Key Takeaways (What I got from it) - Part II

Key Takeaways (What I got from it) - Part IISummary: scoping the post, small changes, shameless plug for an experienced executive, activating the old Lewis & Clark DNA, carpe diem with reptile visuals. So what did I get out of this? I mean most vacations give you a chance to slow down and reflect. The difference is that you usually get back within a week or two instead of taking a couple months to internalize the slower pace. There is a huge danger of being too introspective in a chapter like this, so I will keep it concise and tangible. I've ignored the blog for a couple weeks to allow the lessons of Oz to sink in, but it is time to get on with it and post something before you all forget the site. Quick aside, I have also turned some of this into a powerpoint, but it does not seem to want to load onto the site. When I can figure it out, look for a summary photo post. Naturally, I find myself thinking about the trip. Australia really is a fantastic country with a pair of world class cities and a few more wonderful cities worthy of visiting. The trip really did go smoothly. While I'd love to credit my planning, the reality is that Australia is simply an easy place to visit (once you get there). Still, there was something cool about selecting an objective, planning it, getting it done, and returning with everyone in tact. Alex has quickly returned to the swing of things as well, but he is talking much more in all three of his languages. Naturally, as the sunny days get longer, we are enjoying the fact that we are about to go right back into summer. Well, I have made a few changes personally. People tell me I look younger - maybe I am smiling more or maybe I need to keep losing weight, but I am not one to question compliments. For one thing, I am certainly driving slower. This is not to say I am an angel or that I was previously a freeway combatant, but I've been back for nearly a month and I am driving within 5 mph of the speed limit - that is just the most obvious symptom of me embracing a more relaxed approach. I've made a few other changes on the margins - going from a Treo to a Blackberry, going from a PC to a Mac, going from really short hair to longish hair (not rock star long, just an extra inch or two). In keeping with the "life is too short" theme, I am making some changes on the professional side too. I've spent 15 years developing marketing programs and helping companies make marketing decisions, but mostly from a role one step removed on the sales side. Now, I want to get in the arena and be the one doing the marketing. Additionally, as you can tell from this trip, I've always had a passion for knowing and doing all things international (my Master's is in International Business), but since the bulk of my work has been domestic this knowledge and my foreign languages have been mostly a hobby. That's going to change now. Although it would be easier to get another role involving sales to the marketing/advertising industry, I'll be doing something more purely marketing with an international angle. Potentially, I could do sales with an international skew and go from there to international marketing or I could do domestic marketing and go from there to international marketing. I am taking two different Spanish classes right now and looking for a way to do what I should be doing. By the way, if you know anyone trying to develop markets in Europe, Latin America, or Australia (or people from those places trying to develop the US), let me know. Many of you have asked - in polite terms - "what kind of freakish genetic defect would cause you to want to wander across an empty continent with a toddler?" This question was asked before, during, and after the trip. Usually the word "brave" is used (thank you, my diplomatic friends), with the word "crazy" following shortly thereafter with a smile. You know who you are and you may have a point. One of the things that I have learned since returning from Australia is that my genes would be in favor of the trip. I have an ancestor famous for actions a couple centuries ago, but it is not the ancestor I thought it was. Since childhood, I had heard that I was a fairly direct descendant of Francis Scott Key, the author of the Star Spangled Banner - but in fact I am not. In a twist of fate that entirely makes sense right now, I have learned that I am a pretty direct descendant (8 generations back, 1st cousin) of Meriwether Lewis - as in Lewis & Clark. That's not a bad trade. Good to know that I am not the first person in the family to wander off into the lightly populated wilderness with a wingman. We both met some nice locals en route, but my wife did not grant permission to pick up any squaws en route (as in Sacajawea). Then again, I did not know to ask. On the other hand, Lewis & Clark did not get to sleep in road houses, drive on smooth well-marked roads, or experience their travels in an air conditioned Camry. Regardless, we probably saw about the same amount of oncoming traffic for much of our trip - I went whole days without passing or being passed by cars going in the same direction. Some people experience life-threatening events and respond with something of a carpe diem attitude. Well, I had a trip that was essentially flawless for two months, but I have emerged with a similar attitude adjustment. Steve Irwin had that attitude and made his impression on this world (thus the first photo, above). No doubt the person who captured the croc depicted above ("Krys" - the 8.6m reptile from Normanton, Qld that might eat a person without needing to chew) was also "seizing the day" when this massive crocodile showed up. Without a doubt I am on the same page, as mentioned above in the professional sense. Alex and I had the trip of a lifetime and our lives have been impacted accordingly. Thanks for joining us for the trip. Future posts will come, but in irregular intervals.

