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Create a Website Account - Manage notification subscriptions, save form progress and more.
On Election Day during a Primary or General Election, you may vote at any one of the following Vote Centers from 7 a.m to 7 p.m. regardless of where you live in Teton County:
Show All Answers
To insure that all registered voters have the opportunity to cast their ballot, Wyoming allows voters to vote by absentee - for any reason. A qualified elector may apply for an absentee ballot either in person, in writing, by e-mail, or by telephone at anytime during the calendar year in which the election is held, but not on the day of the election.
Additionally, Teton County has an absentee polling place that is located in the basement of the Teton County Administration Building at 200 S Willow St, Jackson, WY 83001. All qualified electors wishing to vote in person by absentee may vote at the absentee polling site for both the Primary and General elections.
The absentee polling site is open Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. during Primary, General, and Special elections. Please keep in mind that the absentee polling site is not open on Election Day. You must vote at a designated vote center on Election Day.
If you are unable to vote in person at the absentee polling site, you can request that an absentee ballot be mailed to you. Beginning in January of each election cycle, you may request an absentee ballot by calling us at 307-733-4430, or complete the request for Wyoming absentee ballot form (PDF) and email to firstname.lastname@example.com. Calling or emailing us is the best way to ensure there is enough time to mail your ballot.
You can also mail or drop of the form in person to the Administration Building or by mailing it too:
USPS:Teton County ClerkP.O. Box 1727Jackson, WY, 83001
UPS or FEDEX:Teton County Clerk200 S Willow StJackson, WY 83001
If you would like someone to pick up an absentee ballot for you, please make sure that you complete the section on the absentee ballot request form which designates who will pick up your ballot.
All absentee ballots must be received in the Clerk`s Office by 7 p.m. on the day of the Election to be counted.
To obtain a marriage license in Wyoming, couples must appear in person at 200 S Willow St, Jackson, WY 83001, be 18 years of age or older, and present a picture ID - Driver's License, Passport, Military ID, School ID. If you are 16 or 17, a signed written consent of the father, mother, guardian or person having the care and control of the minor. The written consent shall be proved by the testimony of at least 1 competent witness. If you are 15 or younger, a Judge's court order is required.
Both individuals should complete a marriage license form (PDF) and bring it, along with their photo ID, to the County Clerk's Office to obtain a Marriage License. You will be asked to give your:
The License fee is $30 payable by cash, check, debit or credit card ($1.50 service fee will apply if using a card). Visa, MasterCard and Discover cards are accepted.
There is no waiting period in Wyoming. Blood tests are not required in Wyoming. A Wyoming marriage license can only be used in the State of Wyoming. The application expires one year from the date of issuance.
Marriage ceremonies are not performed in our office, or at the courthouse. You must make your own arrangements to have an Officiant perform your ceremony. View a list of local officiants (PDF). If you are bringing someone with you to perform your ceremony, that's okay! We do not require documentation regarding their credentials, however, they must qualify by statute:
Who may solemnize marriage; form of ceremony per Wyoming State Statute 20-1-106:


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Today's Meetings
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Upcoming Meetings
- TPA South Florida Transportation Roundtable - 02/26/2024
- TDLCB Quarterly Meeting - 02/28/2024
- TAC Meeting - 03/06/2024
- CAC Meeting - 03/06/2024
- VZAC Meeting - 03/07/2024
- Safe Bicycling Webinar - 03/12/2024
- TPA Governing Board Meeting - 03/21/2024
- Florida Bicycle Month Ride - 03/29/2024
- TAC Meeting - 04/03/2024
- CAC Meeting - 04/03/2024
Recent Meetings
- TPA Board Orlando Site Visit - 02/20/2024
- TPA Governing Board Meeting - 02/15/2024
- VZAC Meeting - 02/08/2024
- CAC Meeting - 02/07/2024
- TAC Meeting - 02/07/2024
- Transportation Funding Options Workshop - 01/08/2024
- MPO Finance Workshop - 12/19/2023
- MPO Finance Workshop - 12/18/2023
- Okeechobee Blvd. Gateway Alternatives Stakeholder Meeting - 12/15/2023
- TPA Governing Board Meeting - 12/14/2023
December 6, 2023 @ 9:00 am
301 Datura St., West Palm Beach, FL 33401
All members of the public are encouraged to view or listen to the virtual meeting following the details provided above, and to participate by offering comments and questions in the following ways:
- Online public comment form: All are welcome to click on www.PalmBeachTPA.org/comment in advance of the meeting or during the meeting prior to the calling for public comments on each agenda item. The "General Comments" section of the agenda is for members of the public to provide comments on issues that are not specifically listed on the meeting agenda, but are directly related to transportation planning and funding within the jurisdiction of the Palm Beach TPA. Separate comment forms must be submitted to offer comments on multiple agenda items, and comments will be read into the record by TPA staff.
- Zoom "raise hand" feature: Members of the public should be prepared to use the "raise hand" feature during specific agenda items on which they wish to offer a comment, and wait to be recognized to speak. By this method, members of the public will make their own comments on audio, but will not appear on video. Always begin by clearly stating your name and address, as well as any entity you are authorized to represent if applicable. Vendors or lobbyists must identify themselves as such before offering comments.
- Phone: When joining the meeting by phone, follow the instructions to use the Zoom "raise hand" feature, and follow the Zoom instructions above. Callers must remember to mute and unmute from their phone.
Public Participation Policy:
It is the policy of the Palm Beach TPA to encourage public participation and comments without regard to race, color, national origin, age, sex, religion, disability or family status.
Requests for Special Accommodations:
Persons who require a printed copy of the agenda package, require special accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act or require translation services for a meeting (free of charge) must call 561-725-0800 or send email to email@example.com at least five business days in advance.. Hearing impaired individuals are requested to telephone the Florida Relay System at #711.
Civil Rights and Nondiscrimination:
Public participation is solicited without regard to race, color, national origin, age, sex, religion, disability or family status. For complaints, questions, or concerns about civil rights or nondiscrimination, please contact the TPA at:
Tel: 561-725-0800 or email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Annual Meetings Calendar:
The annual calendar of Palm Beach TPA Governing Board meetings, advisory committee meetings and the Transportation Disadvantaged Local Coordinating Board must occasionally be revised throughout the year. Click here for the calendar feature which includes a link to the annual calendar in PDF form near the top of the page, which is periodically updated as needed.

subset: commoncrawl


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Pittsburgh, PA – Pittsburgh Penguins star center Evgeni Malkin will not play in Sunday's game against the New York Islanders after sustaining an upper-body injury the previous day.
Playing for only the third time since sitting out 10 days with a concussion, Malkin did not return for overtime in Saturday's 5-4 win over Toronto after taking a hard hit from the Maple Leafs' James van Riemsdyk in the third period.
Penguins head coach Dan Bylsma did tell reporters on Sunday that Malkin's injury is unrelated to his prior concussion, with the reigning Hart Trophy winner currently undergoing further evaluation.
Malkin, who missed four games due to the concussion, had a goal and two assists after returning to the Penguins' lineup.


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Developer resources for solutions
Use the resources here to incorporate best practices for improving the user experience in your solutions.
Quick & Verified Sign-up
Make filling out sign-up forms quick and easy for your users, and help provide proof of address within the app.
See the code behind the features that help users find the nearest stores, products, ATMs, and branches quickly.
Checkout screens
Learn how to make the most of the widget that reduces shopping cart abandonment and raises delivery success rates.
Enriched Transactions
Learn how to match user transactions with merchant names, details, and locations to help users quickly identify their transactions and reduce customer service calls.


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Blogger Template: Darken
This is a simple template perfect for a personal blog. There's 1 sidebar column on the right and 3 sidebar columns at the bottom, which not many free blogger templates have. You can use the header image as in the sample blog or your own header image.
Header Image
The header image doesn't come with the template file. To put the header image in your blog, left-click on the image below and save the actual size into your computer. Then, upload the image into the Header Page Element in the Layout section of your blog.
If you want to use your own image for the header, the image has to be 740 pixels wide (with any height) to fit the header nicely. Click here for more helpful links on template installation guides and instructions.
Terms of Use
The template is free but please value our hours of design work by leaving the footer credit to Ourblogtemplates.com intact.


