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One employee steals $20 from the cash register.
Another wastes $20 in food.
The boss may view those events differently, but to the bottom line, it's all the same: a $20 loss.
Jim Laube, a veteran restaurant operator-turned-consultant, suspects that too few operators view a food loss in basic dollars-and-cents terms. To them, food is a product sold to customers, not cash sitting on the shelves. But that's exactly what it is.
"Inventory is cash, just in a different form," said Laube, founder and operator of RestaurantOwner.com, a foodservice training and education Web site. "And having too much
The problem of excess inventory, Laube said, costs operators thousands of dollars annually in waste due to perishability, mishandling, slack portion controls or theft. On an average operator's profit-and-loss statement (P&L), that adds up to loss of at least 2 percent to 5 percent, he said.
And don't think bad inventory management is a sign of novices. Laube said experienced operators are often the worst inventory managers because they believe they know their business so well that they don't have to do a physical inventory. They then buy what they believe they need—and then add on a little extra as a safety factor. More often than not, that cushion winds up costing the restaurant money in waste.
"All of a sudden they have a lot more product than they need," Laube said about the safety factor. "I see a lot who don't even do a physical inventory—ever."
The good news, as Laube points out, is that reversing inventory-related losses isn't that difficult, but it does take the discipline to execute thorough inventories, totaling food cost regularly and purchasing wisely.
"So few realize they could make so much more money by doing simple things like that," he said.
Count it like cash
Luke Bailey, owner of the two-unit Pizza Company in Davison, Mich., is one of those who uses an inventory cushion.
"I'm a firm believer in never running out of stock; a lost sale is money out the window," said Bailey, who keeps 10 to 14 days' worth of inventory on hand. As far as scheduling a running inventory, "I usually try to do that sporadically."
Bailey calculates a monthly food cost based on a complete end-of-the-month inventory, which also is compared to the operation's P&L. "I know by second day of the following month what my key expenditures were. If I can keep 61 percent on food and payroll I'm OK."
Laube, however, believes operators like Bailey would do better than OK if they did the following:
* A weekly, thorough physical inventory
* Calculated food cost weekly
* A daily inventory of eight to 10 key food items (cheese, pepperoni, sausage)
* Keep no more than five to seven days' worth of food inventory on hand
The idea of being "so obsessive" about inventory controls bothers some operators, Laube said. But those who track the details run more profitable operations.
"I've found that larger companies, especially the chains, do a very good to great job of this," Laube said. "Those guys are serious about what they do, and they're very focused on profitability."
John Pronik, director of operations for Zabros Pizza Buffet in Mt. Pleasant, Mich., works somewhere in the middle of Bailey's and Laube's systems. He takes two running inventories a week to generate his food orders, and every two weeks he takes a complete inventory.
"(Food) is money sitting on the shelves that can be used in a lot of directions," said Pronik, who keeps five to seven days of supplies on hand. "I know that when my days of inventory increase, my food cost will increase."
To help his staff understand the need to keep inventory tight, he uses what he calls the toothpaste analogy: "When you get a full tube of toothpaste, you don't think about how much you put on the brush until you get down to a quarter of a tube. Then you're wondering how long you can make it last.
"With inventory, we want to have enough on hand that we don't have to step on the tube to get out that last bit of toothpaste. But we never want to have overstock on the shelf, either."
Laube agrees that the amount of inventory on hand influences strongly whether the staff wastes or treasures it. Even Laube admitted that, as a teen working in a fast-food restaurant, he and his coworkers wasted French fries—"We'd even have fry fights"—when the freezer was full of them. But on busy nights, when the manager would find only three cases left, "We treated them like gold. It's just human nature to attach more value to something if there's less of it around."
Count the costliest items often
A successful dinner house chain Laube once worked with kept a keen eye on its most expensive food items.
Spot inventory checks were done in full view of employees as well, which kept the staff mindful that a theft would be hard to pull off.
Bailey's a believer in such spot checks, too, but he's also tried to apply some reverse psychology to reduce theft.
"I'm more into building a deterrent factor than trying to catch them with something in their pockets. So we have an employee purchase policy and an employee charge program," he said. He also installed video surveillance cameras a few years ago. "I like to keep a close eye on things like the ribs we sell, and things like that case of cheese that can be sold to a rival pizza company."
Pronik goes a step further with the incentive strategy by tying raises and performance bonuses to food cost goals. Not only does that keep employees accountable to each other for how food is handled, it builds a healthy rivalry between the three stores he oversees; out of pride, he said, all want to have the lowest food cost.
Laube recommended operators focus on the eight to 10 most expensive items in inventory for frequent spot checks. Those should be checked at different times during the day, he said, and at irregular intervals.
Train others to do it
Once the operator has developed an inventory system, he or she should train managers or other trusted employees to do it. Finding that person isn't always easy; Laube admits it's "a gut feeling" more often than not. However, good employees typically find new challenges and responsibilities interesting.
"By following up with them and making sure it's done right, I think you can have any good employee do that and do it effectively," Laube said.
But even with the most thorough follow-up, it still might not be perfect, which is something operators need to expect, said Michelle Burt, president of one-unit Spanky's Pizza in Fremont, Mich. Burt has three long-term managers who do a great job helping her with inventory.
"There's a lot of trust there, but you always have your questions," she said. "If they're taking a pizza here and there ... I can't perfectly make sure that won't happen. But at some point you've got to let it go."
Ideally, Laube said, regular spot and weekly inventories will be compared with a P&L to render a weekly food cost—52 times a year, rather than 12. Calculating a weekly food cost allows an operator to spot problems—such as waste or theft—sooner than if they waited until the end of the month.
"When you do food cost 12 times a year, it's a nebulous concept to employees," Laube said. "But when you're doing it 52 times a year, it moves it front and center in everybody's brain. Then if food cost is four points higher this week than last week, you can ask right then, 'What happened this week? Did we have to throw out a bunch of product?' So come next week, people are a lot more attuned and focused."
Make time to take time to count
Laube said he understands operators' claims that they lack time to do inventory as thoroughly as he recommends. But he said he sometimes has to resist the urge to laugh at some of their complaints, chiefly a lack of time.
"I know what they're thinking and what they're going through, but I used to do it with plain green-bar paper and pencil; nothing fancy," Laube said.
What amazes him most, he said, is operators who spend hours toiling to boost sales a percent or two, when they could boost profits a few percentage points by doing basic inventory management.
Burt, who learned the pizza business while working her way through college to become a teacher, wishes she knew then what she does now about inventory management. She's certain she'd have made a lot more money and avoided a lot of headaches.
"As much as it seems like a pain, it's worth it," said Burt, who believes better inventory management boosted her profits by 2 percent. She now uses a POS system to help track sales for comparison with inventory sheets her husband, an accountant, created in Excel. "I knew how to make pizzas and make customers happy back then, but I needed to know how to make more money on the bottom line. No question this helps."
Topics: Independent Operation , Operations Management
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Army SpecialistE-4 Enlisted Soldier, U.S. Army
|Enlisted Soldier
|Specialist (last name)
E-4 (DoD Paygrade)
OR-4 (NATO Code)
What is a Specialist?
Specialist is a junior enlisted rank in the United States Army, equivalent in salary to a Corporal. Specialists have basic management duties and may command soldiers of lower rank, although most leadership duties at this pay grade are the responsibility of Corporals.
Specialist is the most common rank advancement available to a Private First Class, and becomes available after two years of service and upon completion of a leadership and officer candidate training course. Recruits who enlist in the Army with a four-year Bachelor's Degree, or desired civilian skills and experiences, may be entitled to enter the Army as a Specialist.
Specialist is the 4th rank in the United States Army, ranking above Private First Class and directly below Corporal. A specialist is a Enlisted Soldier at DoD paygrade E-4, with a starting monthly pay of $1916.10.
How do you become a Specialist?
A Specialist is most often promoted from Private First Class (PFC), although promotion from lower paygrades may occur with sufficient display of leadership and experience.
What is the proper way to address a Specialist?
The correct way to address a Specialist named Mr. Garelick is "Specialist Garelick", or written as SPC Garelick. In formal situations, a Specialist should always be addressed by their full rank.
How much does a Specialist earn?
Basic pay for an entry-level Specialist with no years of experience is $1,916.10 per month. A Specialist receives an automatic raise to their basic pay every one to two years.
Basic pay is only a small percentage of a Specialist's final compensation package. In addition to a monthly basic pay salary, a Army Specialist may be eligible for multiple types of allowances and bonus pay including hostile fire pay, housing allowance, clothing allowance, food allowance, and more.
For full details on the Army's Specialist compensation and retirement plan, visit the 2016 Army Specialist Pay Chart. A full table of the Army's current paygrades are available at the Army Pay Chart.
The Government civilian-employee equivalent of a Specialist is paid under the General Schedule payscale. For more details, learn more about the General Schedule payscale.
Equivalent Ranks
Air ForceSenior Airman
Coast GuardPetty Officer Third Class
Marine CorpsCorporal
NavyPetty Officer Third Class

subset: commoncrawl


text:
WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom is denouncing Iran's imprisonment and prosecution of an Iranian-American Christian.
Katrina Lantos Swett says Pastor Saeed Abedini (sah-EED' ah-beh-DEE'-nee), who became a U.S. citizen in 2010, was arrested while visiting Iran in September and faces trial Monday on what are believed to be trumped-up charges for which he could be executed.
Lantos Swett says Iran may actually be making an example of him for his contacts with the underground Christian church.
She calls it "sickening" how Iranian officials "toy with people's lives, sort of like a very vicious cat toying with its prey."
This week, 12 U.S Senators and 37 House members sent letters urging Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to take a more active role in seeking Abedini's release. The Senate letter says, "We should not stand idly by while the Iranian regime arbitrarily persecutes a U.S. citizen who has committed no crime."
Sound: Upcoming