Never tell a peson who's experiencing deep sorrow, i know how you feel..

i receive a txt today and it said never tell a person who's experiencing deep

sorrow, i kow how you feel because you don't. Its true, maybe you went

through that same situations but you have different emotions. Nobody knows

anyone's emotions but themselves alone, whether your a friend or family or

really close to that person but you really dont know whats going inside.
what is your reactions to this? what do usually do when your comforting other

people who is really in deep pain?

Stamps about Guide Dogs

Today is May 1st, the start of National Guide Dog Month. It's a perfect topic for my weekly Philatelic Friday series. Since I am resourceful and persistent, I managed to dig up a series of postage stamps from around the world about Guide Dogs! Can you image the luck? I should take this time to disclose that I worked with my company and one of our vendors to plan a month-long fundraiser in all of our stores and online for Guide Dog schools nationwide. You'll hear more about it on this blog for the next few weeks, so I apologize in advance if I blog about it too much. The exciting part is that American Idol judge and singer Paula Abdul is our spokesperson for National Guide Dog Month. If you want to see a nifty video of Paula Abdul about this, click here. But for today, I present this week's installment of Philatelic Friday: Stamps About Guide Dogs. The first one above left is from Ireland. Enjoy the rest:above: UK Guide Dog stamp above: another UK Guide Dog stamp above: Netherlands Guide Dogs above: USA Guide Dog stampabove: Canada Guide Dog stampThanks for stopping by this week's installment of Philatelic Friday featuring Guide Dog stamps! Don't forget to check out that cool Paula Abdul Guide Dog video-Rick Rockhill

