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Window to Your World
This story appears in the January 2006 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe »
Online exclusive: To view the complete results of the "Entrepreneurial Challenges Survey," visit here.
Entrepreneurs may look as though they live in the same world as everyone else, but they apparently inhabit an alternate reality. How else can we explain their widespread concern about the national economy at a time when most economists are positive about the outlook for 2006 and beyond?
"The economy is not even close to being OK," says Pete Radatti, 49, president and founder of CyberSoft Operating Corp., a 12-person security software developer in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. "There are a lot of things that are not OK." Radatti cites worries about a real estate bubble, finding adequate workers, health insurance costs and more.
Joe Popper, 43-year-old owner of Computer Gallery in Palm Desert, California, agrees: "There's great uncertainty in the marketplace from our perspective. We're very concerned." Rising interest rates, energy prices and uncertainty about the lasting effects of last year's hurricanes figure in Popper's analysis.
And these entrepreneurs are just two individual voices in a crowd of small-business owners who tend to say the same thing. Forty-seven percent of entrepreneurs said an unstable U.S. economy was the most worrisome wild-card factor that could affect them in the coming year, according to Entrepreneur magazine and PricewaterhouseCoopers' first annual "Entrepreneurial Challenges Survey." The survey interviewed CEOs and founders of 340 fast-growth businesses, with an average of $31.5 million in annual sales and a 259 percent compound annual five-year growth rate.
While 62 percent of those surveyed were generally optimistic about the economy, that was down from 70 percent in the sample taken a year ago, notes Pete Collins, director of Barometer Surveys for PricewaterhouseCoopers. "There was definitely a falloff from a year ago," Collins says. "And in the second quarter of 2005, 72 percent were optimistic."
The difference, in a word, is Katrina. Half of the respondents were interviewed before the killer storm struck the Gulf Coast in early September, and half were surveyed afterward. Optimism about the economy was at 70 percent pre-Katrina, but fell to 52 percent afterward. Collins expects the pessimism to be short-lived. "Typically, we bounce back up to normal after events like this, usually in the next quarter or so," he says.
Indeed, entrepreneurs have other business worries. Rising health-care costs, shortages of qualified workers and weak market demand all ranked close behind economic instability as choices for the three scariest wild cards that could harm their businesses. While the economy was the most common item on their top-three-concerns lists, only 10 percent of respondents considered the economy the single most important challenge businesses will face in 2006. Topping that list were finding and retaining qualified employees, and generating enough demand to keep sales growing.
Fast-growth entrepreneurs' concerns warrant special attention, says Collins. "Because they are growing so fast and experiencing change more rapidly than other companies, we think they're a good business barometer for others to look at and follow," he says. "They're typically ahead of the curve."
With that in mind, Entrepreneur spoke to business owners surveyed by PricewaterhouseCoopers to get the view from the ground. We also quizzed experts about how business owners might be able to deal with the problems identified by the survey. The resulting outlook for 2006 shows entrepreneurs both what challenges they're likely to face, and how these can be overcome.
Widespread Worries
One of the most striking findings of the survey is that concern about the economy reached into all sectors of the small-business world. The "Entrepreneurial Challenges Survey" splits respondents into four industry segments--product, service, high-tech and nontech--and many questions drew widely varying responses. Increased global competition, for instance, was ranked a top-three wild-card issue by a total of 12 percent of entrepreneurs. Across segments, however, it was included by 16 percent of high-tech companies and just 8 percent of nontech firms. (For complete survey results, including industry breakdowns, click here.)
The unstable U.S. economy, however, was a consistent concern across the board. Forty-six percent of service and nontech businesses considered it a wild-card factor, while 50 percent of product businesses and 49 percent of high-tech companies did likewise. Rising health-care costs also showed little variation between sectors, being ranked as a wild card by 43 percent of all companies, while the range varied from 42 percent for service and high-tech companies to 44 percent for product businesses and 45 percent for nontech companies.
The shortage of qualified workers, which came in third among wild-card concerns, drew more varied attention. Just 34 percent of product companies felt it was one of the potentially most harmful developments, while 47 percent of service companies took that view. Overall, 41 percent of fast-growth businesses were concerned about finding qualified employees.
Popper says he has developed a sophisticated employee screening process during his 16 years in the computer services business, but that isn't helping him today. "We can't get a stream of candidates," he says. "We've tried it all-newspaper and several online sources. It's not that we don't get respondents; we don't get qualified respondents."
Most Critical Factors
When PricewaterhouseCoopers asked about the factors most critical to business success in 2006, one factor stood far above the rest. Seventy-three percent identified retention of key workers as the most vital area. Service companies were most concerned, with 77 percent choosing "retaining key workers" as the most critical factor; 69 percent of product companies responded likewise. The next big area of concern, developing new products and services, was named by just 38 percent of respondents.
Two other issues occupied a second tier of the factors identified as most critical to success. Expansion to new U.S. markets was named by 36 percent, and 35 percent chose "increased productivity." Increasing productivity was more important to product businesses (39 percent), while reaching new U.S. markets was chosen most often by service companies (40 percent). Technology and nontechnology companies had different views on productivity: 39 percent of nontech firms chose it as most critical, compared to 30 percent of technology firms.
Power Up?
Energy costs were not at the top of business owners' minds when responding to the survey. When PricewaterhouseCoopers asked entrepreneurs to name the single most important challenge businesses would face in 2006, just 8 percent cited rising costs, including energy costs. The biggest top-of-mind challenge was again finding and retaining qualified employees, selected by 18 percent; rising costs ranked fifth, behind increasing sales and demand (15 percent), growing the business (14 percent), and changing economic conditions (10 percent).
When asked to choose the three wild-card factors that could be most harmful in 2006, however, 24 percent of business owners selected rising fuel costs. And for some businesses, higher energy prices are a major issue. "I'm most concerned about energy," says Jon T. McClure, 45, founder of ISO Poly Films Inc., a 55-person maker of plastic sheeting in Gray Court, South Carolina. "It's the number-one component in my product. We've been affected tremendously, even before [Hurricane Katrina]."
Energy costs since the storm-driven disruptions have risen to the point that nonmanufacturers are also feeling the pinch. Popper says higher costs for transporting technicians to job sites, as well as increased shipping costs for the computer components they are installing, are both directly affecting his bottom line. "When you raise gas a dollar a gallon in a place like California, where people commute long distances, that has a huge effect on employees," McClure notes. "That, in turn, has direct pressure on wages."
Searching for Sales
Despite the recent histories of very rapid growth for the surveyed companies, increasing sales and finding new demand for their products and services are at the top of their minds. Fifteen percent volunteered increasing sales and demand as the single most important challenge for 2006, ranking it second. When identifying wild cards, forty percent said weak market demand was a top-three concern. Product companies led the charge, with 46 percent saying it was one of the factors that could prove most harmful to fast-growth businesses.
Tracy Lefteroff, global managing partner of private equity and venture capital at PricewaterhouseCoopers, says the worries about market demand and increasing sales were strongest among technology companies because big companies are their most important customers. "When they go on a capital program, or start building inventory, companies will see stronger demand," Lefteroff says. With many large customers still suffering from a hangover of heavy technology spending a few years ago, demand for those products remains weaker. Also, according to Lefteroff, the implementation of just-in-time inventory management and other techniques that big companies use to reduce their own costs is contributing to larger upswings and downswings for their smaller suppliers.
Going Global
Seeking markets outside the U.S. will be a focus for the 14 percent of companies that identified the issue as one of the most critical for 2006. Twelve percent pointed to increased global competition as one of the big issues. Attitudes varied significantly among company types. Sixteen percent of high-tech firms were worried about global competition, while just 8 percent of nontech firms identified it as a leading wild card. Similarly, 15 percent of product firms picked it, compared with 9 percent of service companies.
Global competition isn't an overriding issue for ISO Poly Films, says McClure. Using cost-effective technology, being close to his markets in the U.S., and concentrating on customized products and short production runs makes it easier for him to compete against overseas rivals. "You could buy the technology and install it in China," he says. "But then you have to ship it here, and in the end, we have the shipping advantage."
Eric P. Straus, founder of RegionalHelpWanted.com, a Poughkeepsie, New York, online job board that has 35 employees and $20 million in annual revenue, sees opportunity rather than obstacles in international markets. "I love to be overseas," says Straus, 46, who partners with local radio stations to offer employers alternatives to newspaper help-wanted ads. "I'd love to be in the [United Kingdom] and Australia, but we've not been successful at signing up radio groups yet."
Unhealthy Care Costs
