text:
The Management Trainee Programme (MTP) is one of the many career paths offered at ITL. The next generation of business leaders are
resourced and trained through this programme.
ITL's MTP develops the next generation of business leaders with all-around management skills including problem-solving and ACTS behavioral competencies. This programs is of the most important investments that ITL has made in human resources.
ITL has recently conducted an assessment centre at IBA and received an overwhelming response, as students expressed keen interest in pursuing a career with ITL.


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"What am I going to do? COBRA costs almost half my rent," I wept to a friend of mine. "I can't afford health insurance anymore, but we all know I'm one of those people who has to have it."
All my friends laugh, but they agree there is no way I can risk being uninsured. I have a tendency to live life at full tilt and with that kind of energy comes a higher propensity for bizarre ailments and injuries.
There was the time I split my chin open in yoga (jumping from chatturanga to crow's pose-I overshot) three days before a dear friend's wedding in which I was a bridesmaid (ten stitches—the bride was not pleased with me). Once, a full length mirror fell near me and shattered, with a shard slicing open my leg before a callback for a national commercial (ended up in the ER instead of the callback—15 stitches).
I broke my hand on a guy's face when I accidentally connected with him during a stage fight (major surgery with a rod inserted in my hand). Then there were the two knee surgeries (a function of years as a professional dancer). Oh, and I actually got swine flu. Seriously.
My hospital record is thick. I actually had a nurse comment once, "Oh, you've been here before." Yes, ma'am. A few times too many.
For years, I never had to worry about coverage. I was very fortunate to work as a professional dancer/singer/actress and I managed to qualify for very decent health insurance through the Actors Equity Association. But about six years ago, everything changed.
The First Time I Lost My Health Insurance To begin, the health fund through my union started to suffer (read: go bankrupt), so they began upping the number of weeks a performer had to work in order to qualify for insurance benefits. It went from ten weeks per year to 12 weeks to qualify for six months of insurance, and 20-24 weeks to get a year (virtually impossible for most performers unless they are in a long-running Broadway show or national tour).
Though I had been blessed with consistent work, I lost my health insurance for the first time when I found myself undergoing my first major knee surgery five years ago. I needed about three more weeks of work in the yearly period to qualify. But oh, right … I was on crutches!!! No one was going to hire me to perform in a show if I crutched my way in to an audition.
I appealed to the Union, asking them to freeze the weeks I had accrued until I was healthy again, but they pretty much ignored me. I lost all those qualifying weeks, because if you don't use them within a year, they take them away.
I went on COBRA for the first time. And holy what? It was like $650 per month. How on earth was I supposed to pay for that and a Manhattan apartment? I was in sticker shock.
But I paid, knowing that at any moment something horrible might happen (like the swine flu episode, for example … I was really sick). For part of the year I managed to qualify for a government subsidy for artists, which cut my COBRA payment in half and made it almost doable. But as soon as that was done, I watched the money I had once thought would be a down payment on my own place someday dwindle, owing to the additional expense of health insurance.
Something Had to Give After I recovered from my first knee surgery, I landed a Broadway show and during that run qualified for another six months of coverage through the Union. I was feeling good … until I reinjured my knee in that show and had to have a second knee surgery. And after another long stint on crutches and rehab, I lost my insurance again.
Back to the COBRA payments, which were insult to injury … literally. This time, they'd gone up to almost $750 per month, with a $500 yearly deductible. I kept paying, and kept watching my savings disappear. As my financial stress levels skyrocketed because I wasn't in a show anymore and didn't have coverage as a freelance writer, I began to panic. Something had to give.
I switched to "disaster insurance" through a freelancer's union type of program. But even that was $300 a month, with a $6,000 deductible. I felt like I couldn't even go to the doctor.
I called it my "I've been hit by a bus while rollerblading in NYC and I don't want my parents to go broke trying to cover my bills" insurance, because that was the only possible scenario when paying that deductible would be rational. I could no longer see my neurologist (migraines), my orthopedist (knees), my therapist (which I needed because of this insurance stress!), my chiropractor or even my regular gynecologist (I had to go on their "Healthy Woman" plan; they still ended up charging me $60 for lab fees because I didn't know to ask my doctor to send my lab work somewhere in my health plan's network).
With a $1,000+ deductible for pharmaceuticals, I had no choice but to recruit one of my best friends from Mexico as my "drug mule." When she would go home to visit family, I would have her bring me back a couple of Z-pacs in case I got a bronchial infection and some muscle relaxers for my migraine headaches. It was the only way I could afford it in case I got really sick.
My Quest for Other Options I realized that this disaster insurance/drug mule plan wasn't healthy, either … so I started looking for other options. I found that one of the gyms in New York City offers insurance if you teach a certain number of classes per week. So, though I hadn't taught in years, I immediately started teaching again … a lot! But it took me a year to get enough permanent classes to qualify for their employee plan.
Even that insurance (for which I'm insanely grateful; I've been on the program for a few months now), still requires I deduct $120 to $240 per month from my paycheck depending on how many classes I teach a week, usually eight to ten. With that much physical activity, I am going to need the insurance because my body is breaking! It's an HMO, so I have to go to the doctors on their plan. And, of course, none of the doctors I've gone to for years seem to be "on" that insurance … sigh.
How Health Insurance Is Stifling My Dreams I've found myself turning down certain performing auditions because, if I got the job and had to stop teaching, I would lose my hard-earned health insurance at the gym. I feel like I am working for health insurance and stifling my dreams on the off-chance I end up with a sprained ankle or some other bizarre virus (or worse).
The only other viable option I've seen for getting health insurance is to marry into it. But since my love life has been less than stellar as of late, I guess it's all up to me … or Obamacare.
Please, Mr. President. Please, Congress. Please, America.
I'm exhausted and broke from my efforts to get and pay for health insurance. I'm a hard worker. I'm not taking advantage of any system. But I don't work in corporate America. I'm an artist and a writer. And I'm struggling.
We need a national health care plan. It's time. Unless Mr. Right With the Awesome Medical Plan sweeps into my world (and if he's on his way, his GPS seems to be seriously messed up), it's just me … and I need help.
Imagine what I could accomplish creatively if I didn't have to spend so much time just trying to stay insured?
The world could be my oyster, but right now I'm just trying to make sure I don't step on one and need more stitches.
Maybe you can relate—and hopefully you haven't even had as many mishaps as I have. What do you think we should do?
Avoid These 4 Critical Mistakes During Open Enrollment
The Surprising Health Costs of Being a Woman
Learn More About the Insurance You Need in Take Control Bootcamp!

subset: commoncrawl


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Talent Seeker needed a new other design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 26 designs submitted by 14 freelance designers.
Take a boring industry that needs spicing up..
We've written a "menu of services" for break-fix technology repair via our local technology service depots to take the tech speak out of the process, better explain details and options to our customers - with a fun flair.
Computers of Hickory, Computers of Statesville, etc
We'll supply you with our copy to spice up in word and publisher format.
This content needs to be spiced up, restaurant menu style, creating laying out the content we've provided (which is developed with the same "flair")
Important notes:
1) You must contact me at luke _at_ wallingdata.com to receive the full copy for formatting, perusal. This is comprehensive information we cannot present in editable form for download by anyone.
2) Your presentation on the web should only represent the cover and one open page, email your full presentation in any non-editable format you choose. We aren't here to steal your work - check our history, we always pay for our contests :).
-- More details added 12/1 --
Hi All,
Your presentation should be of the cover and one inside page, toshow how you envision the whole menu and it's subpages appearing.
Please also produce your design in Adobe Illustrator as that should be very convenient for many of you.
You will also need a logo! My apologies for not providing this on the brief: http://www.wdscomputers.com/compute…-logos.zip
Please contact me directly for the content to design off of. Pleaseknow the content we supply is COPY ONLY and should not affect yourcreative process.
The menu should best represent your interpretation of Technology Services in this fun theme.
- A catchy design following our "restaurant theme" - Remember: This is actually delivering descriptions of technology services with a fun theme.
- Large format. Think sit down restaurant sizes. I'm not being specific - be creative!
- Make suggestions. Think we should have "icons" representing specific services on the menu that are themed/combined with real techn images? Tell me.
- Ordinary thinking! This is a fun concept, a new take on discussing and displaying technology services to a face-to-face customer. Stick along those lines, and we'll do great.


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Taking their cue from the 19th-century Parisian Bibliotheque Nationale designed by the famous rationalist architect Henri Labrouste, Kazumi Kudo and Hiroshi Horiba, the architects and founders of the Tokyo-based Coelacanth K&H Architects have realised this public library located in the capital city of Ishikawa prefecture, Kanazawa. The one-storey building, described by its designers as a 'cake box', has been completed earlier this year and its most distinctive feature, the intricately-detailed white concrete façade encompasses around 6000 circular windows that fill the building's integral part, the 12-metre-long reading room, with a 'soft, uniform light'.
From the architects:
'Libraries in Japan are moving towards a model that encourages readers to stay and linger, instead of their original function as spaces for collecting and lending out books. Reflecting the general trend for libraries to facilitate reading as well as other functions, this library uses compact automated shelves that operate as a closed stack system. This is combined with halls and meeting rooms that promote social exchange between its users, much like a community center. The facility is also expected to serve as a new hub for social life among the local community.'
'For this project, we proposed a simple space measuring 45m by 45m with a height of about 12m, enclosed by a "punching wall" and supported by 25 pillars that would function as a storehouse for books and a hub for human communication. This huge, massive volume served as a reading space in keeping with the mood and setting of a library.
'The overall structure of the library resembles an internal three-layered floor covered with a large box that we refer to as a "cake box". The large external "punching wall" in the cavernous reading room features some 6,000 small openings (measuring 200, 250 and 300mm) across its entire surface that allow a soft, uniform light to enter the building.'
to Kazumi KUDO + Hiroshi HORIBA / Coelacanth K&H Architects' profile on Architonic
to the Umimirai Library project on Architonic