text:
Navajo Nation Yeha-Noha
Our Journey to the Navajo Nation
Steve and Sherri Barnard......images by Steve Barnard
Journey through the Navajo region of the USA.
Comment posted.
sparsons190 says
This is my favorite part of the world. Your photos are beautiful.
posted at 07:29AM Aug 28 PST
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Blurb Sites


text:
Summer Jam 2013
Gospel Cafe
Friday, June 28, 2013 at 7:30 PM (CDT)
Who's Going
Loading your connections...
3 of your friends are going. Share it to get more people on board! Share
Sara Haughty
San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
Luke Picard
London, United Kingdom
London, United Kingdom
Rick Vespucio
Florence, Italy
Florence, Italy
Event Details
Kick your summer off right with the Gospel Cafe Summer Jam 2013. For all intents and purposes, this will be the HOTTEST Christian Party of the Year!!! The featured artist will be Travis Greene, other performers will be LaShaunda and Siddjay. DJ GLov will be on the 1's & 2's and the GC House band will be rocking out with the artists all night long.
Wear your dancing shoes because you know how it goes down at Gospel Cafe Events. They done let them Christians in the Club OMG!!!
Get your tickets in advance qucik because pre-sale tickets will sell out fast and the cover at the door will be a little more.
Have questions about Summer Jam 2013? Contact Gospel Cafe
When & Where
the LIFE Church
8731 Greenwell Springs Rd
Baton Rouge,
Friday, June 28, 2013 at 7:30 PM (CDT)
Add to my calendar
Gospel Cafe
Summer Jam 2013
Baton Rouge, LA Events


text:
Creamy Artichoke Dip1
It's smart to have a reliable, delicious appetizer when you are hosting friends or family – something we all do quite a bit this time of the year! This is a go-to dip for several Good Cooking Store staff.
Make this dish, then simply put your slow cooker in the middle of your coffee table, surrounded by dippers like tortilla chips and fresh vegetable sticks. Then your guests can socialize, while you finish any other last minute prep that you are doing for the main meal.
Creamy Artichoke Dip
Fix-It and Forget-It Christmas Cookbook, page 9
Prep. Time: 15-20 minutes
Cooking Time 1-1½ hours
Ideal slow cooker size: 3-qt.
Makes 7-8 cups
2 14-oz. cans water-packed artichoke hearts, coarsely chopped (drain one can; stir juice from other can into Dip)
2 cups (8 oz.) shredded, part-skim mozzarella cheese
8-oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
½ cup mayonnaise
½ cup shredded Swiss cheese
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 Tbsp. plain yogurt
1 Tbsp. seasoned salt
1 Tbsp. chopped, seeded jalapeno peppers
1 tsp. garlic powder
Dippers: Tortilla chips
1. In a slow cooker, combine artichoke hearts, cheeses, mayonnaise, lemon juice, yogurt, salt, jalapeno pepper, and garlic powder.
2. Cover. Cook on Low 1 hour, or until cheeses are melted and Dip is heated through.
3. Serve with tortilla chips and sliced fresh vegetables.
Variation: Add 2 10-oz. pkgs. frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry, to Step 1.


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To cash in on the festive season, public sector banks are offering special rates for customers taking housing and auto loans together
To revive the sagging sales of automobiles and homes during the festive season, public sector banks starting with Corporation Bank and, lately, the State Bank of India are launching combo offers with special rates. And as the icing on the cake, the public sector lenders are also slashing the processing fee by half.
Corporation Bank took the lead in offering the combo deal. Its Combo Offer taking both Corp Home and Corp Vehicle loan together provides an additional 0.25% concession in the rate of interest on the vehicle loan. Under this offer, the floating rate of interest for home loans of up to R50 lakh is 10.5% per annum, 10.75% for loans between R50 lakh and R1 crore, and 11% above R1 crore. The interest rate on auto loans is 11.25% for a five-year tenure and 11.75% for seven years.
Kolkata-based UCO Bank will waive the processing fee on home loans if availed with a car loan. And to boost festive buying, the bank is offering a standalone scheme where 50% processing charge on home loans will be waived and 100% in the case of processing charges on car loans.
In fact, UCO Bank and Corporation Bank are not the lone public sector lenders offering such a combo scheme, which, till some time back, was mostly offered by large private sector lenders. This time around, public sector lenders have taken the lead to stay ahead of the competition as loan demand has been sluggish because of higher rates.
Punjab & Sind Bank launched a festival bonanza scheme for home and auto loans to enable customers to realise their dreams of purchasing a home and a car. The bank is financing 100% on-road price of the vehicle and comes with longest repayment of up to seven years on a daily reducing balance.
There is no processing fee and the auto loans by the bank carry the lowest equated monthly instalment (EMI) of R1,699 per lakh. For home loans, the EMI is R915 per lakh up to R30 lakh for 30 years. The bank will waive its 50% processing fee on fresh housing and offers 100% waiver of processing fee for fresh loans in cases where the borrower is availing housing as well as auto loans .
DP Singh,


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James Michael White
Position: DT-DE-NT
Height: 6-5 Weight: 266 lbs.
Born: August 11, 1957 in Augusta, GA
High School: Westside
College: Albany State (GA)
Drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the 4th round (84th overall) of the 1979 NFL Draft.
Weighted Career AV (100-95-...): 8 (7842nd overall since 1950)
1982 Game Log: Regular Season · Playoffs · vs.


