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Dark Side Jam – In Progress

I’m currently sitting in the ballroom of the NASA Ames Center in Mountainview California working on design assets for a game. What’s that you say, working at 3am? Yep.

Above is the first completed piece, for our games intro screen. I don’t want to say too much yet, but the soft title is Nostos, and it’s going to be amazing.

I’d like to take the moment to thank NASA for their hospitality to this event, all the resources, and the specialists who have been kind enough to offer their help and assistance. I wish I had time to pick your brains and hear stories. But a girl’s gotta draw. Time to get back to it… for now.

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thoughts during my prep hour...

Taking a 5-minute mental break from the stack of papers next to me.

1. This will be my third weekend in a row spent predominantly with teenagers. We have a youth retreat at Spring Hill, which will be fun & freezing.

2. Fellow followers of Christ - we need to stop complaining about "the church" as an establishment and take personal responsibility - we ARE the church.

3. I could really go for a chocolate milkshake right now.

4. I wish teaching didn't involve grading.

5. Besides the students, teacher stickers might be the next best part about teaching.

  1. My least favorite question "Where do you go to church?"

    And thanks--now I'm also craving a chocolate milkshake...

  2. My students don't give me teacher stickers. They give me half eaten granola bars and de-leadified pencils.

  3. when i was young and wanted to be a teacher, i always thought grading papers would be fun. maybe not so much?
    also, i heard your birthday song. when my parents were in florida visiting gram & gramps, i was talking to my dad on the phone and during that time gram & gramps called you to sing happy birthday and i got to hear gramps play his harmonica and sing! how cute!

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Leaf Newman’s Flowers and Grass

Leaf Newman
Flowers and Grass
Self-Released, 2016

When I first moved to Atlanta from Asheville I somehow managed to find a Facebook listing for a show in a small club featuring Newman. It’s still one of the most memorable intimate shows I have attended in Atlanta.  She’s still recording and just released Flowers and Grass.  As a creative, I never like boxing other creative when doing so is narrow-minded and limiting.  For those that care about such things, Flowers and Grass is all over the place.

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Miercuri, 13-Dec-2017, 00:49
Bine aţi venit Vizitator

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Vampires and werewolves: For centuries an eternal battle for supremacy of the shadows has raged. But these creatures are not driven by their hunger for blood, but by their desire to win. Which side will you choose?
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December 24, 2009

2009 Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Staging System (1)

Click the image to view a larger version

The latest (7th edition) version has been accepted by the UICC (Union Internationale Contre le Cancer) and the AJCC (American Joint Committee on Cancer) and was published earlier this year.

Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) Staging System
  • Based solely on anatomic extent of disease (clinical symptoms or molecular behavior of tumors not included)
  • T = tumor; increasing T meaning larger tumor or invasive into more peripheral or central structures
  • N = lymph node location (not number)
  • M = metastasis
  • Two methods of staging = clinical (c) and pathological (p); clinical staging includes all information available PRIOR to any treatment (including invasive staging technique); pathological staging include information AFTER a resection
Sources of Data for the 7th Edition
  • 81,015 included cases from 45 sources in 20 countries
  • Only NSCLC included
  • Major determinant is the overall survival
Detterbeck FC, Boffa DJ, Tanoue LT. The new lung cancer staging system. Chest 2009;136:260-271.

Follow RiTradiology on FacebookTwitter or Google Friend Connect

bathmate said...

Well that was a nice post. I liked it.

Nick Matyas said...

nice posting !!!!~!

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Monday, 31 August 2015

The Decline of Western Civilisation Collection

Over the course of 17 years, Penelope Spheeris has created arguably one of the greatest and most influential music documentary series ever. Set in Los Angeles and covering the punk scene of the late 70s, the heavy metal scene on mid 80s, & the gutter-punk scene at the turn of century, it explores the sound, performance, politics and business, that exist around each of these worlds and times. It's style was naturalistic, inquisitive, unobtrusive, and at times brutally honest, which was eloquent and effective enough to eventually become part of the DNA of everything that has followed - with clear impact on Reality TV and the rockumentaries of MTV & VH1.

At the core of each film is, fittingly, live performances which are used as showcases for the scenes by giving equal focus for those on stage and off. The style is naturalistic, observational, and intriguing as anthropological documents. They also sound great, even if not all of the bands presented are actually that good. Interspersed with this are interviews with a broad range of individuals involved: musicians, fans, promoters, businessmen and police/authority figures giving the scene outsider/"every-man" view of it all. The iconic set of the blank wall with a single, bare light-bulb hanging at head-height is used extensively, evocative and beautifully simple as it allows the focus to be directly on the individual and their words. Being set in LA it also has plenty of car-based drive-along interviews, which provide the bulk of representation of the city outside of the venues or scene-controlled spaces, giving impressive visual insight into the urban environment that helped shaped the action of the piece. It also demonstrates how super-imposed the scenes are, hyper-stylized worlds pushed up against the realities of everyone else's everyday lives.

Although unified in style and approach, the content of the three is distinct and unique, giving each the flavour they merit. Part 1 has the largest variety of musical styles and shows a scene carving its way into the wider world on it's own terms and with a new sensibility of DIY. Part 2 shows a more homogeneous visual and musical approach and people unapologetically chasing financial success that the other two don't even think about as a possibility or goal, and Part 3 presents a nihilistic and often harrowing focus of fans living a vagrant life which they see no reason to attempt escaping.  Through all this, the topics stay the same: sex, drugs, rock and roll, what will youth be doing in 5 years, is it all worth it, if the goal is art of money, and how people enter into the tribes that they have aligned themselves with. But the changes in the answers are telling, the reasons and motivations changing in each era.

Picking a favourite or "best" is impossible, as each is it's own story. Part 3 is easily the most emotionally upsetting, dealing as it does with homeless under 18's who have basically given up on life as a concern and with 2 deaths happening among those interviewed whilst the "lucky kid" is someone in a wheelchair as they get to have a flat. Part 2 is the most entertaining, with the glam extravagance and heavy metal stupidity being instantly comedic. Part 1 tells the most optimistic story and has the widest range of motivations to be explored.

But the key thing is that these are three fantastic social history documents that are able to carry the interest of anyone who watches it, regardless of their opinions of the music being explored, as they go beyond the successes or failures of individual artists or the benefits or durability of a scene. They are regularly considered classics of the musical-documentary genre because it's something that no-one else thought about capturing, and they have been captured with care, attention and consideration. They offer an insight into real, relatable people, and not just three rocking concert soundtracks.

Monday, 10 August 2015

The imminent death of nightclubs: My2p

So the fact that nightclub are closing all over the show finally hit the headlines today, about 5 years after everyone involved in the industry knew that it was happening, and a myriad of reasons as to why it's happening have been put forth. Of the ones flying around, mostly from people who can't remember the last time they put their head in a club, for the biggest one is "because pubs can now stay open into the small hours". And, worryingly, they're right.