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Page View
Dull, J. Alfred / Green Bay and Fort Howard directory. Containing historical information of their early settlement and growth; their present standing; schools, churches, societies, etc. Also business directory of principle dealers. Street directory, ward boundaries, etc.
[Green Bay city directory: I], p. 83 PDF (209.5 KB)
Page 83
Based on date of publication, this material is presumed to be in the public domain.| Original material owned by Shawano City-County Library.| For information on re-use see: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/Copyright


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Sept. 25, 2007
The Lady Bisons traveled to UT Chattanooga on September 21st for the first tournament of the 2007-2008 tennis season.
The Lady Bisons had a steady start, fighting hard; all playing well. Raphaela Jann was the Lady Bisons sole winner for the weekend.
Friday's Results Women's A Singles Martina Dessbesell (JSU) def. Raphaela Jann 7-6 (4), 7-5 Alexandra Sitnikova (EKU) def. Kara Jackson 6-1, 6-1
Women's B Singles Lindsey Mallory (SU) def. Claire Landry 6-0, 6-1 Juliana Renesto (JSU) def. Caitlin Khouri 6-0, 6-2
Women's C Singles Lindsay Reidenbach (SU) def. Olivia Ellis 6-3, 6-3 Maggie Gleason (EKU) def. Britt Kuertz 6-1, 6-4
Women's A Doubles Tanaka/Palider (KSU) def. Ellis/Landry 8-5 Hartman/Szabo (MTSU) def. Jann/Jackson 8-3
Consolation Ferris/Lombardo (JSU) def. Ellis/Landry 8-6 Bennett/Warren (BU) def. Jann/Jackson 8-6
Saturday Women's A Consolation Gulshah Esen (UAB) def. Jackson 6-1, 6-1 Jann def. Seden Soyalp (UAB) 1-6, 6-2 (10-4) Jann def. Ayano Tanaka (KSU) 6-4, 6-1 Jann had to retire the finals of the consolation due to injury
Women's B Consolation Lindsey Bennett (BU) def. Claire Landry 7-6 (5), 4-6 (10-8) Agatha Palider (KSU) def. Khouri 2-6, 7-6 (5) (10-8)
Women's C Consolation Bonnie Adams (UTC) def. Olivia Ellis 6-2, 4-6 (10-5)


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by Hugh Gilmore
When I was a boy, our next-door neighbor introduced me to outdoor life – hunting, fishing, adventure – mostly through the sporting magazines he subscribed to and occasionally through fishing trips. I became fascinated by wildlife. I was only nine when I received this kindness. It helped fill a hole in my life, which had begun deepening when my father started losing his battle with the bottle. It pained me to lose his companionship and guidance.
Our neighbor, however, a Fairmount Park Guard named Bill Pinkerton, allowed me to spend increasing amounts of time at his house, especially on the enclosed front porch where he kept his "Sports Afield" and "Argosy" magazines. I think back now and guess he sensed I needed a man's attention and he offered it. Possibly his time spent with me filled a void in his own life (his own son wasn't born yet).
Maybe he and I were reenacting a similar bond he'd had with his own father, a bond he missed. Maybe he was unable to enjoy fishing without having a buddy along – even such a city-kid novice as myself. Whatever the reason, I enjoyed feeling I was worth the interest of an adult man who liked spending time with me. But suddenly, after living there only 10 months, my parents moved us all far away.
We moved to a little countrified borough named Colwyn in Delaware County. The house was nice, but I felt sad, though I had no idea why. I walked the fields by myself. Walked the railroad tracks. Sat and watched the creek. Discovered the Philadelphia Free Library, obtained lending privileges and, after a while, developed the weekly routine of walking in the door of the Paschalville Branch and going directly to the science section.
My brain was looking for nature books. My heart was hunting for something – who knew what? – that would restore my lost happiness. I searched in books about snakes. About spiders. About the great hunters like Jim Corbett (tigers in India) or Frank "Bring 'em Back Alive" Buck (lions in Africa). I borrowed books about mountain lions, grizzly bears, reptiles – any animal, trying to fill the empty hole in my heart. Mostly I remember the constant sadness and unexplained yearning.
Of course, now grownup, I realize the easy connection between my missing father-substitute and my lingering interest in the pursuits we'd shared. I now sense some love connection lies behind every person's hobbies or collecting enthusiasms, even their vocations.
According to many of the magazines and books I'd read, nature was an enemy of man, a force one threw oneself against in order to be the victor in the struggle of fang and claw against the human will. Grizzlies stood tall to challenge you on the trail. Rattlers lay, jaws agape, waiting your approach as you climbed a rock pile. Trophy rooms, with their gleaming tusks and exposed fangs and grand horns or antlers, were proof of a man's courage and determination.
At the ages of 10 to 12 in a Philadelphia suburb, even a semi-rural one such as Colwyn, few opportunities arose to defend one's honor against roaring grizzlies or howling wolves or charging moose. But there were still plenty of snakes. Though the poisonous ones had been eradicated, snakes still frightened people. I knew them to be beautiful, useful and necessary in the chain of life. They were also misunderstood, so I identified with them.
I read about reptiles and amphibians (herpetology) constantly. Raymond L. Ditmars, chief herpetologist at the Bronx Zoo, became my hero and guide. His "Reptiles of the World," "The Reptiles of North America" and "Thrills of a Naturalist's Quest" were three of my cover-to-cover favorites.
From him I learned to capture snakes barehanded. At home, I removed the top from an old hard-walled suitcase, filled the bottom with dirt and a few pieces of curved bark (as hiding spaces) for the snake collection I kept under my bed. I also kept tortoises and turtles, toads and frogs and salamanders in or near various water-filled ponds I dug in the yard.
No one shared my interest. No one admired my riches. People thought me odd I suppose – and I guess they were right. That never bothered me. Their fear of these animals marked for me the boundary line between those who bother to learn and those who live by received folk wisdom. Also known too often as ignorance.
Fast forward: At West Philadelphia Catholic High School for Boys I'd been placed in accelerated classes and began for the first time in my life (age 14) to feel like a smart kid who acted dumb. I was in awe of the intelligence of some of the boys in the class, especially those who studied and worked hard.
That had not been my way. Good grades were desirable, but they'd only make me feel like more of an odd man out back in my working class neighborhood. And the constant disruptions and arbitrary rules of my home life led me to a life of good intentions never followed through.
I got the attention I wanted by being class clown. That was not the attention I needed, however, so every successful joke carried a taint of shame. I knew I should be studying and doing well. The smart boys just kept on getting smarter.
Another year: I am 15, still an amateur herpetologist and I encounter a lucky combination I shall never know the likes of again: I begin the formal study of biology and my teacher is Brother Damian Luke, a Christian Brother of the St. John Baptist de La Salle order.
Bless them both. I already knew half the curriculum. The rest I took to like a tadpole to pond water. Better yet, Brother Luke, every time I receive an A, which is every time, writes all over my paper, "A+++ Wonderful! Terrific Work! Attaboy! Keep it up!" and so on.
I'm hooked on this perfect world. I love biology to begin with, and I begin living for Brother's compliments. They are the first I've ever had in this world. I am so happy. I am noticed. I am a dog that wants to run, a horse that wants to race. I want to know how fast I am, how strong I am, what my endurance is.
More, give me more. I dig in. I study. I write. I look through the microscope. Can you imagine the joy of actually looking through a microscope after reading about their powers for years? It is a thrill beyond compare. Backstage looks at the world's smallest creatures. I'll never forget it. And never forget Brother Luke.
In both January and June I am told I am the only boy in the city who had perfect scores in both of the citywide archdiocesan term exams. One day in May of my sophomore year, Brother Luke came to my worktable and gave me another lab paper grade. An A.
"Hugh," he said, "Great job. Keep this up and you're going to get a scholarship."
"Thanks Brother," I said, but as he walked away, I wanted to ask, but dared not, "What's a scholarship?"
In my culture one did not ask questions. They exposed your ignorance. You would be ridiculed.
Besides, if he was referring to college, he was wasting his breath. First, no Gilmore related to my family had ever been to college. We were real people. We worked with our hands. Second, even if I ever wanted to go, we couldn't afford it. I had no idea how much it cost, but, whatever it was, we couldn't afford it. My destiny was to go to work as an electrician and help support my mother and four sisters.
Or so I thought.
Hugh is the author of three Kindle-formatted books and two recent paperbacks, including "Malcolm's Wine" and "Scenes from a Bookshop." Both good summer reads. Available through Amazon.com and leading bookshops everywhere.


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Maximo S. Hernandez, 78, of Richland passed away on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2013.
He was born July 28, 1935 in Jourdanton, Texas to Francisca Salazar and Maximo B. Hernandez Sr.
He migrated with his family from San Antonio, Texas and traveled to different states including Ohio, Wisconsin, California and Washington. They arrived in Sunnyside in 1969.
He married Celestina Hernandez on Dec. 26, 1952.
He built homes, commercial buildings and machinery with no prior education, as well as a church in Outlook. He was truly a master in everything he did. His was a self employed contractor/businessman. He was retired.
He moved to Tri-Cities in 2004 and spent some time living in Oregon.
He enjoyed fishing with his sons and grandsons. He loved family gatherings with great food, dancing and looking his best at all times with his nice black shiny shoes and sharp hat.
He was very outgoing, social, loved people and cared deeply about his beloved wife, Celestina, who just recently passed to be with our Lord. He cared about his 10 children, Olga (Lupe) Rodriguez, Tony Hernandez, Andres (Chantelle) Hernandez, Glenda (Abe) Garfias, Ruben "Chuco" (Dee) Hernandez, Alicia (Antonio) Sanchez, Pablo Hernandez, Vicky (Vero) Hernandez, Tina (Jeff) Acosta, Eziquel (Lupe) Hernandez; 31 grandkids; 41 great-grandkids; and eight great-great- grandkids; and friends.
He had such a great sense of humor and always brought a smile to everyone's face including any stranger that passed his way. He leaves so many wonderful memories for all of us. He will be missed very much and will always be in our hearts as our Hero.
A memorial service will be held Sunday, Dec. 15, 2013, at 1 p.m. at Columbia Memorial Chapel and Gardens in Pasco, 224 S. 24th Ave., Pasco.
Columbia Memorial Chapel and Gardens is in charge of arrangements.
Commenting has been disabled for this item.