Mad World

I haven't posted in a while, but it's been a busy couple of weeks. Besides the upcoming site visit at work, I've been on the road the last two weekends in a row.The first was a trip to another New England state to watch my niece compete in the regional gymnastics meet. This was quite the family road trip, in fact, quite the blended family road trip. C is my brother's daughter. He and her mother were in a long-term relationship but never married, and after C was born, finally broke up for good. C now splits her time between them, and also spends a lot of time with my mom, who watches her several days a week after school. C's mother K is now involved with a great guy, B. B is older, and has two college-age children (both of whom are really great kids) and can always be found at these gymnastics meets with K, cheering C on.So, two weekends ago found me, my brother J, C, K and B all driving up to Maine together for the meet. My mom and aunt D came up separately in another car. We spent the night there, mom and D in one room, K and B in their room, while J, C and I bunked in a third. I don't think J and B will ever go fishing together, but it was nice and comfortable, all of us hanging out in one room eating junk food and drinking beer while watching the Celtics as C ran up and down the hallways screaming along with the 100 other little gymnasts who were also staying there. The meet went very well, and C placed high on most of her events (we won't talk about the beam) and high overall. Not bad!Last weekend found me in Albuquerque, visiting my Dancing in Socks Guy and ... having a second interview with the company I hope to get hired by. I don't want to jinx it, but it went very well. Phrases like "we're very interested" and "what are your salary requirements" and "what would the time line for your moving be?" were bandied about. This job is a very good fit for me, my qualifications are about 99% congruent with the job description and the technology seems feasible to me. We are at the reference-checking stage, and I don't anticipate any problems with that. Generally when I get to this stage I get the job, but there was one time I did not -- one of the higher-ups decided I wouldn't like the salary they were offering, even though I said it was fine, and it was, and that was that.So, it looks good, but you never know. We'll see.Most interesting in all of this is Grant Leader's reaction. While it's tempting to just flounce out of this job with an obscenity-laden goodbye, in reality, I can't do that. Too many other people, people who have been very good to me, would be affected and as brutal as the last few months were under GL, the fact remains that GL was also very good to me at one point in time. So, I sat down with GL and explained the situation, and it went very well.There are two things at play here -- one, GL has been quite friendly and reasonable for the last two months. Whether that's because meds have been adjusted or the planets are aligned just so, I don't know, but things have been great. The second, and probably most helpful thing, is that this job is in Albuquerque, where my fiance lives, and even GL doesn't want to stand in the way of True Love. This is a perfect out for both of us -- GL can accept my leaving for this reason, whereas if I just went down the road apiece and got a similar job it would be seen as a betrayal.With all this in mind, I asked GL to be a reference. That might, at first glance, seem like professional suicide, but I have another from the University as well, and while GL is emotionally labile, GL is basically honest. As it happens, there was nothing to worry about. I was BCC'd on the written one GL sent off, and it was positively glowing.I am getting nervous about this ... the possibility of moving. I've moved myself cross-country before, but this time I find myself obsessing about things. The cats ... how will they deal with it? What if one escapes on the trip? I'm getting them micro-chipped (which sets off a whole other line of obsessive worrying about feline cancer) and they will be wearing collars with tags (which sets off yet another line of obsessive fears that they will strangle themselves, as they don't normally wear collars) and either mom or Dancing in Socks Guy will drive out with me so I'll have help, but nonetheless, I worry.Idiotically enough, I don't worry about what should be the real fear, how my little feline heart patient, Lilly, will do. She's asymptomatic, but with feline heart conditions this means nothing, as that can change very fast. I suppose I don't worry as she's already traveled -- her foster mother flew with her (in the cabin, not as freight) from Cleveland to Boston and Lilly weathered that trip just fine. I'll have a supply of emergency meds with me, and God knows I know what to do if she goes into congestive heart failure, and for preparedness' sake I'll have all their medical records with me and a list of vets along the route ... well, maybe I am more worried than I thought I was.So, that's where I am now. Updates as the situation warrants.Elle