text:
Doctoral Program Details
3 years| Credit Hours: 60
The online Ed.D. program in School Improvement offers a unique opportunity for educators looking for an interdisciplinary, inquiry-based doctoral program that prepares graduates to become the next generation of change agents. Our mission is to develop educational professionals who initiate systemic and sustainable improvement in schools. Graduates will strategically and collaboratively plan, design, implement, and document the impact of educational improvements that promote and increase the academic achievement and social development of all students.
Two things make the Ed.D. in School Improvement unique (1) the program provides for students to develop a specialized "Area of Concentration" and (2) students work on their dissertations simultaneously with their coursework. Students can complete their dissertation by the end of their coursework.
Program Description
The doctoral program in School Improvement is challenging, rigorous, interdisciplinary, and focuses on developing skills in three areas that comprise our core curriculum: Teaching and Learning Leadership for Change Research and Effective Use of Data In addition to our core curriculum, students customize an area of concentration, based on individual needs and interests, to provide a focus for their doctoral studies. Moreover, we have designed the program so that we assist our students in conducting and completing their dissertations from day one. Through a unique synergy of dissertation classes, workshops, and faculty mentoring, students will complete their dissertations simultaneously with coursework. Our faculty are nationally recognized, committed to school improvement, understand your needs as an adult online learner, and make the successful completion of your dissertation a priority. This program is a cohort model that only admits students in the summer semester. This program is designed to take three years to complete. The Doctorate In School Improvement Program Website includes a directory of instructors and their credentials, as well as other vital information.
It is extremely important that prospective students review the department's accompanying website where many additional Frequently Asked Questions are answered: http://www.westga.edu/eddsi/
Margaret Parrish (Pre-enrollment advisor)
Method of Delivery
Coursework is available 100% online; one orientation is required on the Carrollton campus and one on-campus dissertation. However, the on campus sessions are scheduled over one long symposium, for travel convenience.
The University of West Georgia is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACCSCOC).
This program accredited by NCATE.
Credit & Transfer
Total semester hours required to earn a degree: 60
Maximum Hours Transferable into program: 12
Tuition & Fees
Save money.
Online courses and programs can mean a huge cost-savings in many ways. No more high gas charges. No childcare needed. The flexibility can allow one to maintain a job while attending school. Out-of-state students are not charged non-resident tuition rates.
Earn more.
The completion of an accredited online degree also increases your earning potential.
The bottom line - value.
Our online courses are as affordable as you will find among accredited schools.
Fall 2016 to Summer 2017 Tuition, Fees, and Charges (pdf)
For the most up-to-date and accurate cost information, see the Bursar's Office website at http://www.westga.edu/bursar/. (Fully online courses appear as NET charges on the bottom of the Bursar's spreadsheets.)
Through a unique synergy of dissertation classes, workshops, and faculty mentoring, students will complete their dissertations simultaneously with coursework.
This program is a cohort model that only admits students in the summer semester and is designed to take three years to complete.
The Areas of Concentration (or AoC) in the School Improvement program are 12 credit hours of electives that comprise a student's focus within the program. Specific AoC's are developed in conjunction with various departments within the College of Education at the University of West Georgia. Currently, the available AoC's include:
- School Counseling
- Educational Leadership
- K-12 Online Learning
- Instructional Technology
- Reading
- Media Specialist
- Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL's) UWG no longer offers ESOL courses, but you can take the courses elsewhere and transfer.
- Special Education
Another option available to students is to develop a customized AoC. At a minimum, an individualized AoC must meet the following criteria:
- It must have a thematic, cohesive foundation.
- It must consist of a minimum of 12 semester hours of credit.
- The coursework must be post-Masters level.
- It must be approved by the Director of the Ed.D. Program in School Improvement.
- It must have been completed within seven years of the date of admission to the Ed.D. degree program.
- A grade of B or higher must have been earned in the coursework.
A customized AoC does not have to be taken only at our University. If you want a specialized, unique Area of Concentration, you can "assemble" one from another institution (either online or face-to-face), provided it meets the minimum criteria listed above AND that the hours were completed at an accredited institution. These hours could then be transferred into the program.
Please note that any customized AoC must be pre-approved by the Program Director. Please contact the Director with any questions about this policy.
Program Evaluation - EDSI-9171
Description: This course focuses on the theories, concepts, and processes involved in planning and managing evaluations. Students will engage in evaluations in specific education situations (individual, group, organizational) using focus groups, key stakeholder interviews, survey design, data gathering, analysis and/or other methods as appropriate and analyze outcomes to make recommendations for development and/or remediation.
Dissertation Mentoring I - EDSI-9901
Description: The purpose of this course is to begin the process of assisting candidates with moving from the role of student to that of emerging scholar and researcher through making steady progress toward completing the dissertation process. Students will understand the dissertation process and create a plan for the direction of their program of study including selecting topics of concentration, conducting research, and writing multiple dissertation plans based on a variety of research methods and approaches.
Dissertation Mentoring Section 2 - EDSI-9902
Description: The purpose of this course is to continue the process of assisting candidates with moving from the role of student to that of emerging scholar and researcher through making steady progress toward completing the dissertation process. Students will understand the dissertation process and create a plan for the direction of their program of study including selecting topics of concentration, conducting research, and writing multiple dissertation plans based on a variety of research methods and approaches.
Dissertation Mentoring Section 3 - EDSI-9903
Description: The purpose of this course is to continue the process of assisting candidates with moving from the role of student to that of emerging scholar and researcher through making steady progress toward completing the dissertation process. Students will understand the dissertation process and create a plan for the direction of their program of study including selecting topics of concentration, conducting research, and writing multiple dissertation plans based on a variety of research methods and approaches.
Leadership for Diversity in the 21st Century - EDSI-9923
Description: This course will encourage a culturally pluralistic and global perspective on the equitable education of culturally and linguistically diverse student populations. Students in the course will investigate the philosophical, theoretical, and historical foundations of multicultural education; the values inherent in cross-cultural communication; and relationships between verbal and nonverbal communication systems. Interpersonal skills for encouraging harmony between the dominant culture and culturally and linguistically diverse populations will be topics for investigation.
Policy Analysis for School Improvement - EDSI-9925
Description: This course is an advanced study of policy and its impact on the field of education broadly, and school improvement specifically. There is a specific emphasis on policy development and analysis. The course is designed to enable educators to become knowledgeable, effective, and responsible actors within the political and policy arenas of schooling.
Leadership for Change - EDSI-9933
Description: This course addresses the theories and processes of change in societies, cultures, and organizations with particular emphasis on change within the educational systems. Completion of this course will enable students to effectively use theories and processes in their role as change agents within their own educational environments. Change strategies that lead to school improvement are emphasized.
Models of School Improvement and Reform - EDSI-9941
Description: This course overviews nationally recognized models for school improvement, the forces and factors that influence school improvement and reform, the barriers to change and reform, and how change can be instigated within educational settings. Students build and value a conceptual understanding of the knowledge base in school improvement. Students develop foundational skills in different styles of writing required throughout the doctoral program.
Instructional Leadership That Facilitates School Improvement - EDSI-9942
Description: This course prepares students to be instructional leaders in their educational settings. The knowledge base in effective teaching, motivation and learning, clinical supervision and professional development are explored and analyzed as vehicles for school improvement.
Models of Professional Development - EDSI-9943
Description: This course identifies current research and theory in principles and models of professional development in the context of school improvement. Students will examine pedagogies of professional development, structures that support teacher and adult learning, models of profession development, issues that influence and define teacher learning, and evaluation of professional development.
Research Design - EDSI-9960
Description: This course provides an overview of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods research designs. Students will learn the fundamental components of research design including developing research questions, reviewing scholarly literature, exploring theory and theoretical frameworks, and the role of ethics in educational research.
Quantitative Research Methods - EDSI-9961
Description: This course introduces the graduate student to basic methods of empirical inquiry used in education, nursing, and related social sciences. Quantitative research designs commonly used in these disciplines are emphasized. Students will learn how to select samples, identify appropriate measurement instruments, analyze data descriptively, and apply a variety of inferential statistical tests to answer research questions.
Qualitative Research Methods - EDSI-9962
Description: This course focuses on the use of qualitative methods of research, including theoretical perspectives and methods of collection and analysis of qualitative data sources in educational studies. It emphasizes analysis of work samples, observations, inquiry data, artifacts, and other sources of data. Students become skilled at using methods of qualitative research to evaluate school improvement issues. In addition, students examine strategies for thematic and other forms of analysis of observational and inquiry data. Throughout the course students collect and analyze school improvement data.
Advanced Research Seminar - EDSI-9964
Description: In this course students will strategically begin data collection and analysis processes for their individual research studies. Students will learn how to interpret and write results, discussions, and implications for their studies related to existing literature and theoretical frameworks.
Research for Doctoral Dissertation - EDSI-9998
Description: Students develop and carry out an independent research project in school improvement. A minimum of nine semester hours in this course is required for graduation. Continuous enrollment is required while working on the dissertation project. Prerequisites: Consent of dissertation chairperson and admission to candidacy.
This describes the general information about faculty for this program.
- Yun-Jo An
- Danilo M Baylen
- Susan R. Boes
- Judy Butler
- Li Cao
- Julia Chibbaro
- Frances Chumney
- O.P. Cooper
- Adriana D'Alba
- Jill Drake
- Jennifer Edelman
- Lama Farran
- Michelle Frazier Trotman Scott
- Donna Harkins
- Linda Haynes
- Markesha Henderson
- Mary Hooper
- Kim Huett
- Barbara Kawulich
- Gail Marshall
- Diana Mindrila
- Robert C. Morris
- Andy Nixon
- Tamra Ogletree
- Abbot Packard
- Mark Parrish
- Caroline Perjessy
- Hema Ramanathan
- Glaucio Scremin
- Phyllis Snipes
- Francis Stonier
- Janet Strickland
- Mary Alice Varga
- Matt Varga
- Julia Whisenhunt
- Lara Willox
- Yan Yang
Guidelines for Admittance
- All graduate applicants must complete the online Grad Application. A one-time application fee of $40 is required.
- International applicants are subject to additional requirements and application deadlines. See Procedures for International Students.
- Earned Masters degree from a regionally or nationally accredited institution.
Program-specific Admittance Guidelines
We will accept (complete only) application packets beginning October 1, 2016.
Application packets must be received by 5 pm January 16, 2017.
Application Process for Cohort 18 (Beginning Summer, 2017)
Thanks for your interest in the University of West Georgia. Admission to the Doctor of School Improvement Degree is competitive; consequently students are urged to submit the strongest possible packet of application materials. All applicants, including previous UWG students, complete all steps of the application process as outlined below. Only complete packets will be considered.
Step 1–Online Application, Official GRE Scores, and International Students
(A) Complete the online application for graduate studies. The online application requires a $40.00 non-refundable application fee.
(B) Send official GRE scores to the University of West Georgia. Scores must be no more than 5 years old. (Verbal and Quantitative reasoning)
(C) International applicants must follow procedures and timelines of the UWG International Office.
Step 2-Mail Application Packet to Graduate Admissions
Send one complete packet to:
University of West Georgia
Office of Graduate & International Admissions
Aycock Hall
Carrollton, GA 30118
What is be Returned in the Mailed Packet?
(A) Three Letters of Recommendation: (Must use this form). At least one of the letters must be from a current or past supervisor.
(B) Vitae: A vitae listing education and employment history, experience with school improvement, and awards and recognitions. Provide your current and complete contact information, including an active e-mail address.
(C) Official Transcripts: Request official transcripts from institution(s) that you have attended. Place the transcripts in this packet in their original, sealed envelopes (it cannot be treated as official if it has been opened).
(D) Essay: Complete a 750-1,000 word essay that discusses your personal goals related to school improvement. In your essay, include any literature (e.g., research article) that has informed your professional practice or otherwise influenced you. (Include appropriate APA citations.)
You will receive notice upon receipt of your mailed packet. Incomplete packets will not be considered.
Finalists will be selected for a telephone or virtual interview.
Thanks again for your interest and best of luck!
Application Deadlines
Application deadline for the summer 2017 cohort is January , 15, 2017.
The Ed.D. in School Improvement is a cohort program that only admits once a year, each Summer.
Admission Process Checklist
- Complete online application and pay $40 non-refundable application fee
- Official GRE scores (must be no more than 5 years old) which include Verbal & Quantitative reasoning
- Three Letters of Recommendation (must use official form)
- Vitae listing education and employement history
- Official Transcripts (must be included in packet), You must include undergraduate and graduate transcirpts.
- 750-1000 word Essay that discusses personal goals & suitability for the School Improvement Degree
The Doctorate In School Improvement Program Website includes a directory of instructors and their credentials, as well as other vital information.
Margaret Parrish (Pre-enrollment advisor) firstname.lastname@example.com 678-839-6062
This program ONLY admits for summer term.
Summer 2017 Admission Deadline: January 16, 2017
Learning Objectives
- School Improvement and Reform: Students will move schools and stakeholders in directions that enhance student learning and social development and ultimately benefit society.
- Leadership: Students will influence others toward a shared commitment to a common purpose
- Teaching and Learning: Students will understand and use the knowledge based on effective teaching and learning to initiate teacher development and school improvement.
- Research and the Effective Use of Data: Students will understand, conduct, and apply impactful research in school improvement and reform
- Scholarly Persuasion: Students will engage in rational discussion informed by and grounded in the knowledge base and research in eduation and school improvement.


