures the sheer tension of changing times. When Mrs. Leefolt instructs Aibileen that from now on she can't use the house's guest-bathroom, for instance, the unspokens vibrate in the air:
I put the iron down real slow, feel that bitter seed grow in my chest, the one planted after Treelore died. My face goes hot, my tongue twitchy. I don't know what to say to her. All I know is, I ain't saying it. And I know she ain't saying what she want to say either and it's a strange thing happening here cause nobody saying nothing and we still managing to have us a conversation.
I finished The Help in one sitting and enjoyed it very, very much. It's wise, literate, and ultimately deeply moving, a careful, heartbreaking novel of race and family that digs a lot deeper than most novels on such subjects do. I won't say it's changed my mind about what The New York Times Bestseller List represents, but knowing this book made that list does, in fact, get my hopes up.
Rita Consalvos works for an architectural firm in Sao Paolo, Brazil. This is her second piece for Open Letters.
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One Comment »
I just recently finished The Help,and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Kathryn Stockett, in my opinion, has weaved a beautiful, complex story and I couldn't set it down. If you haven't read it yet, I highly advise you do. I absolutely loved it!
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[…] I wasn't ten pages into … "The Help" before I … was completely caught up in the marvelous narrative she lays out…. It's wise, literate, and ultimately deeply moving, a careful, heartbreaking novel of race and family that digs a lot deeper than most novels on such subjects do. Published in October, 2009 in Open Letters Monthly. Reviewed by Rita Consalvos | Full Review […]
Leave a comment!


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Jason Witten on going to Justin Timberlake concert and a special parking spot at The Ticket
Cowboys tight end Jason Witten joined KTCK-AM on Friday. Here are some highlights.
On and Sean Lee being out
Jason Witten: Sean is a tough player. That type of injury makes it tough for you when you play the position he plays. He's a big part of what we try to do on defense and a huge part of who we are, as a team. He's a great player. You hope that you can have him out there.
Did he go to the Justin Timberlake concert?
Jason Witten: No comment. That's a Tennessee boy. I'm a Tennessee kid, that's my guy.
On parking in Ticket boss Dan Bennett's parking spot
Jason Witten: It was last-minute. I was talking to the security guard there, to see if he could make some things happen, and he did. He didn't tell me whose spot it was. If I had know it was your boss, I wouldn't have done it.


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After the last round of the pizza crawl, no one posted their thoughts so I figured Id start a thread for people to name their favorites.
Overall, I like Pizzavolante the best. It was hard for me to overcome my preference for Spris but the fresh toppings and nice crust/sauce ratio just left a better impression on me. Casale was good as well. Actually, there were only a few places that I know Im definitely not going to and those were Sosta and Piola, mainly because Spris is right there and partially for the sad display of pies we were served at those locations during that night of the crawl. If Im south of 5th with a pizza craving, Im definitely stopping at Fratelli la Buffala. I wouldnt rule out Joeys again and I could see myself stopping in at Andiamo after tying one on at a bar in the neighborhood.
All in all, the crawl was a good time and it was fun enjoying pizza and beers and meeting up with other SoFL 'hounds.
So what was your favorite pie?


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Company: LEGO Group
Industry: Manufacturing
Grown-up engineering transforms a childhood favorite. An 8.5-foot LEGO dinosaur may be for kids, but creating one takes a lot more than a small pamphlet with numbered instructions.
LEGO used a combination of 3D modeling and its own proprietary software before constructing piece-by-piece virtual versions of the large-scale creations.
By constructing digital prototypes of its exhibits, LEGO can assess ideas for structural feasibility, create realistic construction schematics, and move easily into fabrication.
Designed at LEGO headquarters in Billund, Denmark, and fabricated at a LEGO plant in the Czech Republic, the Autodesk Gallery dinosaur is a replica of the model in the LEGOLAND theme park in Carlsbad, California.
Each year, LEGOLAND theme parks are visited by approximately 5.5 million people who come to admire and play in the world of LEGO.
With 62,500 individual pieces, our LEGO dinosaur is an exhibit that people literally can't miss.
Models like this dinosaur are exhibited at LEGOLAND theme parks, as well as retail locations and special events worldwide.