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My ride was interrupted on the Fourth of July by a fatal car accident, reported on in the media here. I try to get out on the bike as often as possible, as a Pinarello is like chicken soup for the cyclist's soul. During the past month I've ridden in the morning, the evening, early-afternoon, late-afternoon and even high noon. I've had young kids stare at me in wonderment, utterly thrilled by the sight of a bedazzled bike rider in matching kit aboard AdrenalinaItaliana (either that or they're wondering what grown-up could be strange enough to be willing to pedal around suburban Pittsburgh in Lycra while their parents throw coffee cups at him). I've had cute girls whistle (unfortunately at my ride partner that day), dogs give chase and I even played chicken with Western PA's resident rat: the white-tail deer.
And unfortunately, on almost every ride at least one motorist objects to my being out there! And yet I'm usually alone, riding 2cm to the left of the white line that marks the edge of the road - and I've been doing this long enough to know how to make things as easy as possible for overtaking traffic!
Thus far this summer I've been hit by a car, swerved at, brake checked, spat at, swore at, and even attacked by a freakin' senior citizen road-rager. What is WRONG with you people?! Why is it that when you slide behind the wheel of your car, you become sociopathic monsters who think you have the right to kill other human beings because either you don't like skinny guys in Lycra riding bikes, or you think you're Douglas MacArthur and that a 10-sec delay in going about your business is going to cost the lives of 100 Allied soldiers?!?
Guess what?! You're not that important! You're just a normal boring human being living a monotonous life like most of the rest of us. You've got you're own drama, of course, and you think you're no doubt special and privileged, but that still doesn't give you the right to treat your Sunday drive like a stage of the Death Race 2000. And you shouldn't anyway, because the odds are that I'm going to either avoid you, because I've learned to always be vigilant, or I'm just going to turn you in to the police after I refuse to be baited by your foul mouth, I take a picture of you driving your car as if it was a Tiger Tank, get a picture of your license plate, find a friendly witness who'll confirm the previous, and then drop it all off at the County Police barracks. A third result is that you end-up dead yourself like the poor passenger in one of the two cars involved in that head-on collision on the 4th. WTF?! Idiots!
And a special shout-out to the young woman who was talking on her mobile phone as she passed me in a huff on Route 88 heading north, approaching the intersection with Brightwood Road, and almost slammed her pregnant ass into the car stopped in front of her that was waiting to make a legal left turn onto a side road. I'm sure your parents would have been really proud of you for dying in the name of speeding and multi-tasking. Idiot.
Tuesday, July 06, 2010
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text:
New & Improved
This story appears in the July 1998 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe »
The nation's tax agency is finally putting the "service" back into Internal Revenue Service. With a new commissioner at the helm, the IRS is taking a number of administrative steps to reform itself--including measures that take the specific needs of small businesses into account.
Some lawmakers, however, remain skeptical; they say only tough legislative changes will do the trick. IRS Commissioner Charles Rossotti says he supports legislative changes as well, but he maintains the agency is instituting many reforms that are bringing about immediate improvements--including 100 actions implemented to honor commitments made during the Senate hearings on IRS abuses held last year. "We are not just tinkering at the margins here," says Rossotti. "We are effecting fundamental change."
Change Is In The Air
Here are some of the improvements the IRS has made so far:
- Taxpayer problem-solving days. The IRS now provides taxpayers with an opportunity to meet with IRS personnel to resolve complex tax problems on specific days designated by the agency. As of mid-January, IRS employees had met face-to-face with more than 16,200 taxpayers nationwide. In addition, the agency opened district offices on Saturdays during the busiest weekends of the filing season. Rossotti notes that customer satisfaction surveys distributed at one of these Saturday sessions last year indicated that taxpayers were "extraordinarily pleased with the quality of the service they received."
- Better training for IRS personnel. The agency has held several videoconferences with employees to discuss lessons learned from the Senate hearings. It has held focus group interview sessions with more than 2,000 employees to get feedback from them on what they see as barriers to proper treatment of taxpayers and how to improve. According to Rossotti, the IRS is also training its personnel to treat taxpayers "fairly and courteously."
- Doing away with revenue goals. After the Senate hearings, the IRS stopped ranking the 33 district offices and 10 service centers based on revenue and enforcement results. It also no longer issues these kinds of performance goals to regions, districts and service centers. New procedures now require more senior levels of approval for seizures of taxpayer property. (For more on this subject, see "Tax Talk," April.)
Vice President Gore recently announced some IRS initiatives as well, several of which are designed specifically to make life easier for entrepreneurs. One change allows small-business owners to use a system called 941 TeleFile to file their quarterly Form 941 payroll returns via telephone. Similar to the TeleFile system for individual returns, 941 TeleFile is free, paperless and automatically calculates the taxes owed.
In addition, the Pacific Northwest district office in Seattle is serving as the first IRS small-business laboratory. The lab will test new approaches designed to lessen the burden of tax filing for small businesses. If successful, the strategies will be extended nationwide.
Rossotti's plans for the agency's future include a reorganization of its administrative structure to make it more accountable to taxpayers. He hopes to set up four separate units at the IRS, each designed to serve the needs of a particular group of taxpayers.
One unit would be devoted to individual taxpayers with only wage and investment income; another would be for small-business owners, including sole proprietors and small-business corporations; a third unit would cover larger businesses; and the fourth would be devoted to the tax-exempt sector, including employee plans, exempt organizations, and state and local governments.
The IRS estimates that there are about 25 million small-business filers. "This group has much more frequent and complex filing requirements, and pays much more money directly to the IRS, including tax deposits, quarterly employment returns and many other types of income tax returns and schedules," says Rossotti.
Marvin Michelman, director of IRS practice and procedure for the New York City office of Deloitte & Touche LLP, adds, "Creating a structure that is geared toward small business is going to be very helpful because you will have a whole division within the IRS dedicated to helping small-business owners."
Electric Avenues
The IRS also hopes to encourage more taxpayers to file their tax returns electronically. Although there is still some paperwork involved (taxpayers have to sign and mail a Form 8453-OL, which authenticates the electronic transmission, and mail W-2 forms and other supporting documents), electronic filing is expected to help speed the agency's work and lower the chances of error. The 18 percent error rate on paper tax filings falls to less than 1 percent on electronic returns. Filing electronically also means faster refunds. The IRS says taxpayers usually receive their refunds within 21 days if they file electronically--half the time it takes with the traditional filing method.
Eventually, all businesses will be encouraged to file electronically. Vice President Gore recently announced the creation of a special 10-to-12-member advisory group to help plan a strategy for making paperless filing the most convenient method of filing tax returns. The agency is looking for advisory group member nominations from private and public interest groups such as employers, tax software developers, small and large businesses, and individual taxpayers.
Someone On Your Side
Another way the IRS is staying in touch with taxpayers is through its Office of Taxpayer Advocate. The office, which replaced the Office of Taxpayer Ombudsman, is charged with protecting taxpayers' interests in disputes with the IRS. In fiscal year 1997, the advocacy office helped more than 237,000 taxpayers solve their tax complaints, according to the IRS.
Some complaints involve collection situations, says Michelman. "If the agent is asking the taxpayer to pay more than he or she can afford and it's not possible to arrive at a solution, the taxpayer advocate will attempt to work out a more equitable payment arrangement or [make] an offer of compromise," he explains. Under the law, the advocate's rulings can only be overturned by the IRS commissioner or deputy commissioner.
In addition to helping resolve disputes, the advocacy office is charged with providing an independent report to Congress each year identifying the most significant problems facing taxpayers and ways to address those problems.
To further assist taxpayers, the agency is also increasing the National Office of Problem Resolution's staff size by one-third and is conducting a workload review to determine what additional resources are needed in field offices.
What's Next?
For some, the changes the IRS has made so far aren't nearly pervasive enough. Senate Finance Committee Chairman William V. Roth Jr. (R-DE) responded to these latest initiatives by saying, "Legislation needs to go beyond `Reinventing Service at the IRS.' I intend to reinvent the IRS as a whole."
Last year, the House made strides toward that goal by passing a bill that would revamp the IRS and expand taxpayer rights. (For details on the House bill, see "Tax Talk," January.) In May, the Senate passed an IRS reform measure that is more costly and extensive than the one the House passed.
Skepticism may abound, but some observers still believe the IRS is taking important steps toward improvement. Says Michelman, "I am very impressed with the efforts. The IRS recognizes that, now more than ever, helping the taxpayer is the best way to go."
While the IRS has made a number of important changes, a good deal remains to be done. "Just as the problems of the IRS took a long time to develop, it's going to take a great deal of time and effort by all of us to build the kind of IRS the taxpayers deserve," says Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin. "There are no quick fixes or easy solutions, but dramatic change is an absolute necessity."
Joan Szabo is a writer in McLean, Virginia, who has reported on tax issues for more than 12 years.
Next Step
To stay current on all the changes taking place at the IRS, visit the IRS' Web site at http://www.irs.ustreas.gov