text:
PCC in the News
News: Board of Trustees to Hold Community Meeting on Nov. 16
The Pasadena Area Community College District Board of Trustees invites the community to an outreach meeting on Nov. 16 at 6 p.m. at the Arcadia Unified School District Board Room (234 Campus Drive, Arcadia). The meeting will be led by Dr. Anthony Fellow, the PACCD Board of Trustee Area 7 representative, and Dr. Mark Rocha, superintendent-president of PCC.
The topics up for discussion include PCC's Educational Master Plan, early college assistance, program tracks, and opportunities to increase outreach through Community Advisory Councils.
Release Date: 11/08/2011


text:
Romney home is good for San Diego
Letter writers respond to reader who voiced her opinion on Romney wealth
This letter that ran Oct. 15 generated quite a response:
With the world hurtling toward financial disaster, thousands of workers without paychecks to cover their rent and homeless trying to find shelter in the coming cold months, how do the Romneys justify spending kazillion dollars on an 11,000-square-foot mansion to be used as a "vacation" home ("Romneys' La Jolla home rebuilding plan OK'd," Oct. 12)?
It looks as though the "haves" are simply "having" more.
Liz Linderman
San Diego
Romney earned the money
In this morning's U-T Letters (Oct 15), Liz Linderman asks how the Romneys can justify spending the money to build their "mansion" in La Jolla when so many others are less well off.
Let me preface this by just saying I am not a supporter of Romney politically. I am a supporter, however, of anyone with the brains, talent, and drive to make a lot of money using these tools to be able to spend their money as they see fit.
Expecting them to share the fruits of their labor at the expense of the lifestyle they have worked so hard to create sounds a little like Karl Marx to me. The Romneys shouldn't have to justify how they use their money.
Fred Oliver
Allied Gardens
Romneys' money benefits community
If anyone wants to understand why this country is past the point of no return, just read the letter from Liz Linderman in Tuesday's Letters to the Editor. In one sentence, she complains about workers without paychecks and the Romneys spending "kazillion dollars" to build a vacation home. Where, in God's green earth does she and others like her, think these dollars go? They pay for wages (jobs), material sales; school, fire district and water district fees, taxes, etc.
Tom Honeycutt
La Mesa
Romneys' spending will lead to jobs
Regarding the Oct. 15 letter "Financial fallout not affecting the Romneys" and their plans for a mansion in La Jolla, Romney earned his money and is a self-made millionaire. Is he supposed to conduct a public poll to decide how, where and when he should spend his own money?
Did the letter writer stop to consider that the "kazillion" dollars he's going to spend on his new summer home will be spent in San Diego County? It will provide jobs and paychecks to carpenters, electricians, plumbers, roofers, etc., and income to the many subcontractors. I'd much rather see Mitt spending his money here than someplace else.
Maybe the writer ought to be venting her rage against the 12,000 retired government workers in California who are receiving annual pensions in excess of $100,000.
Gordon Cress
Wealthy not to blame
Letter writer Liz Linderman is way off-base with her criticism of Mitt Romney.
By assigning blame to the wealthy for all of society's ills, Linderman is missing the point of capitalism entirely and falling for the old leftist schtick that with wealth comes immorality.
In what way is Mitt Romney to blame for the homeless people living on the streets? Just what should Mr. Romney do to help the average American pay their rent or eliminate their credit card debt?
These are problems other people have encountered for themselves, not because of Mitt Romney or any other wealthy, successful businessperson. The fallacy of the "evil capitalist rich guy" was the heart and soul of the Occupy Wall Street movement, another leftist effort that collapsed because of a poor foundation and a failed attempt to blame social woes on the "haves" of the world. How much money do I need to have before I'm deemed evil by the left as well?


text:
A conversation with community leaders about the experiences of their communities, as they propose and implement novel climate change interventions that challenge the technocratic alternatives produced by central policy players in government or business sectors.
Whether it's urban farming, renewable energy, or public health concerns, diverse individuals are stepping up and joining forces to strategize and optimize their creative potential in the face of climate change.
Will Allen, CEO, Growing Power, Inc., Dr. Michel Gelobter, Founder & CEO, Cooler, Inc., and Jihan Gearon, Native Energy Organizer, Indigenous Environmental Network will use their experiences to reflect on the possibilities and challenges of giving voice to these groups and of strategizing around climate change in ways that are often excluded from official policy and political conversations. From this perspective they are a veritable group of "unusual suspects", effectively broadening and challenging the prevailing policy discourse.
Funded by the Wallace Genetic Foundation