Wee Tees and Guiding Light

The giveaway for Wee Tees is closed. The winner of the "Wee Tees" set is:Michelle said...I love the superbaby! My fave of the sneaks I've seen are the peanut (because mine is sleeping beside me) and My mommy rocks (because I do, of course). I would love to see a monkey face. The onesie is adorable!Congrats Michelle! Please email me by Saturday, 4/25 with your mailing address so I can send you the stamps! :)I am so excited about this latest tee set,"Wee Tees": for babies and beyond! We've been waiting to release this one because spring just feels like babies (and a good thing, because I have some showers now to stamp for! LOL!) and if you're a fan of any of the "Little Tees", "Just So Sporty" and/or "Tee Talk" , these must-have stamps open a whole new set of mix and matchy possibilities! (possibilitees!) Here's a more traditional one: "baby" images, colors and sentiments! Cut 4 2" squares from coordinating DP, this uses Basic Gray and DCWV and adhere to a 4.25" square Gina K Pure Luxury White Base. Punch scalloped corners from DP for the corners and add some matching buttons. The onesie is paper pieced (if you love paper piecing you will love this set!) and I used a marker in s lightly darker shade to color in the neck and leg holes to give it dimension. Hanger is from "Little Tees." You can see here how nicely a little image and greeting from the set will fit on a small tag, too, not just the onesie, here I used SU!'s large and small tag punches. I added an eyelet with my Cropodile and a little piece of tied hemp attached with a glue dot above the hanger. I also used the new Scor-Bug tool with my Scor-Pal to pierce holes around the border like a quilt, love how quickly and easily you can add that detail!Now this card uses less traditional images and colors on the onesie (but every parent thinks their baby is SUPER, right?!) Here I sketched a really simple cape on the sides of the onesie image to match the tiny one (you can do this!), colored it with Copics, love that pop of red on the sleeves and ribbing! Then I made it into a "tilt card" so it wobbles back and forth, see below... Constantly on the go, just like baby!! ;)This next project showcases Rupa's new "Guiding Light", the perfect nautical set, just in time for Father's Day! I love this rope image you can use to make frames, I stamped it in Not Quite Navy on the Brocade Blue and layered the navy CS underneath. I made two nested cut outs through the layers to frame the light house image, which I cut out to make dimensional.I love to do this technique of creating a beam light, simply place a long triangular strip of paper down where you want the ray, sponge around it and remove! Here it spotlights "Dad" :) last I added the wheel with a little brad in the center and put it all on this shimmery Cappuccino Metallic CS base from Paper Temptress. probably one of my favorite masculine cards ever!For more peeks of today's sneak preview sets, please see the rest of our Gina K Designs Team's blogs:Asela Hopkins, Carolyn King, Cindy Lawrence, Donna Baker, Emily Giovanni, Erika Martin, Gina Krupsky, Jessica Fick, Joanne Basile, Kurtis Amundson, Theresa Mombermy two guest designers:Laura Jean Nygaard and Libby Hicksonplus our "In the Spotlight" Designer Beverly Cole!More sneak peeks tomorrow, and release party, Thursday! can't wait! Would you like to win "Wee Tees"? Please visit all the sneak peeks and let me know which "Wee Tees" images you are most excited about or hoping to find in the reveal, it's my biggest set ever! One comment will win a copy of the set, I will announce the winner before the party Thursday! Have a great day, enjoy blog hopping! :)