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Trail Rig Builder BasicsPosted in How To on June 19, 2012
Building your own trail rig is a fun and exciting endeavor that for many evolves into a valuable learning experience and a family pastime. We understand how easy it is for those new to the world of off-roading to get caught up and overwhelmed with all of the aftermarket parts, endless build paths, and Internet chatter. We've always stood by the notion that learning to drive your rig and knowing its basic limits is much more valuable than any upgrade component you can bolt on. As you spend more time in the seat you learn what your rig needs, lacks, and can live without.
At 4-Wheel & Off-Road we believe in keeping things simple and creating a rig that always puts function above form. Though geographical regions, climates, and off-road goals all factor into your own list of needs and wants, many items cross over all aspects of truck building. So to help in your quest for creating your own personal version of the ultimate off-road vehicle, we've put together some of our most rudimentary builder's parts and tips.
Matching your tires with your wheeling terrain is crucial. If you're looking to crawl rocks and explore the barren desert, then an all-terrain can be an excellent choice. If there is any sort of wet dirt in your future, we suggest erring on the side of caution and investing in a set of mud-terrains. For most trail wheelers a mud-terrain radial provides a nice balance of street manners and off-road performance. Remember that when it comes to tires, bigger doesn't always mean better. Your rig's axles, powertrain, and wheeling environment are all important when picking out the right tires for your 4x4. A 33x12.50 is one of the most universal and safe tire sizes that you can put on a rig. While major mud riding will likely require something taller, we suggest starting small and working your way up.
Winch Way
A winch mounted to the front of your rig is one of the best tools you can have. Winch bumpers and basic mounting plates are pretty common aftermarket accessories and will pay for themselves in short time. Be sure to fit your rig with a winch that is rated for roughly 11⁄2 to 2 times the weight of your vehicle. We've had great luck with our Warn (www.warn.com) winches over the years, but many winch options are available from the aftermarket.
Keep It Low
Unless you are going for the King of the Mud Bog crown, we suggest keeping your rig as low as possible. A low center of gravity equates to a safer vehicle both on the road and off. We know not everyone is comfortable chopping up sheetmetal to clear room for larger tires, but there are still ways to keep your rig low with big cleats. Using bumpstops to abbreviate uptravel is common on all types of rigs. And when used correctly, bumpstops can help you balance squeezing on larger tires without destroying your fenders or sending your rig to the moon. However, when building your 4x4 with a low stance you have to consider skidplates for underbelly components as well as rocker panels. A low stance with low-placed bumpstops can also create a rougher ride and limit your rig's suspension. A great goal is to set up your rig to sit mid-travel (e.g., if you have a 10-inch-travel shock it would be 5 up and 5 down). You often have to be creative with trimming, shock choice, and tire size to make this possible.
It's easy to get caught up in the world of aftermarket bumpers, roof racks, and protective armor. Sure, giving your rig that bombproof Mad Max appearance may make it look like it can go anywhere, but the reality is that a heavy iron hide can weigh you down off-road. When looking at aftermarket bumpers and components, take weight into consideration. The more weight you add, the harder your rig will have to work to power you over obstacles and down the road. Also, don't be afraid to modify and/or keep your factory bumpers. They might not look as cool, but less weight means more power and an easier load on your rig's parts. Loading your rig with spare tires, parts, and every tool from the shed can add unwanted pounds as well. Sometimes a good plug kit, a few basic tools, and a sound understanding of what your vehicle actually needs to limp off the trail when disaster strikes are a great 4x4 diet.
Pan Protection
Keeping your 4x4's center of gravity low means many of your rig's vital components will be closer to the ground. Engine oil and transmission pans are some of the most vulnerable items. Underbelly skidplates, such as this Jeep Wrangler JK system from Evo Manufacturing (www.evomfg.com), are designed to prevent punctures and potentially expensive damage. They also add a little peace of mind next time you feel and hear scraping and banging under your feet. Rocker guards and rock sliders are also key players in the world of rig protection. Many bolt-on and weld-on kits are available from the aftermarket. Investing in a set of sliders can make the difference between opening your door or crawling through the window on Monday. For rigs with solid front axles, also keep in mind that your factory steering and differential cover(s) are likely to take abuse. Companies like Synergy Suspension (www.synergy suspension.com) make heavy-duty tie rods to beef up your low-lying steering bars.
Onboard Air
Going off-road usually means airing your tires down and up—a lot. Onboard air compressors, such as this OB2 100-percent duty cycle unit from Air-Zenith (www.air-zenith.com), are an inexpensive and compact way of having air with you. For rigs with additional cargo space, an air tank can be fitted with your compressor for faster service and help with powering low- to moderate-volume air tools.
A good suspension system will increase wheel travel, ride quality, and off-road performance. There may be some give and take between on- and off-road manners, so do your research before investing in a kit. Modern 4x4s have pretty competent suspension systems that can work well in stock form. Don't worry so much if your rig doesn't have a huge lift kit or ultralong travel. Often good driving can outperform a fancy long-travel kit on the trail. We suggest starting basic and moving up from there. Don't be afraid to change out components and build your suspension a little at time. Understanding the why and how your suspension works will help guide you in upgrading the right pieces and parts. Upgrading your shocks with high-performance units from companies like King Off-Road Racing Shocks (www.kingshocks.com), Bilstein (www.bilstein.com), and Fox (www.foxracingshox.com) can make a huge difference. Many aftermarket shocks can be rebuilt and tuned specifically for your vehicle. This means you can have an
Fitting your 4x4 with front and rear locking differentials is a sure way to grab traction off-road. Locking your vehicle's differentials allows all four wheels to turn at the same speed. For rigs that spend most of their time on the street, a selectable locker (one you can turn on and off) is a great option. Automatic lockers (ones that automatically engage) are generally more cost-effective but can have quirky handling characteristics and take a little getting used to. If you're building your rig up one axle at a time, then we suggest starting off with a locker in the rear. Limited-slips can also work well for mild trail wheeling but will never replace or be equal to a locker. Keep in mind that lockers will also affect your steering. For example, a selectable locker, such as an ARB Air Locker, acts like a spool when it is engaged. This no-slip locked action can make turning the steering wheel off-road extremely difficult and sometimes impossible when the locker is engaged. An automatic locker, such a
Regearing your 4x4 to compensate for larger tires is not cheap but well worth it. Upgrading to numerically higher differential gears will place your power and rpm's back to where the factory intended them to be. This will also alleviate some of the added strain on your transmission and give you more control and power both on-road and off. Regearing can also grab back a little fuel economy.
Off-road your wheels will be subjected to a lot of abuse. Steel wheels in general are extremely tough, but they are very heavy compared to their aluminum counterparts. On most of our extreme and dedicated wheelers we use aluminum beadlocks almost exclusively. The aluminum beadlock is a lightweight wheel that allows us to run single-digit air pressure without the risk of the tire breaking free from the wheel. Though steel beadlocks can work just as well as aluminum, they add weight. Your initial wheel investment may be more, but for dedicated wheelers the reliability and performance advantages will pay for themselves almost instantly.
Tool Bag
Don't be the guy who borrows tools on the trail—be the guy who lends them. Before you go and spend money on an obnoxious sound system or a "Mississippi mud monster" windshield banner, buy yourself a quality tool kit. Both Craftsman (www.craftsman.com) and Kobalt (www.kobalttools.com) make affordable entry-level kits that can get you moving in the right direction if you break down off-road. Toss in a couple of adjustable wrenches, a few screwdrivers, a roll of duct tape, electrical wire, a hammer, and a set of vise grips, and you are well on your way to having most of the tools you need on the trail. Is this all that you need? No. The more time you spend on the trail the more you'll learn about your rig and what tools are most important to carry.
If you're building your first 4x4 and you want a ton of power under the hood, buy something that already has a high-output engine. Engine swaps are not easy or cheap. The "keep it simple, stupid" philosophy is one to live by when it comes to power-adders. Most wheeling, especially on your average trail, doesn't require a lot of ponies under the hood. Unless you're heading for the dunes, monster mud pit, or Baja 1000 we say stick with the basics (cold air intake, programmer, exhaust).


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3 stars (out of 4)
At 68, Bobby Womack has a resume steeped in greatness: a gospel singer who worked with Sam Cooke, a gifted session guitarist who played with everyone from Elvis Presley to Sly Stone, a songwriter covered by the Rolling Stones, and the unforgettable voice behind a series of classic soul albums in the '70s and '80s. But drug addiction all but gutted his career, until Damon Albarn recruited him to sing on Gorillaz' 2010 "Plastic Beach" album and tour.
Now with the help of coproducers Albarn and XL Recordings president Richard Russell (who also produced Gil Scott-Heron's 2010 comeback album, "I'm New Here"), Womack has put together a studio album of largely original material, "The Bravest Man in the Universe" (XL Recordings), his first high-profile recording since the mid-'90s. It doesn't try to re-create Womack's past. Instead Albarn and Russell place his weathered but still-strong voice at the center of moody scoundscapes. Clipped, sparse, electronic beats and touches of keyboard create a smudged, melancholy atmosphere, which echoes some of Tricky's mid-'90s trip-hop albums. Conviction shadows every note Womack sings; he's on intimate terms with pain and anger, but he refuses to bend to them. You can hear the struggle and the tension played out in the sandpapery tone of his instrument.
The title song is the sound of a secular preacher bringing his congregation closer to him, so that he can fess up to his failings and declare his determination to overcome them. It's bracing stuff, made all the more dramatic by the burbling bass undertow and skeletal piano chords. Vulnerability oozes from "Please Forgive My Heart," and Womack plunges into the "Deep River" of gospel he knows so well with just his voice and acoustic guitar.
The album thins out a bit after that. Guest vocalists Lana Del Rey and Fatoumata Diawara (a Malian singer) take over two songs, reducing Womack to a backing singer on his own album. "Stupid" is a cut below Womack's usual song poetry, massacring fish in a barrel with a screed against televangelists. But Womack finishes strong with the spiritual "Jubilee (Don't Let Nobody Turn You Round)," in which the singer's growl is layered into a choir of defiance. It adds up to Womack's strongest work since the early '80s.