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Then wolves will live
in peace with lambs, and leopards
will lie down to rest with goats.
Isaiah 11:6
Can you imagine a world minus sin? Have you done anything recently because of sin?
At the very least, you've complained. You've worried. You've grumbled. You've hoarded when you should have shared. You've turned away when you should have helped....
Because of sin, you've snapped at the ones you love and argued with the ones you cherish. You have felt ashamed, guilty, bitter.
Sin has sired a thousand heartaches and broken a million promises. Your addiction can be traced back to sin. Your mistrust can be traced back to sin. Bigotry, robbery, adultery - all because of sin. But in heaven, all of this will end.
Can you imagine a world without sin? If so, you can imagine heaven.
When Christ Comes
-Max Lucado


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Consider this a sort of season preview post. I'm already on record picking the Titans to win fewer than their Vegas Over/Under line of 6.5 this year. If you put a gun to my head, I'd go with a record of 5-11. That's not really the sort of season preview this post will be, though. Rather, this is a sort of riff on some things I wrote that ended up in Football Outsiders Almanac 2011 that I don't think I've really addressed here.
Last October, I wrote about some of the problems the Titans were having in the run game. The point of that post was that the Titans were having problems running up the middle, but those problems weren't new from the Titans' more effective rushing attack in 2009. Rather, the problems the Titans had in 2010 came from being less effective running outside, particularly to the right side. Much changed for the Titans the second half of the season, but those problems running outside to the right continued, and the Titans were still ineffective running up the middle.
The most interesting question, which I addressed in part but not wholly in that post, is why that happened, and why the Titans couldn't fix the problem. The departure of Alge Crumpler, and Bo Scaife's difficulty blocking certainly played a role. There were a couple other causes that I didn't address in that post that also played a role.
As I wrote in the post, teams concentrated on setting the edge with their defensive personnel and not letting CJ get the corner. The normal response to teams overplaying the outside is to run between the tackles. This didn't work for a couple reasons. First, the interior offensive line did indeed struggle. Watching the Texans for FOA2011, I was struck by just how good they were, and how bad the Titans were, at interior offensive linemen getting to the second level. When the Titans ran up the middle, too often the opposing defensive tackles occupied Harris, Amano, and Scott, and the linebackers were unblocked and free to make the tackle.
Chris Johnson actually in some way exacerbated the Titans' problems, particularly running up the middle, last year. The Titans' scheme demanded decisiveness from a runner, while CJ frequently provided patience. Too often, the struggles of the offensive line and the scheme meant that the Titans got 0 yards instead of 2 or -3 yards instead of 0. Running between the tackles, it was crucial that CJ attack what holes there were immediately, before the linebackers had time to react. He didn't, and teams were able to continue playing their linebackers off the line of scrimmage.
Running up the middle wouldn't have been the only way to threaten those linebackers. Throwing the ball might have worked. It's funny, the way most people think of threatening defenses is with the deep pass forcing them to put an extra player in the box, and the Titans were actually good at that. Vince Young ranked fifth in the NFL in passing DVOA, FO's per-play measure of productivity, and the Titans ranked first in the league in the percentage and in success rate of pass thrown 21-30 yards downfield. That didn't really affect the play of the linebackers, though.
Rather, what was needed to manipulate the linebackers was quicker short and intermediate passes. The Titans' problem, though, was neither Vince Young nor Kerry Collins was effective throwing short and intermediate timing routes. The Titans used Young's and Collins' strengths as effectively as they could with the limited weapons they had, but that wasn't nearly effective enough. Thus, the Matt Hasselbeck signing. Hasselbeck's strengths are particularly throwing those short and intermediate routes.
There were no personnel changes on the offensive line, and we saw mixed signs from the preseason of how effective they'll be at getting to the second level. Now the CJ is actually around, I'll be very interested in watching if the Titans are able to do a better job of calling rushing plays where CJ's patience is more of an asset than a liability.
Note that to this point I have only discussed the offense. That's the problem the Titans faced offensively, and a key way I think they'll try to solve it this season. (There are a couple things that'll play a role I didn't talk about, like a likely focus on players who have more to offer after the catch. That's one of the reasons I think Cook will play a bigger role, and I think it helped the Hawk's cause as well.) The Titans also struggled defensively at least the second half of last year.
Now, it didn't really surprise me to see the Titans' defense struggle the second half of last year, as their strong defensive performance was dependent on what I thought was an unsustainably strong pass rush. With Tony Brown missing more time and being less effective when he was in the lineup and Jason Jones only being intermittently effective, the Titans' lacked a consistent pass rush between the tackles. The result was opposing passers had too much time to find holes in the Titans' defense.
Defensive coordinator Jerry Gray brings with him a new scheme, using larger defensive linemen both at tackle and on the end to set the edge, and more size in general, while the front seven plays less aggressively. If that sounds familiar at all, it should: what Gray wants to do defensively against the run is precisely what Titans' opponents did last year to stop the Titans' offense. Kind of ironic, if you ask me.