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Ah, Santa Rosa, the place to wine and dine…
A place where you get almost anything you desire – all the pleasant sense of happiness you can ever dream of. Who will not get entranced by it? We know we would.
And let's not forget the magnificent pools they have over here. We believe if they are all looked after with extreme care that they add to the beauty of the place.
However, maintenance of pools can really get too hard to handle at times. Residents may sometimes wonder if it's better to clean the pool themselves or hire a pool service provider. It can be a tough decision because everything sums up to spending time, energy, and money.
Which Santa Rosa Pool Service company offers the Best Pool Services? Let's find out.
We are here today to help weigh the merits and demerits of both DIY pool cleaning and hiring a pool cleaning service provider.
Below, we have listed down a few Pool Cleaning Santa Rosa key points to compare between DIY and hiring experts respectively.
DIY Pool Cleaning and Hiring Experts
1. Cost
The first thing that almost everyone will consider if they want to buy something is the cost. When it comes to pool cleaning, it is the same.
If you consider cleaning the pool by yourself, know that you will be spending a lesser amount of money than having to hire a team of Santa Rosa Cleaners.
What you may not know, however, is that buying and getting all the materials needed for pool cleaning is not as cheap as it sounds. You will probably want these things to last, and for that, you will require to actually buy a few things.
Sure, you might have some old cleaning tools and other materials that you can use to convert into new cleaning items for your pool. But to get and make cleaning materials that can actually last probably will cost you more than just a few cents. Either way, you will still have to take some money out of your pocket.
On the other hand, with Pool Cleaning Santa Rosa experts, you will be spending some amount of money while the cleaning process is done thoroughly.
2. Time and Energy
The other aspects that we need to look at our time and energy.
If you are a working person, you know that you are bound to a time constraint everywhere (except for vacations, of course).
If you were to clean the pool, you would do it very efficient because it's your pool. But that also means that you have to set aside sometime – probably on weekends? That's a good thing.
However, by hiring Santa Rosa Service, you would save a lot of time and energy. The only time you need to spend is to inspect them. The rest of the time, you can enjoy it. Perhaps, you might want to keep the weekend aside to spend quality time with your friends and family.
3. Knowledge
Pools are expensive to repair if something goes wrong and that will raise unnecessary costs. Now, this is very important. Cleaning a giant pool requires knowing what to do and the ins and outs of the pool.
For instance, there are ways to clean white calcium marks that you see inside your pool without draining the water. Normally, acid-washing your pool clears out the calcium stains eventually but they will build up again in no time and that also requires you to drain your pool water. What you need to do is use products that will prevent potential calcium build-up.
Another example is cleaning pool filter cartridges.
First of all, when we do self-cleaning, we normally only think about the pool and not its running equipment. And in the long run, that poses a danger to those who use the pool.
A filter cartridge, for example, is made to keep the water clean. If the filter is cleaned too often, it fails to function well (as it collects debris to act as layers of filtration), and if it never gets cleaned, it will contaminate the pool and slow down its own process. This requires you to know when to clean your pool.
In addition to that, filter cartridges can be cleaned either normally or by backwashing them.
There are a lot more to acknowledge before you self-clean your pool but then again, that will require a lot of time to research and money to get the requirements.
On the contrary, if you hire a team of experts for Pool Cleaning Santa Rosa, you realize that they have been doing it for a long time and they know how to fix any pool problems that may arise.
Chemicals and Equipment
If you're self-cleaning your pool, you will have to take everything about the pool into consideration. It does not mean that you clean only the pool alone. If that is the case, then everybody could do it by themselves. What it actually means is taking care of the filters, the pumps, the heater, the skimmers, and so on.
To take care of all the cleaning, you need a lot of the right cleaning materials and the right equipment. Then again, all the things you need will cost you money and time. And let's not forget about knowing what to use and where to use them.
One more thing to keep in mind is that DIY tools act as alternatives to expensive and better machinery that experts use. They may not function as well as real machines, nor will they last long.
Even if you are considering buying cleaning machines, they will also require maintenance and a sum of money. It will then hardly make a difference between doing it by yourself and hiring Santa Rosa Cleaners.
A few last words
Yes, if you want to clean your pool just for fun or because you might love cleaning (it's great if you do!), then that's a different thing. But you might not have the time to do that often.
On top of that, you might need to consult experts or someone who has a lot of experience before you do so. That will make sure your pool gets the service it needs, may it be pool plastering or pool remodeling, or maybe you just need help in keeping it and its equipment remain functional.
Anyway, professionals will do everything that is needed for you in just one go. Furthermore, you are required to get your pool cleaned thoroughly and fully once in a while so you don't have to worry about spending money time and again.
Tip: If you decide to hire a team for Pool Cleaning Santa Rosa, we recommend that you do not depend on inexperienced pool cleaners. Always choose professionals with a lot of experience. They have better knowledge and use better tools than most amateurs do. This will be safe for both you and the pool.
Good Luck!
To learn more, read another helpful article:


text: In a disaster, it's essential that behavioral health responders have the resources they need—when and where they need them. The SAMHSA Disaster App makes it easy to provide quality support to survivors. Users can navigate pre-deployment preparation, on-the-ground assistance, post-deployment resources, and more—at the touch of a button from the home screen. Users also can share resources, like tips for helping survivors cope, and find local behavioral health services. And, self-care support for responders is available at all stages of deployment.


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By: Sarah Lazare, staff writer at commondreams.org
Source: http://www.commondreams.org/
The United States was the only country in the world that voted Wednesday against the United Nations investigating human rights violations in Gaza unleashed by Israel's military assault.
Of the 47 members of the UN Human Rights Council, 29 nations voted to set up a commission to launch an international, independent inquiry, effectively passing the resolution. Seventeen countries abstained, including Germany, France, and the United Kingdom.
The inquiry will look at "all violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and the occupied Gaza Strip in the context of military operations conducted since mid June," according to a statement from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. The council criticized Israeli military operations for perpetuating "widespread, systematic and gross violations of international human rights and fundamental freedoms."
U.S. ambassador to the Council, Keith Harper, said he issued the "no" vote because the resolution is a "biased and political instrument" that "will not help" the "cessation of hostilities."
But Josh Ruebner, policy director for the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, told Common Dreams that the U.S. vote simply "shows the great extent to which the U.S. goes to protect Israel in international forums from any accountability for its actions, no matter how egregious." Ruebner added that U.S. claims of imbalance are illegitimate, as the inquiry will investigate human rights violations perpetrated by Hamas as well as Israel.
Phyllis Bennis, senior fellow at Institute for Policy Studies, told Common Dreams that the U.S. "no" vote is part of a larger pattern. "The U.S. is the reason why the United Nations is not able to play the role its charter requires, which is to stop the scourge of war," said Bennis. "The U.S. vetoes and threatens to veto in the Security Council, and in arenas like the General Assembly or Human Rights Council where there is no veto, they threaten other countries."
The UN resolution comes amid an ever-rising Palestinian death toll, with Gaza Health Ministry official Ashraf al-Qudra reporting Thursday that so far 784 Palestinians have been killed and over 5,000 wounded in Israel's "Protective Edge" operation. Kyung-Wha Kang, Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and UN Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, estimates that 74 percent of the Palestinians killed are civilians and one-third are children. "One child has been killed each hour in Gaza over the past two days," Kang said on Wednesday, according to the UN.
Israel launched air strikes on Palestinians seeking shelter in a UN school in Beit Hanoun in Gaza on Thursday, killing at least 15 people and wounding dozens. The attack marked at least the fourth time a UN facility in Gaza has been hit since July 8, according to the Guardian. Chris Gunness, spokesperson for the UN Relief and Works Agency, said on Twitter that"Precise co-ordinates of the UNRWA shelter in Beit Hanoun had been formally given to the Israeli army."
Thirty-two Israeli soldiers, two Israeli civilians, and a Thai worker in Israel have died.
Ruebner expressed concern that the U.S. is likely to obstruct any attempt on the part of the Council to hold Israel accountable for war crimes: "What's likely to happen is same thing with the Goldstone Report and the Human Rights Council inquiry into the attack on the aid flotilla: reports will document the fact that Israel has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity, and the U.S. will use its veto power or threat thereof to prevent the international community from acting on recommendations for accountability."


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While most fans are in awe of what their football heroes can do with a football, the source of their remarkable skill remains strangely mysterious. Although being in excellent physical condition undoubtedly helps, few people actually believe that intense physical training alone can turn an average bloke into a Ronaldo. Now, scientists from the University of Queensland have decided to study what this "something else" might be. Dr. Robbie Wilson will talk about the details of this study and the results that have been obtained so far in his talk at the Society of Experimental Biology Annual Meeting in Glasgow on Sunday 28th June 2009.
Dr. Wilson believes that this type of research may have applied outcomes for football clubs: "Our analyses suggest that unambiguous metrics of a player's skill components should be used to help in the selection and identification of new talent. Our studies could help to streamline selection criteria and efficiency by providing a rank ordering of individuals based upon competitive one-on-one tasks. In addition, the relative importance of each type of skill component could be tailored to each player's position and the club's immediate and future requirements."
Members of the semi-professional University of Queensland Football Club (UQFC) were recruited as experimental subjects, and they were made to compete against each other in one-on-one "football tennis" games, which require very similar athletic and skill sets to that required for regular football games. In parallel, the same players were evaluated for overall athleticism and skill in sixteen different tasks. "There was no evidence of any correlations between maximal athletic performance and skill", explains Dr. Wilson. "Our studies suggest that skill is just as important, if not more important, than athletic ability in determining performance of complex traits, such as performance on the football field".
Interestingly, the researchers are hoping that focusing on footballing ability in humans will also provide them with insight into the role that individual skills play in other species, for example during aggression, prey capture or escape from a predator. Dr. Wilson argues that the importance of skill for the evolution of vertebrate physical performance is currently unknown and largely treated by researchers as a difficult 'black box' to understand. "To develop an understanding of the evolution and function of complex performance traits, we need to investigate the role of individual skill".


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Today I was trying to send a direct message to a friend. Included was a bit.ly link to a page I needed him to see. For some reason, Twitter kept saying there was an error and cannot send the DM. After checking his page to make sure he was still following me and sending a couple test DMs successfully, I realized the problem was the bit.ly link.
I did a search and found that indeed – Twitter was blocking DMs with bit.ly links. They found many different links could not be sent via DMs. CBS.com was one of those who were blocked by Twitter DMs.
Of course, this is because of Twitter allowing n0n-followers to DM people. You have to opt-in to the option, but with this you can get messages from many different people.
The Twitter error Message Needs to Be Fixed
So direct messaging with a link could come back saying the person might not be following you. That could be totally confusing – especially if you know they are. I almost chalked it up as a twitter database error but decided to check and see if there was any changes.
The only advantage of allowing non-followers to DM is if your Twitter account is a corporate one or you have over 10,000 followers and don't want to follow them all back.
The Problem with Blocking Bit.ly – the Mask-Around
Spammers are smart and/or intuitive. Instead of using bit.ly, they'll use another system that gets around the twitter issue. Twitter might then block that, but in the meantime, you don't see a bit.ly link – you see a My.website link. Give a spammer/hacker 2-3 days with an $8 /year website domain and they could make enough to buy another $8 domain and start the process over again.
Of course this is a very common problem with url shorteners. Tiny URL added spam block and virus protect tools shortly after they started. Bit.ly also has some preventative measures (using companies like Sophos, Verisign, Websense and more). Still, they are not responsible for 3rd party content using their links.
Bottom Line – Don't click on unknown links
Usually bad links start with "Hey, is this you" or "I got a way you can make money" which really translates to "I got a way for ME to make money using you". If you choose to opt-in to letting anyone DM you, keep in mind you will get spam in your message box. If you don't feel confident you can sniff out the good from bad, then simply don't check the box.