text:
zigzackly's omnium-gatherum *
|Quid quid latine dictum sit, altum videtur
Like you haven't had enough of us already..
Guest bloggers:
Reactions, suggestions, any kind of feedback is always welcome.
CollaBlogs infested:
Caferati's blog;
We, the Media;
Son of CSF.
Now and then, when Hurree needs a holiday, i pinch-hit at Kitabkhana.
Site feed: Atom or Feedburner.
We endorse, approve of, and throughly adore:
Other Thieves of our Time
Recent Posts
D Mervin Ffingir writes, and having writ, moves on:
Friday, July 29, 2005
I'm about to further the perception some people have of me as being a serial offender when it comes to group blogs.
The recent floods in Bombay, though nowhere near as large a tragedy as the earthquake and tsunami, showed how unprepared the city is for a disaster.
A friend, one of the contributors to the SEA-EAT blog, has started a blog that aims to put together information on helplines in Bombay, facilities in case of emergencies, and the like. In future times of need, the idea is it will swing into action the way the way the tsunamihelp team did, posting links to current news, requests for help and the other stuff we know so well.
How you can you help
1. You could link to the blog from your own sites: http://mumbaihelp.blogspot.com/
2. You could become part of the team. You don't have to be from Bombay, or living in the city, though it would help if you knew a bit about it. In fact its essential that we do have some out-of-towners on board. When the electricity fails, and the net lines go down, those of us within the city may not be able to blog. Mail Sunil Nair - sunilrnair AT writers DOT net - or Peter Griffin - zigzackly AT gmail DOT com - and we'll send you an invitation.
3. You could mail in suggestions and information you have on emergency services. Same adddresses as above, or use the comments section on the blog.
4. And yes. If you live in a city or area that does not have a proper site and easily accessed emergency info, you could start your own regional blogs, and we'll link to each other. A chain of emergency service blogs.
Cloudburst Mumbai will aggregate news, links to news, and personal stories.
How to help: Same as above.
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So you're back, old friend, unbowed,
a little damp, thirsty perhaps.
(Ironic, isn't it? Floods,
but no water in the damn taps?)
And you're telling brave stories
via email and SMS:
How many kilometres
you walked; how long it took; the mess
you walked through; and wasn't it sad
that we still haven't got a
disaster management plan;
oh, you read the new H Potter?
It's business as usual,
you're back, you're selling things.
You're picking up the phone
after the requisite two rings
Is it resilience? Pluck?
Or just that you need that pay
cheque? Whatever your reason
I'm glad you're back. Salaam, Bombay.
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Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Ruchir Joshi switches from a cooler to an AC:
It was not that it ceased to make the factory-worth of noise that it always makes, it was not that it stopped spewing air into my flat, it was just that, as far as coolness and dryness was concerned, it hit a wall. The air it produced was now unbearably loaded with moisture. It was as if someone had compiled large buckets of hot, glue-like sweat and was slowly pouring these buckets over my head. Escaping the barsaati-cooler nexus and venturing outside brought home an even nastier reality: all the stifling mugginess of a Calcutta in March-April, but coupled with a sort of wet, 43 degree loo, a bit like a heavyweight boxer punching you in the head, but with sodden gloves. At my advanced age, and despite my bank account showing a robustness comparable to Saurav Ganguly's current batting average, I was forced to throw in the extremely wet towel.This resonates with me. Not just because it was my first extended experience of the Delhi Summer (yes, it must be capital letters), but because I was delighted witness to some of the discussion that preceded the purchase.
Go read the rest. [Via Kitabkhana]
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Uma Mahadevan-Dasgupta was at Kalaghoda
And so we end up at Samovar, sipping guava juice, thinking how wonderful it would be if nothing ever changed. If these little moneyplants inside rubber boots, hanging on the grill, were to remain the same. If the red paper lampshade above the blackboard were to throw light, eternally, on the specials of the day: guava juice, litchee juice, mango lassi, pakori jaljeera, kala khatta...If this paraphernalia on the table remained here forever, in exactly this sweet, cluttered, lovable arrangement: this red plastic ketchup bottle, the cane-wrapped glass holding paper napkins and straws, the aluminium ashtray, the bowls with green chutney and Samovar's special salsa, and of course the tiny green ceramic basket with the yellow marigold inside it, its petals tight and crinkled and mysterious as the future.Mm. So many prawn biriyanis and memories, "pot teas" and confidences. Alas, she says, good old Sams may soon go the way of the Wayside Inn. (Hm, sorry that sounds like a bad chop sockey movie, but bear with us, we're all nostalgic like.
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Thursday, July 21, 2005
Neha points us to Google's follow up to Google Earth (cue celestial trump here): Please see Google Moon.
(: Turn the zoom up to maximum, and you'll see why we will continue to adore da Goog :)
[This post dedicated to Nilanjana, to carry on from her last SMS.]
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...have been posted, quite appropriately, on a blog. I haven't looked through it in detail yet, but I thought it might be a topic worth discussing on this blog. The survey's findings are in this post.
The "Conclusion" section states
Overall, our findings show that personal and non-personal bloggers are distinctively different in their demographics, blogging experiences, and habits. Our findings also show that there are significant differences between personal and non-personal bloggers in the ethical beliefs they value and in the ethical practices they adhere to.Hm. It took a survey to come to that conclusion?
The survey was conducted by three students at the Singapore Internet Research Centre (part of Nanyang Technological University, between 6 Feb and 1 Mar 2005, and got responses from over a thousand bloggers (including yours truly) across the world.
[Cross-posted on indi�]
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A few days ago, Adrants got its chuddies in a knot about the image on this promotional website, which features a Bharata Natyam dancer. Her hands are in what the site calls "a pose called the Hanover High Shocker," which, apparently, has, erm, deeper meanings in America. We left a comment (the first one there), and now we see the, er, debate has carried on.
Go show them which finger is which, kids.
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Sunday, July 17, 2005
...is finally officially online. Would have been from the start, but the damn o3 interface stubbornly refused to accept the Indiatimes ID that is the prerequisite for a TOI column.
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We can't stop chortling. In China, says this Business Standard story, they're bastardising North Indian cuisine.
Nitin Chawla — who, ironically, is in the business of serving Chinese food in India — and his bride were not as lucky. In the course of their honeymoon, they visited Shenzen and Guangzhou, and were horrified to encounter glorified dhabas masquerading as restaurants and serving samosas and yellow dal.. (From what we know of BS's standards, this was a pretty mixed up, awkwardly-flowing piece, we must warn you. Unless it's one of the usual web-version-has-boxes-mashed-into-main-text-and-formatting-knocked-for-a-six stories. Which would be delicious coincidence. Update: Jai clarifies, in the comments section, that that was indeed the case. So an apology to the writer, whose name has slipped our feeble mind, and - darn - the BS link don't work no more. Jai?)
[Via Amit Varma]
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Friday, July 15, 2005
An excerpt from Suketu Mehta's speech at a CRY convention in New York, where he also announced a legal defense fund for Indian street kids that he has set up.
One Bombay morning, walking on the road leading to the Strand bookstore, I saw a little family: A mother, with wild and ragged hair, walking with a baby boy, maybe a year old, fast asleep on her shoulder, leading by the hand another boy, maybe four or five, the boy rubbing his eyes with the fist of his free hand. He was walking the way children walk when they have been walking a long time; his legs jerking outward, his head nodding in a circle, to beat the monotony, to beat the tiredness. They were all barefoot. They might have been walking like this for hours. The mother said something gentle to the older boy, still clutching fast to her hand. I had walked past them, but then I had to stop. They came up to a stall, and, as I expected, the mother held out her hand. The stall owner did nothing, didn't acknowledge them. Automatically I found myself opening my wallet. looked for a ten, then took out a fifty instead, and walked up very fast up to them, my insides raging, and thrust the fifty in her hand, "Yes, take this," and walked on without looking back, till I got to the air- conditioned bookstore and then stood in a corner and shut my eyes.There are more excerpts on the CRY site, here, and we also have the full speech, for anyone who's interested. Leave a comment with your email address, or drop us a mail.
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Thursday, July 14, 2005
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To raise the tone of this blog a bit after the last post, we thought we'd share this with you.
News Hounds, a group of US bloggers who magnanimously "watch Fox so you don't have to," inform us that the extreme right-wing in the USA admits to liking a nice bit of ass..
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Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Our post on the Save India Family Foundation seems to have riled a person called Sumanth from Eastern Dynamics. Since we're all for free speech, we're bringing it out of the comments section:
Do you support imprisonment of old and sick people without investigation (under section 498a of IPC) ?We thank Sumanth for the concern. And we put it to you, dear reader. Does this sound to you like someone who is trying to obscure the question? Or are we just underinformed (which we'll happily admit to)?
Blogged for thee by @ 10:40 pm | 34 Comments | | Link Love? |
Monday, July 11, 2005
Try Copyscape. We gave it a spin, and found posts that we had crossposted on different blogs, and also sites we'd quoted from (Neha, it was just a link, honest!). Works only on more recent posts, though. wethinks you have to sign up for the paid version, Copysentry, for more than that.
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Sunday, July 10, 2005
Live and let live, we say. It takes all kinds, we smile. Judge not, lest ye be judged, we remind ourselves. Still, we can't help smoking at the edges a bit at when we see sites like Save Indian Family Foundation.. On the home page they equate single parent families with crime:
The least we want is a large scale single parenting and resultant massive crime rate in another 15 years time. Is this the kind of society we plan to hand over to our children ?
And thesite is - surprise! - anti-feminism:
We are also opposed to various reductionistic ideologies like Feminism which advocate very ineffective and grotesque solutions to various social problems.Flip to the Say No to Feminism page for more:
Feminists are against religion and spirituality. Almost all of them are Atheists deep inside. Have you ever come across any single instance of spiritual talk in Feminist literature that is circulated in India ? The answer would be No. They want everything around them to be arranged such that they can indulge in hedonism. They are hypochondriac hypocrites and they are infecting all of us at a very rapid rate. The satanic forces of Feminism (a part of the demon called reductionism) is threatening our very social existence.and
A person can only be compassionate to everybody or she can be compassionate to nobody, because brain can not do a distinction.Oh yes. there are pages showing the Correlation between breaking families and Cannibalism in Europe, and (perhaps this a very subtle joke) a page on the "Newage Man" that is "Under Construction." Gah.
But here's a clue, on a page about something the author calls "SOWRY harassment"
Neither will I provide a weekly amount of sex, or whatever I used to give..We're off to lose our dinner.
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Saturday, July 09, 2005
That's a word we just made up. We think. Or we may have read it somewhere and forgot.
While we try and think up a witty defintition, got more?
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Manjula Padmanabhan has a game for you. "Sudocritters" she calls it. All the fun of Sudoku, the game that's gone all cult with the
Go get yours while they're hot. And before the patent lawyers descend.
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We have it on good authority that the definitive earliest known citation of the phrase "the whole nine yards" has nothing to do with machine guns and all that. It dates back to a romantic moment in Bonnie Scotland.
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Tunku Varadarajan at the Wall Street Journal wrote to several friends in London, hoping the blasts had left them unscathed. He received responses that reassured him, "marked by that distinctive unflappability."
"I'm OK, but am a bit shattered, old boy. It's a hairy thing, walking to work at my age. At Bond Street [tube station] someone went around shouting 'Everybody out. Emergency reported.' Thousands stagger out. Bus queues horrendous. I get in line. Swear. Looked around for a taxi. I must be joking. So hoofed it. Still puffing. How to get home, Zeus knows!"[Via Amit Varma at India Uncut.]
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Neha Vishwanathan, blog buddy and collaborator on the SEA-EAT blog, is in London now, and blogged the blast from a coffee house. In a later post, she muses:
In a strange sense it brought me back to where we stopped after the Tsunami. Now, the blasts in London were in no way comparable. You compare the infrastructure this city has to say a little fishing village in India and your heart stops right there, but it is the possibility that I find incredible. Further, the internet scores over traditional media when it comes to emergency services, in the sense that all the information is available all the time, instead of *streamed* information as on the radio and the television, whereby it is easier to access relevant information. While streamed information makes a lot of sense if you are an audience and eating dinner meanwhile, consolidated and collated information is more crucial when you need it the most.
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Omnium-gatherum. Mm. Don't you just love the sound of that word?
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Friday, July 08, 2005
Go on. Go try Spell with Flickr.
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Thursday, July 07, 2005
The BBC features first person accounts. [The Beeb seems to be be one of the very, very few in Big Media to get the "power of the people" bit, no?]
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Monday, July 04, 2005
Somewhere between Saturday night, when we last checked and just now, this blog crawled past the 10,000 visitor mark. Thank ye kindly, all ye who wander thisaway.
(Yes, we know, 10k isn't much for the year that the counter has been running, and we're small fry, but please humour us.)
We're off to sleep now. Meeting tomorrow morning, so the pithy obervations of Delhi traffic and Calcutta's charms will have to wait for another day.
Blogged for thee by @ 2:40 am | 3 Comments | Post a Comment | Link Love? |
You know the bit that airline companies like to spout, about how you're more likely to die crossing the street than in an air disaster?
Well, it occurs to me that far, far fewer people fly than cross streets.
Bloody spin doctor who thought that one up must have got a whacking great bonus. They must burn incense before his graven image in every airline corporate HQ.
Blogged for thee by @ 2:34 am | 1 Comments | Post a Comment | Link Love? |
They say Jaipur is the Pink City. I know all of Goa is yellow in my mind's eye - the yellow gold of beer, the yellow of fried fish, the sandy yellow of the beaches.
I never thought of Bombay as having any particular colour, though. At best, a murky grey.
But as the plane comes in over the slums of Ghatkopar's hills, I see that my city has turned bright blue. Every second hut has reinforced its roofing with sheets of thick blue plastic. (The blue variety, I'm told, is ubiquitous because it's the cheapest.) I know that at street level, the lanes between those huts are mucky and filthy, that the drainage and sanitation leaves much to be desired.
But right now, from here, in the gray monsoon light, it paints a pretty picture.
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I'm bad about heights. I hate flying. So naturally, I always try and get a window seat in an attempt to cure myself of this phobia.
As we head South-West across the plains, I look down at the lattice work of fields in various shades of brown and yellow. Below, small fluffy clouds advance. Not so small, I see: their shadows cover complete towns. Perhaps they will have a few showers for the broiling north.
Somewhere midway, the captain tells us, in a strong Australian accent (or perhaps it was NZ), that there's a spot of cloud approaching, we should belt up, and the service would halted for a while. (Oh yes, if you're flying Air Deccan, do not have the samosa. Twenty-five rupees gets you one of them, and it's a hard, cardboardy, tasteless thing. And carry change. The flight attendant owes me five bucks.)
I clasp the armrest, knuckles white, as I peer forward to the wall of cloud that stretches further than I can see above, below, and to either side of our flight path.
We go straight into it. Gawd, I think, how the effing hell did aviators manage this in the days before radio beams and radar and computers and whatnot made flying as safe as it is today?
And yes, this is where all the rain is. The clouds we passed on the way looked like an armada, Many of them, yes, stretching off to the horizon, yes, but each separate from the other. This was the real thing. This was the monsoon in no uncertain terms.
After what seems like forever, we break through the wall, and we're floating above a carpet of cloud, an unruly carpet, twisted into phantasmagorical shapes by the conflicting air currents, spires, and spirals, and whorls, and castles, and mythical creatures, and waves, and, and, and... shapes for which I have no words. Here and there, shafts of sunlight cut through, stirring up fluffy maelstroms, where they meet the thicker clouds. I completely forget that I am terrified of flying.
We begin our descent, and as we get below the cloud, low enough to be able to make out details of the land below us, I can pick out individual fields again. These are all brown. Not the dry brown that characterises Maharashtra most of the year. No, this is the brown of mud mixed with water. Of fields stirred up by lots of heavy rain. And its raining now. The windows are streaked with water racing across the plane's fuselage.
And finally, we cross New Bombay (Hi Mom!), and the creek, and Bombay itself slides into view.
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The sheer vastness of Delhi hits me as the plane climbs into the air.
Bombay may stretch interminably northwards, but, because of its geographical constraints, it is a slim city.
Delhi sprawls outwards in every direction, horizon to horizon. I have a vision of the city as a giant amoeba, gobbling up, nay assimilating, UP, Haryana, burping, then moving on to Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal.
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It's a blistering hot day in Delhi, and in the airport, the airconditioning, as well as Air Deccan's computer systems, have gone West. There is a long, grumbling line. A large family earns vituperation for barging to the front of the long queue. One of the woman is carrying an infant, and she brandishes it like a cardboard sign as explanation for the line-jumping.
A stunning young woman in a backless blouse is the focus of most gazes. I amuse myself in my normal way, watching people watch people. Before I kick myself for being an idiot and join on on the communal lech.
Behind me, a young couple is speaking Marathi. And I realise that it's been three weeks since I've heard the language. Now, I had to learn the language at school when my family moved to Bombay from the South, and I was pathetically bad at it, almost failing a year because of the low marks I got in the subject, so I developed a deep bias against the language. But now, rootless, cyncical, footloose me, I'm feeling all soft and fuzzy and at home.
Go figure.
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A doesn't like Delhi's autorickshaws.
But I seem to have better luck with them. Haven't got majorly ripped off to date, despite knowing little of the city except CP, New Delhi railway station, Nizamuddin and the roads that connect them. And had one experience that warmed the cockles of my very cynical heart.
I was heading to Nehru Place to get myself a ticket from an Air Deccan booking office.
First, the auto driver didn't make any demands, just turned on his meter, which, I'm told, is a minor miracle. And reinforces my belief that I lead a charmed life.
Then, on the flyover between Nizamuddin and the Ashram junction, traffic slowed to a crawl. I was starting to worry about whether I'd make it to the travel agent's in time. Peering through the windscreen, I saw that the hold up was party because of a cycle rickshaw, laden with bulging sacks of atta, being pulled by a scrawny man straining every sinew.
The cars ahead swung to the right of him, in typical Delhi style, unmindful of what might be in that line, some swearing at the hapless rickshaw puller. Shit, I said to myself (we do a posh line in soliliquy), I'm never going to make it at this rate.
My auto finally came up just behind the cycle rickshaw. And the driver began what my Bombay instincts think of as a risky overtaking manouver. But, as he drew level, he slowed down, stuck his left leg out and instead of the passing kick I thought he was going to deliver, braced his leg against the back of the rickshaw, revved his engine, and began to push the cycle rickshaw up the long slope. The rickshaw puller feeling the load lighten, picked up the pace to a shambling half-run. Our convoy was now sticking even further out into the traffic, and the impatient horns behind us built to a crescendo. Angry faces glared at us as they overtook in the remaining one-and-a-half lanes. But we proceeded slowly right up to the crest of the slope before my driver brought his leg back in and scooted ahead, barely acknowledging the rickshaw puller's grin of gratitude.
Random kindness, senseless acts of beauty. Never thought I'd find an example on Delhi's roads.
(Yes, I got my ticket. Though I honestly wouldn't have minded if I hadn't.)
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Most of the notes for the Guwahati-Lumding-Haflong-Silchar leg of my trip have been chopped and pruned into the Outlook Traveller piece (archived here). These are some of the bits that were left on the cutting room floor.
The Retiring Room at Lumding is musty. And the bed linen does not bear close inspection. But this I notice only in the morning. I am greedy for sleep, after the late arrival of the Inter-city Express from Guwahati, thanks to some truly ludicrous delays at the starting point. As I drift off to sleep, burping the evil egg curry and rice I had on the train, I notice that the sky has begin to lighten, and the birds in the trees are already rasing a ruckus - it's not even 4 a.m., fercryinoutloud!
I am woken earlier than I want to be, because the other occupant of the room has an earlier connecting train to catch. There's a nip in the air, thanks to the rain that had been falling all night, and I treat myself to a rare hot bath.
All things considered though, these retiring rooms are a bargain. Just ninety rupees, and you get a bed, a washbasin, an attached bathroom (with heater!), and a wake-up call.
I tarry so long over my bath that I barely get into the train before it starts moving. No time to find breakfast. The Bong family next to me has a cavernous tiffin basket. And they proceed to chomp their way through its contents in methodical, determined fashion. I have to swallow drool and concentrate on the landscape very hard when they break out a box of mishti. Argh.
Salvation. Tea and sweet buns. The elderly gent selling chai on the Barak Valley Express is evidently a freelance operative. Either that, or he's a Railway employee who hasn't heard of Lallu Prasad Yaday. No khullars here; he's using environmentally unfriendly plastic which people are pitching out of the window when they're done. My green heart is aghast - the landscape we're passing is so breathtakingly beautiful.
I stow my used cup under the seat, intending to take it to the compartment's rubbish bin later, but when he comes around to collect his three rupees, he spots it, picks it up, and chucks it out of the window.
I'm not a major channa fan, especially when it's served with huge lashings of eye-watering masalas, but that's about all the food that gets sold on this line. Except for the tea and sweet buns, and boiled eggs (called "dim" - it took me a while to figure out what the singsong "dim-bun" the vendors at the stations were hollering meant). And fruit. delicious, juicy, sweet pineapple slices at almost every station. Thick yellow bananas. Some kind of berry that I forgot to sample.
A tunnel. There are no lights in the train. The blackness seems unending. My eyes struggle to get used to it, but there is nothing to get used to. It just stays black.
Birdsong so loud that you can hear it above the train noise.
I remember the travel chap at Guwahati telling me about Jatinga, near Haflong, where I'll be staying the night. Folklore says that birds commit suicide there, diving into fires, blundering into trees. The truth, he tells me, is that tribespeople light fires to disorient the birds as they fly through the mist. And club them out of the air as they bumble past. Attempts are being made, he says, to "educate" the tribes into not doing this, but the practice is too deeply entrenched in their way of life.
He also tells me that former Bodo militants are now employed as wardens in the wildlife sanctuaries. They know the jungle, have poached those very areas, and so know excatly how to protect them now. Wonderful idea, whoever thought of it.
This line is one of the last of the metre gauge lines in India. It's diesel locos now, but they do run a few tourist specials with steam engines a few times a year. Those would be the Brits, I think. A train-loving people if ever there was one. I have been told the line will convert to broad gauge soon, but a journo I met in Haflong tells me that it will be more than a decade before the work is complete. Barely a tenth of the money needed has been sanctioned by the powers that be. I certainly see no signs of work in progress except towards the end of the second leg of my journey, near Silchar.
Haflong is HQ for the North Cachar Hills district, and most of the buildings I pass seem to be either some form of goverment office or army billets. The market area is full of taxis, rickshaws and busses. And STD booths.
The Circuit House at Haflong is British built. (Next to it is the New Circuit House, which is a two-storeyed, concrete box.) Its angled roof is high, the verandah is broad, and the little garden in front is lovingly tended, a riot of flowers. Chrysanthemums so huge that N&D's neighbours in Nizammudin would go quite green if they set eyes on them. Shoeflowers in red and yellow. Many others I cannot name. The property sits on the crest of a hill and has a picture post card view. Clouds caressing green hills, a river - which must be the Barak - threading its way through the valley, a distant bridge along which a goods train the length of my little finger is making its way. And the air is moist, misty, fragrant. It occurs to me quite suddenly that I am very literally head in the clouds.
The service here is wonderful. After some initial confusion (from my name, they were expecting a gora), the staff lead me to a "VIP" room. It is huge, and the carpets carry musty memories of the clouds they have shared the space with. The bathroom is larger than most of the hotel rooms I've stayed in. And it's the only one I have ever seen that has a western style commode, an Indian squatter and a urinal, all in a row. And a huge, elderly water heater.
The room has overstuffed armchairs, and mosquito nets above the beds. I sink into a chair to wait for the tea and toast the cook was rustling up for me, and doze for a few minutes.
The tea arrives. And the toast, is buttered on both sides. Really.
I am asked what I'd like for dinner. Anything, I tell them. Whatever you are eating. I am rewarded with a delicious fish curry with a soft, thick-grained rice, brought to me in a large hot-case. Yum. The blues - they always come to me when I'm in a really beautiful place on my own - vanish, and I polish off every last grain. I am very definitely not one of those people who will waste away when I am sad.
There is no one I can talk to here. The staff had retired after the standard polite exchanges of information about ancestry, community, employment history and marital status that are so much a part of Indian conversations with strangers. My Nokia is just an alarm clock on this journey: The only cellphone signal one gets after Guwahati is BSNL, which does not allow customers of private networks to roam on its frequency. The STD booths in the market would be closed. Email is out of the question. So I write poetry instead.
There is a storm. It is a wild, alive thing. From the spill of light from the verandah, I see the wind whip the trees in the compound into a frenzy. The rain falls in fat, heavy drops. I walk out into it, and am drenched in a few minutes. Lightning flashes - and I am in a flat area on top of a hill. I scurry back indoors. There is no electricty. I write up my notes by candlelight, and with the mosquitos kept at bay by slathers of repellant and mosquito nets, I go to sleep with the windows open, and do not miss the fan at all.
I am woken by hammering on my door at 7 a.m. I had forgoten that I had met a young man from ETV the previous evening and had promised to give him a sound bite in the morning. Cup of tea in hand, I step out into the bright sun (takes getting used to, this early sunrise-sunset thing), and proceed to pontificate for his camera on tourism in the North-East, from the vast perspective of a day-and-a-half in the area. (I did tell him this was my first visit, and that I knew very little about the region, but he brushed that aside. I suspect that the exotica value of having a chap with waist-length hair blowing in the wind in his viewfinder outweighed the ignorance I displayed.)
We chat a bit after he gets his footage, and he makes delicate inquiries about any editors I might know who would give him writing work that he would do for free, for the exposure. The lack of opportunity in the hills is something that he feels deeply; he tells me of the two day journey to Calcutta he had to take to the interview that got him his present job.
They are erecting a new covering for the platform at Haflong Hill station. The platform curves through thick vegetation, and you can hear the train chugging up the slope from miles away.
The journey to Silchar is marred by a selfish old bitch who stretched out asleep over three seats. After a while, when she finally shows signs of stirring (she was faking the sleep, I'm sure), I am able to get the middle birth up and lever myself into its confines (meter gauge trains are way smaller in every respect, including the space between bunks, and there's way too much of me). Fifteen minutes later, she demands that I lower the berth, because she wasn't getting enough breeze. We spend the rest of the journey in a state of cold war. And she looked like such a dear old thing.
About half an hour from Silchar, she reaches up to pull down one of the bags that she has spread out over the complete upper berth. I rise to help her, she politely refuses my help, but a tacit truce is declared.
When I pull out the notes with the hotel names and locations that the young TV journo had given me, I notice that she is peering at them, trying to read them upside down. I grin to myself. Finally, I give in, and ask her advice about how to get to them. She replies in great detail, and then proceeds to Make Conversation. The usual - community, work, reasons for stay, etc.
At Silchar, I stop to buy smokes. A voice from a passing rickshaw yells my name. It is the young reporter. He had been looking for me on the journey (he was in the same train), and he berates me for my elusiveness. He had called a hotel in Silchar and booked a room for me from the train. Verily I say unto thee, bretheren, somewhere in my youth or childooood...
Then hotel is a bit of a dump. The kitchen is closed. The bellboy is concerned that I have not eaten. I send him in search of some food. He returns with a packet of bread and no change from a fifty. Ah well. Expensive bread and bottled water for dinner.
There is another storm. And the lights go out. I stand by the window, looking out on a town lit only by passing headlights. Nearby, in another hotel, there is a wedding. The loudspeakers blare Hindi film songs. Ooh, local culture.
The airport is a long way away. The flight is late.
Just outside, a cafetaria is open for business. Assam tea, and parathas is all I can get. I'm not complaining. Delicious.
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It's so green here. The monsoon isn't here yet, officially, but from the drive into the city from the airport, you wouldn't know it. Everything is green, in way that I have only seen in Kerala. The air is cool, crisp, clean, and smells of growing vegetation.
If it wasn't for the never-ending stream of hoardings, this would be a magical ride. my profession has much to answer for.
As we get into the city proper, the temperature goes up several degrees. And vehicle engines and horns make their presence felt. Roads are being widened and resurfaced, in preparation for the monsoon, my cousin tells me. Ah. Municipalities everywhere are alike.
Ingrid, my cousin, drops me off at the office of the travel agent who has arranged for my stay in Haflong. She has to go to the station to get a lost train ticket replaced. I stay for a while, printing out time tables, doing a bit of quick research on the area, and chatting with the staff. I also make a quick business pitch to the owner, about Pinstorm. He seems interested.
Pinstorm. Egad. I forgot. I turn on my phone, and there are three messages from the office. I call, and chat with the team about an assignment in progress.
I collect the fax that confirms my Circuit House booking in Haflong, and set off for my Ingrid's house. She isn't back yet, so I make the acquaintance of her two little boys, the maid, and the family's cat.
It is only four in the evening, but the sky is beginning to darken. Ah yes. That's why the "Garden Time" (one hour ahead of IST), that the folks here sensibly run their lives by.
Squadrons of mosquitos descend. I lather myself in Odomos before stepping out for a smoke, and to play with the kittens, while the boys, and their tutor, finish off their homework. They join me later, and tell me about school, and sports, and friends, and ask me when they could come visit.
By the time I head back to Guwahati station, it is somewhere between six and seven, and the rest of India is getting its sunsets at conventional times, but it's dark here already.
Ingrid is still in the booking office building, joined now by Prafulla, her husband. She has been shunted from counter to counter, but can't leave - she has to make a work-related trip to Calcutta tomorrow. There, amidst a bevvy of Buddhist monks and flocks of businessmen, we attempt to catch up on the last ten or so years before it's time for my train.
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Bagdogra? What, where or who on earth is Bagdogra? Before this plane ride, I didn't know the place existed. I had no idea that my flight to Guwahati wasn't a direct one. I had kind of assumed that the name I saw next to my flight number on the destination board at Delhi airport was just the name of Guwahati's airport. I would have probably got off the plane if the announcement asking passengers bound for Guwahati not to change seats hadn't penetrated through the cotton stuffing my ears. God, I know so little about my country.
Ah. A clue. My cellphone searches for a signal. The operator name comes up. "Airtel W.B.," it says. W.B. W.B.? W.B.! West Bengal! Hoorah! I'm not lost anymore.
Such is the life of the veteran travel writer.
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Saturday, July 02, 2005
Outlook Traveller offer me a trip to Jaipur to ride a couple of metre gauge trains for their July trains special. I accept.
N&D look concerned. If I'm wilting like last week's cut flowers in Delhi, their eyes say, how the heck was I going to manage the desert?
The day I decide to call OT and chicken out, a reprieve comes my way. They'd like me to ride a hill railway in Assam instead.
Somwhere in my yoooouth or childhooood...
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For some reason, I associate bad visibility only with cold or rain.
So it comes as a surprise to me to see the heat and dust haze as we ride an autorickshaw through the city's broad streets.
I drop A off, and head back to Nizammudin. She is a mere wisp, is A. But she does this route every day, by bus. She has no AC at home. And here I am, hulking large brute, and I can't get home to the airconditioning fast enough. Yeah, she grew up in Rajasthan, and she's as tough as nails and I'm way too fat and out of condition, but I still feel like a complete loser.
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Things close early in Delhi. That was my impression many years ago when I first visited the nation's capital. Of course that was also a time when militancy in Punjab was still very much a clear and present danger.
My dance shoes (yes, this was very long ago) had given out, and I needed some kind of soft canvas shoes for our rehearsals. I remember going out to look for a shoe shop at around 7:30 p.m. Not a shop was open. Not one.
Things aren't that extreme now, of course. Even then, one weekend, when I'm supposed to meet A and maybe catch a play, I tarry over work (God bless net connections) a little longer than planned, and only wind up at her office near eight. Nothing will be open now, she tells me scornfully. It's way too late to go anywhere now.
Ah well. Cafe Coffee Day is ACed.
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The eyes feel it first, this unfriendly inland heat.
They go dry and sore around the edges.
Then the nostrils feel it too.
I'm told the lips go next. That in the desert, after as little as a day of water deprivation, the lips, composed of even higher degrees of water than the rest of us, can disappear altogether.
Thank goodness for ACs.
I only start to revive in the evening. In my own small way, I know now why Bedouins and Hottentots prefer to travel in the night.
I'm amazed that Delhi actually gets any work done in the day time. I mean, sure, there's ACs in the office and all that, but how the hell do people manage to summon up the energy to get there?
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N&D do not sneer.
They console me, by telling me that it was sensible of me to not push it. Better to acclimatise, they say. "I do not need to acclimatise!" I want to scream. "I am tough. I am a traveller. I am a hiker."
But it's too darn hot to raise my voice.
Like I said. Wimp.
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In the macho spirit of one who travels with a haversack instead of a suitcase, I decide I will walk to N&D's home. It's a ten minute amble even if one stops to look for roses to smell.
A minute away from the station, and I'm beginning to wilt already. And regretting the sneering way I dismissed many importuning taxis, autorickshaws and rickshaws. Another thirty seconds and yet another rickshaw pedals by asking for my custom. I give in. I fifteen or so pedal strokes later, I'm there, shamefacedly explaining to the sinewy rickshaw pedaller that it was the haversack, and I normally can do this easily. And I give him a twenty instead of the ten he asks for.
It's hush money.
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Delhi first.
From the sauna of the Bombay summer to the oven of the real thing. I've never really had to handle dry heat for any length of time before. The most time I've spent in the interiors before this was a-couple--days-for-a-friend's-wedding kind a thing. And those times were spent, as far as possible, in close proximity to giant coolers and the like.
Advance notice of what I was heading into came when I opened the door of the Rajdhani to sneak a smoke. Just 9 a.m., but the sun was already doing its thing in no uncertain terms.
And even then, in that cauldron run dry, I could see people working in the fields we were thundering past. Makes one feel like a complete wimp, I tell you.
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Way back in the last century, some net users would post decriptions of their forays into the corners of the world wide web. Over time, in a tip of the hat to even more ancient world travellers, they called these web logs. Which, over time, in the way of all things web, was shortened. To blogs.
This blog just returned to home base after three weeks and a bit in other parts of the country. And for the first time, carried a note book (the paper kind) around, and jotted down impressions. Over the next few posts, I'm going to put those notes down here.
You have been warned.
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Note: [*] = The site linked to requires registration.
Zig's on TwitterFollow, all ye who must know more.
We've all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters will eventually produce a masterpiece. Now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is not true.


