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Blurb.com Photobooks
About a year ago I was wondering if there might be some way to turn a blog into a bound book--words and pictures all together. I thought it might be a good gift to give a few friends and relatives. So I did one of my 'stab in the dark' google searches--"turn blog into book"--and lo and behold Blurb.com came up. I lost steam on turning my own blog into a book--partly (and I'm hoping they improve this) because of issues with text-wrapping from one page to the next. But I remembered being impressed by their layouts, and by the overall aesthetic of their website, so when my family got back from a week in Guatemala, I decided to use their site to make a photobook, rather than one of the popular photobook sites (that I still have a certain amount of devotion to, so I won't mention them here). I just decided to go hog-wild and I chose their most expensive library-image-wrap-hard-cover binding, and their premium paper. My book was over 80 pages long. And the whole thing ended up costing less than $55.00. (Which is also LESS than the other more famous site I've been using). I love this book! The layouts take some getting used to, partly because they aren't sized for 4x6 photos--but once I got the hang of zooming in, and layering photos, I found the flexibility I needed. The site does warn you that a little bit of the edges of the pages will be cropped, and it doesn't (yet) show you a little imaginary line where the cropping will occur, so I ended up with a few instances where one of my photos got sheared in a way, but on my next book (India!) I was able to take that into account and was, again, very pleased with the results. My second book had about twenty more pages than my first, and cost the same amount--seems I was in the 80-110 page price range (or something like that). Books that have much fewer pages would cost much less.
Square Up
I never know what our favorite game of the season will be--(see earlier Qwirkle post on our tradition of giving one great game every Christmas). I got the idea to give Blokus to my daughter this year because of my partner JC's rave review of it on this blog. And it's already risen to the position of most favorite classic Christmas game. My family was the first to leave the homestead after the Christmas holiday and my sister's family remained at my parents' house and they searched several different stores to find their own Blokus (since we brought ours home)--proving what a hit it was. The other game though that came through this year was this little game my mother gave my daughter. It's called Square Up and it's a colored version of those little sliding numbers games I always used to play when I was younger. Remember the scrambled numbers with the one empty slot? And you had to use your thumbs to move them back into the right position? And there was always that terrible moment where you had to undo a perfectly good row to help another row of numbers come into place? Well if you loved that you'll love Square Up. It comes with two large boards with removable colored tile--(this just makes them super-easy to slide around, removing them is not part of the play)--but the fun part is the little Boggle-style shakers with the nine squares in them. The brilliant part is that the plastic lids are fused on so you'll never lose the little crucial squares. You shake the Boggle-style shaker, then play alone or compete with another player to slide the tiles around to match the order of the colors in the shaker. The part that makes it easy-ish is that you're only working to match your middle nine. We particularly enjoy slamming down the see-through plastic lid to announce that we've finished first. And of course we've alreayd discovered that even if you're completely lost it drives your opponent crazy to just move tiles around quickly and noisily--because it makes them think that you're cruising through it effortlessly (even if the purple you need is all the way on the other side of the board). This is a great game for two people and a nice palette cleanser after the more brain-tiring Blokus game. It's been a good year for games in our family.
Every year I've tried to give one great game to my family for Christmas. A favorite that comes to mind was a great (possibly discontinued?) game called Picture, Picture-where people stare at the same large image (cluttered candy shops, rural fishing scenes, etc.) and are challenged to find one thing beginning with each letter of the alphabet. Of course we are huge game players and someone always manages to push the limits of what's acceptable and then we'd end up in knock-down-drag-out fights and challenges (v=virgin seem to be pushing it, but you can't imagine the arguments that would ensue!). I used to give the games to my parents--and then they'd become 'house games' that would be pulled out whenever we'd all be together. Now that I have kids, I try to give one great game to them every year (my middle child being the typical recipient since she craves the most together time and board games always ensure that). Two or three Christmases ago my big game discovery was Qwirkle. A beautiful game with wooden tiles and symbols--that you align like a picture version of Scrabble--each row has to contain the same color in different shapes or the same shapes in different colors. Of course it didn't take us long to figure out a way to bend the rows to maximize points--but we all know the trick so no one has a distinct advantage. The game became so popular that my mother recently tracked it down to add to her collection of house games, so that even though the original version lives with us in Brooklyn, it'll always be handy when we go visit them. The newer version comes with a cloth bag to keep the tiles in--turning it into a travel game of sorts? It's a true family favorite.
American Apparel Interlock High Waist Skirt
I remember an ad for a shoe when I was growing up--the jingle went 'looks like a pump, feels like a sneaker.' I don't remember which shoe was being advertised, because I didn't need anything to 'look like a pump' in those days. Now that I'm teaching at a fancy Upper East Side school, however, I need everything to look kind of fancy and yet if there isn't that 'feels like a sneaker' quality to an item of clothing it won't work for me. That's where the American Apparel interlock high-waist skirt comes in. Everything from American Apparel feels soft and comfortable, but this particular item is classic enough to fly at work. A long A-line skirt--with a high waist that conveniently covers all my trusty Spanx undergarments--it comes in lots colors, and some even have fun contrasting stitching and/or differently colored waistbands. I have asphalt, brown (with a pink waist band), navy blue, and black (with pink stitches). And every time I walk by an American Apparel store I duck in to see if another color might enhance my wardrobe. The cotton is thick and structured, a step nicer than sweatshirt material. I've had my brown and pink one for several years now and it's holding up beautifully. These skirts are so comfortable I wear them on days off as well.
32 Third Graders & One Class Bunny
Don't know if you are the same sort of last minute shopper that I am - but assuming you are or maybe you need a gift for a grown-up January birthday - consider "32 Third Graders and One Class Bunny by Phillip Done. For a teacher or a friend it's a great book written in short chapters about the life of a third grade teacher. By Phillip Done, winner of the Schwab Distinguished Teachers Award, it gives quick, funny snapshots of a third grade classroom. Clearly Mr. Done - I love his name! I'm so done I'm MR. Done! - but I digress - loves his students and truly enjoys teaching - what I love is that he's not all smoozy about it. He doesn't wax poetic or try to convince us he is perfectly in charge of the world in his classroom. Instead he points up his own humanity while appreciating the lovable foibles of piloting a classroom full of eight-year-olds. His stories remind me very much of parenting - love or hate it - it has it's highlights. One of my favorite lines was when Mr. Done compared his classroom to Mrs. Wilson's - the Martha Stewart of teachers - everything is perfect in her classroom while Mr. Done's is well - normal. He runs through a litany of the perfection in her classroom - then a list of his own classroom's challenges - ending with "And my Venus flytrap is a vegetarian." The line made me laugh out loud - and also helped me feel a little better about those other "perfect" mothers and my own crazy cat-haired decorated home.
at 5:42 AM
Labels: Martha Stewart, Mr. Done, Phillip Done, school, teachers, third graders
Neopets Puzzle Adventure
My seven-year-old son is enthralled with Neopets Puzzle Challenge. I've played it only once myself, but I can see the attraction. It's like the board game Othello (which I played endless games of against my college roommate when we should have been studying), but, being computer-based you avoid all those mishaps of not turning over all your pieces, etc, and it has these cute clever characters that my son finds endlessly endearing. His nine-year-old sister plays it less often - mostly because we have only one Nintendo DS and she cannot pry it from his hands. But she is also less enamored of the game Othello, too. Overall, it is a cool game because the strategic elements make my son think and he really sticks with the game and works to overcome increasingly more difficult opponents. I'm going to have to give it another try - after he's in bed!!
at 9:27 AM
Labels: Neopets Puzzle Challenge, nintendo ds
Boogie Superstar
We are gaga for this game. I'm in love with it because I can hear my son singing, for real. No joking around singing, because he has to get it on pitch to get the big points, and the big points are needed to unlock the more sought after songs. True, I've heard enough Pocketful of Sunshine and Bleeding Love to last me a lifetime, but having this glimpse into his real singing voice has been a blast. We all get up on our feet to attempt the dance moves--a little blue figure pops up to instruct us when we're not getting it quite right. My family got the wii this summer and we played the sports package solidly for about two weeks, then we didn't use it anymore. Boogie Superstar has been the perfect way to get back into playing with it. The karaoke duets are hilarious, and the dance moves are easy but challenging since they switch pretty quickly and since they're very very fast--you have to match this metronome like ball exactly. A few weeks before we got this game I found my eight year old daughter trying to learn dance steps by watching instructional videos on youtube (poor thing had to teach herself sign language through youtube earlier this summer, when I kept ignoring her requests for a real class). This is a lot more fun. The other good thing is that even when one person is holding the control and dancing, there's nothing to prevent the entire family from being on their feet trying to nail the moves as well.
at 4:26 PM
Labels: Bleeding Love, Boogie Superstar, Wii, youtube
Young Frankenstein on Broadway
When we were coming out of the subway station after seeing Young Frankenstein on Broadway, my son's friend pointed out a bit of graffiti--the new kind of graffiti, where they use a boxcutter to remove part of one poster and then stick it on top of another poster, not the old kind where they just use sharpies to add body parts and funny quotes. In this particular bit of subway art, someone had cut the last syllable off of an ad for Will Smith's summer blockbuster Hancock, and pasted it over another word, so that the new poster said "[second syllable of Hancock] is the new good." My son and his friend chuckled about this, and later I heard him explaining it to a friend. "It means 'poop'" he explained. I heard him from the other room and I called out 'What did you say it means?' And he smiled and said 'it's a kind of poop, kind of like saying doody." I felt a need to clarify. And I did. I feel bad for him, because he really wants to know all the bad words. One time, coming home from school in 2nd grade, he said "what grade are we in when we learn curses?" Poor thing, I thought he said 'cursive' so I answered plainly, "third grade." He must have been so excited. Later he said 'so in third grade we learn all the curse words?' and that's when I realized what he'd meant. "Oh no," I began, thinking as I was talking. "You're on your own with those." It did get me thinking that there could be some fun book or course where kids are given the curse words. Not in titillating ways but in plain English. A friend of mine from England was horrified once to hear teenage boys calling each other 'pussy' because of its derogatory nature. I really don't think those boys think of it as meaning anything other than 'wimp,' which is problematic in itself, but if they knew the origin, they might be more sensitive when yelling it across a playground, or in front of a group of nuns or something. My kids have heard a few choice swear words from me, but I like to think that I use them very very rarely and so when I do it proves how frustrated/angry/hurt I am. This is no stubbed toe *&^%, this is BROKEN toe *&^%$#. There's a difference, and we ought to clue them in by example. Which brings me back to Young Frankenstein. There is no Mel Brooks comedy I can think of that doesn't have its share of lewdness and inuendo, the occasional racy bit, or clever doublespeak. And this is no exception. I have to admit that during one of the first big musical numbers "Please Don't Touch Me" I cringed at some of the words: "You can stick me, you can lick me...you can savage me and ravage me..." and I found myself scanning the audience to see if anyone else had brought children to the theater. Of course all of those things he would be allowed to do, he was only allowed to do in his dreams, because she didn't want to be touched, hence the name of the song. But I do like to think that kids who don't know what's going on won't be taught anything new from a song like that--especially when it's sung as quickly as Elizabeth sings it. Of course the song ends with an entire chorus of "Tits, tits, tits, tits, tits, etc." so that was the end of thinking that it might go over their heads. But again, it causes me to wonder about all the acts of violence they've seen by the age of ten--through video games, Star Wars, Tom and Jerry, whatever, and why keep basic body bits out of it? They've seen bodies being blown to bits but we have to protect the--oh no! someone said 'tits!'--from consenting adults using their bodies for pleasure (in a basic PG-13 kind of way, of course)? So once I talked myself down, I settled in and enjoyed. It was a really funny show, and both boys thoroughly enjoyed it, especially a hilarious dance number featuring the monster in coat and tails. The sets were gorgeous, and Igor was funny enough for two musicals. I don't go to Broadway shows as often as I should, but for some strange reason I've been to three shows now in a month (friends in from out of town, special deal from a credit card, some really great shows on the TKTS boards), and this was the nicest theater by far. I highly recommend it. It may not be for the very young, but again, there's nothing in it that's worse than what any city kid might see patched together or scrawled on a poster on a subway platform on the way to school every morning. My son is still talking about it.