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Verse of the Week
We felt today's verse was one of the most scientific explanations we've ever heard of the difference between God and other living beings, why living beings wind up in a temporary world, and how the universes are created and maintained .
"Even if someone accepts the whole concept as 'myth,'" we reasoned, "they would have to admit that whoever came up with the idea must have thought about it from every angle imaginable."
Here it is:Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.23
The transcendental Personality of Godhead is indirectly associated with the three modes of material nature, namely passion, goodness and ignorance, and just for the material world's creation, maintenance and destruction He accepts the three qualitative forms of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. Of these three, all human beings can derive ultimate benefit from Vishnu, the form of the quality of goodness.
That Lord Śri Krishna, by His plenary parts, should be rendered devotional service, as explained above, is confirmed by this statement. Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa and all His plenary parts are vishnu-tattva, or the Lordship of Godhead. From Śrī Krishna, the next manifestation is Baladeva. From Baladeva is Sankarshana, from Sankarṣaṇa is Narayana, from Narayana there is the second Sańkarṣaṇa, and from this Sańkarṣaṇa the Vishnu purusha-avataras.
The Vishnu or the Deity of the quality of goodness in the material world is the purusha-avatara known as Kshirodakashayī Vishnu or Paramātmā. Brahmā is the deity of rajas (passion), and Shiva of ignorance. They are the three departmental heads of the three qualities of this material world. Creation is made possible by the goodness of Vishnu, and when it requires to be destroyed, Lord Shiva does it by the tāṇḍavanṛtya(the "dance of destruction" at the end of the universe).
The materialists and the foolish human beings worship Brahma and Shiva respectively. But the pure transcendentalists worship the form of goodness, Vishnu, in His various forms. Vishnu is manifested by His millions and billions of integrated forms and separated forms.
The integrated forms are called Godhead, and the separated forms are called the living entities or the jīvas. Both the jīvas and Godhead have their original spiritual forms. Jīvas are sometimes subjected to the control of material energy, but the Vishnu forms are always controllers of this energy.
When Viṣhṇu, the Personality of Godhead, appears in the material world, He comes to deliver the conditioned living beings who are under the material energy. Such living beings appear in the material world with intentions of being lords, and thus they become entrapped by the three modes of nature. As such, the living entities have to change their material coverings for undergoing different terms of imprisonment.
The prison house of the material world is created by Brahma under instruction of the Personality of Godhead, and at the conclusion of a kalpa (equal to one day of Brahma, or 8,600,000,000 years) the whole thing is destroyed by Śiva. But as far as maintenance of the prison house is concerned, it is done by Vishnu, as much as the state prison house is maintained by the state.
Anyone, therefore, who wishes to get out of this prison house of material existence, which is full of miseries like repetition of birth, death, disease and old age, must please Lord Viṣhṇu for such liberation. Lord Vishnu is worshiped by devotional service only, and if anyone has to continue prison life in the material world, he may ask for relative facilities for temporary relief from the different demigods like Shiva, Brahma, Indra and Varuna.
No demigod, however, can release the imprisoned living being from the conditioned life of material existence. This can be done only by Vishnu. Therefore, the ultimate benefit may be derived from Vishnu, the Personality of Godhead.


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AXIS A4011-E Reader is a touch-free reader with keypad. It is intended for both indoor and outdoor use, supports most smart card formats and is designed to perfectly match AXIS A1001 Network Door Controller.
- A complete access control system
The competitively priced AXIS A4011-E is a fast, convenient and reliable complement when installing Axis access control system. With the AXIS A4011-E Reader in this segment, both the installer and customer can feel confident that the system components will work well together.
- Future proof and backward compatible
The A4011-E Reader is both future proof and backward compatible since it supports several different card formats in order to meet specific system requirements. This enables use with existing installations, since most of existing cards using 13,56 Mhz technology can be used while upgrading to new system hardware (AXIS A1001).
- Powered by ASSA ABLOY
The product is a joint cooperation between Axis and ASSA ABLOY and is based on proven technology from ASSA ABLOY, a company with wide experience in readers and access control solutions.
- Designed to perfectly match AXIS A1001 Network Door Controller
- Outdoor ready
- Supports most smart card formats
- Illuminated keypad
- Ergonomic design
- Intuitive user interface


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A couple of weeks back, in early November 2018, my lifestyle finally caught up with me and I suffered a mild heart attack. First off, and most importantly, I'd like to extend enormous thanks to the fantastic NHS staff from Betsi Cadwaladr and the N Wales ambulance service who sorted me out, complete with shiny new stent, in remarkably quick time. In the gym for rehab within a week & back at the bench (with the shop closed to clear some backlog) in 9 days!
As part of taking stock, I decided to change the shop hours to fit in a bit more physical exercise (sitting at a bench may be enjoyable but it doesn't really get the blood pumping!) and also to allow extra "closed" time to tackle repairs without the day-to-day interruptions than inevitably slow things down.
Our new hours, from Dec 3rd 2018, will be:
Mondays: 10:00 - 13:00 (to allow gym time in the afternoon)
Tues, Wed, Fri & Sat: 10:00 - 16:00
Thurs & Sun closed
We'll keep them under review but hopefully this will allow a slightly healthier future without impacting too much on our customers.


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2004 Honda Odyssey.
Car won't start.
Turn the key, lights come on, all dash comes on, normal beep noises. No bad engine light or anything. Solenoid engages. One click only. Turn off car, solenoid disengages. Not the telltale multiple clicks of a bad starter. Car lights do not dim when the key is turned. They stay solid (headlights do not dim).
- Ground wire(s) appear clean and connected properly.
- Jumping the car does not help.
- Battery is 12.5 and good.
- Ignition switch appears okay as the car turns on each time, not loose, never fails to turn on the lights, just like normal.
- Beat starter, physically. Did not help.
- Rolled the car back and forth few feet. Did not help.
Could the starter still be bad? I hear the solenoid but nothing else. Motor just doesn't turn over. It almost did once, but not again.
Out of ideas. Thanks.