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Sarah's Jump for Equality Skydive 25 page
I am doing a skydive in aid of Stonewall UK for Stonewall because I believe everyone should be free to be themselves
Event: Jump for Equality Skydive 25
Sarah Morrow
£515.00 raised of £430.00 target
31 donations
My Target:
£515.00 raised so far
How to make a donation
Donate online at - www.justgiving.com/Sarah-Morrow1
By mobile internet Scan this code on your smartphone to go straight to Sarah Morrow's page.
By text message to donate £10 Text SAMO76 £10
to 70070
Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.
Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.
As many of you will probably know by now, I am doing a skydive in support of Stonewall UK to help raise money for their fight against prejudice and phobic attitudes towards people of different sexualities and preferences. As a student at the University of Chichester, I recently witnessed and signed the government Sports Charter for our university, to try and rid homophobia both on and off the playing field.
A skydive is something I have always wanted to take part in and to do it for this cause is very important as I believe everyone should have the freedom to be themselves in every aspect of their lives and not be punished for it. Safe to say I am terrified though!
Please give anything you can to help this cause, thank you x
Updates 0
Raising money for
Charity Registration No. 1101255
Whilst some may argue LGBT people are now equal in law, Stonewall knows there's still so much left to do. We need your help changing hearts and minds in order to create a world where all lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people can live and love freely without fear of persecution.
Raising money for
Run by Stonewall
Charity Registration No. 1101255
Donations 31
Well Done Sarah
Donation by Graveyard Carol on 06/10/14
+ £2.50 Gift Aid
Well done Sarah. Look forward to hearing about the next challenge!
Donation by Aunty P x on 29/09/14
+ £2.50 Gift Aid
Proud of you! Well done lovely xxx
Donation by Emily Brown on 28/09/14
+ £2.50 Gift Aid
Well done. X
Donation by Anonymous on 28/09/14
+ £2.50 Gift Aid
Donation by Andy, Hannah and freya x on 27/09/14
Have a great time Sarah, for a great cause
Donation by Alfie, Shaunagh on 26/09/14
+ £2.50 Gift Aid
Donation by Patrick Johnson on 26/09/14
Good luck Sarah. Hope that this gets you above your target young lady!!! xx
Donation by Mark Buckley on 26/09/14
+ £6.25 Gift Aid
Break a leg... Oh wait, no, opposite of that!
Donation by Anonymous on 26/09/14
+ £5.00 Gift Aid
Snaps to your for doing this you crazy girl! Proud of you. X
Donation by Lauren Whittaker on 26/09/14
Hey Mate! Good Luck! You are very brave to do this :) xx
Donation by April Cowley on 25/09/14
Hopefully see you at the end xx
Donation by Diane and Cieran on 25/09/14
+ £2.50 Gift Aid
Pressed by your mother..... However well worth it and I'm pleased she did.
Donation by Michael Horrocks on 19/09/14
Good Luck!
Donation by Joanne Sharp on 19/09/14
I hope someone knows what they are doing!
Donation by Family Morrow on 19/09/14
+ £12.50 Gift Aid
Don't forget to pull the blue cord, or is it the red one?
Donation by Uncle Rob on 19/09/14
+ £12.50 Gift Aid
Good luck! Well impressed xx
Donation by Josh on 08/09/14
Good Luck!!! Hope it goes well!
Donation by Emma Foster on 01/09/14
good luck!
Donation by Georgina on 01/09/14
Have fun chick!!! x x
Donation by Koral-lee on 31/08/14
+ £1.25 Gift Aid
Good luck Sarah :) xxx
Donation by Chelsea Keith on 24/08/14
+ £1.25 Gift Aid
Donation by Zak Impey on 22/08/14
Proud of you gal! Love this productive attitude towards fundraising, you go girl! xxx
Donation by Lauren Dudley on 27/07/14
+ £2.50 Gift Aid
Donation by Anonymous on 11/07/14
via sms
hope you reach your target soon xx
Donation by Sarah McLane on 11/07/14
+ £2.50 Gift Aid
Donation summary
- * Online donations£460.00
- Offline donations£50.00
- Text donations£5.00
- Total raised£515.00
- Gift Aid£82.50
* Charities pay a small fee for our service. Find out how much it is and what we do for it.