at 6:06 PM
Labels: hancock, mel brooks, young frankenstein on broadway
Leapfrog Didj
I just love it when you find a company whose products you adored for your kids when they were younger and then you learn they make something for their older years, too. The "Didj" from Leapfrog totally fits that bill. I just love Leapfrog. I've always felt kids needed be engaged with technology - it is the way of our world anymore - but reading and math will always matter. Leapster manages to marry the two in a way my kids love and I feel comfortable with. When my kids were younger, first we got the LeapPad with Princess books and later Thomas books for my son. Then, I introduced video games to them with the Leapster. They played Spiderman and The Incredibles while spelling and doing math problems. Now, at a lovely event hosted by Leapfrog at the Four Seasons last weekend, I learned that Leapfrog offers a video game-like system for my seven and nine year olds. My kids were thrilled to try the Didj and they play it every day now. It looks very much like the PSP - small, hand-held with strategically placed buttons. It has my kids asking questions like is 36 divided by four nine? Or saying, mom I know what nine times nine is - all while playing a video game. They love it and I feel good about them playing - what could be better? Thank you Leapfrog!
I accidentally invented the referee the other day. We were at my daughter's soccer game and there was a slight dispute about whether the ball had gone into the goal the right way--through the front, as opposed to the wrong way, through the side. Just then a teenager wearing a yellow vest ambled over and announced that it was a fair goal, that it had gone in through the front. That was a big relief to those of us on the sidelines who'd each seen different versions of the goal, and it was a relief as well because the two coaches had had a slightly uncomfortable moment of each assuming it had gone in whichever way would have favored their own teams. Wow, if only there could always be some impartial observer calling the shots, I thought. And then I realized that the yellow vest was the yellow vest the volunteer teen referees wore, and that that was precisely the purpose of the teen who'd been paying attention. We are a huge game-playing family. Games at this point are kind of divided into those that don't require referees--the wii comes in handy since it just tell you if the shot was in or not, keeps track of points, tells you whose turn it is, etc. and Sorry! is nice since all the really nasty moves are actually dictated by cards you draw right there in front of everybody. Fantan is also pretty straightforward. But even games like Yahtzee can lead to disputes (how many rolls was that?) and disagreements. Pictureka falls into the 'we need a referee!' category. But we love it...now that we're all back on speaking terms. It's a massive game of Where's Waldo, if Waldo had no Waldo, and was instead filled with very edgy Spy vs. Spy types of graphics. The board is really nine different panels, and the reason you never, say, find all the objects and never need to play the game again, is that there are prompts during the game where you flip the two-sided boards, switch, or rotate them. You draw color coded cards--one color is 'all play'--first to find an object wins the card. Another card goes to the highest bidder, who then finds the items on the card in 30 seconds. Some of the objects are straightforward--find 5 hearts, for example. Others leave something to the imagination, which means the four of us who stay up to play will end up pouting and fuming and whining. Find 8 things a doctor would use. Well, a table? a lamp? a flashlight? It didn't say find things a doctor would use while BEING A DOCTOR, did it? You can imagine how well we do with 'seven things that fly'--does steam from a teapot fly? Yes? No? Why not? Be prepared to debate that one through clenched teeth. Or better yet, just get a teenager in a yellow vest to sit somewhere nearby.
at 6:21 PM
Labels: Nintendo Wii, Pictureka, spy vs. spy, Where's Waldo, Yahtzee
Tay Tea
We go upstate to the Catskills a few times a year. A couple of years ago my husband discovered an obscure brand of tea called Tay, at a coffee and tea festival (don't ask), and learned that its creator owns a shop in Andes (about ten minutes from the farm we visit). He bought a sampler pack (at the festival you're not asking about) and we really loved it. It came in a little bamboo box, and had a somewhat useless bamboo strainer, but the tea was fabulous. This spring we finally had the chance to visit the Tay Tea shop. What a beautiful place! I bought a few tins of loose tea (I've abandoned the bamboo strainer in favor of a regular metal one with a tiny bamboo handle), some caffeinated, some de-. Tea has kind of changed my life. I was never a coffee drinker (a rebellion I think, from when I was twelve and had to get up for school at like 5:30 and my mom would push a steaming mug of coffee under my nose and say 'come on, don't you need it?')--Coffee seemed boringly grown-up (so did bridge, and knitting, and once I hit college I realized I'd have felt a lot cooler had I been familiar with any of those things). Tea was just herbal for me, I'm not sure how that happened. I'd drink chamomile, or Red Zinger, and call myself a tea drinker. One afternoon about five years ago I was having trouble keeping my head up at a friend's house while our daughters played together. 'Let me make you some tea!' My pal offered. 'Umm, chamomile?' I suggested to which she said something like 'Pshaw! none of that, I'll show you a good cuppa tea.' She returned with PG Tips with milk and sugar (if offered, I'd have declined both). I sipped it and was in heaven. It woke me up (so this is the caffeine I've missed all these years) physically and it woke me up to the world of tea. I'm now the kind of person who fantasizes about my morning cup even before my head hits the pillow at night, and who dreams of the 4 o'clock cup, even as my morning's brewing. While I still keep PG Tips on hand, and enjoy a good basic up of Liptons when I'm at work, I'm proud to say that my kitchen shelf if a glorious display of loose teas in beautiful tins. Better than Sex is one of Tay Tea's non-caffeinated blends that has changed the lives of many of my girlfriends (a mix of chocolate and vanilla and peppermint), other names are Muse, Duchess's first Love, Marry Me Again (an Earl Grey with a lavender nod to Elizabeth Taylor), Tuk Tuk Chai and Dream. I cannot say enough about these beautiful teas. In the midst of all this mothering, these little teas are like mini-vacations, and if another mom's at my kitchen table enjoying it as well, then I'm all the more fulfilled. In searching for the Tay Tea website for the hyperlink above, I just noticed that the quote on the site is 'we drink tea to forget the noise of the world.' Kinda perfect for this mom of three.
at 5:57 PM
Labels: Better Than Sex, Liptons, PG Tips, Tay Tea
Thieves Oil
I've always been a huge fan of the subway. I grew up in a small town and so any experience with a subway meant that I had travelled to some exciting place. We spent some time in London when I was twelve and everything about the Underground appealed to me. The crazy-colored map, the dark cool tunnels, the impossibly long escalator descents, the ads plastered on the walls, the whoosh of hot air that announced the train's arrival, the jostled crowds, and the blackish dusty smell. That experience must have lodged itself deep into my psyche in some Proustian way, because now whenever I pass a subway grate and get that same whoosh of hot air, and sometimes when I'm in the tunnels and I catch that same smell, I'm filled with that early sense of adventure and awe. Of course now I realize that that smell that I described as dusty and black is probably a wicked combination of human excrement, rat hair, and solidified exhaust, but once lodged in the pleasure center, always lodged in the pleasure center, so it remains to me a desired smell. A recent moment that filled me with pride was when my two older children were describing favorite smells and each, separately, confided that the smell you get as you pass over a subway grate when the train's running underneath is tops for them. I've also always preferred travelling by subway to travelling by bus, since the bus seems to be always full of people on their cell phones, and with very few exceptions in New York City, is NEVER faster than walking. So it was upsetting to me to return to work, and to my beloved subway (and all the reading I get to do down there), and to realize that something about the hour-long commute was sapping my strength. It wasn't the several bits of stair-climbing, or the one lengthy underground walk. I can handle that sort of activity. Rather, it seemed to be related to the fumes. It almost felt like I went down there with about a seven on a scale of one to ten, and came upground at about a four. Of course there's nothing scientific about this. Surely sitting and reading and bits of walking weren't exhausting me. So I mentioned this to a friend who happens to be into all sorts of essential oils. Thieves, is what she told me. I looked into it, intrigued by the name, and found out that it's a blend of oils developed by grave-robbers to avoid contracting the bubonic plague (or something like that). I guess if it was good enough for grave-robbers it could be good enough for me, so I invested in some, and have been known to dab it into my scarf, or just rub it onto my temples or something, if everything down there is getting too exhaust-y. It's a mix of clove, lemon, cinnamon, eucalyptus, and rosemary and it's only driven one stranger to relocate to another bench. Many people ask me what I'm wearing and I don't think they're expecting me to prattle on about grave robbers and the bubonic plague. A friend swears by theives toothpaste as well, but I think I'll stick with the oil for now.
at 6:06 PM
Labels: bubonic plague, subway, Thieves oil
I haven't yet heard from my friends that I overdid it, but I just found myself spending about forty-five minutes browsing and sending cards from this site. I find it hilarious, and there's always something so specific that I know exactly who to send it to. The name of the website is 'someecards [some e-cards]--when you care enough to hit send,' which, sadly, is about as motivated as I can get these days to keep up with friends and family. I'm not sure if it's the city-pace--am I trying to do too much?, or the three kids-situation--am I trying to do too much? likely it's some lethal combination of the two...but I do know that I'll be thinking of a pal, remembering a birthday, or whatever, and this site allows me to hit some kind of nail on some kind of head, even if my timing is way off. The cards, accompanied by Victorian-era-style illustrations of people looking as though a thought has just occured to them, are cheeky and spot-on and allow me to feel much more clever than I have the energy to be now that my brain has turned to mush. I used to dally in the 'happy birthday' and 'thankyou' categories, and lately I've branched out into the 'movies' and 'TV' sections (example: If I'm ever murdered, I hope it's interesting enough to be the inspiration for a Law & Order episode--not sure what the occasion is for sending that card, but it reminds me of the kinds of thoughts that cross my mind, and feels like a fun-enough nugget to pass along (especially to a friend who writes for that show)). I'd like to think I could have written some of these, and maybe back in my less-cluttered days I could have kept up with some of these contributors...but in the meantime, and in case that particular brand of sophistication never returns to me, I'm grateful that those kinds of people are creating these cards and that someecards allows me to pass them around.
at 1:24 PM
Labels: Law and Order, someecards.com
Tornado Lab
I'm a weather junkie so I'm predisposed to enjoy a tornado toy, but what a cool toy this is! From Discovery Channel, this tornado in a jar not only teaches the kids about how tornados form but because it uses water to do it, it offers all kinds of other opportunities for scientific exploration. In addition to the tornado lab and a DVD exploring tornadoes and hurricanes, the toy comes with small red foam cubes and small yellow plastic balls that the kids can add to the tornado to learn how the density of an object impacts its behavior. My kids have also added various food colorings and even dipped their fingers in to see how the tornado changes. And, because the device that whirls the water around is small, rounded and way down at the bottom of the container I don't have to worry about injury when the kids do stick their fingers in. Sure, it can be a little messy, but who cares - it is science in a jar! And, my son's teacher even has plans to use the toy for teaching about weather this fall in their study of planet earth.
at 5:58 AM
Labels: Discovery Channel, planet earth, science, tornado lab