Kinetic Trashbags & Names

Kinetic, trashbags, and names that is. Enjoy and galvanize. The BMW Museum's kinetic sculpture takes your brain to another dimension -- A kinetic sculpture comprising 714 metallic balls suspended in air will soothe your weary mind. It's one of those things that's better seen than described, but if you can imagine a wave of undulating orbs that appear to weightlessly float, you'll start to get the idea. Shapeshifters and the Art of Seamless Tailoring -- Instead of steel, aluminum or even carbon fiber, the GINA Light Visionary Model has a body of seamless fabric stretched over a movable metal frame that allows the driver to change its shape at will. Inflatable Street Sculptures -- Joshua Allen Harris has created some fantastic New York street art in the form animals made out of shopping bags positioned on subway street grates that cause them to periodically inflate and animate. GoogleUnique Names -- Recently I've noticed two new strategies in naming children. One I call the global brand naming strategy. The object is to devise names that work in as many languages and regions of the world as possible. The other recent strategy is to find GoogleUnique names. There you have it. Dangerously cosmopolitan. Related Items The Dilettante Way Free ebook Peer pressure, vanity and behavior, motivation tricks and hacks, success and pain, and how to excel, Celebrate Your Beauty.

Beauty

Variatons on a Theme

When I traveled to the People’s Republic of China with an educational delegation in the autumn of 1994, one of the places we visited was a silk factory. It was fascinating to see the boiled cocoons and the spools of raw silk. I wish I had pictures to post—but all I have are slides of my trip there.Here are some of my poems about silkworm cocoons and pupae. These poems are variations on a theme. In my elementary classroom, I often shared a variety poems on a particular subject—butterflies, caterpillars, trees, the sun, the moon, winter, spring, etc.—to show my students how different poets might write about them from their perspectives...and in their own unique styles.The following poems in order are: a mask poem, an acrostic, a cinquain, and a haiku.SILKWORM PUPAThis silken nestIs where I’ll restAnd sleep and changeAnd rearrangeMyself into another me.In this small space,This creamy case,Six legs I’ll grow,Four wings—and oh…Can’t wait to see the ME I’ll be.Case spunOf creamy silken threads,Cozy cottage forOne, changing roomOf a sleeping pupa who will awaken to aNew self.Cocooncreamy silkensack—sleeping bag for oneyoung dreamer whose wish for wings willcome trueSwaddled in white silkspinning dreams of a futurethat will end too soonFYISilkworm Moth (Pictures)Silkworms MothsSilk Factory--Suzhou