11pm till 11:30pm used to be the golden hours at many a club, when it went from all but a few dedicated clubbers (or, in a rock club, those who turned up for the "Shite Death & Thrash Hour") to rammed and buzzing. These days any set before midnight has a good chance of being thought of as a warm-up slot for the new guy, which says a lot about why people used to go out and makes you wonder how important the music ever actually was.  However there is a second reason that a lot of these folks are missing out on: a lot of pubs are now also nightclubs in and of themselves. Whilst not all of them have a dancefloor (though a growing number do), they will often have a nightclub grade sound-system and a some kind of DJ providing the tunes. So this isn't so much a change in consumer habits as it is in product availability for the portion of the market that liked expensive booze, deafening music, and shouted conversation.

Speaking of product availability, another big reason cited is that everyone is going off to festivals. "We can see all the DJs in one place over three days!" they say. This is true, but there is a silent "whilst off our tits on lashings and lashings of drugs!!" which isn't being spoken of. Whilst drugs in clubs are still available and consumed it has, in the majority of instances, become a more tricky proposition. Councils have been enforcing drug policies harder, which encourages clubs to do more monitoring and ejecting of people off theirs heads than before (plus there is a recession on, so a lot of clubs would rather you bought their booze than someone else's pills), especially at the smaller venues (which, often, the council are looking for an excuse to close down. More on that later). Add to this the outright prohibition on the countries' favorite illegal substance due to the smoking ban and it's a situation where the "true experience" can only be safely enjoyed in a field with 10,000 other people (though I'm not sure what's safe about being blitzed out of this world in a mudbath).

Next up you have people talking about the costs. Which is sensible, as nightclubs are bloody expensive to run. However the biggest issue isn't so much the running costs, it's the opportunity costs. Because, financially, nightclubs might as well be run on a foundation of burning money. No-one in their right mind would start a discussion with a bank manager by going "I want to hire a really large amount of floorspace but I only want to open it from when a lot of people are thinking about going to sleep till when people are either asleep or thinking about waking up. Oh, and I want it to be half full for most of the week and unusable during the day because of the smell that that many people dancing generates.". Obviously a number of venues get around this problem, using their sites during the day. But not everywhere has the ability to do that successfully, or without vast investment, and however you plan it there is going to be a "switch-over" time that is a financial deadzone when a lot of potential money is walking on by. On top of this is the amount of money that could be made from the venue (often in an attractive part of town, or somewhere cheap) by redevelopment (see Eddie's in Birmingham). Even if your venue isn't that tasty a prospect, it's presence can screw up developments in the area (Ministry of Sound is a prime example), or just piss off the neighbors a lot.

This is where the councils come in by the way, because they really don't like nightclubs at the moment. For whatever reason (pissed people making noise) they get way upset at nightclubs and are, according to some, "attacking the night-time economy". They aren't though, they are just attacking the part that has a whole load of people all leaving at the same time and in the same state (pissed and making noise). Late night pubs have more of a steady flow in and out, even if they have the same problems (making noise whilst pissed, seriously can folks not just learn not to yell or throw-up when leaving a venue?!), so they don't get so much trouble.

Another popular pundit choice is technology and The Internet! Specifically Tinder, the popular "dating" app. Personally I don't think that app alone makes that big a difference, however the technology issue is certainly an issue and dating apps/services as a whole will certainly have an impact. However the true story includes the increase of alternative digital distractions as a whole to going out on a Friday night, the growth of music distribution meaning you can now hear anything from any scene almost anywhere, and, quite importantly, the continued drop in the price of a sound system and lights. For five hundred quid / the price of a top of the range mobile phone you can have a mobile sound and lights rig, so why go out to a club when you can just setup at a friends house, a pub backroom, or somewhere out of town. It's not quite the resurgence of the 80's rave scene, but it's having it's impact on the traditional locations.

So, many, many reasons. And many, many club getting shut down. But is it a bad thing, beyond the loss of trade and jobs? Is it not just another phase in the ongoing changes that have been happening since the dawn of time? In many ways "yes", because nightclubs aren't going to die out as a whole and music nights are still going to be able to carry on in other locations. A lot of lazy venues, who didn't keep up with the trends, are going to be shut down or modified into late-pub style affairs (or even, horror of horrors, trendy bars! Which, as the high-street retail sector dies it's painful death, are going to be the phone-store and coffee-shop plague of the next decade),. It's part of the eternal cycle of popularity, the swing from one thing to another. The same happened with swing clubs and jazz hops and disco and even raves. Things just move on and change, and in this case they have changed because people who weren't that into the music side of the clubs have now got a whole raft of alternatives available to them. The market has changed, because it's quite possible the market was never actually there.

But, and this is a big but, it is sign of removal of a hell of a lot of small and medium sized venues (regardless of how good or well managed they may be) as the market switches to the Big and Super venues as being the only viable prospect in the bulk of places, and the death of those venues is another marker of the entrenchment of the Eternal Now, as niche scenes fail to have the chance to make it big. Micro-venues may continue to be the spawning grounds of new things, but without the small and middle sized places for them to grow and mature there is so much less hope of making it into the remaining big and super clubs (even on a Wednesday!). Small and medium sized venues are, for a number of folks, social nexus's where they could meet people from their same style tribes. Micro venues are often feared to be too cliquey, big or super ones too intimidating (or just too large for a scene to even consider being able to fill it).  With these going that facility is gone, and whilst we can pretend that we are a more accepting world it means that people in the more outsider and alternative style tribes can't go out as themselves.

On top of this distinct youth movements like we have seen over the last 60 years won't happen in or be centered around the music, they will be tried out at festivals and online - but I'm honestly worried they will either be too broad an appeal to actually be exciting, or too niche to ever get traction. Music might get picked up by the movements to come, but it won't be the driving force of it. I hope I'm wrong, I hope this is just my age kicking in and failing to get what the young are doing these days, but it's a further step towards a world that has a pop culture that, like the 50's, is dominated by the thirty-plus market (because they are the ones willing to pay for it).

So how do you stop this happening? Simple, you go out to a nightclub. All of this is happening because people aren't going out, so if you're worried or upset by it then the only act you can ever do to help is to go out (and tell your friends that you are going out, so they might come out with you). Keep an eye out for events you want to go to, consider hiring a venue and running an event if you don't find anything you like (trust me, there is going to be a final splurge of cheap hiring as the death knell rings), and if all else fails contact the venues and go 'I would go to something like X if it did Y' - because if things don't change, it's going to be a world of bars playing "Now that's what I call X-Factor 37", and I just don't want to leave that as a legacy for our children.


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The JHipster Mini-Book The JHipster Mini-Book is a guide to getting started with hip technologies today: Angular, Bootstrap, and Spring Boot. All of these frameworks are wrapped up in an easy-to-use project called JHipster.

This book shows you how to build an app with JHipster, and guides you through the plethora of tools, techniques and options you can use. Furthermore, it explains the UI and API building blocks so you understand the underpinnings of your great application.

For book updates, follow @jhipster-book on Twitter.

Over 10 years ago, I wrote my first blog post. Since then, I've authored books, had kids, traveled the world, found Trish and blogged about it all.