I have to admit I was prepared for WAT-AAH! to NOT be a favorite thing...biased, I suppose, by the fact that it's basically water in a plastic bottle, and that's something that's making me increasingly squeamish these days, in a global-warming kind of way. I teach at an independent school that has just completely banned all plastic water bottles (they've provided everyone with Sigg-bottle-like containers) in an effort to get green. I've already phased out ziploc bags (three months and counting) and come close to losing sleep at night for all the composting I'm NOT doing. But my 9-year old son cannot stop talking about this beverage. His friends are all jazzed about the logo--he brings in empty water bottles and they refill them with tap water and carry them around like status symbols (they'd be confiscated in the school where I teach, by the way). But that wasn't a compelling reason to add this to my favorites list. But then my husband started waxing poetic about WAT-AAH! last night. It's so pure tasting, it's like the best most purest water I've ever had. Really I asked, and took a swig. Really, he said. He's the king of flavored water, and usually ends up drinking sediment-laden lemon-lime flavored stuff--that we bought for the kids on sale and didn't like--without complaint (he's a middle child who's used to eating leftovers and doesn't need every meal to be exciting--go figure). Anyway, he went on and on about how fresh and pure it tasted, and my son's bouncing up and down in the background saving empties to bring to his friends, saying how good it is...so here we go. My family officially LOVES WAT-AAH! It is really really good (fresh tasting, pure tasting), and is working nicely as part of our more-water-less-juice-and-chocolate-milk campaign (even though it's not doing much for our internal crusade against global warming). There are four different varieties (not flavors, all fresh, pure water)--Body is plain (great-tasting) water, Brain has electrolytes, Energy has electrolytes and oxygen, and Bones has calcium. But I really don't care about those added things--it's just nice that they all taste exactly the same, so we don't end up with a whole lotta one kind (like when we buy Carnation Instant Breakfast variety pack and no one drinks the Strawberry). *I should add that I just clicked on their website to make sure I had the right link and my kids heard the music and ran over and demanded to find the nearest store that sold it, and said 'well we're going there tomorrow.' Rarely have I seen them this enthusiastic about water. Plastic bottles? Who cares!
at 5:16 PM
Labels: Carnation Instant Breakfast, WAT-AAH
Spanx Reversible Tights
I was going to call this 'Spanx (duh)' but then thought that might be too cheeky (npi... really). Because, basically, I have wholeheartedly welcomed the entire Spanx brand, since returning to work last winter. That explains the Spanx. And the (duh) was going to be there because everyone I know is crazy about them too. Of course I've never quite figured out how to determine my size, falling, as I always seem to do, right ON the cusp of that jagged line that meanders up ominously between various weights and heights, and of course putting them on the first time requires acts of contortions I'd rather not have my children see (but maybe these acts wouldn't be necessary if I would experiment with other sizes). But honestly these things make me feel very put together. Held together. Together together. While blissfully preventing my thighs from rubbing together. I have to look kind of fancy three days a week, and back in the winter I had to look fancy five days a week. This does not come naturally. But I have to say that having a pair of these on underneath always made me feel like I was pulling something off. I'm not a pantyhose person, but find tights to be quite nice in the chillier months. And the Spanx reversible tights that I found at Chicos have really blown my mind. For the life of me I cannot figure out how these sturdy matte tights work without the chocolate brown being noticeable from the jet black side and vice versa. And of course there's the Spanx top that meanders up high enough to both ensure that there won't be any visible bulges, and that each trip to the bathroom will take a little bit longer than usual, due to all the shimmying involved in putting everything back. I like the separate biker short-style Spanx and could have devoted a whole blurb to them. But these tights made the hugest difference for me last winter. So the comfort and versatility have made them my absolute favorite.
at 6:26 PM
Labels: Chicos, Reversible Tights, Spanx
Crayola True to Life Series
My youngest child just started school in the same building as her older brother and sister. Hallelujah! Only one PTA meeting to feel bad about missing every month, only one school asking us for more than we can give. It's simplified everything. The trick is that, now, she has to leave with them in the morning. No more packing them off to big kid school while we laze around in pajamas only JUST starting to consider what we want for breakfast, and what we should wear for the day. It puts a little more pressure on bedtime, and it puts a little more pressure on establishing some solid routines. Throwing out nighttime television (shhh unless the Mets are on) and morning television is a good beginning for us. Our little girl cannot tell time but 'after Dora,' and 'one more Backyardigans' has felt a little bit like 'I'm staying up til 8,' and 'I'm not going to bed til 8:30.' So cutting out those thirty minute chunks of time that eat away at her bedtime so easily seemed right. That left us with the question--well what are we going to do after dinner then? (Some of you will shudder as you struggle to answer the same question, and others will shudder at how ridiculously tv-centered our lives must be that we'd even have to ask it). Here's what we do: we do a lot of drawing, and then when the little one goes up to bed, we break out the board games she doesn't have the stomach for (she actually cheats at Candyland so we figure she's not ready for the hard stuff yet). So it was fun to be able to offer my kids the new and exciting Crayola True to Life stuff. Crayons, markers, and pencils, each with a tri-colored tip. I'm guessing the True to Life series gets its name from the idea that, in nature, no green is just plain green, no blue, just plain blue. In each case, there are a handful of obviously related colors (yellow/red/orange) and surprising combinations (purple/orange/red). The names of these blends are stunning--Maui Sunset, Grand Canyon, Yosemite Campfire... And we've all really enjoyed drawing with them. If we had to pick a favorite, we'd choose the crayons. There's something about the texture of the crayons and the blending of the colors that goes more hand in hand than in the case of the markers. Markers seem to me to be a bit more specific. If you want to color in something with a marker you tend to feel strongly about the color you choose. But with crayons, you get that kind of scrubbly texture anyway, and the colors don't tend to be as pure. So the subtle surprises in the crayons are slightly more satisfying than with the markers. A circle filled in with Amazon Rainforest (three green shades) with the marker creates a kind of schizophrenic disk of scribbled lines, yet in the case of the crayon, you end up with something that looks like a lemon that isn't ripe, with some extra greenness at one tip. In that instance, the True to Life series really does earn its name. As an art teacher, the only drawback I can see is that some children know exactly what color they want something to be, and don't feel very flexible about variations on that idea. Young children can be much more rigid in their expectations of their artwork than grown-ups tend to think they'd be. That said, I could see using the True to Life series in many different types of art projects--designs with watercolor washes on top, invented flowers and fruits, or anything else where the surprises would be welcome. And in one final nod to the markers, I'm looking now at a 'board game' that my four year old just created this evening using them. Long intersection lines form the boxes that the pieces travel in, and there's something really lovely about how the gold turns into purple and the purple turns into olive green, and there's something really interesting about what happens when those lines overlap. I'm not sure she has the sportsmanship to play this game any time soon, but games and drawing, and sometimes combining the two? Who needs TV?**
**stay tuned, we're only finishing our second week.
at 9:04 PM
Labels: Backyardigans, crayola, Dora, true to life
At the beginning of the summer we ran out of ziploc bags. I decided to take this as a challenge. How long could I go without them? We made it through summer camp season with loads of little tupperware-like containers. I bought a set of about fifteen small containers at Ikea--with lids that fit pretty well but not always perfectly...and I went to Chinatown (to the basement of the Elizabeth Mall) and found a perfect Sanrio-style set of three rectangular containers, with pretty designs that my daughters love--because it's SOO much fun to spend money on fun new things in an effort to go green. My middle child went to a camp that required completely disposable lunches every day so we just went ahead and did that--but in general we were pretty green and it felt pretty good. By the time school started I felt like we were on a roll, and decided to enter the school year ziploc-bag-less. It helps that one of our school's beloved fourth grade teachers has decided to stop having a homeroom in favor of being the school's roaming green guru--determined to teach the kids about recycling and other good awareness-type things. But of course I did feel a little bruised when my oldest came home from school saying that he'd been called out for using tinfoil. Wrap-n-mats to the rescue! I saw these things on a fantastic website called reusablebags.com a few months ago and thought they looked pretty great. Plastic-coated (not sure the specifics but it seems to be plastic that's been vetted pretty well) cloth squares cut and sized to wrap perfectly around a sandwich, and close with a velcro tab. I sent my daughter to school with her sandwich folded in one for the first few days and we're all in love with it. (That green teacher even spotted it and is going to hold it up as an example for others next week). So I just went online last night and ordered two more. I had to browse around a bit to find patterns that wouldn't embarrass my 5th grade boy--but in the process discovered that they make a blank beige one that can be personalized with fabric markers or, I suppose, sharpies, in addition to some great polka dot prints in sophisticated color combinations. I'll never be one of those people who makes all sorts of crazy sacrifices to keep our level of trash down as far as we should--I compost our tea leaves and coffee grinds because I can just toss them in our garden, but everything else would be too time-consuming and messy--but I have to say it feels good now to know that my three kids' home lunches aren't resulting in a speck of trash.
I am addicted to Blokus. A strategy game developed by a mathematician, I feel sure it must be helping my kids with mathematical concepts. It is an easy game to learn but a challenge to master. And it comes with all these colorful, fun plastic game pieces. The rules are simple: you can place your piece anywhere on the board as long as it corner, and only its corner, is touching another of your own previously placed pieces. It seems easy and at the beginning of the game it is, the board is wide open and there is plenty of room to maneuver. Then, just a few turns later the board clogs up and lo and behold an opponent has successfully blocked your next brilliant move. It is frustrating in a "let's play again" sort of way. And I find my kids are just as skilled at the game as I am. (my husband may be slightly better at it than me - but I'll never admit to that!) As the school year has begun we are playing nightly as a family then, when the kids tuck in for the night, my husband and I play a few games over a glass of wine. Every game is different and every play changes the board in remarkable ways. There is some controversy about how the name is pronounced but if you think about how you play - it is a blocking game - thus 'block us' rather than the sort of bizarre sounding 'blow-kus'. That sounds like a game requiring two consenting adults - but that's another post!
at 7:32 PM
Labels: blokus, family games, games, math
Neti Pot
Believe it or not my kids don't mind using the neti-pot. I was introduced to it when I was hugely pregnant and mightily congested and wasn't allowed to take any real medication (remember those days?). I found it exhilarating, once I'd gotten my head tilted forward at the right angle, to realize how all my inner passages were connected--specifically, how the nostrils connect up top without getting all involved with my mouth and throat. It really is incredible. You mix some (non-iodized or kosher) salt into warm water and then pour the spout into one nostril and watch as everything trickles (or gushes) out of the other nostril. Then you do a lot of messy sputtering and snuffling, and repeat on the other side. I remember that it brought me about ten minutes of clear-headedness--enough so that I could get to sleep. My older two kids can do it, and really don't mind. We usually do it leaning over the bathtub. It's quite a production, but satisfying when it works, and less expensive than scrolling through a zillion different types of cold medicine (cherry? grape? bubble gum? pills? liquids? quick dissolving tongue tabs?). It's a nice non-medicinal approach, and honestly, kind of fascinating to do.
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An in depth, comprehensive, look at Trump's performance as the 45th president of the United States.
We put together a list of reported news stories that just may back up that claim You decide.
How Donald Trump climbed to the top defeating all the odds
Understanding the importance of the Electoral College
Top Challenges Trump Inherited From The Previous Obama Administration
Like his predecessor, President Trump and his staff were also faced with tremendous initial challenges. He now has the opportunity to take on those challenges after power was transferred over on Jan 20, 2017. The Trump administration had a mandate of a Republican controlled congress (house and senate) who also shared a victorious night during the Nov 8, 2016 election. In fact the Democrats the day after the 2016 President election were in the worst shape they have been since 1938. It should be noted that the Democratic party lost over 1,000 seats during President Obama's 8 year tenure.