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Sports simulations are a particular breed of play-by-mail (or play-by-e-mail) games which concern themselves with the management of a fictional sports team or fictional individual in a sport like tennis or boxing. The most commonly simulated sports are American (gridiron) football, soccer (Association football), and hockey, though someone's had a go at just about any team sport, not to mention a fair number of individual sports. Generally, participants in these games send in instructions to the moderator (frequently referred to as a "commissioner") who processes the instructions using either a special computer program or a board game and reports the results back to the participants. Players also take on the role of managers, trading players amongst themselves and issuing "press releases" tweaking the opposition. Games which are played through postal mail are generally fee-based, to cover the cost of stamps if nothing else. Games played via e-mail are usually free but some charge for turns.
Following these guidelines will allow us to add your site to the directory as quickly as possible.
- Use your site''s actual title.
- Create a brief description, under 25 words, listing the current content of your site (not the future content).
- Do not use first person verbiage (we, our, us).
- Do not use marketing verbiage. (We''re the best!, Most awesome site, Check it Out!)
- Avoid using terms such as much more, lots, more, or anything else that would indicate that there is more to your site than what is in the description. Take the time to list out what the site has instead of using these terms.
Following these guidelines will allow us to review your site as quickly as possible.This category is for wrestling e-feds and sites that support those e-feds. An e-fed is a fantasy wrestling federation where participants compete with real or original wrestlers via email, a message board, or through some other method. Please read the submission guidelines before submitting a site. Sites are reviewed periodically and deleted if found to be inactive or under heavy construction.
1. Do NOT submit your site until it is fully ready. Do NOT submit e-feds very recently formed that do not have enough members or those that do not have any activity.
2. Submit your real URL, not redirect ones such as cjb.net or cloak domain names.
3. Give the name of your e-fed as the title, not an abbreviation.
4. Check how the listed sites are described to form your description. Provide information on whether the wrestlers used are original or real wrestlers, how the results are reached (via RPG performance, via a simulation such as a video game, etc.), and the main content of your page (do you have a comprehensive title history, do you have articles/columns/rumors, etc.
Describe your site only in the method the sites listed are described. This means do NOT use marketing verbiage or hype.