Mountain View Tech Meetup

I'll be out in Mountain View again next week. Last month's tech meetup was a lot of fun - we had about 30 people show up and almost everyone enjoyed free cocktails for 2-3 hours. Alper suggested the Tied House, which looks perfect. Waddya think - 6:00 next Wednesday night?

What is a tech meetup? It's a user group meeting w/o the meeting part. You go straight to the bar, grab some drinks, maybe some dinner, and talk tech.

Posted in Java at Aug 09 2007, 02:04:11 PM MDT 5 Comments

I am out of town, I can do Friday night or after. If I miss, we can just hang one time.

Posted by Vic on August 09, 2007 at 07:13 PM MDT #

Sounds good! If I'm here I'll be there. I may also be out of town (if so, the whole week). Won't know until later this week though.

Posted by Alper Akture on August 13, 2007 at 11:27 PM MDT #

Hey, I just realized that next week is this week! So I can make it... if it's still on for Wednesday that is.

Posted by Alper Akture on August 13, 2007 at 11:57 PM MDT #

Yep - it's still on for this week (2 days from now).

Posted by Matt Raible on August 14, 2007 at 12:00 AM MDT #

Cool, I'll drive the bus down!

Posted by Alper Akture on August 14, 2007 at 11:00 AM MDT #

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1. This product was added to our catalog on Tuesday 19 September, 2017.

    Iron Roads in the Outback

    Our Price:  $69.95

    Iron Roads in the Outback by Nick Anchen

    To celebrate the centenary of the Trans-Australia Railway. Includes reference to the narrow gauge Central Australian Railway and the North Australian Railway.

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Monthly Archives: July 2014

FUN Sock Yarn

FUN, new, vibrant, summer sock yarn has hit Rainy Day Yarns from Cantering Crow Colorworks.  Mary does an amazing job with hand dyeing and these yarns don’t disappoint.  Come on in and get your hands on this great yarn before … Continue reading

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Embrace your strengths, work on your weaknesses…

Because there wasn’t enough soccer being played in our home, both Zach and Zandra tried out for the school soccer teams and made them.

It means sometimes Zach plays soccer after school with the school team, then heads to his regular soccer. Even he admitted he’s tired:(

It also means that there’s more soccer games for us to attend. This past week, both kids, had a soccer tournament during the day – on the same day! The “job” thing that I do and earn a living from is really quite inconvenient on these kind of days. Anyhow, both Rob and I made it to Zandra’s last game, and the last two of Zach’s (Zandra’s were almost all in the morning and Zach’s were later in the day).

They both played amazing and their teams both progressed to the next tournament (yah more missed work!)

However, at Zach’s game we were witness to some disgruntled parents.

I swear, boys don’t have problems until their mothers get involved.

The coach of the team is a hard core competitor. Great guy- he happens to also be Sam’s teacher this year, so we know him quite well. His mentality is not the “everyone makes the team, everyone gets the same game time, everyone gets a trophy” kinda guy. He wants to win. He told the boys upfront that he won’t worry about “fair game time”, but will play whoever is playing their best that day. He didn’t select some players for the team because he said they just weren’t good enough. Ouch. Not the thing to say in our neighborhood.

While we stood cheering for our team on the sidelines, we got to overhear some conversations that a couple of Moms had. In fact, one of these Moms came up to my friend and says “aren’t you glad your son joined the team to be a benchwarmer?” She then encouraged my friend to go over to the coach and complain and make a scene that her kid wasn’t playing as much —- much like the scene she had made earlier that Rob and I were witness to.

Ugly. Embarrassing.

I’m sure your 12 year old son loved hearing you berate the coach about how upset you were that your son wasn’t being played, it just wasn’t fair, he’s been sitting on the bench too long etc.

THAT made it so much better for your kid. Hope his friends heard it all too.

I did appreciate the teacher’s response that “life is not fair, and sports will teach kids that.”

So, you may be thinking that I wasn’t upset simply because my kid plays well
and was on non stop.

I was secretly hoping one of the women would say something to me. I had it all planned out what I would say. But no one asked (they ignored me – I’m not part of their “stay at home” crowd), so I’ll just blog about it.

Here’s what I was thinking:

Yes, my kid has been on the field nonstop (and he has scored 3 out of the 7 goals that they scored all day). And I’m so glad he has played all day because THIS is his thing. THIS is where he gets to feel good about himself. THIS is where the ridiculous number of hours he puts into soccer every day, every week, year round pays off.

I don’t see you mothers caring if your kid comments to my child (or any other child) that he/she is not smart enough (What? You don’t know your kid can be outright arrogant and mean when it comes to his math skills?)  You don’t seem to mind my kid being put in the back row for a musical performance, or a dance recital. You certainly wouldn’t mind if my kid wasn’t selected to spell words at a spelling B. You really don’t care that my kid may struggle with reading, or keeping his/her stuff organized, or he/she struggles with long jump and running for distance. You also don’t seem to mind throwing a birthday party and not inviting my kid.

Heck, no. You are just worried that your kid is not playing as much soccer as mine for ONE day and it’s “not fair.”

Well, helicopter Mom, life is “not fair” – at least in the way you are looking at fairness. (Rob commented that he couldn’t stand being so close to the Moms because he couldn’t hear himself think past the noise of their helicopter blades!)

Fairness is every kid getting what they need. Not every kid getting exactly the same treatment.

I don’t know about you, but I’m not so good at a lot of things.

If I was playing soccer, I’d be the bench warmer. But thrilled to have at least made the team! Now, would it be nice if I was given the opportunity to play more so that would give me a chance to get better? Sure. But maybe not at a tournament It’s only in the movies where they put the kid on the field who is not the best player and is the reason they win the game. Not reality.

The reality is, or at least what I’m teaching my kids, you aren’t going to be good at everything. That’s ok. Embrace your strengths, work on your weaknesses, but don’t feel bad that you’re not the best at everything! Know what you’re good at and be proud. Know what you are not good at, work hard at it, get better at it, but please please please,  celebrate with those who are good at it! You know, maybe they could help you get better. But not if you are bitter at them for being better.

I guess having 5 kids comes in handy sometimes. There is built in competition between all my kids – some excel and some crash – in the same things.

But man, do I have some seriously talented kids. Just in different areas. We want to celebrate their strengths and help with their weaknesses. Fairness, is making sure they all have opportunities to develop their skill sets – that’s what I want to aim for. That’s how I want to make “life fair” for them.

We left the soccer game feeling the eyes burning in our backs from these Moms. Sorry they weren’t able to celebrate in the overall teams success, never mind my kids’s success. Sorry that they couldn’t set the example of being a team player, and being ok with not being the star on the team. Sorry that they likely made their kid feel worse than he did by just sitting on the bench and playing a bit less time.

We just went home and celebrated what my kid happens be good at.

And tomorrow, we’ll keep working at what he is not good at too.

Embrace your strengths, work on your weaknesses… — 9 Comments

  1. I’ve been on both sides of this fence with the same child and on the one hand, I get it… life isn’t fair and for the most part, I support that. My kids can’t and should excel at everything, because that’s life. On the other… when the team is up by a gagillion points or losing by the same gagillion with no chance of the outcome being changed either way, who would it hurt to put the B team in? I’ve watched my son, who truly loves football, and puts his heart into each practice and game, be crushed because he didn’t get on the field for even one play when his team was running away with it, but his coaches were trying to stick it to the other team’s coaches. Needless to say, we don’t play in THAT league anymore!