Why size matters

Kevin Drum has nicely posed the question of whether it really is important to break up big banks. After all, he argues, even small-ish banks have proven to be too leveraged and interconnected to be permitted to really fail. He argues that maybe it's the banking industry, rather than individual banks, whose size and reach we need to constrain. John Hempton has been arguing for the Australo-Canadian model of an oligarchic, heavily regulated, generously profitable banking system. James Kwak offers a very nice discussion of the "too big to fail" problem in light of the absence of structural rather than supervisory approaches in Treasury Secretary Geithner's recent regulatory proposals. (And Drum responds.) I think size does matter very much, but not because small banks are inherently small enough to fail. Drum is right about that: Like a dwarf with a suitcase nuke, a sufficiently levered and inter-contracted microbank could take down the world as surely as the Citimonster. But in practice, a properly defined smallness could add a lot of safety to the banking system: Very directly, limiting size defined by total asset base plus an expansive notional value of all derivative and off-balance sheet exposures limits both interconnectedness and leverage. (Defining size limits by capitalization would suffer from the same drawback as traditional leverage constraints — they encourage bankers to scheme secret ways of levering up.) When a bank appears to be small enough to fail, creditor discipline will backstop regulatory supervision. If a bank is perceived as too big to fail, if its failure in "unthinkable", then clients and counterparties will be lax in managing or limiting their exposures, leaving always circumventable regulation as the only bulwark against becoming too levered and interconnected to fail. (Insured depositors, of course, won't provide discipline, and shouldn't be expected to. But bondholders and derivative counterparties will, if a bank's credit is potentially dodgy.) Smaller banks, even very levered and interconnected ones, can be unwound, merged, or put into receivership. We've managed the failures of even large-ish banks like Drexel, Bear, Wachovia, WaMu, or IndyMac, and we could have managed Lehman in a costly but orderly unwind. But once banks have gone truly mega, we're not sure we can manage it. A bank that is too big too merge without overconsolidating the industry presents special problems. From a taxpayer perspective, we are generally able to unwind smaller banks without guaranteeing non-insured creditors, while we find haircutting the creditors of larger banks impossible, because these unsecured creditors regard failure as unthinkable and fail to adequately provision for the risk. Political economy considerations mitigate against large banks (arguably more deeply in the United States than in Australia and Canada). Particularly if financial firms are segregated by scope (e.g. investment banking distinct from commercial banking distinct from brokerage distinct from insurance), groups of small firms with distinct industry agendas are likely to be less corrupting than huge, critical institutions with a unified management that acts strategically in political circles. Scale breeds agency problems. Earning an extra five basis points on $100B in assets amounts to $50M in extra income a year, a fraction of which can make a manager very wealthy in an eat-what-you-kill bank. Making that same five basis points on a $100M portfolio earns a small bank 50K, a fraction of which amounts to a nice bonus, but not a lifestyle change. For both managers, the downside if something goes wrong is the same: they lose their jobs. The ability to leverage a large balance sheet tempts managers at larger banks to take risks that managers at smaller banks would not find at all worthwhile. (Drum points out that managers of small hedge funds earn huge sums too, but that's really apples to oranges. Hedge fund investors, like stock investors, are generally aware of and prepared to manage investment risk, while bank creditors expect that their money is safe. Hedge funds mostly present systemic problems when their use of leverage puts bank creditors at risk. That can and should be regulated, from the bank side and perhaps by eliminating the right of hedge funds to limited liability forms of organization.) There are very few obvious reasons why large banks are useful at all, other than supervisory convenience if you think Hempton's regulated oligarchy is the right model. It may be annoying to have to pay other-bank ATM fees, but besides that, there are very few services or efficiencies a large bank can offer that a small bank cannot. Large banks can provide large loans more easily, which is convenient for corporate clients. But that may be a bad thing. Lending decisions can be mistakes. It's one thing if a lending committee misdirects $300K to a bad mortgage. It is much more costly if that same flawed body channels $3B to a crappy LBO. Raising large quantities of capital should require the separate assent of multiple independent parties. Misdirection of the resources represented by billions of dollars creates social as well as private costs. My sense is that a lot of people think large banks are here to stay for precisely the reason they should be made extinct. Large banks feel modern, important, powerful. It seems nice, somehow, when you travel across oceans and find a branch of your own bank. It's like you are part of a winning team. There's that ubiquitous brand, and it's your brand. But "brand equity" is an important means by which banks build a mystique that makes their failure unthinkable, and charms bondholders and other uninsured counterparties into offering leverage on much too easy terms. Ironically, if banks felt a bit shabby and penny-ante, and if managed failures were regular events, the banking system as a whole would be much safer. Size isn't everything: Bankers are famous lemmings, and a whole lot of small banks who pile into the same poor investment can fail together like one really big bank. But a thousand little banks are at least a bit less likely to make correlated mistakes than megabanks, which can turn a bad investment idea into a firm-wide mission. One goal of bank regulation, besides restricting size and leverage, should be to encourage independent lending decisions and supervising the diversity of the aggregate banking system's portfolio. Regulators should "lean against the wind" of booms that homogenize banks' asset base by restricting growth of overrepresented asset classes. If there is a good economic reason for a boom, nonbank equity investors can take advantage of the opportunity. Note: Ideally I prefer a complete separation of the depository and payments function of banks from the lending and investment function. That is I'd prefer we create "narrow banks" that invest only in government securities, and define a new kind of explicitly at-risk investment fund to serve the traditional purposes of bank lending. But this piece is written under the pessimistic assumption that we'll leave the familiar structure of banking intact.