While the survey found no big differences across sectors on another key issue-health-care costs-individual entrepreneurs showed widely differing viewpoints. "Health care has been a major pain," Radatti says. In 2005, for the first time in its 15 years in business, CyberSoft stopped paying 100 percent of health-care coverage premiums for employees due to the rising cost of coverage. "We're working with our providers to get the best plans at the best prices, but we don't think we'll ever be able to pay 100 percent again," Radatti says.
For Straus, however, paying for health-care coverage is vital enough that he finds a way. "We moan every year about the rate increases, and we pay them," he says. "We have no brilliant solutions, but we think it's pretty important to have a good health-care plan for employees, and we do that."
Silver Linings
One entrepreneur's poison may be another entrepreneur's meat. For entrepreneurs and VCs operating in the clean-energy field, Lefteroff sees good news in higher energy costs. "One of the emerging bright spots is alternative energy sources that would provide solutions to some of the problems we see," says Lefteroff.
Even more good news came in the fact that financing appeared to be a nonissue in the survey. Only 11 percent identified decreased access to capital as a wild-card factor. "Right now, I have private equity groups and public companies chasing me, trying to give me money," says McClure.
Lefteroff says a current overabundance of venture capital makes it easy for entrepreneurs to find funding for the right business plan. "The bar has been raised compared to the internet period," he says. "You have to have a good deal and a good plan. But the positive is there's plenty of venture capital, and that should make it easy to get funded."
And while entrepreneurs overall may seem more worried than many economists would say the data justifies, not all are gloomy about the future. "I'm pretty bullish," says Straus. "I'm looking for slow to moderate growth over the short term."
Straus believes he'll profit in good times and bad. Tighter job markets drive help-wanted advertising, and an advertising recession would encourage radio stations to look for alternative sources of revenue by partnering with him, he reasons. More important for this entrepreneur is that he feels he is in the right business--one that will prosper independently of economies, competitors or other macro concerns. "There are billions of dollars in recruitment advertising in print," Straus says. "I believe that's moving online in the next decade or so. So I'm going to benefit from that regardless of where the economy goes."
The outlook of most entrepreneurs is probably similarly optimistic, or will be unless more unforeseen disasters strike. "Even in the case of a huge devastation like 9/11, within two quarters we were back to the same level of optimism we had before," says Collins. "People get used to dealing with tough circumstances and factor them in, but they're not swayed by them. Long term, the basic business fundamentals seem to hold."
Growing Pains
What are entrepreneurs' biggest challenges for 2006? We asked entrepreneurs to choose the three factors most critical to their business success in 2006. Here's what they said:
- Retention of key workers--73%
- Developing new products and services--38%
- Expansion to markets inside the U.S.--36%
- Increased productivity--35%
- Upgrading technology--28%
- Creating business alliances--23%
- Better management of cash flow--21%
- Expansion to markets outside the U.S.--14%
- Improving risk management--13%
- Finding new financing--11%
- Buying another company or launching a spinoff--11%
- Preparing company for sale--7%
- Going public--2%
Source: Entrepreneur magazine and PricewaterhouseCoopers' 2006 "Entrepreneurial Challenges Survey"
Danger Zone
What would be most harmful to entrepreneurs in 2006? We gave entrepreneurs a list of several wild-card factors that could affect business in 2006 and asked which three would be most harmful to their businesses and industries. Here's what they said:
- Unstable U.S. economy--47%
- Rising health-care costs--43%
- Shortage of qualified workers--41%
- Weak market demand--40%
- Rising oil/energy costs--24%
- Rising interest rates--24%
- New government regulations--22%
- Weaker capital spending--18%
- Weakening world economy--14%
- Increased global competition--12%
- Decreased access to capital--11%
- Sudden drop in U.S. real estate market--10%
- Tax increases--10%
- Inflation--9%
Source: Entrepreneur magazine and PricewaterhouseCoopers' 2006 "Entrepreneurial Challenges Survey"
Your New Year's Resolutions
Resolution #1: Make your employees matter
Entrepreneurs who want to compete with big companies for the best hires should focus first on offering candidates competitive retirement plans, says Barry Barnett, principal in PricewaterhouseCoopers' HR practice. "The issue you need to deal with is pension equity," he says. "Give them some sort of retirement benefits they can see." A 401(k) or other tax-deferred plan should do the job, he says.
Health-care benefits are also important for older workers, Barnett adds. Some older workers may already be receiving pension benefits from companies they have retired from. "They will work at a reduced salary for health-care benefits."
Attracting older workers is important, because some entrepreneurs say this is a key market of talented employees. Pete Radatti, president and founder of CyberSoft Operating Corp. in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, says he has helped his company by removing the upper age limit on hiring. Many big corporations have mandatory retirement ages, while others have laid off large numbers of people in their 40s and 50s. Radatti says hiring these retirees provides him with talented and reliable employees no longer wanted by their former employers. "They appreciate that we care about our employees," he says, "and they like the small-company environment."
Small companies need to offer key hires the ability to share in the company's growth, says Barnett. "On the compensation side, cash itself is not the main issue in a small entrepreneurial firm," he says. "It's more about the ability to cash in as the company becomes successful." Sharing profits and equity can help employers fill critical positions with top-quality talent.
Resolution #2: Heal Your Health Plan
The hot new trend in health insurance is the consumer-directed plan. It comes in numerous varieties, including health savings plans and medical savings accounts. Its essential feature is that it makes consumers responsible for controlling health-care costs by making them pay many of the costs out of their own pockets. "It makes a lot of sense for the entrepreneur," says Barry Barnett, principal in PricewaterhouseCoopers' HR practice.
Consumer-directed plans have lower premiums and, since employees have more latitude to spend money from their health savings accounts, can provide better coverage as well. The savings accounts can transfer to different employers and can be used after retirement as well. "It's a tax-efficient way of funding retirement medical," says Barnett. Insurers are refining their consumer-directed offerings with many new options, including low-paperwork plans that allow employees to tap their health savings accounts with debit cards.
Joe Popper, 43-year-old owner of Computer Gallery in Palm Desert, California, is working to upgrade his employees' coverage as part of his effort to attract better hires. "We have to have reasonable health care to be competitive," he says. "You're not going to hire a top-quality person without reasonable health insurance."
Resolution #3: Spice Up Your Sales
Even in the second decade since e-commerce became a reality, many companies that could generate increased sales, build revenue and tap sources of demand online have failed to do so as well as they could, says Pete Collins, director of Barometer Surveys for PricewaterhouseCoopers. "Few people are doing business exclusively through e-business," he says. "But there are a lot of indirect sales that can come from it." Paying attention to a website's ability to provide information, direct shoppers to brick-and-mortar locations and otherwise augment traditional business can generate important added revenue, he says.
International markets represent another revenue-building opportunity for small companies. "If optimism in the U.S. is down, it's important to be doing business abroad," Collins reasons. "Among companies we surveyed, 45 percent were doing business abroad, and their overseas revenues are projected to be up 20 percent in the next 12 months."
Finally, small companies shouldn't overlook incremental opportunities available by extending product lines, introducing new colors, flavors, sizes and other variations. Although many firms start with one big idea, they can generate a lot of additional growth by refining versions of that idea. "It's very important to try to expand your line, not necessarily with blockbusters," says Collins. "Line extension can be a good source of volume."
About PricewaterhouseCoopers:
PricewaterhouseCoopersprovides industry-focused assurance, tax and advisory services to build public trust and enhance value for its clients and their stakeholders. More than 150,000 people in 148 countries work collaboratively using Connected Thinking to develop fresh perspectives and practical advice.
The Technology, InfoComm and Entertainment & Media practices serve the specialized needs of more than 1,400 VC-backed private companies with extraordinary growth potential in the computing, networking, software, semiconductor, life sciences, internet, telecommunications, entertainment and media industries. The Private Equity practice works with more than half of the 100 most active VC firms in the U.S. For more information, visit www.pwc.com/tice, www.pwc.com/privateequityand www.pwcv2r.com.
PricewaterhouseCoopers' Private Company Services practice is an integrated team of audit, tax and advisory professionals who focus on the unique needs of private companies and their owners. Within the practice, dedicated professionals concentrate on the needs of manufacturing, retail, wholesale and distribution, construction, food and beverage, and private equity portfolio companies, as well as on the needs of law firms and other service organizations. Private Company Services professionals are committed to delivering cost-effective, practical solutions and responsive services with the quality clients expect from PricewaterhouseCoopers. For more information, visit www.pwc.com/pcs.
Survey Methodology:
Entrepreneur magazine and PricewaterhouseCoopers' "Entrepreneurial Challenges Survey" is an annual telephone survey of more than 300 CEOs of privately held, U.S.-based businesses recognized for their sustained, rapid growth. They average $31.5 million in annual revenue with an average of 185 employees, and have an ongoing annual growth rate of more than 23 percent. Forty-seven percent are technology companies; 53 percent are nontech. Fifty-six percent are service businesses; 44 percent are in the product sector. Survey interviews were completed in the third quarter of 2005 by independent research firm BSI Global Research Inc. under the direction of PricewaterhouseCoopers.
More details and current findings on a variety of business climate and management issues are available at www.barometersurveys.com. Or with a mobile device, go to wap.barometersurveys.com.