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text: First of all, I've been lurking here for the past couple weeks. Wanted to get a feel for the place before I dove in. I like it here and there is a huge amount of information flow and I like that. Question 1 - Are there any apps in the Android Market that are similar to the iPhone's MyTown App? I've tried Foursquare but feel it lacks the appeal. Question 2 - Rooted or Unrooted. That is the question. Now all ye bring forth thy fine wisdom and lay the pros and cons on me. Question 3 - How does one, Root, I hope is the proper term, their phone?


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Separate names with a comma.
Discussion in 'GT Legends' started by dc67, Sep 8, 2010.
Amazon buy..
What country are you in?
US Amazon does say GT Legends is by Viva Media
rFactor does mention ISI
When i put the game on my computer a box opened with that message and asked if want to continue. USA


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Separate names with a comma.
Discussion in 'Mac Help/Tips' started by mattpen, Aug 1, 2002.
How do you create an info for urself in iChat?
i believe that you must enter in the info you want on your card in the address book, but i'm not sure, i could be wrong.
does anyone know how to recieve files from users on windows aim clients? a friend tried to send me a file and when i clicked the link, it said that ichat was waiting for him to initiate the upload (eventually closing and saying that he never sent it), while his client said that i never accepted the file send. is this one of those many ichat bugs, or am i doing something wrong?
you switch to AIM and wait till iChat gets a major update, because as of now it is total crap, but it has great potential. Just wait for an update that allows more AIM integration, but until then use AIM.
except for the file transfer capability, i'd rather use adium. adium blows ichat out of the water, but i payed for 10.2, so damn it, i'm going to use ichat. it seems that recently, apple been releasing a lot of stuff before its done, i dont really like this approach, as the mac has always been known for hardware and software that "just works". if the latter fails to hold up its part of the bargain, apple will lose ground fast.
Why is my iChat taking soooo long to connect?


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A somewhat disappointing Copa America for the United States comes to end tonight against Colombia. Expectations were low for the Americans heading into this tounrment. The US brought a side without several first-choice players like Landon Donovan, Demarcus Beasley, Carlos Bocanegra, Tim Howard, and Clint Dempsey to play against two of the most powerful teams in South America and Colombia, a very respectable side in their own right.
This game is virtually a friendly. One last chance to take a look at young, inexperienced players against top-notch competition (which is what I feel is the most important thing to take from this tournement) and chance to leave Venezuela with a victory. Here's the lineup I hope to see....
Moor DeMerit Conrad Pearce
Nguyen Feilhaber Clark Mapp
Twellman Johnson
Thursday, July 05, 2007
US vs.Colombia Copa America 07/05/07
Posted by ussoccerfan16 at 4:32 PM
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Ha, yeah not enough snow anywhere up here yet, kind of odd for December. I'll probably just ride the resorts tomorrow instead.Anthonyshopguy wrote:Oh and I now I know at your thinking the Mesa would be much better than here. Want to laugh, cry I brought my kite Lol
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Losing a Son in Iraq, and Trying to Keep Another
With U.S. military deaths in Iraq surpassing 3,000, Melissa Block talks with James Conneway, of Enterprise, Ala., Conneway is the father of Sgt. Timothy Conneway, a U.S. Army Ranger who was killed in Baghdad in June of 2003. Conneway talks about what it's been like since his son's death, and how he chooses to focus on his older son who's also a Ranger, rather than the number of war dead.
MELISSA BLOCK, Host:
And one more name. Army Sergeant Timothy Michael Conneway. He was 22 years old, an Army Ranger with the 3rd Battalion 75th Ranger Regiment. Sergeant Conneway was killed in the first months of the war on June 28, 2003. He was returning from a mission. A car bomb exploded alongside the road as his convoy passed. His wife was pregnant at the time. Sergeant Conneway's father, Ken, lives in Enterprise, Alabama. He told me Tim, Jr. just turned three.
KEN CONNEWAY: They came down here for Thanksgiving this year and we had a birthday party for him for his third birthday.
BLOCK: That's great.
CONNEWAY: He's growing like a little weed.
BLOCK: Does he look like his father?
CONNEWAY: He looks just like his dad.
BLOCK: What does he know about his father?
CONNEWAY: He knows who he is. I mean, he's got in his room and everyplace he goes, I mean there's pictures of his dad everywhere. And you can ask him who's that or where's daddy and he'll point to the picture.
BLOCK: Does he ask questions?
CONNEWAY: No, not yet. We're waiting on the day when he does start asking questions.
BLOCK: Since Timothy died, have there been memorial services? Any way to mark his passing for you?
CONNEWAY: Yeah, in fact there's been several. The Rangers had a dedication ceremony at his unit. Here in Enterprise, we've got a Wall of Freedom that was put up shortly after Timothy was killed and on it is all of our veterans that have been killed in combat. And there's been - we've been invited to several others around the state through the last three years.
BLOCK: Do you find that helpful to be around other families?
CONNEWAY: Yeah. Yeah, it is. To be able to talk with other families that are in the same situation. I mean, it's a group that you're thrown into. You don't want to be in it and nobody outside can really relate to what you're going through. It helps to be able to talk.
BLOCK: Mr. Conneway, when you hear that there are now 3,000 U.S. deaths in the war in Iraq, is that milestone meaningful to you in any way?
CONNEWAY: Believe it or not, I haven't kept up with it. That may sound harsh or bad, but honestly since my son was killed, I have not kept up with the news and how many soldiers are being killed. I've got another son that's in the Army still. He's been to Iraq twice, so I concentrate on him most of the time.
BLOCK: What is he doing? This is your older son, I think.
CONNEWAY: He's with Special Operations, too.
BLOCK: Oh, my goodness. You've got your hands full, it sounds like.
CONNEWAY: I do, yeah. Every time we hear that he's deployed, we sit on pins and needles until we hear from him again.
BLOCK: Yeah. Your older son was an Army recruiter at one point, is that right?
CONNEWAY: When Timothy was killed, yeah, he was an Army recruiter.
BLOCK: I was thinking that would be an especially tough position to be in for somebody who had a sibling who was killed, to be recruiting people to join the Army.
CONNEWAY: He lasted about six more months in it and he finally just told them, he says I can't do this. Every kid, it seemed like, came up to him and said I want to be a Ranger. He said, go see that recruiter over there.
BLOCK: Mr. Conneway, in the years that - it'll be coming up on four years this year since Tim was killed. I wonder if the meaning of his death or how you deal with it has changed over time?
CONNEWAY: Ah, not really. I don't think so. I mean, I was proud of him when he went into the service. I'm still proud of him now. I'm proud of what he did. You know, nobody is forcing these kids to raise their hands and swear an oath to uphold the Constitution and follow the orders of those above them, and that's what my son was doing. And he believed in what he was doing. There's always that empty spot in your, you know, in your life or in your heart, but it just gets a little easier each year to be able to cope with it.
BLOCK: Well, Mr. Conneway, it's good of you to talk with us. Thanks very much.
CONNEWAY: Well, thank you.
BLOCK: Ken Conneway in Enterprise, Alabama. His son, Army Sergeant Timothy Conneway, was killed in Iraq in June 2003.
Copyright © 2007 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
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Sunaina talks about her role in Vijay's Theri!
April 1, 2016 | EXCLUSIVE, Latest News, Theri Movie, Latest Movie Stills, Movies Updates | No Comments|
Sunaina talks about her role in Vijay's Theri!
Actress Sunaina, who plays an important role in Upcoming Tamil action movie Ilayathalapathi Vijay's "Theri", says life has come full circle with the opportunity to share screen space with next superstar Vijay.
"I play a fun role in Theri, but I don't like to talk about it much. It was nice working with Vijay sir, and it was special because he launched the audio of my first Tamil film Kadhalil Vizhunthen, so it felt like completing a cycle," Sunaina told IANS.
About the experience of working with Vijay, she said: "He's very humble and friendly. It was on the sets of Theri that I spoke to him for the first time. He told me that he knows that I'm a good dancer, and it felt good coming from a star."