    All that said, good sportsmenship is the name of the game in our house so you wouldn’t hear a thing from me on the sidelines nor would you take flack from me because your child is better than mine!

    • It’s the good sportsmanship piece that is important. But, I agree, I have been on both sides of the fence with the same kid, but with different issues. My kid who thrives in one area, doesn’t do well in the other. It’s hard to know what to do- because you want your child to always know that their strengths and weaknesses are all part of who he/she is and you LOVE that. I wonder if the child feels you are advocating for them by talking to the coach – or if they feel you are feeling sorry for them and that makes them feel worse because they feel they have let you down?

  2. This was a post that made me think…and hard….I don’t know exactly what my view is? I was very surprised to read this post from you..as I have always thought of your viewpoints with fairness as front and center. Made me realize that your perspectives seems to have really changed on fairness over the last little while with the “life is not fair” motto. I was shocked! But also agree in so many ways!

    In terms of sports, my only hesitation is that before the teen years I would assume that there needs to be an element of having fun on the teams and that is what the parents and kids sign up for. So I think someone who sits on the bench all the time can’t be having that much fun(unless of course a double or triple letter team where fun is not the goal and winning is the whole purpose) By 13yrs old I think you should only be on the team if you are great.

    I agree that Mom is too pushy in some ways. In other ways, I disagree and think she needs to advocate for her child. However she should definitely be teaching him some team spirit alone the way too.

    I just think in school kids who lag behind a bit are taken care of. In the orchestra or school play given a chance to stand as a tree if they don’t have the lead role. Where do they fit into sports?

    Just an observation from a girl who is 100% for the “life is not fair” when it comes to raising kids. (or maybe I too have altered a bit one this?) But I also am a strong believer of advocating for your child with teachers, coaches and life in general. Being pushy enough to make sure your kid has a place wherever that may be, since if the parent does not push no one will.

    Thought provoking post!
    (and very curious to discuss the fairness piece and hear your thoughts!)

  3. I absolutely LOVE this part of the post.
    Fairness is every kid getting what they need. Not every kid getting exactly the same treatment.
    This is exactly what fairness is. And every parent should remember that.
    So well done.-Ashley

  4. I love this so much and I want to send it to my mom. She, the mother of five kids – some blood some step, all hers. We all five were so different – my mom sat in school plays with stage moms. She sat on soccer fields with soccer moms. She sat in dance studios with dance moms. She sat at football games with one who played football, and one who played marching band at football games. I think she has seen it all and she is very grounding to me because my kids are still too young for this sort of stuff but it’s coming.

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Upcoming events

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USARA Midwest Region Happy Hour/Dinner

  • 12/03/2016
  • 6:00 PM (CST)
  • Franklin, Indiana

USARA Midwest Region Happy Hour/Dinner

December 3, 2016 at 6:00pm

Greek’s Pizzeria & Tapp Room
18 E. Jefferson St.
Franklin, Indiana 46131
(317) 739-3900

Send directions to phone

Live Band Starts at 8:00pm
No cover charge

  • All Rangers, past and present, are cordially invited to attend this event.
  • Reconnect with old Ranger Buddies and meet new ones.
  • Any Individual that served in a Ranger Unit or earned the Ranger Tab is welcome to attend.
  • Membership in a Ranger affiliated Veterans organization is not required.
  • Spouses and guest are welcome as well.

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Friday, January 22, 2010

Flyers Stymie Rangers

The Rangers high powered scoring came to a screeching halt last night as they were shutout and bullied by the Flyers, who recreated their Broad Street Bullies days. The lowlight of the game was when that old Lady Bynger, Daniel Carcillo, 'fought' with Ranger 'brawler' Marian Gaborik. Wonderful. Dan Girardi was so impressed with Gaborik's fistic skills that he watched the whole brawl without moving a muscle. But why blast Girardi for doing what most of the Rangers would have done, save possibly Avery, Voros, Callahan and Dubinsky. Avery later tangled with Carcillo but it was too little too late.

The Rangers offense went south. Ray Emery picked up as easy a shutout as an NHL goalie can get. The last two games against the Flyers have produced no goals, while giving up eight. While the Rangers soared against Montreal and Tamp Bay they come up woefully short against the tougher teams. The Rangers have a glaring weakness and it is in the 'overall team toughness'. The Rangers don't have the players with build and the will to win the tough games.

Last post we remarked on how long would it take for Tortorella to break up the Avery, Voros, Boyle line, the Crash Line. Well, it lasted into the second period. Also, Tortorella and NY Post writer Larry Brooks went at in the press conference with Torts refusing to answer Brooks question. Is the coach losing it? Who will crack first? The Rangers or Tortorella?

ICINGS: Tortorella/Brooks Spat

Larry Brooks / NY Post:
Rangers show little fight in loss to Flyers --
PHILADELPHIA -- John Tortorella's sense of honor, an amorphous concept to begin with, was offended last night when Flyers' thug Daniel Carcillo dropped his gloves to throw punches at the Rangers' elegant pacifist, Marian Gaborik, at 5:43 of the second period of the Flyers' 2-0 victory.

Perhaps the head coach should have directed his ire at Dan Girardi and the rest of the Blueshirts on the ice at the time who were bystanders (though hardly innocent ones) to the bout during which their best player was in jeopardy.

Or maybe Tortorella already had done so, because Girardi, who watched from just a few feet away as the unfair fight unfolded in the Rangers' attacking left corner and circle, told The Post that he regretted his decision not to engage on behalf of his teammate...

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  • RJC said...

    Pundit: This game was nothing short of an embarassment to Slats, Rangers player personnel staff and maybe Torts as well. This was reminiscent of Dale Rolfe. Someone is going to get hurt on our side if some men are not brought in. Remember - this wasn't event Minny with Boogaard and Scott. Haven't been this concerned/frightened for our boys in a long time. Kudos to Voros/Avery but just showing up won't do it - the scraps have to be won in order to make the point. RJC

  • mike said...

    RJC-As I have stated many times most of our wins are "fools gold". We can only beat the skating teams. We can't beat the teams who like to take the body. The Caps, Devils, Islanders and even the Blues. They all have young, tough dudes. Young and tough is not in The Stealth's arsenal. The Stealth is to blame and Torts is his willing accomplice. The Stealth is not embarassed, he's laughing all the way to the bank.

    Good comments.


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From Alex:

My girlfriend of 4.5 years recently broke up with me and it has really screwed me up.

I am someone who is ready to settle down and she was also the same. I met her when she was studying to be a nurse while I already have a career. We met in Summer of 2013. I knew that dating a student would entail paying for a lot of things but I was ok with it, if it was the right girl. She also told me that she is looking for someone who is not looking to still get wild and “spread seeds” and just devote themselves to one girl. I told her that is me and she does not have to worry.