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Roasted Veggies
I am not very good at eating vegetables. I'm just not a fan. BUT I'm doing weight watchers and most veggies are zero points. Which means – I can eat all of them I want to, until I'm full, with no guilt! So, I need to find some more creative ways that make vegetables taste better without using fatty dips.
At one of my weight watcher meetings someone mentioned roast vegetables and I thought I'd try it – and it was so worth it!
Preheat the oven to 350-degrees.
All you do is cut up whatever vegetables you have (I happened to have cauliflower, broccoli and snap peas in my frig) put them in a bag or a sealable container. Add enough olive oil to coat the vegetables and whatever seasoning you want (salt, garlic, etc). Seal the container and shake the veggies in the oil and seasoning so they're evenly coated.
Put the veggies in a roasting pan, with the lid off bake for 45-minutes. Remove and Enjoy! This was seriously a treat!
Later I'll give you a great way to use whatever veggies you have left to make a delicious soup!

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Using a Customer Satisfaction Survey combined with an inspection book such as "Now that You've had a Home Inspection" reduces liability and gets you more inspection work. InterNACHI's Customer Satisfaction Survey hits 7 birds with one stone:
- It gets the customer on record describing the quality of your inspections.
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- It up-sells additional inspections by alerting your customers that you offer ancillary inspections.
- It provides you with written permission to discuss the report with others.
- It lets your customers know you care about their opinion.
- You can send a copy of the survey to the agent that referred you, so that he/she gets third-party feedback about you.
InterNACHI's Customer Satisfaction Survey is free. There are several versions available depending on whether or not you provide your customers with a book.


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Redlands Connection is a concoction of sports memories emanating from a city that once numbered less than 20,000 people. From the Super Bowl to the World Series, from the World Cup to golf's U.S. Open and the Olympics, plus NCAA Final Four connections, NASCAR, the Kentucky Derby and Indianapolis 500, Tour de France cycling, major tennis, NBA and a little NHL, aquatics and quite a bit more, the sparkling little city that sits around halfway between Los Angeles and Palm Springs on Interstate 10 has its share of sports connections. – Obrey Brown
It was June 15, 1983. In those days, that was Major League Baseball's trade deadline.
Think of the great deals — Seattle traded Randy Johnson to Houston in 1998 (by then, the deadline had been moved to July 31); C.C. Sabathia had been traded by Cleveland to the Milwaukee Brewers in 2008; that same season, it was Manny Ramirez traded to the Dodgers by Boston; when the Mets got Yeonis Cespedes in 2015, the slugging outfielder led New York to the World Series; Philadelphia dealt Curt Schilling to Arizona in 2000.
All of those deals probably outweigh the swap of second basemen in that 1983 trade between Seattle and the Chicago White Sox.
Julio Cruz, the undrafted free agent out of Redlands High/San Bernardino Valley College, had been such a solid player for the Seattle Mariners — a base-stealing dynamo, not to mention a flashy fielding second baseman.
A guy named Roland Hemond noticed.
In 1983, Seattle took its sure-handed infielder and all-time leading base-stealer and dealt him to the ChiSox. That deal plucked second baseman Tony Bernazard for the Mariners.
At the time of that mid-season trade, the ChiSox were five games under .500, fifth in the American League Western Division. Hemond pulled off the Bernazard-for-Cruz trade, the only real adjustment he made to an already-strong roster.
Hemond made a trade that everyone would later credit with turning the season around. Looking to give his team a spark, Hemond traded Bernazard to Seattle for his second base counterpart, Cruz. The effect was immediate.
I tracked down Hemond for comments on the trade. These were, of course, the days before cell-phone usage, so getting hold of him seemed like a major achievement.
Hemond was back east. That's three hours' difference than the west coast. I remember trying for a few days before I connected with him.
Why would I try? Local readership, no doubt. Every local reader might want to hear about their guy. Right? A little insight on those inner workings never hurt.
Hemond must've been in his office at Comiskey Park., home of the White Sox.
My standard intro … "Hi, Obrey Brown here from Redlands, hometown newspaper of Julio Cruz … wondering if I could pick your brain a little about the trade you made for Julio."
Hemond, a friendly guy, needed no further prodding.
"Oh, hi," he said. There were some pleasant formalities between the two of us. Like this one: "Think you'll make it out here to see him play?"
Oh, yeah, I lied to him. The tiny budget the Redlands newspaper had barely allowed me to cover a Terrier game in Rialto or Fontana. Send me to Chicago? Said Hemond: "When you get here, look me up."
If only, I thought.
"I think it'll turn out to be a real great acquisition for this club," said Hemond, whose East-coast accent was a nice touch to our conversation. "In fact, it's already helped us."
"How long have you had your eye on Julio?"
"Oh … no … wow. I've known about Julio for a few years. How can you not notice a guy with his glove and his ability to steal bases? No, he just didn't jump off the page at us. We need this guy. We've known about him."
Hemond said, "Our clubhouse needed a jolt. Tony (Bernazard) wasn't all that great of an influence in there. I've heard a lot about Julio being a good guy."
This baseball lifer, Hemond, was very gracious with his time. He asked, "Did you cover him while he was playing in high school out there?"
"No. I got here a few years after he left."
I tried to stump him, though. "Julio's coach out here was Joe DeMaggio."
Hemond either didn't hear me, or thought I was kidding. No, it wasn't THE Joe DiMaggio (note the spelling difference).
Those summer-time sports pages, though, got a big plug. Cruz, standing on second base, darted for home plate on Harold Baines' sharp single to right field. Tenth inning. It was against the Angels. Game-winner. Division-clinching run. Celebration. Photos.
Huge splash in the Redlands newspaper.
Cruz was picked up from Seattle when the ChiSox were 28-32, fifth in the American League West. They went 71-31 with Cruz, batting ninth in the lineup with Rudy Law atop a strong White Sox attack.
That year's White Sox were filled with superb batsmen. Baines, Ron Kittle, Greg Luzinski and Hall of Fame catcher Carlton Fisk, combined to hit 123 home runs. Law stole nearly 80 bases.
The pitching was topped by LaMarr Hoyt and Rich Dotson, who won 24 and 22 games, compiling the greatest number of wins in the entire league by two pitchers. Southpaw Floyd Bannister was nearly unbeatable, finishing off the season with a 13-1 streak.
Second place belonged to Kansas City, which finished a staggering 20 games behind Chicago.
The Daily Facts kept a close watch on the "Redlands" White Sox. Remember, this was A Redlands Connection.
By the All-Star break the Sox had climbed to three games over .500. Then things really got hot. The Sox climbed into first place on July 18 and never looked back. Their second half record was 59-26, a .694 winning percentage.
Not everyone was impressed. One out-of-town writer dismissed the team as no better than fifth best in the A.L. East. Texas manager Doug Rader theorized that the Sox's bubble had to burst. "They're not playing that well. They're winning ugly."
On September 17 at Comiskey Park, the White Sox clinched Chicago's first championship in twenty years. Baines' single brought home Cruz with the winning run.
Chicago's opponents in the playoffs would be Baltimore, the only team to take the season series against the ChiSox, seven games to five. In the playoffs, the Orioles won three out of four.
Even with Julio, that group of White Sox couldn't shake the Baltimore Orioles in the American League championship series. Hall of Famers Cal Ripken, Jr., Eddie Murray and a strong corps of pitchers ousted Chicago in the playoffs and ended up beating the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series.
The ex-Terrier hit .333 in four games, the White Sox winning game one, 2-1, before the Orioles came streaking back to win 4-0, 11-1 and 3-0 behind strong pitching from Mike Boddicker, Tippy Martinez and Mike Flanagan.
As for Hemond, that slick transaction for Julio may have gone a long way in snagging his second Sporting News Executive of the Year honors.
Years later, '83 White Sox manager Tony La Russa and I were eyeball to eyeball in spring training Arizona. By this point, he had moved on to manage the Oakland A's. I couldn't help but try and snag him for some comments – even though it was years later – on Cruz.
La Russa didn't have much time. Calling Cruz "an igniter," La Russa wasn't in a mood to chat. He said, "The thing I remember from that team was the power we had … Julio and Rudy Law gave us another dimension to score runs with their speed."
One final, quick comment: "He played a great second base for us."
Footnote: Seattle lost 102 games in 1983.
Sabathia, Johnson, Ramirez and all the other more famous MLB trade deadline might draw more attention in baseball's history book. For the Chicago White Sox, however, that deal might be No. 1.