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This is an in-house youth basketball league for kids in kindergarten on Saturday mornings at 9:00 am. The first 30 minutes is practice followed by 30 minutes of game play. Registration Deadline: December 14.
RulesSchedule Skill Progression
What to Bring:Athletic ApparelAthletic Shoes - non marking shoesWater BottleMouth Guard (recommended)
What is Provided:Team JerseyBasketballs - 25 sizeCones
Team Selections:Player/coach/friend requests are only accepted but not guaranteed for Grades K-2
How many players are on a team?There are 8 players maximum permitted per team.
How do you select coaches?All of our coaches are volunteers taking their time to make this a good experience for everyone participating.
What is the status of my child currently on the waitlist?We do our best to monitor the waiting lists on a daily basis and will contact you as soon as there is an opening. If we have not contacted you, no opening has become available.
The success of the Youth Basketball Program depends on volunteers!. If you are interested in volunteering to be a Coach please indicate so on your child's registration form. Volunteers will only be assigned to coach teams in which their child is associated with unless otherwise specified.
All volunteers must attend a mandatory volunteer coaches meeting held on Thursday, December 13 at 6:00 pm in the Monona Community Center.
jr. NBA practice plans
Skills & Drills Videos


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Monday, April 19, 2010
Giving Gifts that Tell Stories
I have the BEST intentions of paying proper tribute to the important women in my life, but life usually has a way of marching forward with me always racing to keep up! I thought I'd share a couple of meaningful gift ideas that are sure to be remembered and talked about for years (and years)! Be sure to leave a comment with your own favorite gift idea as a way to inspire other readers or maybe just get the creative juices flowing!
The first gift idea is one that I received from my deceased mother. Mom died in 2003. She had been sick for years, but all of us planned on having her around until she was an old lady! She didn't have time to wrap up loose ends or make final arrangements for who got her earthly possessions. Unfortunately, many of her cherished pieces of jewelry were given away to strangers... there's a HUGE, juicy story there, but I'll try not to deviate from the story at hand. My sister was the hero who got her hands on this bracelet and gave it to me as a way to remember Mom.
It's a simple idea. Just take a silver charm bracelet and add charms that 'tell your story.' Mom spent years deciding which charms were 'worthy' of her bracelet. It's an easy story to read. She LOVED gardening, and more importantly, the garden LOVED her as was evident by the bushels and bushels of food that she shared with the neighbors throughout the years. (For some reason, I didn't inherit the green thumb, unless you count growing weeds!) The hummingbird was her favorite of the feathered variety and she always kept a feeder at the kitchen window for her viewing enjoyment as she worked at the sink. Mom was a big fan of saving money. When I saw the silver piggy bank, complete with little coin, I knew that she was coming back from the grave to remind me to be more careful with my money. As kids, we ate TVP (most people wont even know what that is) and drank powder milk to save money. We didn't appreciate the stories that Mom told of the Great Depression. We would roll our eyes and ask her how could she remember considering that she was an infant. She told the stories anyways and always ended with sayings like "a penny saved is a penny earned," "a fool and his money will soon part" and "the best things in life are free."
As you work your way down the bracelet, each charm tells a precious portion of my mother's story that she wanted remembered.
Several years ago, I was introduced to a darling story called Nana's Charm Bracelet. This Grandma loved each of her grandchildren and wanted them to always be with her. She created a bracelet featuring a silver silhouette of each grandchild. She distinguished each charm by engraving the child's name and birth date on it. The story was told through the eyes of one of the grandchildren. The author remembered how much she loved to sit next to Nana and find her special memory among all of her cousins. It was easy to recreate my own bracelet. Mine is a little sparse, but with time I'll be able to add charms as our family grows.
I have another bracelet idea that I'm working on...but once again, I'm running to keep up. I'll have to save that story for another post. Check back, the juices are flowing here and more ideas are coming!!
8 comments:
- samnarene said...
I remember reading your "Story By Me" about the charm bracelet and thinking what a nice idea. I enjoy your blog and the creative ideas you share.
- April 19, 2010 at 11:19 PM
- Ann said...
I love all the family ideas you create on this fab blog - isn't this bracelet a lovely idea!
- April 20, 2010 at 2:09 AM
- Deanna said...
My mom has a bracelet with these little enameled flags on it of countries we have been to (I'm a Navy brat) so I made one for myself (thanks to ebay!) and also started a Travel Charm Bracelet - charms that remind us of where we visit. I also have a general charm bracelet and it is a standard teacher's gift. In Early Childhood my now 12 yr old's teacher cried when she saw he bracelet with a moveable toilet charm (she helped potty train him and it was tough going!).
- April 20, 2010 at 8:17 AM
- bcrandall said...
So cute. I am visiting from reinvented today. Enjoy your day
- April 20, 2010 at 8:41 AM
Such a sweet idea, I have a necklace that I wear with charms for each of my family.
- April 21, 2010 at 4:10 PM
- Lanie Ree said...
Oh, this is wonderful. I love it.
Thank you for linking this to A Little Creative Therapy, with Life in the Pitts.
- April 22, 2010 at 12:15 PM
- Stephanie Lynn said...
What an adorable idea - love it! So precious - what a great gift with meaning. Would love to have you stop by the Sunday Showcase Party. Hope you are enjoying your weekend! My Mom would treasure this!
- April 25, 2010 at 10:16 AM
- Amy said...
My grandma had the same kind of charms on her bracelet! Every time I see a silouette I think of her!
- May 4, 2010 at 2:29 PM


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Taming the Mind
Amazon eBook DownloadBefore you go, sign up to receive news & promotions from Shambhala.com
"This book helps to overcome misconceptions, showing how to find peace and contentment through a practical application of the teachings of the compassionate Buddha." —H. H. the Dalai Lama
"Venerable Thubten Chodron is someone whose life embodies the virtues of kindness, simplicity, and a clarity of vision, which lie at the heart of the Buddha's teaching. It is these perennial qualities that shine through her writings and touch the hearts of readers all over the world." —Thupten Jinpa, translator for H. H. the Dalai Lama
"A highly useful manual to start one's journey on the path of Dharma." —Tibet Journal
"Thubten Chodron explains in clear, down-to-earth language the essence of Buddhist philosophy and psychology, giving us practical tools to implement immediately in our daily lives. The 'How to Have Good Relationships with Others' section grew from requests made by young Westerners being taught meditation by this exemplary teacher. . . . A must-have book you can give to your family members or friends who haven't a clue about Buddhism." —Mandala: A Tibetan Buddhist Journal
"Chodron, an American-born Tibetan Buddhist nun, here offers her second introduction to Buddhism for Western audiences, but unlike Buddhism for Beginners, this book has a practical bent showing readers how to carry out the practices of Buddhism in daily life. Sections include fine and concise overviews of the history of Buddhist traditions and an overview of Buddhism today. Best of all perhaps for the curious reader is a section called 'Taming Bad Habits,' which contains advice on how not to complain, speak of the faults of others, live in the past, or take part in any of the world's other transitory pleasures. Highly recommended." —Library Journal
"Offers useful advice . . . using simple language in Western concepts. . . . This book will delight the author's many admirers." —The Middle Way, journal of the Buddhist Society


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|1/11/2011 Chicagos Shore, dead fish washed ashore:(
- Thousands of fish have washed up dead in and around Chicago
- In Geyserville, California, more than 100 birds dropped dead just off Highway 101
- In Florida thousands of dead fish have been found floating in a creek
- in Texas 200 American Coots were discovered dead on a bridge in Tyler.
- In Wilson County, Tennessee, 100 blackbirds dropped dead from the sky
- in New Zealand, hundreds of Red Snapper fish washed up dead.
- Brazil scientists have also been left baffled after 100 tons of sardines, catfish and croaker washed up dead near Parangua.