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Eco-Friendly Fun Face Gifts Handcrafted from Sticks that have Fallen from Local Trees
A fun stylus for you or your friends. A great conversation piece to add some personality to your phone or iPad (they work with any device that is controlled with your fingers.) Mix and match faces. (Do you recognize anyone?!) All Stylus Stix are one-of-a-kind. Please email if you would like more than one of a particular face. Please keep in mind that there will be variations in wood color and grain, size and shape of the nose, overall size, etc.
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Honey. . . Sugar, Sugar
Cane sugar. The most widely used food additive in the entire world. That and cottonseed oil (which is in my favorite wonton salad topping), cauliflower (hate it anyway), and a few random industrial chemicals. I should have known really. It is so easy for me to avoid sweets because they make me feel really sick to my stomach. I always blamed it on the other ingredients (oh, ice cream makes me so sick, I must have an intolerance to full fat dairy, these darn pastries make me want to sleep and barf, maybe it's the flour) Soooo. Ya. No more processed foods for me really. Unless they are sweetened with honey or Agave nectar. Even freaking salsa has sugar in it! Yesterday was my first full day of no sugar. It was fine. I felt good. Just thought I would share that with you.
I got this skirt from Amanda at off of broadway! I really wanted to do a stripe shirt with it, but went with this vintage tunic instead. I like the safari utilitarian feel!
Skirt: Vintage
Shirt: thrifted vintage
shoes: thrifted vintage
Ring: Quartz, gift for my first mothers day
belt, purse, hat, bracelet: Vintage thrifted
sunglasses: Marc by Marc Jacobs
38 comments:
- Dip-tea said...
Ha ha ha. Wow, you are the first person I know who is allergic to sugar. Its kind of cool actually. I can now tell people that I know someone who is allergic to sugar. just kidding! :)
- May 14, 2010 at 6:35 AM
- Breanne at Bella Vita said...
Wow, sugar? Sorry to hear that, but it sounds like you're handling it very well and have a great attitude about the situation!
I absolutely LOVE the safari-inspired look. That skirt and those wedges are fab.
- May 14, 2010 at 6:42 AM
- Juliette said...
Love the outfit! The colors compliment each other so well.
Sorry about being allergic to sugar :( but at least you're feeling better and you won't be eating junk food now!
-Juliette WhereForArtThouRomeo
- May 14, 2010 at 6:43 AM
- Maggi said...
Where do you get all of your belts? Are the also thrift store finds?
- May 14, 2010 at 6:45 AM
- Meg said...
Wow. That sucks. A lot. I wouldn`t be too upset about it, because I don`t like sweets all that much, except that sugar is in pretty much every food on the planet. How bad is your allergy? Are you going to die if you eat sugar? That would make eating out much more difficult, I'm sure.
Anyway, I adore this outfit. A lot.
- May 14, 2010 at 6:46 AM
Wow what a bummer to be allergic to sugar!!! However this is a great opportunity for you to change your diet to be healthier (I have no idea, maybe your diet already is - you look pretty darn fit and healthy) but sugar is never good for you so it's a great thing to get rid of. Health food stores must have some good salsas without sugar ;) and they have flavoured agave nector for coffee (irish cream? yes please!) that is maybe a little(lot) more expensive than sugar but hey, its much better for you!
I am so bad with sugar, being allergic to it would be good to force me to cut down on it.
Good luck and I love your blog :)
- May 14, 2010 at 6:50 AM
- Tanvi said...
It's blessing in disguise actually. Near to no health benefits from Cane Sugar :o) ... and perfect way of staying in shape! ... Cute outfit, btw!
- May 14, 2010 at 6:50 AM
- Alecto said...
here i was thinking i was the only one! i've been allergic to sugar my whole life. at first everyone thought i was just manic (when i was a wee tot) then i had a large scale allergy test and all was well. i have to eat fruit bars (like coconut) or low fat icecream. and even that's pushing it sometimes. i'm glad you found out, though!
- May 14, 2010 at 6:52 AM
- Celine said...
I gotta say...it's probably not so bad to be allergic to sugar. It's not a necessary part of our diet...so you'll be healthier. That's great that you know!
I love the belt with that top...so cute
- May 14, 2010 at 7:03 AM
- Paula said...
Well since it wrote specifically cane sugar, it could be some other component of cane sugar not the sucrose. Would be interesting to test for sugarbeet-sugar, which by the way is the comon plant that sugar is produced from in Europe. Anyway, yay for knowing what to avoid now.
- May 14, 2010 at 7:09 AM
- Brianna said...
I love the skirt and the little purse--so cute.
- May 14, 2010 at 7:12 AM
- Fabulocity in Amish Country said...
This is such a pretty outfit lady! :) Loveeee the look!
- May 14, 2010 at 7:17 AM
- Sal said...
I can't tolerate sugar either. That stuff is POISON, I tell you. Makes me moody, pimply, bloated, and unhappy. I bet you'll find life without sugar hella better, lady.
Especially now that you've got that rad skirt.
- May 14, 2010 at 7:22 AM
- Alyson said...
Hm... Your symptoms when you have a lot of sugar are interesting and quite similar to what I experience. I have a hard time eating a lot of ice cream, cookies, cake, icing... most things that most people love to eat way too much of... but if I eat too much of it, then I start to feel really sick and kind of feel like I'm going to puke. Did you do this through a doctor, naturalist? I'm actually REALLY interested in potentially doing this!
- May 14, 2010 at 7:34 AM
- amanda said...
i almost wish i was allergic to sugar, almost, but not really in any sort of way actually. so sorry to hear that, i guess i'll keep back that bag of gummy bears i had for you :) at least you know what it is that makes you feel bad, that must be such a relief! and you look great in that skirt!! so glad you like it!!
- May 14, 2010 at 7:43 AM
- Morgan and Lua said...
Christina! Thank you so much!! I'm with my boyfriend right now and he gets the worst migraines. They're to the point that he goes blind and gets sick to his stomach. They've been unable to give him any sort of reason as to why he's getting them. I went over to the ELISA/ACT website and read some of the testimonials, I think Kevs going to have to try it. He actually thinks he might be allergic to sugar too. That's one of his theories anyway. Thanks again for posting on this! Hopefully he gets some answers.
- May 14, 2010 at 7:49 AM
- km. said...
Adorable purse!! And you always have the cutest hats.
- May 14, 2010 at 7:59 AM
- Desiree said...
That skirt is awesome! And that ring, I am loving it. It is so simple but packs a punch. Very beautiful!
- May 14, 2010 at 8:22 AM
- Jasmine said...
i'm not much of a sweets person myself, but the thought of not being able to have it at all is...weird! but switching to non-processed foods will be a healthy choice for you and i think i need to get on that...anyway! i am in love with your skirt! i love all the brown accents!
- May 14, 2010 at 8:40 AM
- tess said...
well that's good to know, but I would never be brave enough to draw six vials for allergy testing
- May 14, 2010 at 9:30 AM
- Little Ocean Annie said...
That sucks! At least agave is pretty widely available now!
That skirt is so amazing! I love the thick belt loops and the shape of it so much!
- May 14, 2010 at 9:50 AM
i feel your pain! I have always had all these allergy tests doneee. BAH!!
BUT you look amazing in this skirt! The fullness is great.
xo, Kim www.crowded-closet.com
- May 14, 2010 at 11:19 AM
- Sara Lynn said...
WOW no sugar?! I think I would die. lol At least you will be healthy :)
I love the skirt, Anna has great style and I love her outfits :)
- May 14, 2010 at 11:22 AM
- Victoria said...
I can't imagine being allergic to sugar! But I'm sure it would make me a lot healthier! x
- May 14, 2010 at 12:09 PM
- Kimberellie said...
Adore this look!! The shirt is so perfect on you. Everything you wear always fits you so nicely!
And: "milk or coffee or bergamot": hehehe, makes me think it was always after your morning tea/coffee that you felt sick! Just one lump, please. Now, none I guess! How hard is that no sugar?
I think I may be sensitive to sugar. But maybe I am wrong. Maybe it is something else like it was with you. I know that there are certain candies that if I eat more than a couple of I feel sick (skittles anyone?). Perhaps it is the dye. Such a cool test. I want to do it! (besides the six vials of blood...ugh)
- May 14, 2010 at 12:14 PM
- Clare said...
I can't believe you're allergic to sugar! Who'd of thought??? I do want to take that test now, though. :)
Oh, and thank you so much for your incredibly kind words on my last post.
- May 14, 2010 at 12:58 PM
I love this outfit! It's really lovely and how crazy that you're allergic to sugar and cauliflower. I think I might feel sad about not being able to eat cauliflower!! But I hate sweets as well so I don't think I'd mind the sugar thing :)
xo Jenny
- May 14, 2010 at 1:11 PM
- elizabeth said...
Daaag yo. Sugar? At least agave nectar is super popular right now, and if you really are trying to stay off of it all together, though it won't be easy and it will probably involve mostly cooking for yourself... it can definitely be done. thank the honey bees and the cacti-like-plants
- May 14, 2010 at 1:29 PM
- Seval said...
Well, if you're drinking your milk or coffee or bergamot with SUGAR!!! It makes sense Christina!!! :D Hahahah puzzle is solved :P
You look perfect as usual, loved your bag so much!!! :) You need to check my blog today, there is something you might be interested! :) Xoxo
- May 14, 2010 at 2:02 PM
- RETRO REVA said...
You are the kind of lady who "gets dressed in the dark and looks terrific" (I made that up)! I don't believe you could do anything "badly" even if you tried! By the way, that was a compliment! You are so naturally stylish and remind me of sjp- can rock anything well! I wore a cropped muumuu a couple days back and so thought of you as I donned it! I too did the allergy test(may years ago) and was allergic to: grass,dust, trees,sugar,flour products, and so on!!! I was told to have no curtains,carpet etc. I couldn't manage it and finally just decided to live with them. Have a great weekend!!!
- May 14, 2010 at 3:46 PM
- Alice In Fashionland said...
Wow, that's some allergy!
Love the outfit, the skirt is sooo cute!
- May 14, 2010 at 4:05 PM
- Katie said...
I have also recently stopped eating processed foods and have slowly incorporated other foods into my diet. I feel so much better and when I do have processed foods I feel horrible and just want to eat healthy. It makes such a difference to eat all natural or organic foods.
- May 14, 2010 at 4:57 PM
- Nemerae said...
I do love your skirt and how you've matched it!!! =)
I made myself a similar one in nude colour..
Adding you to my blogroll, I like your style =)
- May 15, 2010 at 1:06 AM
- Alyssa said...
How fabulous! I love the design on your top and how you styled it. :)
- May 15, 2010 at 10:20 AM
Wow this top is sooo pretty!!!
P.S: If you can't have sugar how will you have chocolates?? :(
- May 15, 2010 at 12:31 PM
- number the first said...
I love the little purse and the hat. I wish I could pull off such a look <3
- May 15, 2010 at 10:04 PM
Sweets make me sick, too! They make me a bit nauseous. Yet, I continue to eat them. I wonder if I have a sugar allergy, as well. How much do these allergy tests cost?
- May 15, 2010 at 11:51 PM
- erin :) said...
i love the red/khaki tones here! great outfit and blog. and i think you look slightly like jennifer aniston in these pictures (or should i say she looks like you). :)
- May 16, 2010 at 10:54 PM