We were so in love but a few friends and family warned me about dating a nurse. And that once she is done with school, you will see her less and that her job will be her new family. And nurses do date within their work alot especially when they spend so much time with their co-workers and doctors. I told them I’m not worried and she said that she would never do that to me.

One day we had a disagreement and she was worried that I would break up with her over that and I told her that I would NEVER break up with her UNLESS she hurt me or betrayed my trust. Those are the only 2 reasons why I would break up with her. If we have issues, it can be fixed but intentional harming and unfaithfulness could not be fixed as it is very damaging. So now she completely understands that I would never leave her over petty arguments.

Fast forward to December 2016. She has been doing her work experience at a hospital and she is starting to get to know her co-workers. We get into an argument about something and she confesses to me that she said this to a co-worker “I’m having problems with my boyfriend and I want to let you know that I find you attractive”. Even though she said that his response was that “I’m flattered but I don’t date co-workers.” My heart sank. It was an indescribable feeling as I’ve never been cheated on before. Keep in mind, this is what you call “Emotional Cheating”. It is when a partner shares secrets with someone they are attracted to and acts upon the idea of being with someone else. Learning about her actions, destroyed me. We fought about it and she admitted she made a mistake but in the end and she moved out.

I missed her so much I broke my own rule. I said that I would only break up with someone if they cheated on me. She did cheat on me but I still wanted to be with her. But we lived separately and continued dating. Fast forward to July 2017, 7 months after the first act of unfaithfulness, I finally found the strength within myself to forgive her and to forget the past. Once I have decided to forgive her, I made a promise to myself to never bring up the cheating situation with her. We would never talk about it as if it never happened.

Fast forward to 3 weeks ago, I finally tell her that I forgave her about the cheating in December last year but then she reveals this new bit of news. “I have been avoiding the guy I told you about who I work with but I recently saw him at a birthday party and I find that I’m still attracted to him.” Basically, she wanted us to break up so that she can have a chance with him. I died again. We finally broke up.

But I still miss the hell out of her. I know that I can no longer forgive her for this 2nd offense (with the same guy). In fact, I am taking back the first time I forgave her. I should have listened to my friend’s warning about dating nurses. I could say that it was my own fault but she even said to me that I don’t have to worry. Her only excuse is that, it just happened, I can’t control my feelings. YES YOU CAN. I work in video production, I work with attractive models and beautiful actresses all the time. I interact with them and give them direction but I don’t allow myself to pursue anything because I can stay loyal and I thought I had an awesome and faithful girl. Yes those people I work with are attractive but that’s it. It doesn’t mean that I allow myself to become attracted to them. That’s part of what makes up a loyal partner.

Anyways, this is what happened to me for dating a nursing student. I installed Tinder and deleted it instantly after I couldn’t believe how many nurses were on there. Maybe it is hard for them to keep relationships because of the tough schedules and the “options”. I have nothing against nurses in general but from this point on, I would never date one ever again.

We are still friends and unfortunately, I’m so weak that I still think we could have a chance together. I actually am completely aware that it is over but I can’t seem to get her out of my system. It is not easy letting go.

Hey Alex,

Thanks for sharing.

Before I give you my take on your situation let me preface with what I understand on the topics of cheating and finding other people attractive.

Cheating to me means betraying your partner’s trust. Doing something that you promised you wouldn’t do or something that they would not approve of you doing. What that is depends on where you draw the line TOGETHER. If you both agree that kissing other people is okay, then kissing does not constitute cheating. If you both agree that telling someone you’re attracted to them is going too far, then that constitutes cheating.

Her actions in and of themselves do not constitute cheating. There is no objective label “emotional cheating”. If her actions can be considered cheating it’s because she violated an agreement both of you made not to cross a certain line.

Having said that, her initial actions sounds like the actions of someone trying to push an interaction forwards towards more intimacy & more sexual tension and signaling sexual availability. I think it’s fair to be alarmed by that. Not so much because it’s a transgression of some line but because it’s an indication that this person wants to create intimacy and sexual tension with someone else.

The second “offense” I would not classify as an offense at all.

She’s (still) attracted to this guy and she wants to give that a shot. It sounds like she was open, honest and respectful about this to you. I respect that.

I tend to agree with her that you can’t control how you feel and I’m not sure why you think that you are able to control who you’re attracted to. If that were the case, you wouldn’t be posting here now would you? You would just turn off your attraction to her. Clearly that’s not how attraction works.

That being said, the one thing we do tend to have some control over is our actions. We can feel one thing, but then choose not to act on it.

In her case, however, it sounds like she chose to act on her feelings for this man by disclosing them to him as well as disclosing her relationship troubles to him. If there’s anything on her part that you can bemoan, it’s that.

All in all it sounds like she feels so strongly for this guy that she’s willing to sacrifice what you have together for a chance with him. (There could be more going on with her, but that’s what we know).

I think the way you’re framing this whole thing is making you suffer excessively.

You say you can “never forgive” her, yet in the same breath you say you’re “weak” and think you can “still have a chance together.” That to me sounds like you want to be tough but you’re not acknowledging that you’re in pain.

Underneath anger invariably there is pain

Then, regarding forgiveness. Not forgiving her, and rolling back your first forgiveness (which is nonsense btw man), that only affects you. That only makes you bitter. That only makes you hold on to this like a painful experience that’s going to cloud your days. There’s no benefit to you.

Just let yourself be hurt. You’re losing someone you love. That hurts. But your anger is just masked pain. It’s creating different forms of suffering for you.

Bottom line is you still love her, but she doesn’t want to be with you. That hurts. But almost everyone reading this has also been there.

Stop being friends, it’s not going to be possible. Go no contact. Open a new chapter in your life. Get in touch with your pain. Learn the lessons that are here for you.

All the best.

About Jesse

I’ve been helping guys recover from their breakups since 2012. Work with me to fast-track your recovery.

Speak Your Mind


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Sunday, April 14, 2013

The older I get, the more I notice things like clouds. They're beautiful. This was part of one of the storms that passed through the Red Ants Pants Music Festival in July of 2012. The weather made it tough on many of the performers, but you have to expect that for outdoor shows.

Here's a shot of the clouds at the 2011 show, just before Lyle Lovett and his Large Band took the stage. It turned out to be a beautiful evening and was one of the best concerts I've seen. We're planning a return trip to the show again this year, as they've got Merle Haggard, Todd Snider, Robert Earl Keen Jr., The Heartless Bastards and a bunch of others. The Teka Brock Band is playing the Thursday night street dance in White Sulphur Springs, and it promises to be a great weekend, no matter what the weather decides to do.

Saturday, April 13, 2013

The Yellowstone Park ride has been officially postponed. Forecasts called for up to four inches of snow and winds of 20-30 miles an hour from the southwest -- the direction we were planning on traveling Saturday. Sunday's high was supposed to get up to a balmy 23 degrees F. Auto traffic isn't supposed to open in the park until April 26, but long-term forecasts don't look like much fun.

So maybe we'll try something different this year. Sure, it's nice to have a very limited number of cars to deal with, but the only road open is the one between Mammoth and West Yellowstone. If we plan a trip after all the roads are open, we could do a loop instead of retracing our path. Car traffic is there, but it's pretty light in the early spring.