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Buffs hoping to stampede way back to respectability
Philadelphia, PA – It's been more than two decades since the football team at the University of Colorado hoisted its one and only national championship trophy, and the program has struggled to remain relevant ever since.
Under the watchful eye of Bill McCartney, the winningest coach in school history and a recent inductee (class of 2013) into the College Football Hall of Fame, the Buffaloes were kings of the college football world, or at least co-kings, back in 1990 when they shared the crown with Georgia Tech.
Despite a few years of fleeting success since, they've had a difficult time keeping pace with the competition in what most can agree are some of the toughest conferences in NCAA history (Big Eight, Big 12, Pac-12).
McCartney led CU to 10 consecutive winning seasons, three straight Big Eight titles (1989-91) and nine bowl games, but the team has enjoyed sporadic success under four different head coaches since his reign ended back in 1994. Rick Neuheisel followed McCartney to great fanfare, and although he won more than twice as many games as he lost during his four-year run, he couldn't get the team over the proverbial hump and was subsequently replaced by former Northwestern mentor Gary Barnett.
With the Big Eight's morph into the Big 12 a couple of years old at that point, Barnett, a former assistant under McCartney, led the Buffs to three Big 12 Championship Game appearances, winning the title in 2001, but any success he achieved on the field wasn't enough to keep him in charge as allegations of improper behavior resulted in a suspension, and his eventual exit in December of 2005.
Boise State head man Dan Hawkins was arguably the hottest coaching commodity at the time, so he was brought in to restore some semblance of stability, but it wasn't meant to be as Colorado lost significantly more games than it won during his tumultuous five-year tenure.
Jon Embree, a Colorado alum and well-respected former NFL and CU assistant, was entrusted with the task of ushering the Buffs into yet another new era, as the school, along with Utah, joined the former Pac-10, now Pac-12, in time for the 2011 campaign. To say that his two years at the helm were a disaster would be an understatement, as the team went just 4-21, including a program-worst 1-11 in 2012.
Enter Mike MacIntyre, the former head coach at San Jose State who amassed a record of 16-21 in his three years there. While naysayers will say that he appears to be yet another in what has become a frustrating line of ineffective leaders, a closer look shows a guy who took a beleaguered program to unprecedented heights in a relatively short amount of time. The Spartans went 1-12 in 2010, 5-7 in 2011, and an eye-popping 11-2 last season, which included a Military Bowl win over Bowling Green, earning the squad a final BCS ranking of No. 24.
Colorado hasn't posted a winning record since going 7-5 in Barnett's last year (2005), and the team has been to just one bowl game (2007 Independence Bowl) in the last seven seasons. MacIntyre hopes to change all that through a steady diet of relentless recruiting, disciplined play, and character-building, all of which he and CU's countless supporters hope leads to success beyond their wildest expectations.
Having inspired his players to perform at a high level in the past, MacIntyre knows the path to greatness isn't going to be easy.
"We will work tirelessly, we will work correctly, and we will work with passion," he said as his introductory press conference.
Despite the tough road ahead, he also realizes the honeymoon will be short- lived as Buffalo backers everywhere are frothing at the mouth for a winner.
"There is always a sense of urgency. You develop; the word I use instead of patience is perseverance. I think there is a big difference. Perseverance, you're working continuously every day."
While fostering an environment of open competition when it comes to the majority of position battles, MacIntyre had hoped to have senior quarterback Jordan Webb serve as a stabilizing force should the situation call for it, but the veteran signal-caller suffered a torn ACL in his right knee during a practice back in April and is expected to miss the entire 2013 season.
With his system firmly in place, and his first spring game in Boulder now in the books, MacIntyre knows it's important to keep the energy level up as he tries to make his team forget the dismal time it endured last fall.
"We're on the way, but not where we want to be," he said. "Every scrimmage and every practice from the first on, they've had more fun playing, congratulated each other, applauded each other, enjoyed coming out and doing the work. If you enjoy your work, you get better. If you don't enjoy it, you don't ... as you enjoy the process you get better."
Competing in the Pac-12 isn't only about winning the war between the lines, but also out on the recruiting trail, something the Buffs have failed miserably at in recent years. MacIntyre hopes to change all that as he focuses on quality over quantity when eyeing prospective student-athletes.
"It will be first do they want to be at Colorado, and second of all we will start talking football and show them what we can do, what I can do for them and go from there. And we want the right fit now, I can't say that enough, evaluating a person and talent is the key to being successful."


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Twins Host Blue Jays For Weekend Series
The Twins are at home to take on the Toronto Blue Jays this weekend at Target Field.
RA Dickey, last year's NL Cy Young winner before being traded to Toronto, will pitch for the Jays against Twins starter Mike Pelfrey.
The Twins are 61-77 on the season and Toronto has been one of the league's biggest disappointments with a record of 64-76.


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Education to Empower necesitaba un nuevo diseño de página web y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 180 diseños de 23 diseñadores freelance.
Education to Empower
Education to Empower is a nonprofit dedicated to helping teachers empower their students. We're working towards education that produces active, confident citizens.
The center of our current effort is spreading philosophy for children to grades 1 - 12, nationwide!
Teachers, school administrators, parents, academics, potential donors, potential volunteers and allies.
Note: Any design which doesn't meet the requirements will be eliminated.
We are looking for a design mockup. The site's purpose is purely an online brochure.
We need a design for the homepage that is flexible enough to be also used or easily modified for an article/content page.
The design itself should be very clean, warm and friendly looking.
#1 Priority: It should be easy to read the text for navigation and content, and compliment the logo we have (which was designed on 99designs!).
#2 Warm & Inviting: It shouldn't look like a cold, corporate homepage for a fortune 500.
Please don't use stock photos, only placeholders.
Width should be approx 960px.
We'll have an integrated blog, so there will be articles for folks to read, and press releases. We'll also be putting up materials over the coming year, from resources for teachers to details to academic studies. Eventually visitors will be able to Donate (a link to an external site) or sign up for a newsletter, so space for that (especially on the home page) would be excellent. These should be low key links, not giant buttons.
There should be a search bar (either in the side bar, or in the top right corner of the page).
** Important Notes - Please Read **
Remember no stock photos for the design.
* There should be a share button for each article.
* The blog is part of the site, no need for a link to a blog.
* There should be a facebook, twitter, youtube icon under a "Connect" section.
* There should be an rss icon we can use on the page.
* There should be a site map at the bottom of the page.
* The logo should appear once at the top, and once at the bottom of the page.
* We do not have a phone line, no phone numbers or phone icons.
* The navigation should not have icons, just easy to read words.
The page should be a general frame in which we can put promotional content (as on a typical homepage) or article/blog content (on a typical article page).
**We do not have a phone line.
** stock imagery can be used as a placeholder, but in the final design I'd want a gray box with "placeholder" in it, as I will not actually be using stock images, simply replacing them.
Here is the current site: http://educationtoempower.org
The basic menu structure should stay the same, except Leadership should come before Programs in the menu order.
http://www.voices.org/ (minus the drop-down menus, we like this one the best)
http://www.learnboost.com/ (with bigger, easier to read text for menus)
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/ (minus the dropdowns, I like the "share" button. The design is a bit dark).
Fonts ought to be very clean and professional looking.
Good font examples:


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By Joe "Spanky" McFarland
Pitching is an attempt to make the appropriate pitch to the appropriate location at the appropriate speed using knowledge of a hitter's swing, any other pertinent information, and belief in the law of averages to get the batter out. Mental toughness allows the pitcher to remain focused on these things regardless of all the chaos going on around him. The pitcher can focus on the things he can control and not let the things out of his control distract him. The pitcher with a winning mental approach will appear to rise to the occasion in big games, when in reality he is the one who successfully keeps his head while others around him are distracted by the moment. Many say that mental toughness is an ability that is born into a pitcher, but with some work and effort all pitchers can create a winning mental approach. In this chapter we will look at identifying problems and then offer advice, drills, and practice ideas to help pitchers create a winning mental approach. Factors the Pitcher Can't Control The first step to becoming mentally tough is to figure out the factors you can control as a pitcher and those things that are out of your control. The list of things out of your control is much longer than the list of things within your control. First you determine those factors out of your control and then you learn to deal with them.
The pitcher may affect some of the factors with his performance, but he cannot control them. So he should not worry about them. A pitcher cannot focus on or spend time and energy on things out of his control. Factors the Pitcher Can Control A pitcher with a winning mental approach knows that there is only one thing a pitcher has complete control over, and that is himself. Mental toughness starts with the realization of this concept. Be concerned with those things and only those things that a pitcher can control: himself and his actions. A pitcher must first learn to be responsible for himself and his actions.
Instead of focusing on things out of his control, a pitcher must take each set of circumstances and pitch or act accordingly to make himself succeed. Each pitch and each situation involve a new set of circumstances. How he reacts to each new set of circumstances or situations is within his control, and this is where he can start to make a difference. Assess the situation, make the appropriate decisions, make the appropriate pitch or play accordingly, and then accept responsibility for the result. Understand that the pitcher starts and affects the action of the game with each pitch more than any other single event in the game; this is crucial for a winning mental approach. The pitcher is the only player on the field who has the power to act. All other players on both teams only have the power to react. Use this power and act accordingly to each new set of circumstances and each new situation to help ensure your own success. The key to a winning mental approach is not to focus on the things a pitcher cannot control but to be consumed by the things a pitcher can control. Telling a pitcher not to worry about the fan in the fourth row who is riding him hard or not to worry about the umpire whose strike zone appears to be on wheels and is moving around is as effective as telling someone not to think about an elephant that's standing in the room. Instead, create a pitcher who is consumed with the next pitch and is focused on what he can do in the next set of circumstances, no matter the current situation.
This is an excerpt from Coaching Pitchers, Third Edition.
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Transition Into Later Life With Confidence By Joining Silver Circle
Transition Into Later Life With Confidence By Joining Silver Circle
The challenges of our 50s onwards can be very great and can arrive unexpectedly – as I Tamar Posner, know only too well. Aged 50 and at the height of my former career, I was suddenly informed that I had become "Surplus To Requirements" and was made redundant. I was out on the street within 15 minutes, feeling bereft of my identity, sense of purpose and everything I had known about the world until that point.
In later life, contending with issues such as retirement, redundancy, bereavement, illness and the process of aging itself will inevitably impinge on our sense of identity. The associated emotional experiences with can be unsettling and difficult to bear – especially if one is doing less and has fewer people to talk to – but they do also have the potential greatly to enrich our lives.
It took me some years to piece my life back together buteventually, aftertraining to be a psychotherapist and becoming a visiting university lecturer, Ire-discovered a sense of purpose; my enjoyment of working with others individually and in group settings was re-awakened.
It was reflecting on how different my experience could have been had I been able to share my thoughts and feelings, feel supported by others and learn from their experiencesthat gave me the idea of setting up a support group for older adults called, befittingly, Silver Circle. But what does Silver Circle do, how has it benefitted others and how might it benefit you?
A Transformative Experience For Older People
Silver Circle meets for two hours every week and enables participants to collectively face and mutually explore later life, often drawing upon such creative techniques as guided visualisation, free writing and drawing. It is founded on the principle, recognised by past research that older adults can lead more fulfilling lives by enhancing their network of friends and engaging with their wider community for as long as they can do so.
People usually join the group because they are feeling anxious, depressed, sad or lonely andit's fair to say that the results of Silver Circle can be transformative. Several participantshave discovered new ways to use their previously acquired skills and have taken up paid or voluntary work while for others, the social contact has led to a greatly improved sense of wellbeing and self-confidence as a result of being listened to and supported.
Discover More About Silver Circle
To learn more about the positiveimpact joining Silver Circle could have on your own life as an older adult, simply contact me, Tamar Posner, today.As a specialist in Life Transition Counselling , I will discuss with you your expectations and desires and assessthe suitability of Silver Circle for you. What is most important to determine is what your own needs are and whether Silver Circle could go some way towards meeting them.
Bear in mind that membership of Silver Circle is stage rather than age dependent; past members have ranged in age from 50 to 90 plus.