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There is no need to say why I became assistant-master and professor of the English and French languages, flower-painting, and the German flute, in Doctor Birch's Academy, at Rodwell Regis. Good folks may depend on this, that it was not for CHOICE that I left lodgings near London, and a genteel society, for an under-master's desk in that old school. I promise you the fare at the usher's table, the getting up at five o'clock in the morning, the walking out with little boys in the fields, (who used to play me tricks, and never could be got to respect my awful and responsible character as teacher in the school,) Miss Birch's vulgar insolence, Jack Birch's glum condescension, and the poor old Doctor's patronage, were not matters in themselves pleasurable: and that that patronage and those dinners were sometimes cruel hard to swallow. Never mind--my connection with the place is over now, and I hope they have got a more efficient under-master.
Jack Birch (Rev. J. Birch, of St. Neot's Hall, Oxford,) is partner with his father the Doctor, and takes some of the classes. About his Greek I can't say much; but I will construe him in Latin any day. A more supercilious little prig, (giving himself airs, too, about his cousin, Miss Raby, who lives with the Doctor,) a more empty, pompous little coxcomb I never saw. His white neck-cloth looked as if it choked him. He used to try and look over that starch upon me and Prince the assistant, as if he were a couple of footmen. He didn't do much business in the school; but occupied his time in writing sanctified letters to the boys' parents, and in composing dreary sermons to preach to them.
The real master of the school is Prince; an Oxford man too: shy, haughty, and learned; crammed with Greek and a quantity of useless learning; uncommonly kind to the small boys; pitiless with the fools and the braggarts; respected of all for his honesty, his learning, his bravery, (for he hit out once in a boat-row in a way which astonished the boys and the bargemen,) and for a latent power about him, which all saw and confessed somehow. Jack Birch could never look him in the face. Old Miss Z. dared not put off any of HER airs upon him. Miss Rosa made him the lowest of curtsies. Miss Raby said she was afraid of him. Good old Prince! we have sat many a night smoking in the Doctor's harness-room, whither we retired when our boys were gone to bed, and our cares and canes put by.
After Jack Birch had taken his degree at Oxford--a process which he effected with great difficulty--this place, which used to be called "Birch's," "Dr. Birch's Academy," and what not, became suddenly "Archbishop Wigsby's College of Rodwell Regis." They took down the old blue board with the gold letters, which has been used to mend the pigsty since. Birch had a large school-room run up in the Gothic taste, with statuettes, and a little belfry, and a bust of Archbishop Wigsby in the middle of the school. He put the six senior boys into caps and gowns, which had rather a good effect as the lads sauntered down the street of the town, but which certainly provoked the contempt and hostility of the bargemen; and so great was his rage for academic costumes and ordinances, that he would have put me myself into a lay gown, with red knots and fringes, but that I flatly resisted, and said that a writing-master had no business with such paraphernalia.
By the way, I have forgotten to mention the Doctor himself. And what shall I say of him? Well, he has a very crisp gown and bands, a solemn aspect, a tremendous loud voice, and a grand air with the boys' parents; whom he receives in a study covered round with the best-bound books, which imposes upon many--upon the women especially--and makes them fancy that this is a Doctor indeed. But law bless you! He never reads the books, or opens one of them; except that in which he keeps his bands--a Dugdale's "Monasticon," which looks like a book, but is in reality a cupboard, where he has his port, almond-cakes, and decanter of wine. He gets up his classics with translations, or what the boys call cribs; they pass wicked tricks upon him when he hears the forms. The elder wags go to his study and ask him to help them in hard bits of Herodotus or Thucydides: he says he will look over the passage, and flies for refuge to Mr. Prince, or to the crib.
He keeps the flogging department in his own hands; finding that his son was too savage. He has awful brows and a big voice. But his roar frightens nobody. It is only a lion's skin; or, so to say, a muff.
Little Mordant made a picture of him with large ears, like a well-known domestic animal, and had his own justly boxed for the caricature. The Doctor discovered him in the fact, and was in a flaming rage, and threatened whipping at first; but in the course of the day an opportune basket of game arriving from Mordant's father, the Doctor became mollified, and has burnt the picture with the ears. However, I have one wafered up in my desk by the hand of the same little rascal.
I am growing an old fellow, and have seen many great folks in the course of my travels and time: Louis Philippe coming out of the Tuileries; his Majesty the King of Prussia and the Reichsverweser accolading each other at Cologne at my elbow; Admiral Sir Charles Napier (in an omnibus once), the Duke of Wellington, the immortal Goethe at Weimar, the late benevolent Pope Gregory XVI., and a score more of the famous in this world--the whom whenever one looks at, one has a mild shock of awe and tremor. I like this feeling and decent fear and trembling with which a modest spirit salutes a GREAT MAN.
Well, I have seen generals capering on horseback at the head of their crimson battalions; bishops sailing down cathedral aisles, with downcast eyes, pressing their trencher caps to their hearts with their fat white hands; college heads when her Majesty is on a visit; the doctor in all his glory at the head of his school on speech-day: a great sight and all great men these. I have never met the late Mr. Thomas Cribb, but I have no doubt should have regarded him with the same feeling of awe with which I look every day at George Champion, the Cock of Dr. Birch's school.
When, I say, I reflect as I go up and set him a sum, that he could whop me in two minutes, double up Prince and the other assistant, and pitch the Doctor out of window, I can't but think how great, how generous, how magnanimous a creature this is, that sits quite quiet and good-natured, and works his equation, and ponders through his Greek play. He might take the school-room pillars and pull the house down if he liked. He might close the door, and demolish every one of us, like Antar the lover or Ibla; but he lets us live. He never thrashes anybody without a cause; when woe betide the tyrant or the sneak!
I think that to be strong, and able to whop everybody--(not to do it, mind you, but to feel that you were able to do it,)--would be the greatest of all gifts. There is a serene good humor which plays about George Champion's broad face, which shows the consciousness of this power, and lights up his honest blue eyes with a magnanimous calm.
He is invictus. Even when a cub there was no beating this lion. Six years ago the undaunted little warrior actually stood up to Frank Davison,--(the Indian officer now--poor little Charley's brother, whom Miss Raby nursed so affectionately,)--then seventeen years old, and the Cock of Birch's. They were obliged to drag off the boy, and Frank, with admiration and regard for him, prophesied the great things he would do. Legends of combats are preserved fondly in schools; they have stories of such at Rodwell Regis, performed in the old Doctor's time, forty years ago.
Champion's affair with the Young Tutbury Pet, who was down here in training,--with Black the bargeman,--with the three head boys of Doctor Wapshot's academy, whom he caught maltreating an outlying day-boy of ours, &c.,--are known to all the Rodwell Regis men. He was always victorious. He is modest and kind, like all great men. He has a good, brave, honest understanding. He cannot make verses like young Pinder, or read Greek like Wells the Prefect, who is a perfect young abyss of learning, and knows enough, Prince says, to furnish any six first-class men; but he does his work in a sound downright way, and he is made to be the bravest of soldiers, the best of country parsons, an honest English gentleman wherever he may go.
Old Champion's chief friend and attendant is Young Jack Hall, whom he saved, when drowning, out of the Miller's Pool. The attachment of the two is curious to witness. The smaller lad gambolling, playing tricks round the bigger one, and perpetually making fun of his protector. They are never far apart, and of holidays you may meet them miles away from the school,--George sauntering heavily down the lanes with his big stick, and little Jack larking with the pretty girls in the cottage-windows.
George has a boat on the river, in which, however, he commonly lies smoking, whilst Jack sculls him. He does not play at cricket, except when the school plays the county, or at Lord's in the holidays. The boys can't stand his bowling, and when he hits, it is like trying to catch a cannon-ball. I have seen him at tennis. It is a splendid sight to behold the young fellow bounding over the court with streaming yellow hair, like young Apollo in a flannel jacket.
The other head boys are Lawrence the captain, Bunce, famous chiefly for his magnificent appetite, and Pitman, surnamed Roscius, for his love of the drama. Add to these Swanky, called Macassar, from his partiality to that condiment, and who has varnished boots, wears white gloves on Sundays, and looks out for Miss Pinkerton's school (transferred from Chiswick to Rodwell Regis, and conducted by the nieces of the late Miss Barbara Pinkerton, the friend of our great lexicographer, upon the principles approved by him, and practised by that admirable woman,) as it passes into church.
Representations have been made concerning Mr. Horace Swanky's behavior; rumors have been uttered about notes in verse, conveyed in three-cornered puffs, by Mrs. Ruggles, who serves Miss Pinkerton's young ladies on Fridays,--and how Miss Didow, to whom the tart and enclosure were addressed, tried to make away with herself by swallowing a ball of cotton. But I pass over these absurd reports, as likely to affect the reputation of an admirable seminary conducted by irreproachable females. As they go into church Miss P. driving in her flock of lambkins with the crook of her parasol, how can it be helped if her forces and ours sometimes collide, as the boys are on their way up to the organ-loft? And I don't believe a word about the three-cornered puff, but rather that it was the invention of that jealous Miss Birch, who is jealous of Miss Raby, jealous of everybody who is good and handsome, and who has HER OWN ENDS in view, or I am very much in error.
MR. TIPPER, Uncle to the Masters Boxall.
B. Go it, old Boxall!
J. Give it him, young Boxall!
R. Pitch into him, old Boxall!
S. Two to one on young Boxall!
[Enter TIFFIN MINIMUS, running.
Tiffin Minimus.--Boxalls! you're wanted. (The Doctor to Mr. Tipper.)--Every boy in the school loves them, my dear sir; your nephews are a credit to my establishment. They are orderly, well-conducted, gentlemanlike boys. Let us enter and find them at their studies.
[Enter The DOCTOR and Mr. TIPPER.
What they call the little school-room is a small room at the other end of the great school; through which you go to the Doctor's private house, and where Miss Raby sits with her pupils. She has a half-dozen very small ones over whom she presides and teaches them in her simple way, until they are big or learned enough to face the great school-room. Many of them are in a hurry for promotion, the graceless little simpletons, and know no more than their elders when they are well off.
She keeps the accounts, writes out the bills, superintends the linen, and sews on the general shirt-buttons. Think of having such a woman at home to sew on one's shirt-buttons! But peace, peace, thou foolish heart!
Miss Raby is the Doctor's niece. Her mother was a beauty (quite unlike old Zoe therefore); and she married a pupil in the old Doctor's time who was killed afterwards, a captain in the East India service, at the siege of Bhurtpore. Hence a number of Indian children come to the Doctor's; for Raby was very much liked, and the uncle's kind reception of the orphan has been a good speculation for the school-keeper.
It is wonderful how brightly and gayly that little quick creature does her duty. She is the first to rise, and the last to sleep, if any business is to be done. She sees the other two women go off to parties in the town without even so much as wishing to join them. It is Cinderella, only contented to stay at home--content to bear Zoe's scorn and to admit Rosa's superior charms,--and to do her utmost to repay her uncle for his great kindness in housing her.
So you see she works as much as three maid-servants for the wages of one. She is as thankful when the Doctor gives her a new gown, as if he had presented her with a fortune; laughs at his stories most good-humoredly, listens to Zoe's scolding most meekly, admires Rosa with all her heart, and only goes out of the way when Jack Birch shows his sallow face: for she can't bear him, and always finds work when he comes near.
How different she is when some folks approach her! I won't be presumptuous; but I think, I think, I have made a not unfavorable impression in some quarters. However, let us be mum on this subject. I like to see her, because she always looks good-humored; because she is always kind, because she is always modest, because she is fond of those poor little brats,--orphans some of them--because she is rather pretty, I dare say, or because I think so, which comes to the same thing.
Though she is kind to all, it must be owned she shows the most gross favoritism towards the amiable children. She brings them cakes from dessert, and regales them with Zoe's preserves; spends many of her little shillings in presents for her favorites, and will tell them stories by the hour. She has one very sad story about a little boy, who died long ago: the younger children are never weary of hearing about him; and Miss Raby has shown to one of them a lock of the little chap's hair, which she keeps in her work-box to this day.
Let us, people who are so uncommonly clever and learned, have a great tenderness and pity for the poor folks who are not endowed with the prodigious talents which we have. I have always had a regard for dunces;--those of my own school-days were amongst the pleasantest of the fellows, and have turned out by no means the dullest in life; whereas many a youth who could turn off Latin hexameters by the yard, and construe Greek quite glibly, is no better than a feeble prig now, with not a pennyworth more brains than were in his head before his beard grew.
Those poor dunces! Talk of being the last man, ah! what a pang it must be to be the last boy--huge, misshapen, fourteen years of age, and "taken up" by a chap who is but six years old, and can't speak quite plain yet!
Master Hulker is in that condition at Birch's. He is the most honest, kind, active, plucky, generous creature. He can do many things better than most boys. He can go up a tree, pump, play at cricket, dive and swim perfectly--he can eat twice as much as almost any lady (as Miss Birch well knows), he has a pretty talent at carving figures with his hack-knife, he makes and paints little coaches, he can take a watch to pieces and put it together again. He can do everything but learn his lesson; and then he sticks at the bottom of the school hopeless. As the little boys are drafted in from Miss Raby's class, (it is true she is one of the best instructresses in the world,) they enter and hop over poor Hulker. He would be handed over to the governess, only he is too big. Sometimes, I used to think that this desperate stupidity was a stratagem of the poor rascal's, and that he shammed dulness, so that he might be degraded into Miss Raby's class--if she would teach ME, I know, before George, I would put on a pinafore and a little jacket--but no, it is a natural incapacity for the Latin Grammar.