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The popular Opera Festival Rocks heavy metal concerts continue at the Savonlinna Opera Festival next summer. The heavyweights of melodic death metal, Children of Bodom, and internationally acclaimed trash metal line-up Lost Society will shake the thick walls of the Olavinlinna Castle on Sunday 22 July. Ticket sales have started this morning at Lippupiste web store and ticket agents and the Opera Festival box office.
Over the last 20 years, Children of Bodom has established itself as a leading voice of the Finnish heavy metal scene. Today, it is one of the top selling Finnish metal bands of all time. Lost Society, founded in 2010, is famed for its explosive, high-energy live performances.
Heavy metal concerts are already a tradition at the Opera Festival. Last year's concert with Amorphis, Stratovarius and Stam1na sold out in record time.
The concert begins on 22 July at 7pm. The castle gates open one hour earlier.
Children of Bodom
Lost Society
Sign up for Savonlinna opera festival newsletter!
You can order newsletter here.


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Grand Gesture Of Defiance
(Shadow Kingdom Records)
This 5-piece Heavy / Doom Metal act ALTAR OF OBLIVION from Aalborg, Denmark, has been causing quite a fuss around them, by their genuine crossbreed of both traditional Heavy and Doom Metal. Not only have they been compared to such known acts as CANDLEMASS, MEMORY GARDEN, SOLITUDE AETURNUS and a couple of others as well but also MERCYFUL FATE's name has been popping up on a few occasions due to the band's vocalist Mik Mentor having both nasal / teeny-weeny falsetto type of vocal approach, which definitely brings in some theatrical drama for the band's simple and straight forward Heavy / Doom Metal manifest. However, it's really all this simplicity and straight forwardness that are the ultimate keys to make ALTAR OF OBLIVION to sound so captivating and quite mind-blowing even, as they do on their 2nd full-length studio album, "Grand Gesture Of Defiance". All these 6 songs that are featured on this record, are loaded with some great, emotionally moving moments that make their style quite a serious ear-candy for the hard-boiled community of traditional Doom Metal fans - as mentioned earlier, this style being spiced with slight overtones of pure, old school Heavy Metal. Dunno why some bands seem to have 'it', while some others simply fail and struggle badly every time with their hard attempts to make an indelible impression on people. This Danish act ALTAR OF OBLIVION truly has 'it' (make it with capital letters if you want to); that one special yet very important and vital thing going on within their sound, which undoubtedly is meant to penetrate through most of our skins. "Grand Gesture Of Oblivion" is the kind of record that simply cannot be ignored with a shrug of the shoulders. Just try it - only to notice yourself what this record is about to do for your mind. More about ALTAR OF OBLIVION at: www.myspace.com/altarofoblivion, label: www.shadowkingdomrecords.com
Luxi Lahtinen
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Miranda, "I don't want anything."
|Miranda and Caleb
This is a conversation I had with Miranda eight years ago. She would have been nine at the time. I am putting it here because it is indicative of her personality, and we have had similar conversations many times over the years, although with different offers or subjects.
"Do you want a hug?"
"Do you want a big bear hug?"
"Do you want a big bear hug where I squeeze you so tight you can't even breathe, like only a Daddy can give?"
Annoyed, "No I don't want a hug Daddy."
"What do you want then?"
"Do you want a kiss?"
"Or a tickle?"
"I don't want anything," she leaves the room.
Today the conversation is a bit different. When she sits in the front of the car while I'm driving I'll say, "Can I practice my headlocks." She always says no. It's my way of telling her I love her..


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Chuck Neinas, Big 12 Officials Offer Contradicting StatementsPosted by dnspewak on November 3rd, 2011
Chuck Neinas is the commissioner of the Big 12 Conference. The top dog. When he speaks, people listen. And we assume that his statements are the absolute truth.
So when Neinas said at a welcoming reception for West Virginia on Tuesday that the Mountaineers could only join his league if they did so by the 2012-13 season, it raised questions about the school's ongoing lawsuit with the Big East. West Virginia wants to break its 27-month notification rule with the Big East, but the league isn't backing down from the terms of its contract with the school. Without getting into all the legal mumbo-jumbo, the point is that WVU isn't a shoe-in to join the Big 12 next summer. And Neinas said on Tuesday that West Virginia's failure to join in 2012 would force the league to adjust.
"We needed a 10th member next season to fulfill our TV commitments. There's an inventory that goes with a contract for TV, so we've got to be able to do that."
Every news outlet in America then reported that Neinas had told West Virginia that it must join by 2012 — or else. The headlines read that WVU's acceptance was "contingent" on its status for the 2012-13 season, and although we weren't at the event in Morgantown, just about every reporter seemed to interpret his comments the same way. They could have been taken out of context, but the above quote indicates the term "contingent" with regards to West Virginia and the Big 12. Also, a nine-team league would skew the Big 12's television contract, so the comment from Neinas make sense.
Here's where the story gets interesting. The firestorm spread throughout the day, and naturally it reached the Big 12 offices. Needless to say, those officials weren't on the same page with Neinas. Spokesman Bob Burda said:
"[The Mountaineers' membership] is not contingent upon [them] joining the Conference for the 2012-13 season.
Neinas and Burda work for the same league, so how could they both offer seemingly opposite explanations of the West Virginia situation? Again, it's quite possible that Neinas either misspoke or his comments were taken out of context. Either way, it appears that WVU will join the Big 12 regardless of when the Big East allows it to leave. Unless, of course, Neinas offers a new statement sometime today. Then, we'd have some rather serious problems to discuss.