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Modern Warfare 3 Elite DLC Dated
Written Thursday, March 15, 2012 By Lee BradleyView author's profile
The latest content drops for Modern Warfare 3 have finally been dated. They'll hit PS3 premium elite subscribers on April 12th. Well, give or take an hour or five.
Speaking on his blog, Activision's Dan Amrich revealed that the precise date is not controlled by the publisher and as such it is impossible to put a precise time on the release.
"The exact posting time for PSN DLC is up to Sony, since they run and update the PlayStation Store," he explained.
"Maybe that updated will be mid-morning, or maybe it will be late in that day; maybe that will make it actually technically the next day if you live in Europe, which would be "around 4/12."
He continued, "Activision can't promise a date because Activision doesn't update the digital stores itself. I think of it as if Activision is Pepsi and Sony is the grocery store; we deliver the fizzy water, but they actually run the checkout line. Make sense?"
Pretty much, Dan. Pretty much.
Modern Warfare 3 Content Drops 4, 5 and 6 are the Black Box map, plus Special Ops missions Black Ice and Negotiator. They will be made available to non Elite subscribers at a later date. Video below... branded with Xbox 360 guff. Sorry.


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Rentals- Crandon Park
Equipment Rentals at Crandon Park:
The Miamikiteboarding North Beach Concession offers equipment rentals and services:
You will find Kayak Rentals, Stand Up Paddleboard (SUP) Rental and Lessons, Taxiboat service and Kiteboard Lessons.
Also, our front beach store conveniently offers: Snack Bar, Wi-Fi, Picnic Tables, Chairs and Umbrellas, Showers and Lockers, all this in the safest beach in Miami.
MiamiKiteboarding Crandon Park - North Beach Concession 305-345-9974
- Concession Services and Rates:
We are Open 7 days a week all year long.
- Kayak Rental - Double:
$20 per hour
$45 for 3 hours
- Stand Up Paddleboarding Rentals:
$20 per hour
$30 for 2 hours
- Kiteboarding Lessons:
$50 Per hour for Discovery Clinic (2hr)
- Kiteboat Adventures / Kitesafari and Boat Shuttle Service:
Starts at $39, Please call the TaxiBoat at 305-401-8885
Kiteboarding at Crandon Park:
Crandon Park - North Beach Concession 305-345-9974
The North Beach at Crandon Park offers something for everyone; with a convenient snack bar, cold drinks, picnic tables and Wi-Fi connection. Operating since 2001; Miamikiteboarding was the first kite school established in Miami, we are known for our solid and extensive experience in the field which has made us a leader in teaching the sport.
Our School is also one of the only 2 Training Center for the International Kiteboarding Organization ( IKO ) in the Mainland USA, the owner is an IKO Master Instructor Trainer. Kiteboarders and Instructors can enroll courses to start a professional Career teaching the sport and reach their maximum potential.
Crandon is the rider's dream spot in Florida, with a lagoon style flat conditions and a US top ranked beach with all facilities; watched by lifeguards who ensure a quality and safe swim zone.
We teach in perfectly clear shallow waters which allows for very fast and safe learning. As an IKO Center, we ensure quality teaching standards and the IKO certification card level.
Private or group instruction. Lessons start at $50 /hr ; include a licensed & insured coach plus all the kitesurf equipment and complimentary water gear. We have specialized in Kids Kiteboarding Clinics (every Saturday 10-12pm) and Watersports Camps (Spring Breaks and Summer)
For additional fun, you will find Kayak Rentals Stand Up Paddleboards ( SUP ) rental and lessons, Our Front Beach Store also offers conveniently : Snack Bar, Wi-Fi, Chairs and Umbrella, showers, lockers, all this in the safest beach in Miami.
Other Rentals
Kitesafari and Boat Shuttle Service:
We own two first class boats to take your kiteboarding to the next level; Kite in uncrowned and remote places or get progress your abilities with down winder and deep water lessons. Prices Start at $39, please call the TaxiBoat at 305-401-8885.
- Lighthouse Water Sport Rental, Inc. at Crandon Park
> Food Menu - Lighthouse Water Sport Rental, Inc.
- Bike Rentals
Singles, $4/half-hour, $6/hour
Quads, $12/half-hour, $18/hour
- Beach Rentals
Chairs, $7/day
Umbrellas, $10/day
Set (2 chairs + 1 umbrella), $20/day
For more information on cabana rentals, picnic shelter rentals, carousel rental and more see our fee schedule.


text:
Newegg.com - A great place to buy computers, computer parts, electronics, software, accessories, and DVDs online. With great prices, fast shipping, and top-rated customer service - once you know, you Newegg.
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Tech lovers are dancing in the streets over all the remarkable new features of the latest Apple offering. This joy can be prolonged indefinitely as long as you have OtterBox protection. Simply slide on the Reflex Series for iPhone 4S and enjoy the sleek, highly-protective qualities of this innovative case. Easy to install and uninstall, you can dock in an instant and slip the case back on for portability and protection on-the-go. This iPhone 4S case protects all the ways you like to use your iPhone.
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Great Case
This review is from: OtterBox Reflex Series Gunmetal Solid Case for iPhone 4/4S 77-18916
Pros: Got this case because the defender series was just too large and this case provided about the same protection.
Cons: The case will scratch the sides of your phone (I did not care because its in a case out of sight out of mind) Once you get the case on don't take the top half off unless you want to replace the screen protector, because it will peel it off
Other Thoughts: All in all the case offers great protection with minimal material. Perfect if your looking for about the same protection as the defender without all the bulkiness. Newegg A+++ Shipping
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