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Quote:I am finally done with v10
Quote:Fairly sure these are wrong.


text:
by Peter Ackroyd ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 18, 2000
The intellectual legacy of Platonic philosophy takes on entertaining new life in this sophisticated and very funny fable by the protean British author (The Life of Thomas More, 1998, etc.). Prefatory quotations from various fictional scholarly sources inform us that the human race has reached the year a.d. 3700, despite the quenching of the world's "light" (due to nuclear catastrophe?) centuries ago, followed by a period of enlightenment (—The Age of Witspell"). The setting is London, where a —great orator" named Plato dispenses wisdom, eons after his namesake flourished in Athens (during "The Age of Orpheus"). In 55 brief chapters, Ackroyd juxtaposes brief conversations between Plato and his (feminine) soul and with his several admiring disciples (who discuss him, in separate chapters), with the great man's "exequies" on evidence of earlier civilizations' mistakes (an exhumed copy of Poe's stories is believed to be "the unique record of a lost race" sunk in paranoia and depression; surviving fragmentary texts reveal the existence of a prophetic black singer named George Eliot and "a clown or buffoon who was billed as Sigmund Freud"), and excerpts from Plato's "glossary" of antiquities ("rock music" is presumed to denote "the sound of old stones"). Fortunately, this slim book doesn't settle for elegant gags. Plato's fascination with the alien cultures of the past inspires him to undertake a "Journey to the Underworld," during which he discovers the parallel existence (beneath Witspell) of '' Mouldwarp" (our own civilization, supposedly ended when "the light" disappeared). The result is his trial, ostensibly for corrupting the young; in reality, for having introduced uncertainty into a world smugly convinced that it knows itself, and thus knows all. A strikingly imaginative and provocative cautionary tale that makes superb use of Ackroyd's formidable erudition. One of his most satisfying books.
Pub Date: Jan. 18, 2000
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Nan A. Talese
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1999
Categories: GENERAL FICTION
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by Brit Bennett ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 2, 2020
Inseparable identical twin sisters ditch home together, and then one decides to vanish.
The talented Bennett fuels her fiction with secrets—first in her lauded debut, The Mothers (2016), and now in the assured and magnetic story of the Vignes sisters, light-skinned women parked on opposite sides of the color line. Desiree, the "fidgety twin," and Stella, "a smart, careful girl," make their break from stultifying rural Mallard, Louisiana, becoming 16-year-old runaways in 1954 New Orleans. The novel opens 14 years later as Desiree, fleeing a violent marriage in D.C., returns home with a different relative: her 8-year-old daughter, Jude. The gossips are agog: "In Mallard, nobody married dark....Marrying a dark man and dragging his blueblack child all over town was one step too far." Desiree's decision seals Jude's misery in this "colorstruck" place and propels a new generation of flight: Jude escapes on a track scholarship to UCLA. Tending bar as a side job in Beverly Hills, she catches a glimpse of her mother's doppelgänger. Stella, ensconced in White society, is shedding her fur coat. Jude, so Black that strangers routinely stare, is unrecognizable to her aunt. All this is expertly paced, unfurling before the book is half finished; a reader can guess what is coming. Bennett is deeply engaged in the unknowability of other people and the scourge of colorism. The scene in which Stella adopts her White persona is a tour de force of doubling and confusion. It calls up Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, the book's 50-year-old antecedent. Bennett's novel plays with its characters' nagging feelings of being incomplete—for the twins without each other; for Jude's boyfriend, Reese, who is trans and seeks surgery; for their friend Barry, who performs in drag as Bianca. Bennett keeps all these plot threads thrumming and her social commentary crisp. In the second half, Jude spars with her cousin Kennedy, Stella's daughter, a spoiled actress.Kin "[find] each other's lives inscrutable" in this rich, sharp story about the way identity is formed.
Pub Date: June 2, 2020
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Riverhead
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
Categories: LITERARY FICTION | GENERAL FICTION
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by Jojo Moyes ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 8, 2019
Women become horseback librarians in 1930s Kentucky and face challenges from the landscape, the weather, and the men around them.
Alice thought marrying attractive American Bennett Van Cleve would be her ticket out of her stifling life in England. But when she and Bennett settle in Baileyville, Kentucky, she realizes that her life consists of nothing more than staying in their giant house all day and getting yelled at by his unpleasant father, who owns a coal mine. She's just about to resign herself to a life of boredom when an opportunity presents itself in the form of a traveling horseback library—an initiative from Eleanor Roosevelt meant to counteract the devastating effects of the Depression by focusing on literacy and learning. Much to the dismay of her husband and father-in-law, Alice signs up and soon learns the ropes from the library's leader, Margery. Margery doesn't care what anyone thinks of her, rejects marriage, and would rather be on horseback than in a kitchen. And even though all this makes Margery a town pariah, Alice quickly grows to like her. Along with several other women (including one black woman, Sophia, whose employment causes controversy in a town that doesn't believe black and white people should be allowed to use the same library), Margery and Alice supply magazines, Bible stories, and copies of books like Little Women to the largely poor residents who live in remote areas. Alice spends long days in terrible weather on horseback, but she finally feels happy in her new life in Kentucky, even as her marriage to Bennett is failing. But her powerful father-in-law doesn't care for Alice's job or Margery's lifestyle, and he'll stop at nothing to shut their library down. Basing her novel on the true story of the Pack Horse Library Project established by the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s, Moyes (Still Me, 2018, etc.) brings an often forgotten slice of history to life. She writes about Kentucky with lush descriptions of the landscape and tender respect for the townspeople, most of whom are poor, uneducated, and grateful for the chance to learn. Although Alice and Margery both have their own romances, the true power of the story is in the bonds between the women of the library. They may have different backgrounds, but their commitment to helping the people of Baileyville brings them together.A love letter to the power of books and friendship.
Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2019
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Pamela Dorman/Viking
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2019
Categories: GENERAL FICTION | HISTORICAL FICTION | FAMILY LIFE & FRIENDSHIP
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text:
"I'm looking forward to getting through this part of the process and move on to the appeal," Sandusky said in an email from inside the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles.
"I hope that this gets overturned or at minimum a new trial. There are no winners in this case."
Sandusky, convicted in federal court of operating medical marijuana dispensaries in Upland, Colton and Moreno Valley, will be sentenced at 8:30 a.m. at the Roybal Federal Building and Courthouse.
On Oct. 12, Sandusky was convicted of two counts of violating federal marijuana law, one for conspiracy to manufacture marijuana plants, possess with intent to distribute marijuana plants, and to maintain a drug-involved premises, as well as a second count of distributing marijuana plants, according to a U.S. Department of Justice news release.
On both counts, the jury found Sandusky was in possession of and distributing at least 1,000 marijuana plants.
The federal government in a Dec. 31 sentencing position report requested the court impose a 10-year prison term, 10 years of supervised release, no fine and a mandatory special assessment of $200.
Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles, said Friday his office had no comment prior to the sentencing.
According to the prosecutors' report, "Sandusky should not be eligible for a "safety valve," or reduced sentence.
The agency said Sandusky had three criminal history points and was an organizer, leader, manager and supervisor of others involved in the offense.
Federal pre-sentencing reports are not made public, so what the three criminal history points list are is not clear.
But Sandusky, according to an objection to the presentence report filed his attorney Roger Jon Diamond on Dec. 7, does have two convictions for driving while intoxicated.
Diamond wrote that "Sandusky disputes that he should be given three criminal history points for two DUI convictions wherein he was arrested March 24, 2002 and March 27, 2003. They are too old to be counted and they are only misdemeanors."
Additionally, Diamond's report says Sandusky's former girlfriend began stalking him and he needed to obtain a civil restraining order against "the former girlfriend who falsely accused him of rape. The charge was false and the case was dismissed."
Diamond, who declined to talk about strategy, said he would have 10 days to file a notice of appeal after the sentencing and the "appeals are handled maybe within six to nine months."
Christopher Kenner, a former patient at G3 Holistic Inc. in Upland, said he will be in the audience for the sentencing.
"I hope there's going to be a lot of people," Kenner said.
"We're not sure how many people we're allowed to stuff in that courtroom. I've been stressing quite a bit over it. I ended up in the hospital over the holidays for it. I stress out every time I think about him going to jail for this. I don't understand. It is wrong. I don't understand why this would happen. Aaron is a great person. The people of Upland are losing a good businessman, someone that helped a lot of people in that city. It's a shame."