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One one-hundredth of an inch. If you look at a ruler, you'd be hard-pressed to divide an inch into a hundred parts. For sure, you'd need a magnifying glass to do it.
But that very, very short length is how much 1.5 million bales of 2003-crop Memphis/Eastern territory cotton missed being classed as staple 35, which international buyers now say they want for quality spinning, instead of staple 34, which in international trade is usually discounted.
"The world is sending us a clear signal in terms of pocketbook issues — 35 staple is what they're paying for," says Mike Watson, vice president of fiber quality research for Cotton Incorporated, the producer-supported cotton promotion and research organization.
"Looking at the staple length distribution of the 2003 Memphis/Eastern cotton crop of nearly 11 million bales, based on USDA HVI classing, nearly 1.5 million of those bales were classed as exactly 1.07 inches," he told members of the Southern Cotton Ginners Association at their summer conference at Lafayette, La.
"Those 1.5 million bales, classed as staple 34, missed being staple 35 by just 1/100 of an inch. If, through dryer control, optimized cleaning, or having your third shift know exactly what they're doing, you could have added 1/100 of an inch to that cotton, based on loan value, you could've added $7 to the value of every bale," Watson says.
"We need improvements in quality to meet increasingly higher standards internationally and domestically, and you can be a part of that. As ginners, there are a lot of things you have no control over: variety, weather, producer management, etc. But you can have a positive impact on the cotton you gin, because incremental improvements, as small as 1/100 of an inch, can be critical.
"If I'm an international customer, and I'm going to pay a premium, I want 35 staple, and we're beginning to see this reflected in pricing."
Cotton today is segmented into three markets, Watson says:
• Middle of the road, what has traditionally been the domestic textile mill customer, turning U.S. cotton into mass-produced goods for mid-level retailers. They've generally bought staple 34 cotton, mainly Memphis/Eastern cotton.
• The international market, with high-speed spinning equipment that turns out quality products for more demanding consumers. "Instead of spinning equipment running at 30 yards per minute, new machines run at over 300 yards per minute, with very high productivity. The absolute minimum for this market is 35 staple."
• Bottom feeders — mills that use lower quality cotton for denim, print cloth, canvas, "anything they can make from cheap cotton." They target high discount cotton and are all competing against each other.
"One of the most modern denim mills I've seen, in Thailand, has state-of-the-art equipment, and this is the cotton they use," Watson says. "In 2002, they bought a lot of high micronaire, light spotted cotton; in 2003, they didn't buy any. The owner said, 'Your quality is too good.' These buyers may clean up your mess in a bad year, but they have absolutely no loyalty in a good year."
e-mail: email@example.com


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Related Suppliers
Last month, Shin-Etsu Silicones of America opened its LIMS Technical Center close by its Akron, Ohio, headquarters. To support LSR injection molding, the 13,000-ft2 facility houses a 110-ton Arburg all-electric injection press and Elmet dosing system. Two molds are available—a four-cavity baby-bottle nipple tool with cold-runner valve gates, and a single-cavity mold designed for overmolding LSR onto thermoplastic inserts using Shin-Etsu's primerless Selective Self-Adhesive LSR.
Craig Lustek, LIMS process engineer (pictured), will manage the center. He has 11 years' experience in process engineering, manufacturing, and R&D, and most recently was product manager for dosing equipment supplier 2KM US, Inc. Lustek aims to add more equipment to the center, possibly including vertical and multi-shot presses.


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Why Is It So Hard to Get Good Concert Tickets?
I remember sleeping out for tickets back in the day in order to get floor seats. There was a ticket place not far from my house and it was just perfect. We always got floor seats. Now? Tickets are sold out within five minutes. So, why is it so hard to get good concert tickets?
For example, the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul holds about 19 thousand people, but when tickets go on sale to the general public, a lot of times only a few thousand seats are available. So, what happens to the other 14 thousand seats?
Credit card presales are partially to blame. For many shows, a certain number of seats are set aside for card holders and fan club members, so when tickets go on sale to the rest of us, there aren't that many left. About half of all of those tickets that are set aside end up in the hands of scalpers anyway. Many scalpers join fan clubs, but they aren't actually fans. They just do it so they can sell the tickets for way over face value and make a huge profit. There are also usually only a certain number of seats you can buy with one card, so some have multiple cards in order to buy more tickets.
Did you know some bands actually scalp their own tickets? Some performers have a note in the tour rider that says a certain number of tickets be set aside for them and then they resell the tickets on the Internet. Most recently, Katy Perry was busted for doing it after the website The Smoking Gun got a hold of her tour rider in 2011.
The scalper bots are faster than you. Before you can even type your name, they've bought a thousand tickets because the programs are designed to butt in line and flood the site with as many requests as possible. That translates to scalpers not having to wait in line like you do when they buy tickets. They just let their computer do the work for them and they reap the profits. Many sites can catch the bots like the CAPTCHA program where you have to type in two words to get your tickets, but, scalpers get past that by hiring people to manually type in whatever they need to get the tickets purchased.
You always see ticket prices are $29.50 to $79.50 but after you've bought the tickets, you see a ton of fees added on to the base price so no matter where your seats are, you're all paying the same fees. Back in the day, tickets sellers figured if you were willing to shell out for the good seats, you were willing to shell out the fee, too, so they jacked up the fees for closer seats which means the tickets cost even more now than they used to. Ticket sellers don't always get that money, though. Some bands negotiate into their contracts that they get a portion of those fees. They save face by having lower prices, but then of course they jack up the fees and make the ticket sellers look bad.
Thankfully, Mix 94.9 is your ticket hook up. Click HERE to get tickets to some of the hottest shows of the year.


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It was a week Zareh Sinanyan will never forget. The man who left the Soviet Republic of Armenia as a 14-year-old a quarter century ago took his seat as a Glendale City Councilman on Monday, faced harsh criticism from residents during public comment on Tuesday over hateful comments he posted on the Internet several years ago, attended several community events in his official capacity and then sat down to clear the air.
"I engaged people in conversation in an unacceptable and emotional way that I deeply regret," he said, repeating the word "regret" more than 20 times during our 40-minute chat.
"They were conversations — antagonistic conversations — about the Armenian genocide, Armenian-Azeri relations, things my family experienced directly. They would say things like, 'We should have done more to you. We should have finished the job.'
"It's impossible for me to look at those conversations and even say that's me. That does not justify it. I regret having made those statements. I regret having hurt anyone. I regret using that language. I'm not excusing myself in any way."
Those were hard words for a proud man to utter, a man who like most Armenians will never be able to let go of what happened in 1915 and what has happened so often to Armenians over the years until there is official recognition of their suffering.
The anti-gay, anti-Muslim comments Sinanyan made on YouTube five years or so ago came back to haunt him in the campaign's last month — "29 days before the election," he says, and he was called to account on blogs, in the press and before the City Council, which wanted to know if he should be removed from a city commission.
His response was to stonewall the issue, a non-denial denial that left many in the community angry and seemed to jeopardize his chances to win the election. But he went on the warpath and rallied the Armenian community, which used its organizational and economic muscle to help him win the open seat created by Frank Quintero's retirement.
"To say that I was jarred would be a gross understatement. The campaign ground to a halt. I lost weight. I kept thinking, 'Who is doing this? Why are they doing this?'
"My reputation has been a positive one. I knew they couldn't bring someone in who knew me who would say, 'Yes, he's a well-known racist, yes, a homophobe.' But I was accused of those things. I wasn't thinking straight. I needed to get some sleep to rationally think about this."
Sinanyan talked about how his grandparents survived a death march from their home in Turkey across the Syrian desert, how his parents, both engineers in Armenia, arrived with their two teenage children in Burbank in 1988 with a few hundred dollars, how they worked hard to learn English and to provide a better life for the family.
He talked about his campaign platform to make city government more open and transparent, to hold council meetings in the community, to meet regularly with school officials, to impose term limits on elected officials — measures he believes will be "conducive to good governance."
"I have a vision and I'm going to try to do my best for everyone in Glendale," he said.
On Tuesday, at his first full City Council meeting, Sinanyan said little except to make the point that filling the seat vacated by Rafi Manoukian's election as city treasurer should be an open process and not some political deal.
But he remained silent as several people stepped up during public comment to sharply criticism him for the hateful words he had used and his failure to respond directly — criticisms a supporter called "cheap shots."
Mayor Dave Weaver told the critics to "can it" because Sinanyan is going to serve out his term unless he's recalled.
The telling moment came when Glendale High freshman Zehra Siddiqui, who had read a passage from the Koran at the recent mayor's breakfast, talked about how Muslim students are often "bullied for our religion."
"The youth in Glendale should have people with such important titles as role models and it's important for these so-called role models to take responsibility for their actions, whether good or bad," she said.
Her words, her presentation, touched Sinanyan deeply and convinced him it was time to take responsibility for what he had said.
"She was the one who got to me. After she spoke all I could think about was, 'Why would I say something that would insult someone like her?' I would just hope that she would forgive me, I didn't mean those things. They were obviously made in anger.
"I will do my best to represent her to the best of my abilities. I see her as the future of America. By my actions, I will show who I really am, that those words are not me."
Clearly, Sinanyan will be living in a fish bowl for quite a while, at the center of tensions over the ascendance of Armenians in the political, economic and cultural life of a city that was very different a quarter century ago when his family arrived in the area.
For him, and for Glendale, this presents a great challenge to overcome divisions and a great opportunity to move forward and build a greater city together.
Glendale council candidate accused of making 'misogynist and threatening' comments online
Sinanyan defends commission seat against accusations of online comments
RON KAYE can be reached at email@example.com. Share your thoughts and stories with him.