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Big Data
According to IBM, every day, we create 2.5 quintillion bytes of data — so much that 90% of the data in the world today has been created in the last two years alone. This data, also referred to as "Big Data", comes from everywhere: sensors used to gather climate information, social media interactions, digital pictures and videos, e-commerce transactions, and cell phone GPS signals to name a few. it is predicted that by 2020, there will be a 4300% increase in annual data generation.
Our program will prepare you to meet this current market demand by teaching you how to analyze unstructured data, conduct data mining on big data sets, and to discover relationships among different variables in big data sets. You will learn how to gather and structure the large volumes of data that companies typically collect about their businesses, identify the key data fields that effectively predict the behavior of customers, and effectively communicate the information to your management and provide insight to inform their strategic decision making.
The curriculum is highly progressive and structured with business context taught first, followed by a comprehensive examination of analytic applications and culminating with a capstone project where real business problems are analyzed and solved. Techniques learned can lead to high-earning job offers across many industries including retail, medical, financial, manufacturing.
Ranked among the top 5 in the nation, our faculty members are uniquely experienced in real-world applications, and skilled in the techniques taught at prominent institutions, including Stanford University, University of Michigan, Michigan State University, and University of Washington. And because Mason's MSBA classes are small compared to other business schools, you will have exceptional access to and attention from these leading business thinkers.
The MSBA Program is accredited by AACSB and SACSCOC.


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The Velvet Underground (thing)
See all of The Velvet Underground, there are 3 more in this node.
|White Light/White Heat
|The Velvet Underground and Nico
|Lou Reed
|All Tomorrow's Parties
|Andy Warhol
|Maureen Tucker
|You're not from around here, are you?
|Sterling Morrison
|John Cale
|indie chicks
|The Gray Album
|Pale Blue Eyes
|Joy Division
|Doug Yule
|Half Japanese
|Peel Slowly And See
|Belle and Sebastian
|The Stooges
|The shifting bohemian district of Portland, Oregon
|Exploding Plastic Inevitable


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Hilary D. Bilkis, MS, LMT, CST
Office is located at:
14 Pine Street, Suite 8
Morristown, NJ 07960
There is metered parking on the street and there is also a lot off Dumont. Pine Street is accessible from South Street or from Morris Ave. It is one block away from the Morristown Train Station.
By Phone
cell : (973) 479-2229
By E-mail


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The folks here at Scientopia Blogs invited me to join their collective, which is a move I can only describe as 'one they will deeply regret'.
Who am I? Well, Winston Churchill once described me* as "a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma." Sure, I use a pseudonym, but I'm hardly mysterious. I'm a chemist living on the Left Coast that does a bit of this and that. Part of the this and that is being Editor-in-Commandant of the Journal Of Are You Fucking Kidding (JAYFK).
Fear not, JAYFK devotees! I will continue to run JAYFK will all the sarcasm and swearing you've come to expect. What then, can you expect from Thirty-Seven? This blog will have posts like the those I've written on sux, Death Star and zombie chemistry. Thirty-Seven will be SERIOUS.
Sort of.
*Actually, Churchill was describing Russia in 1939.


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53 Market Place
East Yorkshire
Opening Hours of the Shop in Driffield is Monday to Saturday 9.30am to 4.30pm.
Little Rascals is an established childrens shoe shop in the heart of the Yorkshire Wolds at Driffield. We specialise in a range of top quality designer childrens shoes such as Angulus, Converse, Geox, Richter, GBB, Startrite, Lelli Kelly's, Noel, Superfit, Froddo, Birkenstock, Bobux, Crocs, Kickers, Dr Marten, Zaxy and UGG. All the staff are trained to the highest level by Startrite and hopefully owing to the wide and dynamic range of Startrite shoes, there should be a pair of children's shoes to suit everyones taste and budget. If it's designer children's shoes you're wanting then you can view our range of Angulus. Naturally, as this is the UK, we do also have to prepare for the inclement weather, for this we stock the eye-catching Joules wellington boots. Although our focus remains firmly on Childrens shoes, our stocks have expanded to include a narrow range of Ladies shoes - we currently stock a selection of Birkenstock, Dr Marten and Zaxy shoes and boots, but if it is stylish canvas you are after then Converse is our recommendation.
If you are wanting the very best in childrens shoes then we will always have something for you.


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Released in Germany in 1983 as Mitten Ins Herz, Straight Through the Heart was director Doris Dorrie's first feature. Beatte Jensen portrays an odd, quirky young girl. She inaugurates a romance with divorced middle-aged dentist Sepp Bierbichler. Both lovers are neurotic, and both seem to thrive on feeding off each...more
All Mitten Ins Herz cast + crew photos
Movies.com, the ultimate source for everything movies, is your destination for new movie trailers, reviews, photos, times, tickets + more! Stay in the know with the latest movie news and cast interviews at Movies.com.
Copyright © 2019 FANDANGO MOVIES.


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YONI STEAM: Divine Feminine Hygiene
Book Available Today! A Guide to YONI STEAMING for Personal Care by the Creatress of the Yoni Steam and the Movement that has rebirthed this Sacred and Ancient practice in the U.S. and abroad.
Yoni Steam: Divine Feminine Hygiene
The Yoni Steam was created by the author in 2009, Sat-Ra Sobukwe - SoDaye in the tradition of ancient vaginal steam practices from Africa and indigenous cultures around the globe. This book is for those interested in using the Yoni Steam method taught at her institute for personal home care, learning her w/holistic mind, body, spirit approach including Womb Yoga, various Yoni Steam methods, meditation, affirmations, journaling, and the principles of Kemetic Ntchr/Goddess Ma'aT.


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>>I was there too with a buddy of mine... we had the
>bikers take all of our money to get in... then we had
>no money for food... just were part the crowd some
>folks gave us some chicken had a great time...I was
>just telling a guy that works for me about Ravi and
>remember the other stuff you talked about with Nugent.
> It was a crazy and amazing experience. we were siting
>right in the middle of the stage about 100 feet back
>from the stage... here is a flash back for you a
>picuture of the stage...
>enjoy... not sure what triggered this thought but your
>thread really brought me back. BK
>>We hid in the trunk to get in on friday. Saw a lot of
>>bands that I do not remember.Drank from the wine/drug
>>mix that was past along from the stage into the crowd.
>>Ravi Shankar made us all sit down on the ground before
>>he would play. Amboy Dukes ,Ted jumping off the
>>speakers and yelling" I am going to hit the highest
>>note in the world and we will all melt together."
>>People were falling down all over the crowd. 2 days
>>none stop people coming in to the fest. and when
>>sunday morning came it was a steady stream out. One of
>>the seminal points in my life.
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On 8-9 October 2015, Marc Finaud (far right), Senior Programme Advisor in GCSP's Emerging Security Challenges Programme, took part in the annual Conference on Security and Defence organized by the Nebrija University and hosted by the Higher School of Spanish Armed Forces in Madrid.
The general theme of the conference was "Risk Analysis and Threats to Critical Infrastructure". Mr Finaud spoke on "Meeting the Costs of Critical Infrastructure Protection: Can We Save on Nuclear Weapons?".


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Spaghetti westerns and style
I'll get back to my response to The Kingdom of Christ soon. First, however, I can't resist passing along some comments I heard on the radio yesterday, when I happened upon one of Terry Gross's Fresh Air interviews. This time she was speaking with Sir Christopher Frayling, who has now written Once Upon a Time in Italy: The Westerns of Sergeo Leone. Sergio Leone is best known as the creator of the spaghetti western genre, beginning with a film that came out the same year as Billy Wilder's Kiss Me Stupid (see my first post): A Fistful of Dollars (starring Clint Eastwood) in 1964...
Frayling made a fascinating comment in the few minutes I listened to the interview Noting the optimistic, "white-hat" persona of the cowboy in American westerns, he pointed to director Sergio Leone's grittier, more pessimistic, "gray-hat" portrayal of cowboys. Thus, asked by a boy why he's helping them, Clint Eastwood's character in Leone's A Fistful of Dollars does not give a John Wayne, "a man's-gotta-do-whatta man's gotta do" response. "What are you doing this for?" the boy asks. "Five hundred dollars," comes the hero's response. It wasn't about doing the right thing. It was just about the money. Beginning with Leone's A Fistful of Dollars, Frayling suggests, it wasn't what you believed in that mattered; it was your style.
It was that comment--on the conquest of truth by style--that so grabbed my attention. A similar online quote of Frayling puts it this way: "thanks to the Dollars films, Hollywood action heroes stopped 'being role models and became style statements. You don't identify with them because of what they believe in but because of what they look like.'" And the influence of Leone's spaghetti westerns continues: "Schwarzenegger, Stallone, Bronson, Bruce Willis start here... all that begins with Fistful of Dollars," says Frayling. "Up till then, heroes were supposed to stand for something. That's the spaghetti western's biggest legacy, whatever the genre."
This is, of course, simply another example of our culture's confusion between truth and style, reality and perception. Style is all that matters. Perception is reality. Or, perhaps, in terms of the old Christian triad of the good, the true, and the beautiful, goodness and truth take a back seat to a rather truncated version of beauty, now defined as "style."
Christianity offers a very different vision. In the biblical worldview outer appearances can be deceiving, both because evil can pass itself off as good and beautiful and because what is good must inevitably, since the fall, emerge within a world still marred and scarred by brokenness, pain, ignorance, and sin. It is thus imperative to distinguish, as much as possible, between perception and reality. Indeed, one might even define faith as the ability to see past the perceptions of this age to the goodness, truth, and beauty of the age to come, already making their appearance in the community of those of who follow the crucified and risen Lord.
But that last sentence needs to be unpacked in light of the points Russell Moore raises in The Kingdom of Christ. I'll try to get back to that tomorrow.
Categories: Movies