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This author's writing is "Naughty. But Nice."
Question – what's the connection between this fantastic British TV advert for cream cakes and Salman Rushdie? Don't rush off to Google. I'll tell you. Mr Rushdie wrote the 'Naughty. But Nice.' tagline for this famous advertising campaign back when he was a struggling writer. This particular ad aired in 1984 and stars comedians Les Dawson and Roy Barraclough as Ada and Cissie.
Theawl.com has an interesting article about six authors, including Rushdie, who were advertising copywriters.


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Pirates rally admirably, but missed chances haunt
Behind Burnett's 'gutsy' start, Bucs strand 12, go 0-for-10 with RISP
CINCINNATI -- Pirates manager Clint Hurdle sat in the visiting skipper's office at Great American Ball Park after a 5-4 loss to the Reds on Saturday and recalled all the plays that could have turned the game in his team's favor. From a one-hour, 17-minute weather delay that threw starter A.J. Burnett off his rhythm to a ground-rule double that would have scored a run if it had just stayed in play, none of the breaks or bounces seemed to go Pittsburgh's way.
But that's baseball, Hurdle said, and all you can do is keep playing.
"Sometimes you go on streaks and you get those little breaks," Hurdle said. "It's such a fine line. The craziness of this game is, every time a game is played, the team that loses will talk about the three or four things that could have happened and you could have won the game. Every game that's played almost."
So that's what Hurdle did, and from the beginning of Saturday's game until the very end, there seemed to be too many of those moments for him to rattle off all of them.
Still, Pittsburgh had every chance to win in the late stages against Cincinnati.
Trailing, 5-3, heading into the eighth, the Pirates cut the lead to one on a Travis Snider pinch-hit RBI double off of Alfredo Simon, who walked a batter and hit another to load the bases with two outs. Jose Tabata then came to the plate against Logan Ondrusek with a chance to tie or take the lead but instead grounded out softly to second base to end the threat.
In the ninth, Andrew McCutchen beat out an infield single for his fourth hit of the game to lead off the inning and advanced on a bad pickoff attempt from Aroldis Chapman before Pedro Alvarez reached on a fielding error to put runners on first and third with no outs. But Chapman got Russell Martin to pop out and struck out Michael McKenry and Jordy Mercer -- the last on a 102-mph fastball -- to send the Pirates to their third straight loss dating back to before the All-Star break.
"We got ourselves in as good of a position as you could want at first and third with no outs," Hurdle said. "We weren't able to get the run in then; we had multiple opportunities before then. At the end of the day, when you leave a [12] up there, more often than not it has a tendency to bite you."
Hurdle was referring to the 12 runners left on base by the Pirates, who went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position, marking the second day in a row Pittsburgh went 0-for-RISP.
The Pirates began Saturday's game squandering an opportunity with two men on and one out in the first. And with rain and potential severe storms threatening, the game started on time but was delayed when the winds picked up and rain started to fall before the bottom of the inning could begin.
An hour and a half after the game officially started, Burnett finally threw his first pitch. His second offering was sent to left-center field for a leadoff double by Shin-Soo Choo that sparked a four-run inning for Cincinnati, which capped it off with a Devin Mesoraco RBI double.
Although Burnett said the delay threw him off some, he didn't attribute it to his struggles.
"We all have routines, so that was nowhere close to my routine, but I felt like I was ready to go," Burnett said. "We're built to overcome, to adapt, and we did what we could today."
Fortunately for the Pirates, Reds starter Mat Latos also came out flat after the delay. Pittsburgh tagged Latos for two runs in the second, the first of which came on a leadoff homer from Garrett Jones. Two batters later, Clint Barmes reached thanks to a wild pitch on strike three and advanced to second on a Burnett bunt. After a Starling Marte walk, Barmes scored when shortstop Zack Cozart missed on a throw to second that would have led to the third out of the inning.
"The whole bullpen picked me up today, and the offense, with the four early runs off a good pitcher," Latos said.
Pittsburgh tacked on its third run of the game in the fourth on a McCutchen home run. However, it was the fourth straight solo shot of the series for the Pirates, who have hit 13 of their last 15 homers with the bases empty.
Meanwhile, Burnett settled in after his rough, weather-delayed first inning. He made it through the second on 10 pitches before striking out the side in the third and working around a leadoff double in the fourth.
Following a scoreless fifth, Burnett once again ran into trouble in the sixth, when he loaded the bases with a two-out walk. A second consecutive walk, to Joey Votto, brought Cozart home from third and ended Burnett's day after 5 2/3 innings.
Although the Reds scored all five of their runs with Burnett on the mound, only two of them were earned. The 36-year-old right-hander allowed 10 hits while striking out eight and walking just the two batters in the sixth.
"I think what A.J. did is show everybody here how you deal with adversity," Hurdle said. "And at the end of the day, after four pitches, we could have had two outs and one run in [in the first inning]. He didn't let that get him down. He said, 'Boys, keep playing. I'm going to get us six,' and he did everything he could to get us as close to six today as you could have asked. It was a gutsy performance by him."
McCutchen in the seventh almost sparked another rally with what would have been an easy one-out triple to the gap in right-center field. After rounding second, though, McCutchen tripped and was eventually tagged out in a rundown in a play that epitomized the Pirates' day offensively.
With the loss, Pittsburgh has dropped seven of its last 10 and fell to 56-39 as it tries to keep pace with St. Louis while also fighting off the Reds, who are now just two games behind the second-place Pirates in the National League Central.
Despite the fact Hurdle's team hasn't opened the unofficial second half of the season the way he would have liked, neither he nor his players seemed discouraged by the events of the last two days.
"We fought uphill all game today and gave ourselves opportunities to come and win the game," Hurdle said. "So the fight's there, the attitude's there, the effort's there. The continued challenge is always going to be meeting the demands of the game, and today we didn't meet the demands of the game presented to us often enough to get us on top of them, and then to be able to stay on top of them."


text:
Twitter has signed up to the US Federal Trade Commission's Do Not Track (DNT) initiative and now offers its users the chance to avoid having their data shared with third parties.
Twitter announced the move with a Tweet which says, in part, "We applaud the FTC's leadership on DNT."
A new Twitter page explaining the ramifications of the decision says "When you turn on DNT in your browser, we stop collecting the information that allows us to tailor Twitter based on your recent visits to websites that have integrated our buttons or widgets. Specifically, we remove from your browser the unique cookie that links your browser to visits to websites in the Twitter ecosystem. We then cannot provide tailored suggestions for you."
FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz thinks Twitter is being jolly nice, and told an Internet privacy forum in New York that Twitter's decision to clamber aboard the DNT bandwagon gives it a nice momentum and credibility boost.
Mozilla is also happy about the decision, blogging that it is "... excited that Twitter now supports Do Not Track and global user adoption rates continue to increase, which signifies a big step forward for Do Not Track and the Web."
Twitter has also updated its Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. The changes were publicised eight hours after the news of Twitter signing up for DNT and are, a Twitter spokesperson said, a direct result of the DNT decision.
"One of the main changes we made to the Privacy Policy was that we noted the many ways you can set your preferences to limit, modify or remove the information we collect," the spokesperson said. ®


text:
NOM's Frank Schubert Has The Sadz
"I firmly reject the spin surely to come that this result signals a fundamental shift in American opinion in support of gay marriage. It means that we very narrowly lost four difficult contests in four very deep blue states after being badly outspent. Despite the outcome, I am extremely grateful to all the donors, volunteers, staff, vendors and committee members who were part of our team. I am honored to have played a role in these campaigns to preserve marriage in America. It is an institution worth defending, and I look forward to continuing to play a role in this historic debate." - Frank Schubert, the creator of NOM's lying ads from coast to coast, via press release. (Via Good As You)
Labels: Catholic Church, con men, HA HA HA, hate groups, liars, losers, NOM, religion, Sharia Law, theocracy, Vatican