Here's the thing that gets me, though: the Titans defensively last year were actually pretty good against the run. Sure, opponents ran the ball a lot against the Titans (only 6 teams faced more rushing attempts) for a lot of yards (they ranked 20th-best in rushing yards allowed), but the Titans faced more plays last year than any other team in the NFL. The Titans actually ranked 4th in the NFL in rushing TDs allowed and 7th in yards per carry. By Football Outsiders numbers, they ranked 3rd-best in the NFL in rush defense DVOA. In my view, the Titans actually had a very good rushing defense last year.
But Tom, you say, don't you remember the Jaguars game? The Titans were abused defensively by a bigger, more physical team and had the ball pounded down their throats on the ground.
My rejoinder: That's true, insofar as it goes. The Titans had a very good rushing defensive, but it certainly wasn't perfect. They struggled in the Jaguars game, but it really wasn't that bad. The Jaguars ran the ball a lot, and with pretty good success, but it wasn't great success. Even when they did score, they faced third and fourth-down conversions that if they'd failed on, they wouldn't have scored TDs or even points on. With only relatively slight improvement in the quality of the Titans' rush defense that game, the Jaguars struggle. As it was, they only scored 17 points. The Titans' actual problem that game was they had an atrocious game on offense, their worst of the season after The Rusty Smith Experience, and only scored 6 points.
The Titans' defense real problem was year was the pass defense was horrible when the interior pass rush dropped off. Jerry Gray's biggest problem is how to fix that. We don't know quite how he plans to fix that.
One way he seems to be interested in doing that is by bringing extra players to put pressure on opposing quarterbacks. If you're a newspaper columnist, you can write about things like the Titans are playing more aggressively. If you're like me, though, you have a somewhat different perspective.
Broadly speaking, there are a two ways to have an effective pass defense in the NFL: you can rush 4 and play coverage or you can blitz and play roulette with your defense. The Titans for the past decade or so have been a disciple of the former strategy; Chuck Cecil made some moves toward blitzing more, but fundamentally the Titans were dependent on getting pressure with the front 4. Within that broad strategy, though, there are differences in thought in how teams play, and the Titans and their attacking one-gap style were at the aggressive end of the cover 4 strategy. Even in years like 2009 when the rush defense struggled, the Titans had a disproportionately good rank in the number of runs stopped for a loss. To speak of playing aggressively without recognizing the Titans did play aggressively with that attacking one-gap style does not make any sense to me.
When Gray was hired, one of the things I and I think other expected was some more 3-4 looks. The 3-4 really gives you the opportunity to run a hybrid of blitzing and rushing 4. The zone blitz many 3-4 teams run frequently is precisely this sort of concept-bringing pressure in unexpected ways that create pressure on the offensive line while remaining sound in coverage behind the pass rush.
The key to the real schematic 3-4 like the Steelers and the Ravens run (ignore the Wade Phillips 3-4 the Texans are running; as NFL Films guru Greg Cosell likes to note, that's schematically a 4-3 Under, not a 3-4) is what I like to think of as modularity: you don't know on any given play if either or both of Steelers OLBs James Harrison and Lamarr Woodley are rushing or dropping into coverage, as they're both more than capable of doing both. That demands different qualities in defenders than the Titans have valued in recent times. I thought Gray's acquisition would bring more players that might fit that role, and drafting linebacker Akeem Ayers seemed to promise more of that mold, but he remains sui generis, the only player who really fits that modularity.
If you doubt this lack of modularity, take a look at the Titans' roster defensively. The roster of 3-4 teams typically features a relatively small number of defensive lineman and a larger number of linebackers, since they're the players who move around and do different things. The Packers, for instance, have 6 DL and 10 LBs. The Jets are slightly different philosophically, relying more on DBs than LBs as modular parts: they have 6 DL and 8 LBs, plus 11 DBs. The Titans, by contrast, are carrying 10 defensive lineman.
You simply do not carry 10 defensive linemen if you are not planning on playing at least 4 of them on a very regular basis. There are a couple holdovers from last year's defensive front, but not that many, and those that remain tend to be the larger players. The 10 DL the Titans are carrying are not modular parts: they're guys who line up on the line with their hand in the dirt. This doesn't discount the occasional possibility of the zone blitz, but if the Titans are going to get pressure on opposing quarterbacks, that pressure is going to come from the front 4 or blitzers.
You can read about the defensive ends and the defensive tackles, but I'm skeptical that Gray's schematic pressure for less aggressive play for the defensive line, and bigger and less quick players at defensive tackle and defensve end will translate to better pass rushers. It seems very likelly to me that the Titans' defensive line will be, at best, as (in)effective at rushing the passer as it was the second half of last year. Any pressure the Titans' defense gets seems more likely to come from bringing more than 4 players. It's not clear to me, though, how frequently his blitzes will hit home, and why substantially the same group of players that couldn't cover when there were 7 of them somehow will be able to cover when there are fewer of them.
Overall, I have relatively mixed feelings about the offense, and expect it to be the same sort of average or a little below we've seen the last couple years. Defensively, though, the Titans appear to have surrendered their strengths in favor of fixing a problem that didn't exist. To me, that's the kind of recipe that's likely to produce a long and tiring season. I don't expect them to be one of the couple worst teams in the league, I still want them to go 16-0, of course, but judged on wins and losses a 7-9 season would be about the best I'd hope for.