If you could see his grammar, it is a perfect curiosity of dog's ears. The leaves and cover are all curled and ragged. Many of the pages are worn away with the rubbing of his elbows as he sits poring over the hopeless volume, with the blows of his fists as he thumps it madly, or with the poor fellow's tears. You see him wiping them away with the back of his hand, as he tries and tries, and can't do it.
When I think of that Latin Grammar, and that infernal As in praesenti, and of other things which I was made to learn in my youth; upon my conscience, I am surprised that we ever survived it. When one thinks of the boys who have been caned because they could not master that intolerable jargon! Good Lord, what a pitiful chorus these poor little creatures send up! Be gentle with them, ye schoolmasters, and only whop those who WON'T learn.
The Doctor has operated upon Hulker (between ourselves), but the boy was so little affected you would have thought he had taken chloroform. Birch is weary of whipping now, and leaves the boy to go his own gait. Prince, when he hears the lesson, and who cannot help making fun of a fool, adopts the sarcastic manner with Master Hulker, and says, "Mr. Hulker, may I take the liberty to inquire if your brilliant intellect has enabled you to perceive the difference between those words which grammarians have defined as substantive and adjective nouns?--if not, perhaps Mr. Ferdinand Timmins will instruct you." And Timmins hops over Hulker's head.
I wish Prince would leave off girding at the poor lad. He is a boy, and his mother is a widow woman, who loves him with all her might. There is a famous sneer about the suckling of fools and the chronicling of small beer; but remember it was a rascal who uttered it.
"The gentlemen, and especially the younger and more tender of these pupils, will have the advantage of the constant superintendence and affectionate care of Miss Zoe Birch, sister of the principal: whose clearest aim will be to supply (as far as may be) the absent maternal friend."--Prospectus of Rodwell Regis School.
This is all very well in the Doctor's prospectus, and Miss Zoe Birch--(a pretty blossom it is, fifty-five years old, during two score of which she has dosed herself with pills; with a nose as red and a face as sour as a crab-apple)--this is all mighty well in a prospectus. But I should like to know who would take Miss Zoe for a mother, or would have her for one?
The only persons in the house who are not afraid of her are Miss Rosa and I--no, I am afraid of her, though I DO know the story about the French usher in 1830--but all the rest tremble before the woman, from the Doctor down to poor Francis the knife-boy, whom she bullies into his miserable blacking-hole.
The Doctor is a pompous and outwardly severe man--but inwardly weak and easy; loving a joke and a glass of port-wine. I get on with him, therefore, much better than Mr. Prince, who scorns him for an ass, and under whose keen eyes the worthy Doctor writhes like a convicted impostor; and many a sunshiny afternoon would he have said, "Mr. T., sir, shall we try another glass of that yellow sealed wine which you seem to like?" (and which he likes even better than I do,) had not the old harridan of a Zoe been down upon us, and insisted on turning me out with her abominable weak coffee. She a mother indeed! A sour-milk generation she would have nursed. She is always croaking, scolding, bullying--yowling at the housemaids, snarling at Miss Raby, bowwowing after the little boys, barking after the big ones. She knows how much every boy eats to an ounce; and her delight is to ply with fat the little ones who can't bear it, and with raw meat those who hate underdone. It was she who caused the Doctor to be eaten out three times; and nearly created a rebellion in the school because she insisted on his flogging Goliath Longman.
The only time that woman is happy is when she comes in of a morning to the little boys' dormitories with a cup of hot Epsom salts, and a sippet of bread. Boo!--the very notion makes me quiver. She stands over them. I saw her do it to young Byles only a few days since; and her presence makes the abomination doubly abominable.
As for attending them in real illness, do you suppose that she would watch a single night for any one of them? Not she. When poor little Charley Davison (that child a lock of whose soft hair I have said how Miss Raby still keeps) lay ill of scarlet fever in the holidays--for the Colonel, the father of these boys, was in India--it was Anne Raby who tended the child, who watched him all through the fever, who never left him while it lasted, or until she had closed the little eyes that were never to brighten or moisten more. Anny watched and deplored him; but it was Miss Birch who wrote the letter announcing his demise, and got the gold chain and locket which the Colonel ordered as a memento of his gratitude. It was through a row with Miss Birch that Frank Davison ran away. I promise you that after he joined his regiment in India, the Ahmednuggur Irregulars, which his gallant father commands, there came over no more annual shawls and presents to Dr. and Miss Birch; and that if she fancied the Colonel was coming home to marry her (on account of her tenderness to his motherless children, which he was always writing about), THAT notion was very soon given up. But these affairs are of early date, seven years back, and I only heard of them in a very confused manner from Miss Raby, who was a girl, and had just come to Rodwell Regis. She is always very much moved when she speaks about those boys; which is but seldom. I take it the death of the little one still grieves her tender heart.
Yes, it is Miss Birch, who has turned away seventeen ushers and second-masters in eleven years, and half as many French masters, I suppose, since the departure of her FAVORITE, M. Grinche, with her gold watch, &c.; but this is only surmise--that is, from hearsay, and from Miss Rosa taunting her aunt, as she does sometimes, in her graceful way: but besides this, I have another way of keeping her in order.
Whenever she is particularly odious or insolent to Miss Raby, I have but to introduce raspberry jam into the conversation, and the woman holds her tongue. She will understand me. I need not say more.
NOTE, 12th December. I MAY speak now. I have left the place and don't mind. I say then at once, and without caring twopence for the consequences, that I saw this woman, this MOTHER of the boys, EATING JAM WITH A SPOON OUT OF MASTER WIGGINS'S TRUNK IN THE BOX-ROOM: and of this I am ready to take an affidavit any day.
[The school is hushed. LAWRENCE the Prefect, and Custos of the rods, is marching after the DOCTOR into the operating-room. MASTER BACKHOUSE is about to follow.]
Master Backhouse.--It's all very well, but you see if I don't pay you out after school--you sneak you!
Master Lurcher.--If you do I'll tell again. [Exit BACKHOUSE.
[The rod is heard from the adjoining apartment. Hwish--hwish--hwish--hwish--hwish--hwish--hwish! [Re-enter BACKHOUSE.
Enter the Knife-boy.--Hamper for Briggses! Master Brown.--Hurray, Tom Briggs! I'll lend you my knife.
If this story does not carry its own moral, what fable does, I wonder? Before the arrival of that hamper, Master Briggs was in no better repute than any other young gentleman of the lower school; and in fact I had occasion myself, only lately, to correct Master Brown for kicking his friend's shins during the writing-lesson. But how this basket, directed by his mother's housekeeper and marked "Glass with care," (whence I conclude that it contains some jam and some bottles of wine, probably, as well as the usual cake and game-pie, and half a sovereign for the elder Master B., and five new shillings for Master Decimus Briggs)--how, I say, the arrival of this basket alters all Master Briggs's circumstances in life, and the estimation in which many persons regard him!
If he is a good-hearted boy, as I have reason to think, the very first thing he will do, before inspecting the contents of the hamper, or cutting into them with the knife which Master Brown has so considerately lent him, will be to read over the letter from home which lies on the top of the parcel. He does so, as I remark to Miss Raby (for whom I happened to be mending pens when the little circumstance arose), with a flushed face and winking eyes. Look how the other boys are peering into the basket as he reads.--I say to her, "Isn't it a pretty picture?" Part of the letter is in a very large hand. This is from his little sister. And I would wager that she netted the little purse which he has just taken out of it, and which Master Lynx is eying.
"You are a droll man, and remark all sorts of queer things," Miss Raby says, smiling, and plying her swift needle and fingers as quick as possible.
"I am glad we are both on the spot, and that the little fellow lies under our guns as it were, and so is protected from some such brutal school-pirate as young Duval for instance, who would rob him, probably, of some of those good things; good in themselves, and better because fresh from home. See, there is a pie as I said, and which I dare say is better than those which are served at our table (but you never take any notice of such kind of things, Miss Raby), a cake of course, a bottle of currant-wine, jam-pots, and no end of pears in the straw. With their money little Briggs will be able to pay the tick which that imprudent child has run up with Mrs. Ruggles; and I shall let Briggs Major pay for the pencil-case which Bullock sold to him.--It will be a lesson to the young prodigal for the future. But, I say, what a change there will be in his life for some time to come, and at least until his present wealth is spent! The boys who bully him will mollify towards him, and accept his pie and sweetmeats. They will have feasts in the bedroom; and that wine will taste more delicious to them than the best out of the Doctor's cellar. The cronies will be invited. Young Master Wagg will tell his most dreadful story and sing his best song for a slice of that pie. What a jolly night they will have! When we go the rounds at night, Mr. Prince and I will take care to make a noise before we come to Briggs's room, so that the boys may have time to put the light out, to push the things away, and to scud into bed. Doctor Spry may be put in requisition the next morning."
"Nonsense! you absurd creature," cries out Miss Raby, laughing; and I lay down the twelfth pen very nicely mended.
"Yes; after luxury comes the doctor, I say; after extravagance a hole in the breeches pocket. To judge from his disposition, Briggs Major will not be much better off a couple of days hence than he is now; and, if I am not mistaken, will end life a poor man. Brown will be kicking his shins before a week is over, depend upon it. There are boys and men of all sorts, Miss R.--There are selfish sneaks who hoard until the store they daren't use grows mouldy--there are spendthrifts who fling away, parasites who flatter and lick its shoes, and snarling curs who hate and envy, good fortune."
I put down the last of the pens, brushing away with it the quill-chips from her desk first, and she looked at me with a kind, wondering face. I brushed them away, clicked the penknife into my pocket, made her a bow, and walked off--for the bell was ringing for school.
If Master Briggs is destined in all probability to be a poor man, the chances are that Mr. Bullock will have a very different lot, he is a son of a partner of the eminent banking firm of Bullock and Hulker, Lombard street, and very high in the upper school--quite out of my jurisdiction, consequently.
He writes the most beautiful current-hand ever seen; and the way in which he mastered arithmetic (going away into recondite and wonderful rules in the Tutor's Assistant, which some masters even dare not approach,) is described by the Doctor in terms of admiration. He is Mr. Prince's best algebra pupil; and a very fair classic, too; doing everything well for which he has a mind.
He does not busy himself with the sports of his comrades, and holds a cricket-bat no better than Miss Raby would. He employs the play-hours in improving his mind, and reading the newspaper; he is a profound politician, and, it must be owned, on the liberal side. The elder boys despise him rather; and when champion Major passes, he turns his head, and looks down. I don't like the expression of Bullock's narrow green eyes, as they follow the elder Champion, who does not seem to know or care how much the other hates him.
No. Mr. Bullock, though perhaps the cleverest and most accomplished boy in the school, associates with the quite little boys when he is minded for society. To these he is quite affable, courteous, and winning. He never fagged or thrashed one of them. He has done the verses and corrected the exercises of many, and many is the little lad to whom he has lent a little money.
It is true he charges at the rate of a penny a week for every sixpence lent out; but many a fellow to whom tarts are a present necessity is happy to pay this interest for the loan. These transactions are kept secret. Mr. Bullock, in rather a whining tone, when he takes Master Green aside and does the requisite business for him, says, "You know you'll go and talk about it everywhere. I don't want to lend you the money, I want to buy something with it. It's only to oblige you; and yet I am sure you will go and make fun of me." Whereon, of course, Green, eager for the money, vows solemnly that the transaction shall be confidential, and only speaks when the payment of the interest becomes oppressive.
Thus it is that Mr. Bullock's practices are at all known. At a very early period, indeed, his commercial genius manifested itself: and by happy speculations in toffey; by composing a sweet drink made of stick-liquorice and brown sugar, and selling it at a profit to the younger children; by purchasing a series of novels, which he let out at an adequate remuneration; by doing boys' exercises for a penny, and other processes, he showed the bent of his mind. At the end of the half-year he always went home richer than when he arrived at school, with his purse full of money.
Nobody knows how much he brought: but the accounts are fabulous. Twenty, thirty, fifty--it is impossible to say how many sovereigns. When joked about his money, he turns pale and swears he has not a shilling: whereas he has had a banker's account ever since he was thirteen.
At the present moment he is employed in negotiating the sale of a knife with Master Green, and is pointing out to the latter the beauty of the six blades, and that he need not pay until after the holidays.
Champion Major has sworn that he will break every bone in his skin the next time that he cheats a little boy, and is bearing down upon him. Let us come away. It is frightful to see that big peaceful clever coward moaning under well-deserved blows and whining for mercy.
JONES MINIMUS passes, laden with tarts.
Duval.--Hullo! you small boy with the tarts! Come here, sir. Jones Minimus.--Please, Duval, they ain't mine. Duval.--Oh, you abominable young story-teller. [He confiscates the goods.
I think I like young Duval's mode of levying contributions better than Bullock's. The former's, at least, has the merit of more candor. Duval is the pirate of Birch's, and lies in wait for small boys laden with money or provender. He scents plunder from afar off: and pounces out on it. Woe betide the little fellow when Duval boards him!
There was a youth here whose money I used to keep, as he was of an extravagant and weak taste; and I doled it out to him in weekly shillings, sufficient for the purchase of the necessary tarts. This boy came to me one day for half a sovereign, for a very particular purpose, he said. I afterwards found he wanted to lend the money to Duval.