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text:
We shall tread carefully while discussing halfpiper Shaun White and his gold medal last evening, or afternoon, or whenever the hell it was that he actually competed, as opposed to when we saw it on NBC. Winning an Olympic gold medal is as great an athletic honor one can achieve, and we do not want to lessen that by any "Ron from Harry Potter" cracks.
We'd also like to point out that White seems like an extremely cool guy, in spite of his past appearances on "Punk'd" and "Cribs." While discussing his nerves, he admitted to feeling all "Olympic-y," a feeling, having watched this business all weekend, we absolutely understand. One of his qualifying runs, he slipped and explained it away by saying he "wasn't really paying attention." (!) And he even showed off the gold medal at the press conference by saying he hopes it gets him babes. We like him.
But — and we're sorry — we still don't believe halfpiping, or whatever the progressive verb is, is a real Olympic sport. We are not denying the athleticism required to become a master at it, nor the entertainment qualities inherent in watching it on television. It has become our favorite Winter X Game. But that's what it is, and that's all it is. We think it has been added to the Olympics to make sure the Americans win their fair share of medals, putting in an event that we invented and are sure to dominate. (Until the rest of the world catches up with us, like basketball.) We like to win lots of medals. Having snowboarding events makes that more likely. Sorry, that's what we think; snowboarding is an X Game, not an Olympic sport. No disrespect to the Flying Tomato, of course.
X Games Star Lives Up To Expectations In The Halfpipe [LA Times]
Shaun White Hopes To Use Gold Medal To Get Babes [The Best Sports Blog]


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GlobalData's clinical trial report, ?Zollinger-Ellison Syndrome (Gastrinoma) Global Clinical Trials Review, H1, 2015″ provides data on the Zollinger-Ellison Syndrome (Gastrinoma) clinical trial scenario. This report provides elemental information and data relating to the clinical trials on Zollinger-Ellison Syndrome (Gastrinoma) . It includes an overview of the trial numbers and their recruitment status as per the site of trial conduction across the globe. The databook offers a preliminary coverage of disease clinical trials by their phase, trial status, prominence of the sponsors and also provides briefing pertaining to the number of trials for the key drugs for treating Zollinger-Ellison Syndrome (Gastrinoma) . This report is built using data and information sourced from proprietary databases, primary and secondary research and in-house analysis by GlobalData's team of industry experts.
View Full Report with TOC @ http://www.acutemarketreports.com/report/zollinger-ellison-syndrome-gastrinoma-global-clinical-trials-review-h1-2015
Note: Certain sections in the report may be removed or altered based on the availability and relevance of data for the indicated disease.
– Data on the number of clinical trials conducted in North America, South and Central America, Europe, Middle-East and Africa and Asia-pacific and top five national contributions in each
– Clinical trial (complete and in progress) data by phase, trial status, subjects recruited and sponsor type
– Listings of discontinued trials (suspended, withdrawn and terminated)
Browse All Reports of This Category @ http://www.acutemarketreports.com/category/energy-alternative-sources-market
Reasons to buy
– Understand the dynamics of a particular indication in a condensed manner
– Abridged view of the performance of the trials in terms of their status, recruitment, location, sponsor type and many more
– Obtain discontinued trial listing for trials across the globe
– Espy the commercial landscape of the major Universities / Institutes / Hospitals or Companies
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Magic-Wrighter, Inc., a national leader in the financial institution and payments industries is designed to help amplify your institution's volume in the marketplace, our suite of innovative solutions will enable you to compete at any level. Magic-Wrighter continually strives to be the innovative leader in the FI industry. Our experience has given us a unique understanding of what financial institutions need and an eye for trends within the industry. We offer a partnership that your institution can truly grow with, and help you meet the ever-changing demands of your target market.
e~Funds for Schools is powered by Magic-Wrighter, Inc. and is known as one of the finest and most advanced payment processors available for school districts nationwide. e~Funds for Schools has been evolving based on feedback from school districts of all sizes regarding their payment needs. The "Built for Schools by Schools" attitude contributes to the high growth and success of the EFS product. The vast abundance of extra features, integrations and lower costs surpasses other payment processors in the school marketplace. e~Funds for Schools is now even more convenient for parents by being mobile ready.
Unlike most third party service providers, Magic-Wrighter is truly a single-source partnership for all your electronic payments solutions. We are unique in our ability to provide not only the payment platform but also the integrated processing for ACH and Credit/Debit Card. Magic-Wrighter's PCI/DSS Level 1 Certification and NACHA compliance ensures payment data is secure and eliminates the need for a separate third-party processing provider.
Magic-Wrighter's multi-channel payment solutions help you gain access to new markets, improve account retention and create new opportunities. Additionally, our payment processing services can be integrated to other third-party platforms, core systems, online banking portals, accounting systems, municipal software, and other payment applications.
Let us be the payments solution for you! To learn more about the partnership and opportunities with Magic-Wrighter, contact us today.


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Each house is individually hand crafted with high quality workmanship and materials. Cedar is the wood of choice for long outdoor use and will last a lifetime.
All of our houses are insulated with a Thermal-Ply insulation that is placed inside the floor, walls and ceiling that not only keep your pet warm in the winter but it also gives them a nice cool place to go to during the heat of the summer.
It's perfect cat furniture for the neighborhood feral who is adamant about staying outdoors or for the indoor kitty who insists on hanging out near you while you're in the garden.
This house is big enough to accommodate 1 averaged sized cat. Your cedar pet house will be delivered unassembled, which keeps shipping costs lower. It takes about 15 minutes to assemble the panels, guided by the easy instructions enclosed.
The unit by itself, will offer the needed outdoor shelter, but listed below are all the optional extras that are available, to pamper your cat, by making the outdoor shelter more comfortable.
Additional Exit - Optional Extra Door.
Extra Door - An extra door the same dimensions as the front access door will be installed in the back wall of your pet's new home for additional access or egress.
Optional Extra Heating.
Pamper your cat with the luxury of a 9" x 12" Small Animal Heating Pad, both manufactured by K & H, for the specific use of dogs and cats in an outdoor environment.
The interior room space of the unit is 13" x 13". Cats are fussy, and may want to sleep on an unheated surface after some time. The 9" x 12" heating pad leaves enough floor space for such fussy cats.
The Lectro‐Soft comes in the purrrfect size for cats and is extremely low wattage. Perfect for cat houses, basements, garages, barns, sheds, porches or any other outdoor shelter. This soft, orthopedic bed is unique in that it will still provide soft, comfortable warmth even in sub‐zero weather! The design offers warmth only under the pet so the energy efficient technology doesnʹt waste money trying to heat the entire surface of the bed. Rugged super soft PVC is used on the exterior to ensure the bed doesnʹt absorb water and remain wet like a fabric bed would. Free fleece cover included! Indoor and outdoor use. One year limited warranty.
Pads are not sold separately. They could be purchased ONLY as an optional extra when buying any insulated cedar woodhouse. Holes have to be drilled into the floor and side panel of the unit to accommodate the pad and its wiring.
Keeping the Cold air OUT and Hot air IN with Optional Vinyl flaps.
Optional flexible Vinyl Flaps help keep the cold air OUT because they are affixed to the door on the outside and the force of the air holds them shut against the door frame, keeping the warmth built up inside the unit from escaping and cold air from the outside getting in. These are definitely required especially when heating pads are not used.
Optional Extended Roof - 9"overhang.
Generous Extended Roof - 9"overhang that helps shield the doorway opening from the elements.
House Exterior :
Product Price (shipping inclusive) $180.00
This product is manufactured in Nova Scotia, Canada, only after the order is received, and shipped out to you directly from there.
The CURRENT manufacture time for ANY UNIT is 7 WEEKS, with the addition of 2 business days for:
Extra Door option.
Extended Roof option.
The Double Decker Model,
Any Duplex Model.
The Extra Large Model.


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NEW YORK (AP) - The BCBG Max Azria customer can do a little wandering in her closet next fall.
NEW YORK (AP) � The BCBG Max Azria customer can do a little wandering in her closet next fall.
The collection that designers Max and Lubov Azria presented Thursday at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week had a nomadic, bohemian vibe but not one filtered through their hometown of Paris or home base of Los Angeles.
These clothes came to the runway on the opening day of Fashion Week with an inspiration rooted in Istanbul's architecture and the Gypsies of southern Europe.
Printed boxy shift dresses were worn over fluid lingerie-like underpinnings. Long vests � both fur and cashmere � topped cozy crewnecks. There were more layers, with leather leggings or lizard thigh-high boots that had the effect of leggings peeking out from the hemlines of dresses and sweaters.
"It sounds a little crazy, but it's also a little bit hippie. It's different than what we've been doing," Max Azria said backstage at the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week tents at Lincoln Center.
Why the change from more structured styles from spring?
"My wife likes it all. She likes the colors, the prints, the textures. She likes to see a melange," he said.
Samantha Critchell tweets fashion at (at)AP_Fashion and can also be reached at (at)Sam_Critchell.


text: Hi, my neca iron man LED eyes have stopped working. I have replaced the batteries but they still do not work, has any had this problem before? Just wondered if anyone can tell me if you can split the helmet o I can have a look inside to see if a wire has come of.