A trip from West Yellowstone through Madison and Canyon Junctions, with an overnight at a cabin at Lake Village, followed by a trip through Grant Village and Old Faithful, then back to West, might be a pretty cool outing.

It looks like the Lake Village accommodations open in mid-May, and hopefully the weather will be better by then. But certainly no guarantees with the weather there. It might even be a good idea to bring the fly rods to try our hands on some of the water we'll be riding by.

Looking at the map gives plenty of ideas for different itineraries. A trip from Red Lodge over the Beartooth Pass and into Cooke City, then through the north end of the park and up to Gardiner would bring us very close to Chico Hot Springs, the perfect place to end any bike ride. All I need, I suppose, is the time.

The kids can all ride bikes now, but certainly a ride through the park is too much at this point for them. A shorter trip on a very wide road with very light traffic might be fun for the whole crew. Any ideas?

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Time is running

Here's a picture I took of my youngest daughter's hand in mine when she was a baby. She recently turned 5 and will be in kindergarten this fall. My oldest will become a teenager this summer, and is getting dangerously close to looking me in the eye. My twins are only 9 (yeah, both of 'em) and both are already smarter than me.

It hasn't been that long ago that I figured I'd be an old bachelor. Now I'm telling my kids to avoid all the dumb things I did, and I find myself having uncomfortable talks about things like sex and drugs. I'm forced to listen to music that makes me want to jam ball-point pens in my ears, and I'd wager that I have at least 600 single, unmatched socks of various size and color in various boxes and baskets around the house.

In my single years, a friend with kids asked when I was going to start a family. "I can't even keep my houseplants alive," was my response. What did he have to say about that?

"You do what you have to do."

He didn't tell me it was going to go by this quick.

By the way, is it just me, or does it look like that picture has some kind of evil eye peeping out between my fore and middle fingers?

Saturday, April 6, 2013

Cover Me

I've been known to sing karaoke a few times. It's fun, and a little easier if you've partaken in a bit of liquid courage. A buddy's wedding reception back in the day had a karaoke DJ for musical entertainment, and I thought it worked out well. Some are better than others on the stage, but it's fun either way.

Performers at the professional level, however, don't get as much slack, which brings me to the subject of remakes. My theory is this: If you're going to cover a song and try to sell it to the public, don't just do a karaoke version of someone else's song. Case in point? How about Keith Urban having his way with Steve Forbert's "Romeo's Tune" from the 70s? If you're going to remake a song, then remake it! Do something different. Earn your damn money.

The Indigo Girls have done two great remakes that come immediately to mind, Bob Dylan's "Tangled up in Blue" and Dire Straits' "Romeo and Juliet." I like remakes that trade genres like Dwight Yoakam's cover of The Clash's "Train in Vain." The Gourds put a brilliant bluegrass spin on Snoop Doggy Dog's "Gin and Juice," while Johnny Cash made Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt" his own.

Not that I'm fishing for comments, but what are your favorite covers? I always appreciate a new musical lead...

Friday, April 5, 2013

Customer service

I bought a bicycle air pump last fall at Wal-Mart. The thing broke the first time I used it, so I returned it for another. The pump sat in my garage all winter and the first time I used it the other day, it broke again. So, I brought it back to Wally, but when I was truthful in telling them I got it last fall, they told me there was nothing they could do, as I only had 90 days. I left the pump at the "service" desk, as it had zero value for me.

In contrast, a Kindle we bought at Staples for my oldest child for Christmas recently came up lame, showing just gibberish on the screen. I figured we were out of luck, but took a shot at calling Amazon on the outside chance they might do something. Turns out, we never registered the Kindle, and it had never been wirelessly connected, so I gave up almost all hope of resolution. However, the customer service guy from Amazon was incredibly nice, and worked with me for a good 30 minutes to find the serial number. He then registered the device and set me up for free shipment of a new replacement. That was Sunday, and the new device was here Wednesday. He also offered a reduced price refurb to replace an older Kindle that was also broken. The service alone was enough to make me pull the trigger and buy another reader.

I prefer to shop locally (and no, I don't think shopping at Wally qualifies as local), but it's hard to beat customer service like that. I'm probably a little more sensitive than most about how I'm treated when I enter a business, and maybe I hold too much of a grudge when I feel wronged. There are places in town I won't patronize, whether it's because I got bad service or because I'm not a fan of the owner. There are other great places, like Richard and Rochelle's, that have gone out of business due to a lack of local business. I spent money there, but not as often as I could/should have. Bad Beaver Bikes is a place I enjoy going, and I always try to buy at least a little something every time I go in... like maybe a decent pump next time? The folks who own the North Star Ice Cream Parlor are about as nice as they come, and I bring the kids there when they get a good report card. Some of my other local favorites include the Copper City Casino (food), the Chef's Garden, Park and Main Café, Gamers and the Hanging 5.

I might start my own local restaurant review, but I want it to be dish specific so I will be, as they say, comparing apples to apples. For instance, I might try the chicken fried steak or the ham and cheese omelet over the course of a couple of months at all the local diners and then come back with recommendations for the perusal of both people who have visited my blog - assuming they're local. We'll see how that goes.

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Jellystone ride

Last year around this time I took a bike ride through Yellowstone Park with a couple friends and had a wonderful time. In fact, the only bad part was realizing that I hadn't already been doing the same thing for years.

The park opens to auto traffic on April 26 this year, and, if I'm not mistaken, opens to bicycles April 6, weather permitting. Road crews have been hard at work clearing snow and ice from the highways through the park, and if the conditions are OK, two-wheelers will be there in earnest.

Neither I nor my two friends knew what to expect last year, and we may have over prepared a bit - especially Brett, an avid outdoorsman. It turned out, however, that there actually is a bit of four-wheeled traffic with park employees getting the place ready for the season. Also, there are hundreds of other folks on bikes, so you're never too far from help, if needed.

Even with all the other bikes, the traffic is absolutely nothing like the masses of cars present in summer months. You can go for miles and see many more buffalo than people. At one point last year, we saw a herd of dozens of bison approaching on the road ahead. We veered off the road in plenty of time to let the mass of bovine pass, and ate lunch as we watched the parade. That show came less than an hour after we passed a grizzly bear that was digging for grubs. The bear was less than 60 yards or so away, and we had our bear spray unholstered and ready for action. Still, he was too busy searching for a smaller lunch than us, and never really even gave us the time of day, so to speak.

Brett and I will make the trip again this spring, and though George won't be there (he moved to Oregon), we expect a few more bikers to join us on the 100-mile trip. We'll start out at Mammoth on April 13 and ride around 50 miles to West Yellowstone, where we'll find a hotel to spend the evening in the nearly deserted town. Then we'll make the return trip on Sunday morning, hopefully giving ourselves time for a quick pit stop at Chico Hot Springs on the way home.

This time around my wife and youngest daughter will meet us in West Yellowstone, and there may be a few others coming to meet our group. So far, we're looking at about six riders, though more are welcome. There's plenty of room on the road, even with the wildlife.