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Find out how LED cruise ship lighting is enchanting guests on the Oasis of the Seas.
Find out how LED cruise ship lighting is enchanting guests on the Oasis of the Seas.
Oasis of the Seas is a cruise ship with a difference. Not only is it the largest luxury vessel on the sea, but its seven themed neighbourhoods give guests an unforgettable holiday experience. To add to the excitement, Philips was brought in to provide exhilarating lighting.
The 225, 282-ton Oasis of the Seas requires a lot of light. The ship boasts 16 passenger decks and 2706 state rooms, and seven themed rooms. These include the park at sea, sports zone entertainment area, and youth zone. The ship's management called on Philips to improve the atmosphere and reduce costs with energy efficient lighting.
LED was ready to make waves. We began by installing Color Kinetics LED in the themed areas, filling the rooms with vibrant colors that complement the architecture. MASTER LED spot bulbs were installed around the ship to accent the architecture and other important design elements. MASTER LED bulb Glow fixtures were added to provide general lighting that could be dimmed as needed. Unlike incandescent alternatives, which sometimes draw attention to the light source itself, MASTER LED keeps the spotlight on the luxurious décor of the ship.
The new MASTER LED bulbs are also helping the ship to save electricity, thanks to their energy-efficient performance. In addition, they are long-lasting and easy to replace, meaning the ship will have to spend less money and time replacing bulbs.
"We intend to continue our cooperation with Philips to develop products that are suitable for use in a ship environment."
- Svein Medhaug, Electrical Superintendent, Royal Caribbean International


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Download MP3
Fulica americana (American coot)
American Coots (Fulica americana) are common lake and marsh birds. Like their cousin, the Moorhen, Coots make a wide range of sounds, from quacks and honks to whistles and rattles. This sample spans several individuals' different vocalizations, and gives a feel for the sounds a Coot can make. Coots and Moorhens make some sounds which are indistinguishable from each other, but Coots are generally more nasal sounding and make more "honking" sounds.
Douglas Von Gausig (recordist; copyright holder), Naturesongs.com
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
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To cite this page:
Myers, P., R. Espinosa, C. S. Parr, T. Jones, G. S. Hammond, and T. A. Dewey. 2019. The Animal Diversity Web (online). Accessed at https://animaldiversity.org.
The Animal Diversity Web is an educational resource written largely by and for college students. ADW doesn't cover all species in the world, nor does it include all the latest scientific information about organisms we describe. Though we edit our accounts for accuracy, we cannot guarantee all information in those accounts. While ADW staff and contributors provide references to books and websites that we believe are reputable, we cannot necessarily endorse the contents of references beyond our control.
This material is based upon work supported by the
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The ADW Team gratefully acknowledges their support.


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Product Description
This is the Electric Powered, 2.4GHz Radio Controlled, Ready to Fly 1SQ Quadcopter from Heli-Max. For Beginning Helicopter Flyers.
Four independently controlled rotor blades make the 1SQ easy to fly
indoors or outdoors in light winds
TAGS-Triple Axis Gyro Stabilization stabilizes all three axis for
total control under all conditions
Radio: Heli-Max 4-channel with 5-point pitch curve, exponential,
adjustable gyro sensitivity, and rotary-drive, digital servos
Battery: 1S 250mAh LiPo battery
USB compatible battery charger
Molded plastic and composite materials for high durability
Heli-Max guarantees this kit to be free from defects in both material
and workmanship at the date of purchase. This warranty does not
cover any component parts damaged by use or modification.
RTF 1SQ Quadcopter with 2.4GHz Radio, LiPo Battery, USB Charger,
extra set of Blades, Screwdriver, four AA Batteries, and
Device such as a personal computer with a USB port to power charger
Length: 5.7" (145mm)
Width: 5.7" (145mm)
Height: 1.37" (35mm)
Weight with Battery: 1.1oz (31.2g)
Rotor Diameter: 2.2" (56mm)
Diagonal Measurement: 11.06" (281mm) maximum distance between
opposed blades with blade position perpendicular to boom


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s3sqguy wrote:
I can't remember the last time I got a virus detected. I have never had one affect this machine and have had none at all for years. Between a hard firewall and ISPs scanning it seems to be worthless, plus I shut my machines off all the way when not in use.
That's because Norton's virus definitions SUCK! They are not complete. Nine times out of ten, I find a computer with norton is full of trojans.


text: Low Interest Rates to Continue February 11, 2012 05:28 AM Tweet TAGS: Marketing, Overseas December 18, 2014 By Farm Journal Editors Email In late January, the Federal Reserve announced it will leave interest rates unchanged for 2012—and keep them at low levels through late 2014. As a result, thoughts about what the U.S. dollar will do next are changing and the outside markets are adjusting. The Fed hopes that by maintaining low interest rates, rather than waiting and letting the market play itself out, it will help spark inflation and create growth. In the past few months, inflation has subsided, the U.S. dollar has strengthened and the stock market has rallied. Many analysts were bullish about the U.S. dollar heading into 2012, based on the possibility of a complete fallout in Europe and more people searching for a safe haven for their money. But with the Fed's announcement, perspectives on the direction of the dollar have flip-flopped and are now bearish. Many agencies are pulling their U.S. stock market rating back to neutral. The European Central Bank (ECB) is under fire to cut back on a portion of the Greek debt it currently holds. The market will be closely watching this situation. If the ECB takes a financial hit, the market might become more at ease with the debt crisis, European stocks might rally and the U.S. dollar could fall under additional pressure. Back to news


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Hardee's Restaurant Manager job in Amelia Court House, VA
- Company
- Hardee's
- Job Title
- Restaurant Manager
- Job Type
- Full-time
- Wages
- To be discussed
- Est. Wages
- $17.07 to $29.44 per hour (Snag Est. )
- Location
- 10151 Superior Way
Amelia Court House, VA 23002
- Last Active
- +30 days
As a Restaurant Manager, you will achieve sales growth and maintain company standards of excellence for your assigned shift by managing the flow of food service activity, assigning tasks, overseeing cash control and focusing on providing the highest quality food with the best customer service possible. You will also play a key role in training your crew under the direction of management.
Your specific duties as a Restaurant Manager will include:
- Supervising crews and shift leaders and maintaining the highest standards in quality, service, and cleanliness with a constant focus on profitability
- Coordinating staff training with crew trainers
- Maintaining a cooperative and harmonious working relationship between management team and your crew
- Handling HR issues as they arise, including disciplinary write-ups
- Conducting crew meetings as needed to discuss operations procedures and promotions
- Conducting weekly inventories
- Controlling payroll to meet company labor cost standards
- Controlling inventory to meet company GAP standards
- Supporting management team and General Manager in their operational decisions
- Maintaining reports and records based on company standards and in full compliance with state and federal regulations
- Maintaining building and equipment via proper operating, cleaning, and preventive maintenance procedures
- Assuming responsibility for cash for all shifts, including bank deposits and ensuring that all cash procedures are properly adhered to
- Maintaining professional appearance and demeanor at all times
- Ensuring that all sanitation, safety and security policies and procedures are observed and enforced
- Consistently exhibiting the actions and behaviors that best demonstrate Boddie-Noell Enterprises' Vision and Values
- Performing other tasks as directed by management
JOB REQUIREMENTS: As a Restaurant Manager, you must display excellent communication, interpersonal and leadership skills as well as the ability to maintain the respect of your crew. You must also be customer-driven and able to make quick and effective decisions under pressure, while delegating tasks appropriately. It is also important that you are committed to providing your crew with thorough training and cross-training to ensure their success.
Specific qualifications for the Restaurant Manager position include:
- 2 years restaurant shift management experience, preferably in a restaurant environment. Retail management experience will also be considered combined restaurant experience a plus.
- Valid driver's license, good driving record, reliable and insured transportation
- Minimum 18 years of age
- Strong conflict-resolution skills
- Excellent organizational and prioritization skills
- Available to work all shifts and weekends
- Good references
- Ability to pass background check and drug screen
- Previous quick service experience, a plus
As a Restaurant Manager with Boddie-Noell Enterprises, you will be part of an established and stable organization and the largest Hardee's franchise in the country with over 300 locations. We are committed to operating on the family values of respect, honesty, trust, excellence, teamwork and diversity; you will find that our support of our employees and their career development is second to none. We will provide you with a comprehensive 7 week training course followed by additional ongoing career development classes designed to prepare you for advancement along our management path. Your hard work and professional dedication will be rewarded with a competitive compensation package that includes full benefits.
Your benefits as a Restaurant Manager will include:
- Health, dental and vision insurance (with retiree coverage)
- Life insurance (whole and term)
- Accidental death and dismemberment coverage
- Short and long term disability plan
- Critical illness coverage
- Accident insurance
- 401(k) with company match
- Vacation
- Sick pay
- Paid holidays
- Jury duty pay
- Bereavement pay
- Childcare discount
- Education reimbursement
- Scholarship program
- Employee assistance program
- Childcare discount
A franchisee of Hardee's Restaurants LLC
Additional Info
- Driving
- Valid Driver's License
- Minimum Age
- 18+ years old
- Minimum of 1-2 years of Restaurant Management Experience is required!
- Must be at least 18 years of age due to Federal Department of Labor Regulations
- Must adhere to drug test, reference check, and criminal background for pre-employment purposes