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Need medical help fast?
Call 111 when you need medical help fast but it's not a 999 emergency. NHS 111 is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Calls are free from landlines and mobile phones.
Life-threatening emergency?
If the illness or injury is life-threatening, don't hesitate. Call 999 straight away.


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The Town of Drumheller's Council is comprised of a Mayor and six Councillors. These seven members are committed to making Drumheller a better place to live, work and visit. Their vision, mission and values are included in the Strategic Business Plan.
Council is the governing body of the municipal corporation and in accordance with the Municipal Government Act (MGA) is assigned powers, duties and functions.
Council can exercise their powers either by bylaw or resolution passed at a regular or special meeting when a quorum is present.
This section consists of the following areas:
- Councillors;
- Deputy Mayor Roster ;
- Board and Committee Appointments;
- Council meetings;
- Published Agenda;
- Council Meeting Minutes, and;
- Regular Council Meeting Video Archives.
The Town Council is a continuing body, notwithstanding changes of members, through the election process every four years.
Council is responsible for establishing policy directions, monitoring and evaluating the implementation of programs, and authorizing the revenue collection and expenditures required to fund the Town's operations.
While Mayor and Council are responsible for policy making, municipal staff are responsible for translating policy into action and delivery of municipal services.


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Apr 21, 2020
Twitter: @rpgforyouandme
Insta&Twitter: @youseethehat
Sounds Like Crowes is an actual play podcast where a posse of nerds pretend to be cowboys.
Above all else, we strive for production values. We want the sound that hits your ears to be crisp, and interesting. That means starting with good equipment and recording conditions, and editing all the boring bits out of the gameplay.
We play out a continuing story in the world and system of Deadlands Reloaded. Our goal is to have character driven drama in a horrifying world, with a few laughs along the way. The cast play a group of brothers.
It is hosted by Caleb Sundsted.
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Harry M. Stone, a 60-year-old member of St. Luke's United Methodist Church in Raytown, Mo. wasn't expecting any trouble when he went for his morning jog Sunday. But his exercise regimen, and his life, were cut short when someone fired shots from the window of a passing car.
Police are still looking for the killer, and one of their clues is a short gas station security camera video clip of the killer's car. See if you can tell what kind it is.
Not only can they not find the killer, police are also at a loss to figure out a motive for the crime. Stone, the assistant pastor's husband, was a church leader and exemplary community servant, by all accounts. Police said there was no argument or confrontation leading up to the shooting. The killing seems indiscriminate: the shooters simply fired out the window at Stone. St. Luke's pastor, Rev. Londia Granger Wright, said many of her congregants wonder how something like this could have happened to a good person.
A witness said the car's passenger was dark skinned, wearing his hair in an afro. Kansas City Police suspect the killing to be part of a gang initiation. The car, a dark colored late model four-door sedan, is most of what police have to go on right now. If you have any idea what kind it is, or if you've seen it, call the Raytown Police Department at 816-474-TIPS. (Hat tip to For Sweden on #tips!)
Photo credit: KCTV Kansas City


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Home › Ways to give › Corporate Partnerships
Corporate Partnerships
Business partnerships help keep seniors coming to your doors, once they have given up the keys.
ITNGreaterSanDiego thanks our sponsors for their support of our mission to provide dignified transportation to older adults and those with visual impairments. The more people who embrace and commit to the program we're building, the more effective and influential the system will be for America and, we hope, the world.
ITNGreaterSanDiego welcomes corporate partners. Please contact us for details.


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Blog | Media | Shop
December 02, 2015
November 17, 2015
November 02, 2015
October 20, 2015
Here are some easy steps to follow for this project:
1. First, determine how ideas will be represented. Members can bring in materials to use during a meeting, or prepare them in advance. Art ideas include using writing utensils for drawings; or
magazines, newspapers, old greeting cards, scrapbook paper,
personal photographs or old books.
2. Next, determine how the boards will be displayed. Vision boards
can be separate work spaces, or combined into one.
Remember, your club will look at each board to determine
similarities. An inexpensive way to give every member enough space on a single board is to hang a single piece of butcher paper around the room. Afterward, members can separate their boards if they wish to take them home.
3. After your brainstorming session is over, share your outcome! Contact Kelly Wallace for a chance to be featured
internationally and show other K-Kids clubs around the world ways to be successful. Be sure to include details of the activity
experience, photos of it in action and personal quotes from
Sherri McKeen was born in Memphis, Kentucky, and moved to Louisville, Kentucky, when she was four years old. She received her Bachelors of Social Work at the University of Kentucky, her Masters of Social Work at the University of Maryland, and a Certified Associate Executive distinction.
Each November, clubs are encouraged to celebrate Kiwanis Family Month by collaborating on service projects, fundraisers or advocacy efforts with other Kiwanis-sponsored clubs. The Kiwanis family is composed of K-Kids, Builders Club, Key Club, Circle K International and Aktion Club. Together, these are known as Kiwanis Service Leadership Programs (SLP), and are designed to prepare each participant to be the most engaged members of their communities.
Builders Club: middle school students (ages 11–14)
Key Club: high school students (ages 14–18)
Circle K: college and university students
Aktion Club: adults (18 and older) who have a disability
Kiwanis: over 600,000 adult members in more than 80 nations and geographic areas
Clean up a street or park.
Hold a pancake breakfast or dinner to raise funds for a cause.
Volunteer at a food bank—or collect, pack and deliver canned food.
Volunteer at the local animal shelter.
Create thank-you cards/gifts for law enforcement officers or firemen.
Create care packages and write letters to military members.
Make "no-sew" blankets to donate to a local shelter.
Make knit caps for hospitalized kids getting chemotherapy
And don't forget to keep in touch with Kiwanis family members. You could invite Kiwanis club members to attend a K-Kids club meeting—or host an appreciation night for your sponsoring Kiwanis club. Maybe even write notes of encouragement to members of other youth clubs (and Aktion Club) in your area.
Let's strengthen the Kiwanis family's impact . . . and our bond. When you get together, it might even get to be a habit!
Visit www.kiwanis.org/kiwanisfamilymonth to learn more.
Kiwanis Key Club
A Key Club International program of
Kiwanis International
© 2011 Kiwanis International
All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use | Privacy Policy Site Map


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Business requirements and applications should determine where workloads reside.
With many clouds comes challenges ranging from unpredictable costs to security vulnerabilities. Organizations must overcome multi-cloud complexity to find success - hybrid cloud delivers the consistency to make that possible.
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Organizations with existing infrastructure and applications face prolonged and costly re-platforming efforts in moving to the cloud. Embrace new cloud operating models without impacting innovation.
Organizations operating in multiple clouds experience complexity and risks due to disparate tools and security postures. Lower management overhead and simplify processes with a common management experience.
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1 Applies to select nodes with DTCP subscription pricing, contact your sales representative for details. Customer site survey and configuration workbook must be completed before order is placed. Excludes orders over 24 nodes, VMware NSX configuration, vRealize (vRA, vRO) components, and some other features. Product availability, holidays and other factors may impact deployment time. US only.


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Girl Makeover 10
(More game types: 1 Player, Dress Up, Flash, Girl, Grooming)
Help this girl get a beauty make over, choose the right dress, new hair style and beauty kit combination for her to achieve the beautiful new look.
Use mouse to interact.
|Add this media to your blog, MySpace or website!


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February 11, 2009 (10:01 pm) By Spencer Osborne
Please do your best to keep comments interesting, to the point, and topical. Abusive, inappropriate, and blatantly self promotional posts may be edited or removed. If you have a question or an off topic comment, that is what the forums are for!