The young ogre burst out laughing, when in a great wrath and fury I ordered him to refund to the little boy: and proposed a bill of exchange at three months. It is true Duval's father does not pay the Doctor, and the lad never has a shilling, save that which he levies; and though he is always bragging about the splendor of Freenystown, Co. Cork, and the fox-hounds his father keeps, and the claret they drink there--there comes no remittance from Castle Freeny in these bad times to the honest Doctor; who is a kindly man enough, and never yet turned an insolvent boy out of doors.
(Rather a cold winter night.)
Hewlett (flinging a shoe at Master Nightingale's bed, with which he hits that young gentleman).--Hullo, you! Get up and bring me that shoe!
Nightingale.--Yes, Hewlett. (He gets up.)
Hewlett.--Don't drop it, and be very careful of it, sir.
Nightingale.--Yes, Hewlett.
Hewlett.--Silence in the dormitory! Any boy who opens his mouth, I'll murder him. Now, sir, are not you the boy what can sing?
Nightingale.--Yes, Hewlett.
Hewlett.--Chant, then, till I go to sleep, and if I wake when you stop, you'll have this at your head.
[Master HEWLETT lays his Bluchers on the bed, ready to shy at Master Nightingale's head in the case contemplated.]
Nightingale (timidly).--Please, Hewlett?
Hewlett.--Well, sir?
Nightingale.--May I put on my trousers, please?
Hewlett.--No, sir. Go on, or I'll--
"Through pleasures and palaces
Though we may roam,
Be it ever so humble
There's no place like home."
My young friend, Patrick Champion, George's younger brother, is a late arrival among us; has much of the family quality and good nature; is not in the least a tyrant to the small boys, but is as eager as Amadis to fight. He is boxing his way up the school, emulating his great brother. He fixes his eye on a boy above him in strength or size, and you hear somehow that a difference has arisen between them at football, and they have their coats off presently. He has thrashed himself over the heads of many youths in this manner: for instance, if Champion can lick Dobson, who can thrash Hobson, how much more, then, can he thrash Hobson? Thus he works up and establishes his position in the school. Nor does Mr. Prince think it advisable that we ushers should walk much in the way when these little differences are being settled, unless there is some gross disparity, or danger is apprehended.
For instance, I own to having seen this row as I was shaving at my bedroom window. I did not hasten down to prevent its consequences. Fogle had confiscated a top, the property of Snivins; the which, as the little wretch was always pegging it at my toes, I did not regret. Snivins whimpered; and young Champion came up, lusting for battle. Directly he made out Fogle, he steered for him, pulling up his coat-sleeves, and clearing for action.
"Who spoke to YOU, young Champion?" Fogle said, and he flung down the top to Master Snivins. I knew there would be no fight; and perhaps Champion, too, was disappointed.
Noblemen have been rather scarce at Birch's--but the heir of a great Prince has been living with the Doctor for some years.--He is Lord George Gaunt's eldest son, the noble Plantagenet Gaunt Gaunt, and nephew of the Most Honorable the Marquis of Steyne.
They are very proud of him at the Doctor's--and the two Misses and Papa, whenever a stranger comes down whom they want to dazzle, are pretty sure to bring Lord Steyne into the conversation, mention the last party at Gaunt House, and cursorily to remark that they have with them a young friend who will be, in all human probability, Marquis of Steyne and Earl of Gaunt, &c.
Plantagenet does not care much about these future honors: provided he can get some brown sugar on his bread-and-butter, or sit with three chairs and play at coach-and-horses quite quietly by himself, he is tolerably happy. He saunters in and out of school when he likes, and looks at the masters and other boys with a listless grin. He used to be taken to church, but he laughed and talked in odd places, so they are forced to leave him at home now. He will sit with a bit of string and play cat's-cradle for many hours. He likes to go and join the very small children at their games. Some are frightened at him; but they soon cease to fear, and order him about. I have seen him go and fetch tarts from Mrs. Ruggles for a boy of eight years old; and cry bitterly if he did not get a piece. He cannot speak quite plain, but very nearly; and is not more, I suppose, than three-and-twenty.
Of course at home they know his age, though they never come and see him. But they forget that Miss Rosa Birch is no longer a young chit as she was ten years ago, when Gaunt was brought to the school. On the contrary, she has had no small experience in the tender passion, and is at this moment smitten with a disinterested affection for Plantagenet Gaunt.
Next to a little doll with a burnt nose, which he hides away in cunning places, Mr. Gaunt is very fond of Miss Rosa too. What a pretty match it would make! and how pleased they would be at Gaunt House, if the grandson and heir of the great Marquis of Steyne, the descendant of a hundred Gaunts and Tudors, should marry Miss Birch, the schoolmaster's daughter! It is true she has the sense on her side, and poor Plantagenet is only an idiot: but there he is, a zany, with such expectations and such a pedigree!
If Miss Rosa would run away with Mr. Gaunt, she would leave off bullying her cousin, Miss Anny Raby. Shall I put her up to the notion, and offer to lend her the money to run away? Mr. Gaunt is not allowed money. He had some once, but Bullock took him into a corner, and got it from him. He has a moderate tick opened at a tart-woman's. He stops at Rodwell Regis through the year: school-time and holiday-time, it is all the same to him. Nobody asks about him, or thinks about him, save twice a year, when the Doctor goes to Gaunt House, and gets the amount of his bills, and a glass of wine in the steward's room.
And yet you see somehow that he is a gentleman. His manner is different to that of the owners of that coarse table and parlor at which he is a boarder (I do not speak of Miss R. of course, for HER manners are as good as those of a duchess). When he caught Miss Rosa boxing little Fiddes's ears, his face grew red, and he broke into a fierce inarticulate rage. After that, and for some days, he used to shrink from her; but they are reconciled now. I saw them this afternoon in the garden where only the parlor-boarders walk. He was playful, and touched her with his stick. She raised her handsome eyes in surprise, and smiled on him very kindly.
The thing was so clear, that I thought it my duty to speak to old Zoe about it. The wicked old catamaran told me she wished that some people would mind their own business, and hold their tongues--that some persons were paid to teach writing, and not to tell tales and make mischief: and I have since been thinking whether I ought to communicate with the Doctor.
As I came into the playgrounds this morning, I saw a dashing young fellow, with a tanned face and a blond moustache, who was walking up and down the green arm-in-arm with Champion Major, and followed by a little crowd of boys.
They were talking of old times evidently. "What had become of Irvine and Smith?"--"Where was Bill Harris and Jones: not Squinny Jones, but Cocky Jones?"--and so forth. The gentleman was no stranger; he was an old pupil evidently, come to see if any of his old comrades remained, and revisit the cari luoghi of his youth.
Champion was evidently proud of his arm-fellow, he espied his brother, young Champion, and introduced him. "Come here, sir," he called. "The young 'un wasn't here in your time, Davison." "Pat, sir," said he, "this is Captain Davison, one of Birch's boys. Ask him who was among the first in the lines at Sobraon?"
Pat's face kindled up as he looked Davison full in the face, and held out his hand. Old Champion and Davison both blushed. The infantry set up a "Hurray, hurray, hurray," Champion leading, and waving his wide-awake. I protest that the scene did one good to witness. Here was the hero and cock of the school come back to see his old haunts and cronies. He had always remembered them. Since he had seen them last, he had faced death and achieved honor. But for my dignity I would have shied up my hat too.
With a resolute step, and his arm still linked in Champion's, Captain Davison now advanced, followed by a wake of little boys, to that corner of the green where Mrs. Ruggles has her tart stand.
"Hullo, Mother Ruggles! don't you remember me?" he said, and shook her by the hand.
"Lor, if it ain't Davison Major!" she said. "Well, Davison Major, you owe me fourpence for two sausage-rolls from when you went away."
Davison laughed, and all the little crew of boys set up a similar chorus.
"I buy the whole shop," he said. "Now, young 'uns--eat away!"
Then there was such a "Hurray! hurray!" as surpassed the former cheer in loudness. Everybody engaged in it except Piggy Duff, who made an instant dash at the three-cornered puffs, but was stopped by Champion, who said there should be a fair distribution. And so there was, and no one lacked, neither of raspberry, open tarts, nor of mellifluous bulls'-eyes, nor of polonies, beautiful to the sight and taste.
The hurraying brought out the old Doctor himself, who put his hand up to his spectacles and started when he saw the old pupil. Each blushed when he recognized the other; for seven years ago they had parted not good friends.
"What--Davison?" the Doctor said, with a tremulous voice. "God bless you, my dear fellow!"--and they shook hands. "A half holiday, of course, boys," he added, and there was another hurray: there was to be no end to the cheering that day.
"How's--how's the family, sir?" Captain Davison asked.
"Come in and see. Rosa's grown quite a lady. Dine with us, of course. Champion Major, come to dinner at five. Mr. Titmarsh, the pleasure of your company?" The Doctor swung open the garden gate: the old master and pupil entered the house reconciled.
I thought I would first peep into Miss Raby's room, and tell her of this event. She was working away at her linen there, as usual quiet and cheerful.
"You should put up," I said with a smile; "the Doctor has given us a half-holiday."
"I never have holidays," Miss Raby replied.
Then I told her of the scene I had just witnessed, of the arrival of the old pupil, the purchase of the tarts, the proclamation of the holiday, and the shouts of the boys of "Hurray, Davison!"
"WHO is it?" cried out Miss Raby, starting and turning as white as a sheet.
I told her it was Captain Davison from India; and described the appearance and behavior of the Captain. When I had finished speaking, she asked me to go and get her a glass of water; she felt unwell. But she was gone when I came back with the water.
I know all now. After sitting for a quarter of an hour with the Doctor, who attributed his guest's uneasiness no doubt to his desire to see Miss Rosa Birch, Davison started up and said he wanted to see Miss Raby. "You remember, sir, how kind she was to my little brother, sir?" he said. Whereupon the Doctor, with a look of surprise, that anybody should want to see Miss Raby, said she was in the little school-room; whither the Captain went, knowing the way from old times.
A few minutes afterwards, Miss B. and Miss Z. returned from a drive with Plantagenet Gaunt in their one-horse fly, and being informed of Davison's arrival, and that he was closeted with Miss Raby in the little school-room, of course made for that apartment at once. I was coming into it from the other door. I wanted to know whether she had drunk the water.
This is what both parties saw. The two were in this very attitude. "Well, upon my word!" cries out Miss Zoe; but Davison did not let go his hold; and Miss Raby's head only sank down on his hand.
"You must get another governess, sir, for the little boys," Frank Davison said to the Doctor. "Anny Raby has promised to come with me."
You may suppose I shut to the door on my side. And when I returned to the little school-room, it was black and empty. Everybody was gone. I could hear the boys shouting at play in the green outside. The glass of water was on the table where I had placed it. I took it and drank it myself, to the health of Anny Raby and her husband. It was rather a choker.
But of course I wasn't going to stop on at Birch's. When his young friends reassemble on the 1st of February next, they will have two new masters. Prince resigned too, and is at present living with me at my old lodgings at Mrs. Cammysole's. If any nobleman or gentleman wants a private tutor for his son, a note to the Rev. F. Prince will find him there.
Miss Clapperclaw says we are both a couple of old fools; and that she knew when I set off last year to Rodwell Regis, after meeting the two young ladies at a party at General Champion's house in our street, that I was going on a goose's errand. I shall dine there on Christmas-day; and so I wish a merry Christmas to all young and old boys.
The play is done; the curtain drops,
Slow falling, to the prompter's bell:
A moment yet the actor stops,
And looks around, to say farewell.
It is an irksome word and task;
And when he's laughed and said his say,
He shows, as he removes the mask,
A face that's anything but gay.
One word, ere yet the evening ends,
Let's close it with a parting rhyme,
And pledge a hand to all young friends,
As fits the merry Christmas time.
On life's wide scene you, too, have parts,
That Fate ere long shall bid you play;
Good night! with honest gentle hearts
A kindly greeting go alway!
Good night! I'd say the griefs, the joys,
Just hinted in this mimic page,
The triumphs and defeats of boys,
Are but repeated in our age.
I'd say, your woes were not less keen,
Your hopes more vain, than those of men,
Your pangs or pleasures of fifteen,
At forty-five played o'er again.
I'd say, we suffer and we strive
Not less nor more as men than boys;
With grizzled beards at forty-five,
As erst at twelve, in corduroys.
And if, in time of sacred youth,
We learned at home to love and pray,
Pray heaven, that early love and truth
May never wholly pass away.
And in the world, as in the school,
I'd say, how fate may change and shift;
The prize be sometimes with the fool,
The race not always to the swift.
The strong may yield, the good may fall,
The great man be a vulgar clown,
The knave be lifted over all,
The kind cast pitilessly down.
Who knows the inscrutable design?
Blessed be He who took and gave:
Why should your mother, Charles, not mine,
Be weeping at her darling's grave?*
We bow to heaven that will'd it so,
That darkly rules the fate of all,
That sends the respite or the blow,
That's free to give or to recall.
This crowns his feast with wine and wit:
Who brought him to that mirth and state?
His betters, see, below him sit,
Or hunger hopeless at the gate.
Who bade the mud from Dives' Wheel
To spurn the rags of Lazarus?
Come, brother, in that dust we'll kneel,
Confessing heaven that ruled it thus.
So each shall mourn in life's advance,
Dear hopes, dear friends, untimely killed;
Shall grieve for many a forfeit chance,
A longing passion unfulfilled.
Amen: whatever Fate be sent,--Pray God the heart may kindly glow,
Although the head with cares be bent,
And whitened with the winter snow.
Come wealth or want, come good or ill,
Let young and old accept their part,
And bow before the Awful Will,
And bear it with an honest heart.
Who misses, or who wins the prize?
Go, lose or conquer as you can.
But if you fail, or if you rise,
Be each, pray God, a gentleman,
A gentleman, or old or young:
(Bear kindly with my humble lays,)
The sacred chorus first was sung
Upon the first of Christmas days.
The shepherds heard it overhead--The joyful angels raised it then:
Glory to heaven on high, it said,
And peace on earth to gentle men.
My song, save this, is little worth;
I lay the weary pen aside,
And wish you health, and love, and mirth,
As fits the solemn Christmas tide.
As fits the holy Christmas birth,
Be this, good friends, our carol still--Be peace on earth, be
peace on earth,
To men of gentle will.
* C. B., ob. Dec. 1843, aet. 42.
Return to the William Makepeace Thackeray library , or . . . Read the next short story; George Cruikshank