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Under the Hill --- Now in CaribPress!
10:09 PM | Labels: CaribPress, Under the Hill
Under the Hill
I recently went back to wearing a weave in my hair, something I swore I didn't want to do, but my ex-hairdresser had done such a poor job maintaining the hair that I spent years growing out that it was back under the wig for me. I was thrilled to have it back in immediately and wondered why I thought it was so great to go natural when I could have perfect, flowing curls. My old weave addiction was back and suddenly I felt prettier, stronger, it was the weirdest sensation, but it got me thinking, why are we so hung up on hair?
The power of the weave was so strong that I took my weave down yesterday and didn't even want to run a quick errand because I was afraid somebody would see me. It was like going out of the house naked.
Look, everybody wants to look good, that's a given, but it seems that the "good hair" /:bad hair" war hasn't ended, but has gone underground. Many of us have internalized it and still strive for the perfect tresses. For as long as I can remember I have always wanted long hair like all my friends and cousins had. I was so upset growing up because I had the rougher stuff that just wouldn't grow down my back and now that I can buy longer hair I do so and often.
As a woman in my early thirties you would think I would let all that hair stuff go, but when I look at myself in the mirror without the weave, I feel a little bit less pretty and my confidence takes a nose dive. It's the same face, the same smile, the same me, but without the hair I just feel, blah.
Does long hair make us look prettier or is it jut an illusion, and if it is an illusion why are we so quick to buy into it? I'm sure there is some psychological reason involved, but face it, there is nothing like being able to swing your flowing hair. I think for me, its being able to have that thing tat made the girls I grew u with "prettier" than me.
I wonder if in a way we never stop being that little girl who never feels as if she is pretty enough, tall enough, skinny enough? I mean I'm thirty-four years old, am I ever going to get to that point when I look at ourselves in the mirror and am really, truly okay with what is staring back at me?
I guess the truth is that thirty isn't some type of magic switch in which you automatically have all the answers. I guess I still have a lot more maturing to do and that's okay, because I'm really enjoying the journey. A journey that I might add I'm bringing my weave along for, but with the knowledge that I make it look good, not vice versa.
till next week…
Mommy's Little Girl
The other day I went to church with my dad. Afterwards, we went over my parent's house. There was no sign of my mom and my dad and I started talking. The conversation turned to her friends and we were laughing and joking about some silly drama they were going through. It was all harmless chatter. I love and respect my mom more than anybody in the world. I'd never say a bad thing about her. My dad and I were just engaging in some family gossip, but when my mom appeared a few minutes later from her room looking pissed I knew our "harmless fun" wasn't so harmless. My mom had heard everything and I suddenly felt like that eight-year-old girl who got caught licking the frosting off one of her homemade cakes; that made me wonder, are we forever stuck in our roles as Mommy's Little Girls?
I was born with a title --- daughter, and it's one I embraced with pride. Growing up my mother was somebody that I always deferred too; rather I wanted to or not. I respected her role in my life and never disrespected her or uttered the word "no" when she asked me to do something. But as I have gotten older I've found myself caught in that limbo between seeing my mom as the "kisser of boo boos" and relating to her woman to woman. When you get to be thirty-something just what are your obligations to your Mom?
Relating to my Mom as a thirty-something can sometimes feel like a surreal experience. When she treats me like a kid and offers me advice, I bristle. When she ignores me and just goes on her merry way and throws all her attention on my nieces, I feel a twinge of jealousy. When she "suggests" I do something that I'd rather poke my eyes out than do, I want to scream.
I watch people who are best friends with their Mom and I wonder how they made peace with the boundary issues. After all, any woman who says her ten-year-old daughter is her best friend and she tells her everything is ridiculed, so when exactly is that magic age when Mom and Daughter magically become equals and everything in their lives is fair game? I mean as much as I love my Mom there is only so much I know about her life and vice versa.
Think about it, for the first three years of your life you don't even know your Mom's first name. She is just Mommy --- giver of food and hugs and you are shocked when you realize that she is Amy, Teena, Elena --- another person with a whole other life that you know nothing about. And you like it that way. Who doesn't immediately go deaf, blind and dumb at the thought of their parents being living, breathing sensual beings who make mistakes?
I think that's the crux of a lot of our Mommy angst. We spend so many years cultivating this image that we want our Mom to buy into and so much time holding onto our image of who we think she is, good and bad, that we are reluctant to change the status quo that has been in tact since we were babies.
I think that's why adolescence is such a battlefield for Moms and Daughters. It's painful for us to have to break free of our assigned roles and we don't do it with much grace or thought to anybody's feeling but our own. Everybody hates their mom when they are a teenager. I didn't, but I sure thought I knew more in my 13 years on this Earth than she did in her 40+. Every no was "stupid" at best and a conspiracy to ruin my life at worst. She just didn't understand me and never would! I whined, never taking into account that she had done all this growing up thing years ago herself and probably knew a thing or two about it.
Sometimes it feels that when we get to a certain age our Mom almost becomes "the other woman in the family" and vice versa and there are times when we are so exasperated with each other that it feels like that movie "Highlander" in which there can be only one left standing.
Approaching my Mom as an adult is strange no matter how much we adore each other, but growing older means learning how to redraw our boundaries and redefine our relationships. I made peace a long time ago with the fact that Moms, all Moms, are a bit too nosy and too emotional. It's there job. When we were born they took a vow to watch over us for as long as they could and it is a promise that my mom has kept in spades. That's why I went up to my mother after "the incident" and talked to her about how it made her feel; it through her off too because mom's aren't really use to talking to their kids about their feelings.
I think it was a good step towards us seeing each other as people and not just our titles, Mom and Daughter, for a few hours we were just too girls chatting, and I knew then that not only would I always be Mommy's Little Girl, but I wouldn't have it any other way.
till next week…
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Developing improved survey questions on older people's receipt of and payment for formal and informal care
This project was funded by the Nuffield Foundation and was a collaboration between the Personal Social Services Research Unit at Kent and LSE, the Health Economics Group at the University of East Anglia and the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen). It developed a new module of survey questions which has now been adopted in the Health Survey for England and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. Details of the module and the research which underpins it are available here.


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An Analytic Model for Fault Diagnosis in Power Systems Considering Malfunctionsof Protective Relays and Circuit Breakers
Fault-Location System for Multiterminal Transmission Lines
A Fuzzy Rule-Based Approach for Islanding Detection in Distributed Generation4.
A Novel Three-Phase to Five-Phase Transformation Using a Special TransformerConnection5.
High-Efficiency Voltage Regulator for Rural Networks6.
Optimized Modulation for AC±DC Harmonic Immunity in VSC HVDCTransmission7.
Optimal Capacitor Placement and Sizing in Unbalanced Distribution Systems WithHarmonics Consideration Using Particle Swarm Optimization8.
Design of a Mode Decoupling STATCOM for Voltage Control of Wind-DrivenInduction Generator Systems9.
A Power-Quality Index to Assess the Impact of Voltage Harmonic Distortions andUnbalance to Three-Phase Induction Motors10.
Power-Management Strategies for a Grid-Connected PV-FC Hybrid System11.
Optimal location and control of shunt FACTS for transmission of renewable energyin large power systems12.
Wind Farm to Weak-Grid Connection using UPQC custom power device13.
Enhancement of power quality in distribution system using D-STATCOM14.
Research on three-level static synchronous compensator15.
Control Scheme of Cascaded H-Bridge STATCOM Using Zero-Sequence Voltageand Negative-Sequence Current16.
Instantaneous power control of D-STATCOM with consideration of power factorcorrection17.
A new 84-pulse VSC configuration using multi-level DC voltage reinjection forespecial applications18.
Non Linear Control of STATCOM19.
A High Performance Induction Motor Drive System Using Fuzzy Logic Controller20.
An Online Simplified Rotor Resistance Estimator for Induction Motors21.
Design of a hybrid PID plus fuzzy controller for speed control of induction motors22.
Design on Vector Control System of AC Motor for Hybrid Electric Vehicles23.
A hybrid system based approach to Direct Torque Control (DTC) of inductionmotors24.
Vector controlled PMSM drive based on fuzzy speed controller25.
Design of controller for PMSM
Single-phase hybrid active power filter using single switch parallel active filter andsimple passive filter27.
Implementation and Control of an Hybrid Multilevel Converter with Floating DC-links for Current Waveform Improvement28.
Harmonic elimination in single phase systems by means of a hybrid series activefilter (HSAF)29.
APF for harmonic voltage resonance suppression in distribution system30.
Dynamic DC-bus voltage control strategies for a three-phase high power shuntactive power filter31.
Control circuit for active power filter with an instantaneous reactive power controlalgorithm modification32.
A hybrid system based approach to Direct Torque Control (DTC) of inductionmotors33.
Torque ripple reduction in direct torque control of induction machines by use of allvoltage vectors of matrix converters34.
Novel Direct Torque Control Based on Space Vector Modulation With AdaptiveStator Flux Observer for Induction Motors35.
Improved Fault-Location System for Railway Distribution System UsingSuperimposed Signal36.
Input-Output Linearization and Robust Sliding-Mode Controller for the VSC-HVDC Transmission Link 37.
ANN-Based SVC Switching at Distribution Level for Minimal-Injected Harmonics38.
Reference Current Computation for Active Power Filters by Running DFTTechniques39.
Dynamic Hysteresis Current Control to Minimize Switching for Three-Phase Four-Leg VSI Topology to Compensate Nonlinear Load40.
Design and Implementation of a Current-Source Converter for Use in IndustryApplications of D-STATCOM41.
Design of a 28 V-to-300 V/12 kW Multicell Interleaved Flyback Converter UsingIntercell Transformers42.
Implementation and Performance Evaluation of a Fast Dynamic Control Schemefor Capacitor-Supported Interline DVR 43.
Effects of Switching Asymmetry on an Isolated Full-Bridge Boost Converter44.
A High-Power-Factor Single-Stage Single-Switch Electronic Ballast for CompactFluorescent Lamps45.
A Three-Phase Interleaved DC±DC Converter With Active Clamp for Fuel Cells46.
Flexible Power Electronic Transformer
Single-Phase AC±AC Converter Based on Quasi-Z-Source Topology48.
An Inrush Mitigation Technique of Load Transformers for the Series Voltage SagCompensator
Thursday, 12 January 2012
engineerig project topics
Labels: engineerig project topics
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