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Augustana Professor Appointed as Fulbright Scholar
Dr. Joel Johnson, associate professor of Government and International Affairs, will serve as a Fulbright Senior Lecturer/Researcher at the University of Marburg in Hesse, Germany.
New Graduate Degree in Sports Administration and Leadership
Augustana will be offering a Master of Arts in Sports Administration and Leadership, pending approval of the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.
Six Students Awarded Christopherson Scholarships
The six students were selected for the 2010-2011 academic year based on scholarship, campus and community service, and how well they fit the description of the donors as someone "equipped for life."
Reception to Honor Sinte Gleska President Lionel Bordeaux
Lionel Bordeaux, president of Sinte Gleska University and major supporter of American Indian issues, will be honored Tuesday, April 20, during a reception at the Center for Western Studies.
Thought Leader Forum features Major League Baseball VP
On Friday, April 23, Webster, SD, native and Augustana graduate Laurel Prieb headlines the final segment of this spring's Augustana Thought Leader Forum. Prieb is in his fifth year as Vice-President of Western Operations for MLB.
Student Congregation Leadership Team in Place for 2010-11
The Chapel of Reconciliation Student Congregation leadership team has been named for 2010-2011. Each spring, students are invited to apply for positions that coordinate the work of the student congregation.
Kelly Sprecher Named Director of Communications and Media Relations
Augustana has announced Kelly Sprecher as the College's new director of communications and media relations. Sprecher replaces retiring Bruce Conley, director of news information since 1990.
Autism Conference: Lighting The Way set for June 10-11
Today, one in 88 individuals is diagnosed with autism and it occurs in all racial, ethnic, and social groups. The Lighting the Way conference includes 35 breakout sessions covering education, medical, and adolescent and adult topics.
Argus Leader Features Augustana Student Defying Disability
The brain damage that Chris Johnson experienced at birth 30 years ago did not limit the boundaries of his mind. As proof, he will roll across the stage May 22 at Augustana's commencement ceremony, a double major in French and English and a story of inspiration.
Augustana Ranked 9th in Learfield Sports Director's Cup Standings
Behind a strong performance during the winter sports season, Augustana vaulted into the top 10 of the NCAA Division II Learfield Sports Director's Cup standings, the NACDA announced today.


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Lady Monarch Lax Wins Third Straight With 10-8 Victory Over Delaware
By ODU Athletics
April 2, 2006
NORFOLK, Va. -- The Old Dominion women's lacrosse team won its third straight with a 10-8 conference victory over Delaware on Sunday afternoon at Foreman Field.
The victory raised the Lady Monarchs' overall record to 5-3 overall and 2-0 in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA), giving Old Dominion the most league wins in two seasons. The Fightin' Blue Hens meanwhile fell to 3-7 overall and 0-3 in CAA action.
Although Delaware struck first with a Casey McCrudden goal with 23:17 on the clock, Old Dominion would hold the Blue Hens scoreless the rest of the half and rattle off five unanswered goals. Senior Tameka Davis (Washington, D.C.) got the rally started to tie the game at 1-1 with just under 20 minutes remaining and then less than 20 seconds later, junior Caroline Jacobs (Gaithersburg, Md.) gave Old Dominion the lead for good.
Also scoring for the Lady Monarchs in the first half was sophomore Kelly Kimener (Oakton, Va.), along with additional goals by Davis and Jacobs.
Delaware did manage to outscore the Lady Monarchs 7-5 in the second half and made a late rally. Both teams traded goals after the opening draw back from intermission as Old Dominion held on to a 7-4 advantage with 18:35 left in the game. Back-to-back Lady Monarch goals by Davis and Kimener added to the Old Dominion lead, 9-4, as the clock read 14:54. However the Fightin' Blue Hens would go on to score four of the game's next five goals. After trading goals again, Delaware tallied three goals in the span of two minutes and pulled within two, 10-8, with a minute and a half remaining. The Lady Monarch defense held in the end and forced Delaware to turn the ball over in the game's final minute as they captured the win.
Kimener, Jacobs, and Davis all had three goals for the Lady Monarchs while Delaware's Laura Libertini, who netted the final two Blue Hen tallies in the late rally, also recorded three goals on the afternoon.
Lindyn Soviero collected a game-high eight groundballs in the loss and also caused a team-high three turnovers, while Jacobs led Old Dominion by scooping up six and causing three turnovers as well.
In net, both ODU's Michelle Gannon (Delmar, Md.) and Delaware's Jessica Cerveny posted 13 saves.
The Lady Monarchs return to action on Wednesday, April 5th when they travel to Charlottesville to take on the sixth-ranked Virginia Cavaliers. Delaware will travel to Drexel on Friday.


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GIMME SHELTER- Land line or cell? Decision is a close call
Jamie Yowell
Q: I hear a lot of people are getting rid of of their home phones and just using their cell phones. I'm considering it, but still wonder if it's a good idea.
A: Yes, a lot of people are choosing to abandon their home phone lines, or at least they say they are. Since there are still clear benefits to having both, there's no need to make an either/or decision. For example, your home phone will ring in every room of your house, whereas you have to find your cell phone to answer it. And what if the power goes out and you can't recharge your cell phone? Also, cell phones often don't work in certain rooms of a house or in certain areas of your property. For many people, having both a home phone and a cell phone gives them a sense of security in case something happens with one or the other. As good as cell phones have become, they're still wireless.
In many ways it's a generational thing. For example, it's hard to imagine the younger generation having home phones, because they're so used to having one mobile number. In addition, young people are taking advantage of all the technological bells and whistles that come with cell phones– cameras, text messaging, song recording, e-mail, and Internet connections.
As the technology of cell phones improves, and as people become more comfortable using them, they may begin to eclipse the home phone line. For the time being, however, home phones are still a vital connection to the outside world, providing faster Internet connections and a sense of security for those who don't completely trust their cells.
Basically, you need to consider how you operate. Are you a single person living alone who could do without a home phone? Are you a business person who wants to be reached at one convenient number? Do you have a family who fights over the home phone line? Maybe you need to get cell phones for your kids and keep the home phone for yourself. Are you tired of paying for your home phone line when you never use it? Would you really feel secure not having a home phone line?
Jamie Yowell
3 comments
Cell phones all the way for us. We dropped our landline almost two years ago and haven't regretted it once. With no listing, telemarketers are non-existent (the Do Not Call list is only so good - we don't even get calls from charities or politicians). Telephonic internet is for the birds - we went with a cable modem long ago.
In fact, this is funny but the one problem we've had by not having a land line is having to explain to Alltel EVERY TIME WE CALL that our cell phone is our home #. You think they'd be darn grateful, but it confuses the hell out of them. Go figure.
I happily live with just my cell phone, my three grown children the same.
My mother at 80 and my dad at 88 with alzheimers live in the Key West Subdivision and only have a land line provided by EMBARQ.
For 5 days they & approx 120 homes, according to EMBARQ this morning have been without service.
EMBARQ promised repair by 7pm last sat night, claimed service was restored as of last night.
Today still no service, no answers, no promise when service will be restored & no explanation why service has been out. Maybe it is time to leave severed lines severed. Cell service may drop a call but almost anywhere, anytime it has service, amazing.
Cell is the slight winner in my mind, but landline still has pros to it. The part about the landphone ringing in every room is important. It is quite annoying especially when you call someone else and they never answer their phone when they're at home because they're always too far away from it. They take it off as soon as they step in the door and either can't hear it from its cozy at the front door or they drop it a different place every time they come home and can't find it. And if they've forgotten they've left it on vibrate or silent, forget it they're not picking up.
There needs to be a machine at home where you put your cell phone in it to charge, and it makes ringers go off around the house when someone calls.
Another disadvantage to cell phones is that stupid contract. Yes, I'm young and onthego, which means that every time I move to a new place I either have to break a contract or annoy everyone in the new place by having a long-distance phone. My next-door neighbors have to dial long-distance to call me! At least with landlines you can cancel it when you move.
Another cell phone problem is that people know when you're ignoring their calls. With a landline you can just say "I wasn't home!" Sometimes I just want to be left alone, but I can't be with the cell ringing all the time. It's like Pavlov's dog, I hear it and I pick up without thinking.
Plus, why is it that when I have to turn my cell phone off in the movies or theatre, it has to beep more every button I push to turn it off? Why can't there be just one button to silence? And when the heck are people gonna realize that vibrate is still heard? Don't just turn off the ringer, turn off the whole thing. I can hear the vibrating phone a whole section away from you.
Wow, I was mad! I'm sorry..


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IntroductionThis city is near Al Mutla ridge, where the twisted and rusty remains of an Iraqi column line the roadside. The Iraqis, fleeing Kuwait City and loaded down with loot, were sitting ducks for Allied warplanes in the closing hours of the war. Also in the city is the Red Fort, a mud-brick structure where Kuwaiti and British troops defeated an invading army from Saudi Arabia in 1920. 20 mi/30 km west of Kuwait City.
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Saturday, December 24, 2011
Merry Christmas/ Weekend Open Thread...
Posted byAmy Jamison at7:11 AM
World View & Market Commentary.
Forest first; Trees second.
Focused on Real & Knowable facts that filter through the "experts" fluff and media hyperbole. Where we've been, what the future may hold and developing a better way forward.