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We are pleased to announce the release of OLPC OS 11.3.1 for XO-1, XO-1.5 and as a formal stable release for XO-1.75. Features, known issues, and installation details are covered in the release notes.
A heartfelt thanks to our many contributors, upstreams, testers, and other supporters. Comments and additional feedback are welcome on the devel mailing list; please download it and try it out.
If you have been following the release candidate process in the last few weeks: this is candidate build 885, released as final with no changes.
Thanks and enjoy!
The OLPC Development Team


text:
Last week, geek-focused early smartwatch player WIMM Labs was revealed to have been acquired by Google, lending strong support to earlier speculation that the search giant would enter the watch-based computing fray with a wearable-device follow-up to its ambitious Google Glass project. Consider it the opening bell as the race begins to own consumer wrists, and expect more targets of opportunity to get cleared off the board this coming Wednesday once Samsung gets the ball rolling with what will likely be the first smartwatch entry from a major player.
Samsung's Galaxy Gear appears to be a decent enough lead-off batter for the smartwatch line-up; rumors suggest it'll have a decent internal processor (1.5GHz dual-core), 1GB of RAM, a 4 -megapixel camera with 720p video capture, a 2.5-inch OLED display and 10 hours of battery life. @evleaks has offered up screenshots that purportedly show the Android phone for controlling the Gear and its settings, and it looks like a lot of what we'll see in the Gear in terms of functionality will resemble what we've already seen from devices like the Pebble.
There's a decent amount of consumer interest in devices like Pebble, which had sold 275,000 devices to date as of July through pre-orders and Kickstarter, and the Hyetis Crossbow, an absurdly expensive smartwatch from a Swiss watchmaker that has already managed to rack up 300 sales – which sounds weak until you realize that each of those 300 people are paying $1,200 for their Crossbow. But none of these devices from smaller startups is doing anywhere near the kind of numbers that an Apple or a Samsung would require to make a product sustainable.
Others like MetaWatch haven't revealed just how well they've been doing yet, but the Fossil spin-out did have a successful Kickstarter run for its Strata smartwatch. MetaWatch and Pebble (whose creators have been building smartwatch devices since the inPulse) in particular look like choice acquisition targets as OEMs like Samsung and Apple look to bolster their smartwatch expertise ahead of a device launch.
Some big companies. like Sony, have a head start in terms of in-house experience. It built a Bluetooth watch back in 2008, and followed that with the Sony Smartwatch, which is getting a sequel soon. But others including LG and the countless additional OEMs probably investigating this space following all the hype that's been generated have good reason to be on the lookout for an easy talent acquisition.
Hardware startups are difficult in terms of making something sustainable and making something that can scale with demand while keeping costs low for end users. It's a challenge that convinced MakerBot it was better to partner up with a larger, more experienced company through acquisition, and it could eventually do the same for Pebble and its ilk. The only problem now might be whether it's too late to join up with anyone who's looking to build such a device, or whether the bulk of the talent/expertise land grab has already taken place.