Monday, April 1, 2013

Road rage

The other day I was driving down Harrison Avenue, the busiest street in town, when I stopped at a light. In my new-to-me minivan, I'm conscious of how much gas the thing drinks, and tend to go easy on the accelerator. The guy behind me didn't seem to approve of my pace, and blazed around me so he could squeeze into the space between my van and the truck just ahead of me in the other lane. This is Harrison Avenue, and there was plenty more traffic ahead, so Mr. Speedy Pants had to immediately brake once in front of me. It was a stupid move that saved him probably less than a second in his trip.

Well, I was unhappy. While I shouldn't give a rat's ass about nitwits like Mr. Speedy Pants, I found myself steaming, and I stayed right on his tail. I glared at his rear-view mirror at the next red light, and stayed close behind.

It was then that I noticed the red and blue flashing lights in my own rear-view mirror, and my heart sunk. I was sure I was being pulled over for tail-gating, and I reluctantly signaled to move into the right lane so I could pull over. Once there, however, the police cruiser eased past me and pulled over Mr. Speedy Pants.

I'm lucky that the fist pump I displayed didn't end in an accident, but my day had just been made. Sometimes there really is justice in the world.


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Friday, September 10, 2010

Small update on the Brigade real-time path tracer

Jacco Bikker has released two new video's of the progress with his real-time path tracer named Brigade, demonstrating some kind of game where a truck has to push gold containers or something. Looks fun:

1. direct lighting (32 samples per pixel):
2. one bounce of indirect lighting (16 spp):

There is also an update from Dietger van Antwerpen on the GPU path tracer (subsystem of Brigade path tracer) running with the more advanced ERPT (energy redistribution path tracing) algorithm. He has improved the ERPT code to produce virtually identical results to the path traced reference and released a high quality image with it (ERPT on the left and path tracing on the right):

Explanation from Dietger van Antwerpen in the description at youtube:
"After some complains pointing out that in the movie, ERPT is significantly darker then path tracing , I fixed the darkening effect of the ERPT image filter, solving the difference in lighting quality. I made an image ( ) using ERPT for the left half, while using path tracing for the right half and waited until the path tracing noise almost vanished. As you can see, the lighting quality between the left and right half is pretty much the same. (The performance and convergence characteristics remain unchanged)"
It would be interesting to know the time for ERPT and for path tracing to achieve these results.

He also released a new video showing improvements to the GPU ERPT code:

As the videos show, ERPT converges considerably faster than standard path tracing and the noise is significantly reduced. Very cool and very impressive. I wonder if the optimized ERPT code will be used in Brigade for real-time animations and games.

No comments:


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Download Google Play Store v8.4.40 APK For Android Latest Update

Yet another update of the Play Store is released by Google. In recent updates developers revamped user-interface and brought plenty of pleasing aesthetic and navigation changes. It is now available for Android users to directly download on their devices. Download Play Store APK v8.4.40 for Android from the direct link shared below. Google has rolling out Google Play Store v8.4.40 which you can now also download via APK file manually update on rooted and non-rooted Android devices. This is the latest Play Store v8.4.40 Apk for Android. Google Play Store APK version 8.4.40 brings improvements and fixes. Like like previous Play Store v 8.4.19, this update brings bug fixes for stable performance.

Play Store by Google is the biggest app store that contains over a billion apps, games, mod, tweaks, tools, and much more for the users of Android mobile devices. If you want to get the latest Play Store app, you need to install Play Store APK 8.4.40, which is now available for free. This update gets an incremental jump in the build number from v8.4.19 to v8.4.40. This means it is mostly about bug fixes and stability improvements.

See the instructions below to learn how to manually install Google Play Store latest version Apk on your smartphone and tablet device. Google regularly releases Play Store updates to ensure everything works smoothly on various Android devices. Users of rooted Android devices won’t be able to use official Play Store, so they need to manually install Play Store APK file, which can be downloaded from the link below. Only way to get Google Play Store to enjoy millions of Android games and apps on rooted devices is by manually installing the play store via APK file. If you cannot connect to the play store on your device, here is how to fix no connection issue in the Play Store.

New Changes In Play Store:

In recent updates, Google has introduced a redesigned UI that makes it easier to navigate through various categories of applications. The new UI puts the navigational menus in an arrangement that increases its visibility in order to allow easy access.

In the previous UI, main Google Play categories were grouped as Apps & Games and Movies, Music and Books, that changes with today’s update, as these categories get de-linked and arranged into their own separate tabs at the top bar on the home screen. This top bar is followed by another bar which now contains navigational options such as For You (personalized recommendations), Top Charts, Categories, Editor’s Choice, Early access and Family apps. If you are facing performance issues, then see how to fix Play Store Error 413 on Android.

The two new navigational bars mostly stay visible on the Play Store app except for when you perform a search, open app install page or when you open an app listing. Connection Time Out error is common in Play Store, here is how to fix Google Play Store Connection Time out.

Why Sideload Google Play Store APK Manually?

  • To get latest Google Play Store version on any Android device. Even those not supported by the official Play Store.
  • To get refreshed version with more apps and games.
  • For free download and install on both rooted and un-rooted Android device.
  • Fast app/game download, even on slow networks and older Android devices.
  • To fix faulty Play Store by updating the app manually.
  • To make Play Store work on non-supported Android mobiles and tablets.

What’s new in this APK:

Download and Install Play Store Apk for Android

Follow step-by-step guide below for installing the app.

1 – Download Play Store 8.4.40 Apk from the link below and place it in Android device’s internal memory or external SD card.

2 – Now to manually install Play Store on Android mobile or tablet via external link given below, go to Settings > Security and enable ‘Unknown Sources’ option to allow direct installation.

3 – Go to the location on the device where you saved the apk file in step 1. Tap on it to begin installation. Best way to extract zip Apk file is to open any File Manager app on your device and extract zip folder to get APK file and tap on it to install the Play Store.

4 – Wait for the installation to finish and start using it from the device’s app drawer.

5 – All done.

Play Store 8.4.40 APK | Link |

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Monday, September 1, 2008

I am all into re-reading. There are many books I have read again and again and there are lot more I plan to re-read.

Amongst the books I have re-read are almost everything by Guy de Maupassant, The Count of Monte Christo by Alexandre Dumas, Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K Jerome, Oliver Twist and David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carol, Illusions by Richard Bach, almost all the books by Enid Blyton, Tintin, Asterix, poetry books by many poets. There are many many that I can't recall now.

Soon I plan to re-read Half of a Yellow Sun and Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Kafka on the Shore by Murakami, East of Eden by John Steinbeck, and yet again poetry books. These are not all...

Re-reading for me means savouring! The familiarity offers comfort. Like having chocolates in midst of a crisis. And re-reading also means learning new things each time. To see the book in a new light. While re-reading, I pause and simply enjoy the words. Am I making any sense at all??


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Tuesday, August 31, 2010

R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril Challenge V

R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril V Challenge

September 1 to 31 October 2010, hosted by Carl V of Stainless Steel Droppings.

You can choose from multiple perils. Do check out his blog to learn more. Even watching movies count! What are you waiting for?

Read/Watch movies from any or all of the following genres:

Dark Fantasy.