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Every other Friday, Yossy Arefi from Apt. 2B Baking Co. shares dessert projects that demand a little extra time and effort. Because your weekends should always be sweet.
Today: A summer fruit cake for slow mornings and long evenings.
In my ideal world, I would pit cherries on a porch in pleasantly warm weather, with an ice-cold beer by my side. It wouldn't matter if cherry juice splattered everywhere, because I could just hose off the porch; my evening swim would rinse off all of the splatters I would no doubt get all over myself.
In my real life, I cover a table with newspaper and wear a dark shirt to avoid staining myself and everything in sight with deep red cherry juice, but I'm always left scrubbing a few errant drips from the walls anyway. Despite the mess, cherries are some of my very favorite summer fruit, perfect for all sorts of recipes from ice cream, to pie, to cakes like this one.
This is the kind of cake that is best consumed over the course of a loungy breakfast or two. It's studded with just enough bright red cherries to lighten up the pleasantly dense batter, and it's just right with your morning cup of coffee or tea. The last time I made it, I was away for a long weekend; my fellow vacationers and I ate it sliver by sliver over the course of two days, and dare I say it was better on day two. I imagine it would also be awfully good warm from the oven with a scoop of ice cream for dessert.
More: Don't have a cherry pitter? Here's how to hack one.
This cake can easily be made with sweet or sour cherries, but I love to use sour cherries during the brief window when I can find them. Sour cherries tend to be soft, so I usually just pit them with my hands. Sweet cherries tend to hold onto their pits a bit more fiercely, so I would suggest picking up a real-deal cherry pitter for that task.
Cherry Almond Crumb Cake
Makes one 9-inch cake
For the streusel:
1/4 cup sliced almonds1/4 cup light brown sugar10 tablespoons all-purpose flour1 pinch salt1/8 teaspoon baking soda6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
Gently stir the almonds, sugar, flour, salt, and baking soda together in a medium bowl. Add in the butter and mix to combine. Set the streusel aside while you prepare the cake.
For the cherry filling:
1 1/2 cups pitted cherries (sour or sweet)1 tablespoon all-purpose flour1 tablespoon granulated sugar (sweet cherries may not need additional sugar)
For the rest of the cake:
1 cup all-purpose flour1 teaspoon baking soda1/4 teaspoon baking powder1/2 teaspoon salt6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened1/2 cup granulated sugar2 large eggs2/3 cup sour cream1/2 teaspoon almond extract1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
Preheat your oven to 325° F and grease and flour a 9-inch cake pan. (A springform pan works great for this, but it's not necessary.) Toss the pitted cherries with 1 tablespoon of flour and the sugar if you're using it. Set that aside while you prepare the rest of the cake.
In a small bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
In the bowl of a stand mixer (or using an electric mixer), cream the butter and sugar together for 5 minutes, or until it's very light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing for 30 seconds after each addition. Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure even mixing.
Add in the sour cream, lemon zest, and almond extract. Then gently fold in the flour mixture until everything is just combined.
Pour half of the cake batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with an offset spatula. Scatter the prepared cherries over the top, then gently spread the rest of the batter over them. It's okay if the cherries aren't completely covered; just make sure the batter is evenly distributed over the top. Crumble the prepared streusel over the top in an even layer.
Bake the cake until it's golden brown and a tester comes out clean, 30 to 40 minutes.
See the full recipe (and save it and print it) here.
Photos by Yossy Arefi
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"15 years ago, we brought Great Lengths into the country and our biggest challenge those first few years was getting hairdressers past the stigma of extensions," says Brett Butcher, Great Lengths' national program director. "You only need one hairdresser who doesn't know what they're doing to have people saying, 'Extensions are bad.' That's why education is at the core of everything else we do. Salons and the hairdressers are the representation of our brand."
With a small team of twelve carefully selected and painstakingly trained educators, fronted by two co-directors of education, the Great Length Education Team grooms salon professionals for extension success.
"Great Lengths USA education is right where I hoped it would be," says Butcher. "I have absolute confidence in our educators. Our goal is if an attendee went to 15 different classes, at different locations, we expect them to have the same experience each time. When a hairdressers is going to start asking two and three thousand for a service, we know they have to walk out of the classroom with absolute confidence."
Two co-directors of education are, according to Butcher, the perfect blend of creative and technical. Darren Brokaw, a St. Louis-based salon owner, is the creative; Celeste Lucero from Denver is technique. "The thing that is rare is to have two people who have such strong points of view individually complement each other so beautifully. They collaborate to reformat our learning guide and to make it easy to understand. We just came out of an educator update and I noticed that our educators have so much confidence in what they (Brokaw and Lucero) are presenting to them that they don't even question the changes but just get focused on implementing them."
Potential educators are often scouted and plucked from a classroom. "Our education coordinator, Melissa Nelly, gets a heads up from the educators that they have seen someone promising in their classroom and we invite them into the educator development program," says Butcher. "Each step of the way it is process of elimination. First, we start with a boot camp, followed by a shadowing phase. Next, they act as an assistant educator so we can see them in action. It's an image company so we look how they represent themselves and also how they present information. This can run for three to six months before we're comfortable that they are ready to go on. In some cases, it has taken a year for someone to hit that classroom floor. There is a very high expectation from the attendees; it's not a cheap class and the equipment is thousands of dollars. We know we can change their careers, we have seen it happen thousands of times. So, it's better to take our time and make sure that person is really ready."
According to Butcher, a potential Great Lengths educator should possess:
- A sincere passion for sharing information with other hairdressers that could change their careers.
- The ability to guide students and critique their work while always being respectful.
- The sensitivity to relate to the hairdressers. "We've had 800 thousand haircutters come through our classrooms and you have to meet them at different levels."
- An understanding of color, basic theory, and an exception grasp of Great Lengths core information so they can communicate it.
- Great presentation skills and a "likability factor." "People aren't going to pay attention to someone that turns them off."
And what shouldn't they have? "A big ego. The classroom can't seem more about the educator than the information they are sharing."
"It's not easy to be a Great Lengths educator," says Butcher. "Most manufacturer educators are only with their classroom a day but it is a different ballgame when you are with people for three days, 8 hours a day. These days are jam-packed with information, you have to retain their attention and it takes special people to do it. Luckily for us, we've got that team."
Ready to go the distance with Great Lengths? Contact them at www.greatlengths.com
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