Mostly I will be reading Mystery/Suspense/Thriller. However, I have already read a modern gothic novel and added the link to the RIP review site

Read and reviewed another one:

I might read:

Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson
Bones of Contention by Jeanne Matthews
Blood Harvest by S J Bolton
Daughters of the Witching Hill by Mary Sharratt
Manhattan Hunt Club by John Saul
Four Past Midnight by Stephen King (744 pages, very small font!!) OMG, that in itself is horrifying.

and more....

Stephanie said...

I am so excited for this challenge! Great job on already reading and reviewing a book for it.

Carl V. said...

So awesome to see links already going up on the Book Review site. Look forward to seeing what else you get to over the next couple of months.

Nely said...

I can't believe you've already read some for this challenge. I am coming in late. :D

Great list of books - I might try to squeeze in The Girl Who Played With Fire - you've inspired me, plus I had forgotten I had that one.

naida said...

happy reading! I've heard Never Wave Goodbye is good.

Jenners said...

Jeez ... you are really on the ball!! You already have some reviews done!! You're pretty scary in how fast you read and write reviews!! HAHA!

The only one I read on your list is the Larsson one!

Veens said...

Did you get The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson already! WOW! I want!

leeswammes said...

Good luck with the challenge. You have a good number of books to choose from. Enjoy!

Literary Feline said...

I'm posting about the challenge tomorrow. I'm a little slow in joining. :-) I wish you luck with the challenge, Gautami. It looks like you are already well on your way!

Lori Hedgpeth said...

Thanks for stopping by my blog for the Hop!
I too am participating in the RIP challenge. Look forward to reading your reviews!

Maree said...

Great list! :D

raidergirl3 said...

I haven't heard of many of your books, but I do have The Girl Who Played with Fire here as well. Have fun!

Kailana said...

Hope you get to some great books. Happy reading!

Brooke from The Bluestocking Guide said...

Thanks for visiting my list. One year I will read some Stephen King.

Novroz said...

I haven't read four past midnight yet..but 744pages is considered to be medium since I have survived Stephen King's thickest book, The stand - more than 1000pages and his 2nd thickest book, IT - also more than 1000pages.

I want to read The girl ... series too. I have watched the movie but haven't read any of the book yet

Vasilly said...

You have a great list! Can't wait to read your thoughts on Daughters of Witching Hill. Happy reading!


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Monday, January 16, 2012

Weekend and Monday Goals

This weekend was actually really slow. It was so nice to just be at home with my husband and baby because starting tomorrow Jordan will be back at work. It's really so sad. I knew that it would happen at some point, but I was just really enjoying the little cocoon we had made at the house.
On the up and up, things are really starting to roll along nicely on the "work at home" front. My dad has offered to let me do secretarial work for him from home, I've secured some students, and I can still work at the clinic. I need to sit down and do some homework about how much I would end up making with these three things combined.
Since I am really pretty darn proud of myself for my goals, I can't wait to post them. So here we go.

  1. Read 3 books
         I didn't reach this, but let me defend myself. Last week I read seven New Testament books and I am almost done with a book called, "Thinking, Loving, Doing." I love the book and it seemed like it would be a quick read until I actually dove into it. It is written so academically and I didn't want to miss one thing that they were saying, so I decided to just take my sweet time and enjoy the book.

    2. Get my lessons rolling
        My first student starts a week from today. I have three confirmed students and four that I'm still waiting to hear back from. I have lesson plans planned, stickers bought, and an office fully set up and ready to go. We're getting a piano delivered today and a tuner coming in shortly after. I'm purposefully waiting to buy the books because I want to just buy them all at once. I'm hoping that the four other students come through for me!

    3. Do 100 fitness minutes

       Ok, this one I bombed hard. I was thinking about being nice to myself and awarding myself 30 minutes for walking around the mall, but let's be real. It doesn't count unless it's purposeful.

    4. Clean out the refrigerator and do the laundry

       Refrigerator? Clean. For real. I'm so excited

       Laundry? Halfway done. I'm ok with that. Jordan and I both did some this past week. Chances are the laundry will always only be half done. I think I'm going to consider this a victory.

    5. Finish "Lost"

       Oh man. Done and done. It was fun. And still disappointing at the end. Even if Jordan does like it.

And now on to the new goals for this week!

  1. Re-read the Harry Potter Series
       I don't think that this goal is too hefty. Considering that the first time I started reading them I got through five books in three days. The books are simple- super easy to read quickly- even if they are long. Plus I just love them. And I've been wanting to read them for a whole year, but I was trying not to re-read anything last year. I still need to finish "Thinking, Loving, Doing," but I'm almost through with it, so I should be done today.

    2.  100 Fitness Minutes

       Let's try this again.

    3. Clean our room and bathroom

       If you saw our master bed and bath, you would know why it deserves its own goal. It's going to take a good 2 to 3 hours to get those clean. It's just gone by the wayside this maternity leave.

    4. Cook 3 times.

       I leave on Friday to go see my sister in the Miss Illinois Fair Queen pageant. So this needs to take place over the next few days. We went to the grocery store the other day, so I have everything I need. Except the will.

    5. Register for a 5k/begin making plans to return to running

       I shouldn't start running until I'm cleared by my doctor on January 30, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't start making my plans. I want to actually RUN my three 5ks this year, not run/walk them, so a certain amount of planning is in order, I think.

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Sunday, April 3, 2011

The New Cap (Mark Gruenwald Years Three and Four, Captain America 332-354)

In his third year on the book, Mark Gruenwald gave us a new Captain America. A Commission of Presidentially-appointed big shots (including the heads of the CIA and FBI) claimed government ownership of the Captain America name, costume and shield. They demanded that Steve Rogers once again work directly for the government, as he agreed to do when he was chosen to receive the super-soldier formula in World War II. However, Rogers no longer felt that Captain America should be a government propaganda figure, and resigned as Captain America. He was uncomfortable with taking his case to the people or fighting the government in court, and opted instead to assume a new, slightly different identity- the Captain:

Meanwhile, the government enlisted John Walker--the Super-Patriot-- to be the new Captain America (and his drinking buddy Lemar to be the new Bucky, later Battlestar). Walker took the job seriously, doing his best to live up to a legend he once mocked, and fought guys like the Watchdogs:

Unknown to almost everyone though, there were mysterious forces working to undermine Walker, and push him over the edge.

The nice thing about this storyline was that it meant Steve Rogers was absent from the book entirely at times, which was good because Gruenwald's depiction of Steve Rogers tended to be "dishwater dull" (in the words of one letter writer). The flawed (and sometimes brutal) John Walker was much more compelling. Of course, inevitably Steve Rogers reclaimed the Captain America identity (and not by brawling with Walker over the name, mercifully). And Walker is still floating around the Marvel universe in a modified version of Rogers' black outfit, under the name USAgent. He's had a couple of mini-series, and has been a member of the Avengers, Force Works, the Invaders, and Omega Flight. He's the Marvel universe's super-powered government hardass.

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Farms for Sale in South Hadley Looking to buy farms? Browse farms in South Hadley, Massachusetts Real Estate on

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