Is man generally physically stronger than woman?

Let's see, are you able to do man's work?
starting the lawn mower to cut the grass? cleaning and waxing the car? shoveling? raking? repairing broken/damaged stuff? etc
I have done that all before and of course they are not an easy task for me!
Especially I found I have a hard time starting the lawn mower, my arms are
just not strong, I need to pull really hard to start it, everytime after I
started it, my arms are wicked tired... so do raking and shoveling, my arms
get tired easy, I think we can see how big a difference between man and
woman, man is just stronger than woman!
Do you agree this topic?

Simvalley PICO RX-80

Where are they now

Everybody blames the bankers for the crisis , and probably rightly so , but just how much of the consequences of their actions have they had to confront and face ?The Independent describes how failed bank directors still sit in the board-rooms :Bradford & BingleyMichael Buckley (non-exec 2007-08). A director of Nicola Horlick’s Bramdean Alternatives and sits on the M&T Bank board in the US.Ian Cheshire (n-x 2003-08). Chief executive of Kingfisher, the B&Q group.Nick Cosh (n-x 1999-2008). Director of City brokers Icap.Sir George Cox (2000-07). Commentator on the banking crisis and chairs Warwick Business School’s advisory board.Rod Kent (n-x chairman 2002-08). A governor of Wellcome Trust and chairs the Duke of Westminster’s £13bn Grosvenor empire,Lady Patten (n-x 2003-08). Sits on the Marks & Spencer board and chairs the Brixton property group.Stephen Webster (n-x 2003-08). Finance director at Wolseley plumbing goods group.HBOS Sir James Crosby (1994-2006). Is still senior independent director at ITV and the Compass catering group, and last month became a director of Mysis, the software company.Charles Dunstone (n-x 2000-08). A director of Daily Mail & General Trust and the Prince’s Trust besides running Carphone Warehouse.Mike Ellis (finance director 1987-2004, 07-09). Is now a WH Smith director.Tony Hobson (n-x 2001-06). Chairs Northern Foods and is a director of water company Glas Cymru.Philip Hodkinson (finance director 2005-08). Chairs the audit committees at BT and Travelex. Director of HM Revenue & Customs.Andy Hornby (1999-2009). Remains a director of Home Retail, the Homebase and Argos chains.Sir Brian Ivory (n-x 1998-2007). Director of Scottish American Investment Trust and Rémy Contreau.Karen Jones (n-x 2006-09). The founder of Café Rouge recently joined the Virgin Active board.Kate Nealon (n-x 2004-09). Sits on the Cable & Wireless and Shire drugs group boards.David Shearer (n-x 2004-07). Senior independent director at STV and chairman of Crest Nicholson.Lord Stevenson (chairman 1999-2009). Director of Western Union and Loudwater Investments.Mark Tucker (finance director 2004-05). Returned to the Prudential, where he is chief executive.Northern RockDavid Baker (1973-2007). Chairs Northeast Enterprise Bond.Sir Ian Gibson (n-x 2002-08). The former senior independent director chairs Trinity Mirror and the Wm Morrison supermarket group.Michael McQueen (n-x 2005-08). Chief executive of the FTSE 100 private-equity group 3i.Nichola Pease (n-x 1999-2007). Deputy chairman at JO Hambro Capital Management.Matt Ridley (1996-2007 and chairman from 2004). Remains a governor of the Ditchley Foundation conference group with government ministers.Sir George Russell (n-x 1996-2006). Deputy chairman of ITV and the veteran of boardrooms from 3i and Taylor Woodrow to Camelot.Sir Derek Wanless (n-x 2000-07). Chaired credit and risk committees. Vice-chairman of Statistics Commission and chairs Northumbrian Water.Royal Bank of ScotlandColin Buchan (n-x 2002-). Remains an RBS director. His other boards include Standard Life and two Merrill Lynch trusts.Jim Currie (n-x 2001-09). Director of Dutch aluminium group Vimetco plus the Met Office.Larry Fish (1993-2008). Chairman of US Citizens Bank and director of Textron – the Cessna and Bell Helicopter group.Sir Fred Goodwin (1998-2008). Chairman of the Prince’s Trust.Archie Hunter (n-x 2004-). Audit committee chairman, still sits on the board and is director of Macfarlane Group and an investment trust.Bud Koch (n-x 2004-09). A director of the federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati.Janis Kong (n-x 2006-09). Director of Kingfisher, Portmeirion pottery, Visit Britain and chairs the Forum for the Future environmental group.Joe MacHale (2004-). Still senior non-exec and a director of Morgan Crucible and Brit Insurance.Sir Tom McKillop (2005-08). Director of BP and a Spanish drugs group, plus a trustee of the Council for Industry & Higher Education.Sir George Matthewson (2001-06 after nine years running the bank). Now chairs the Edinburgh government’s Council for Economic Advisers.Gordon Pell (2000-). Still an RBS executive director. Chairs the Business Commission on Racial Equality and is on the FSA Practitioner Panel.Sir Steve Robson (n-x 2001-09). The former adviser to the Chancellors is now a director of JP Morgan Cazenove, mining group Xstrata and the Government’s Partnerships UK.Bob Scott (n-x 2001-08). Chairs the Yell group with directorships of Swiss-re and Crimestoppers.Peter Sutherland (n-x 2001-09). Chairman of BP and Goldman Sachs International and advises EC president Jose Barraso on climate change.Guy Whittaker (2006-). Now finance director.Not too bad for people with now a track record of incompetence and negligence

Some things:

1. I found my keys! But not before I managed the throw out the sad story to enough people to get several drinks bought for me Monday night. They were in a bowl on the kitchen table. Under some apples. Sigh.2. It's raining today. I was trying to think of the last time it precipitated in a not-frozen way. It was a while ago. This feels like a spring rain, and it's nice. It's a good day to sit in the yarn shop and drink coffee and listen to jazz, which is exactly what I'm doing.3. Fibre Co. Organik feather-and-fan cowl. This yarn is pricey, and for good reason. It's 70% organic merino wool, 15% baby alpaca, and 15% silk. It's certainly one of the loveliest yarns I've ever knit with. I've been just eyeballing this yarn for months now, and finally, the day I lost my keys (AKA the day of self-indulgence) I decided to work out a one-skein project with the stuff. That scratch on my cheek is where Chester pretended to be loving me but then scratched my face. Kittens suck.I Had a Bad Day, I Deserve Luxury Yarn CowlMaterialsYarn: Fibre Co. Organik, 1 skein. Color shown: JungleNeedles: US 9 16" circularGauge: something like 4-5 sts/inch in st st. Gauge is not critical in self-indulgent bad-day projects.Size: adult medium. (To adjust sizing, add or subtract multiples of 18 sts.)PatternCO 108 Sts. Join for working in round, being careful not to twist. PM for join. Work Feather and Fan lace as follows.Rnd 1: KnitRnd 2: KnitRnd 3: *(K2tog) 3 times, (YO, K1) 6 times, (K2tog) 3 times* Repeat from * around.Rnd 4: PurlRepeat rounds 1-4 seven times. Cowl will measure about 4" long. BO all sts (try and BO on row 4). Weave in ends. Voila!I finished this in an evening, and I had exactly 24" of yarn left over.

Elephent turn the snow

Perfect successful ad.

Please sit still while teacher counts you

The story that had my jaw dropping this weekend concerns London Metropolitan University, which could be fined £40,000,000 for overclaiming student numbers in order to qualify for government grants. The Vice Chancellor, who was, incidentally, paid more than the Prime Minister, has taken early retirement, presumably on terms that most of us can only dream of. In the wake of that there's talk of 500 staff redundancies and London Met not being "fit for purpose". There's a massive finger-pointing exercise going on at the moment involving all your old favourites: personal animosity, class war, race, union power and tactical score-settling. When the smoke clears we might just glimpse the real malaise which the figures only hint at.The Higher Education Funding Council For England found that London Met had a total dropout rate for the year 2006-7 of 30.6%. London Met reckoned it was only 2.3%. Even allowing for accounting disparities that's a discrepancy you could drive a bus through. In 2007-8 the University claimed funding for 15,306 students. HEFCE said there were only 10,613. It further reckons that over a five year period they overpaid London Met £36.5 million. That's one university managing to mislay a third of its student body but still claim for them. Obviously some inquiry will focus on how these claims came to be made and how many people had to turn a blind eye to them but what we really need to know as a society is this. Who is taking the piss out of the taxpayer most? The students who sign up and then just wander off in increasing numbers? (What is the real drop out rate and what does that mean for "education, education, education"?) Or the academics and bureaucrats who are so focussed on funding that they collude in what in the private sector would be called fraud? Either way it's a bigger scandal than MPs expenses.

Free Breakfast Sandwich at Sonic

Free CroisSONIC™ Breakfast Sandwich - Print this coupon at take it to Sonic. expires May 18thHere are the deals I got at Target on Friday night. I had free coupons for the deodorant, Macaroni Grill, and Cascade. Had a $1 off coupon for the Skintimate from a Sunday paper. I got the coupons for the Bliss candy bars here.. Target Coupon Generator- A Full Cup - Coupons. They are $1.00 of any Bliss candy. My grand total before coupons was $25.53 and total out of pocket after coupons was .42 cents.Fot more shopping deals, check these out........Money Saving MomAttention Target ShoppersNESCAFÉ TASTER'S CHOICE - The Smart Choice - free sampleGoogle Translate - free sampleAlways.com Always Clean - free samplehttp://www.blogger.com/AW_coolcoupon_x053009.pdf Free small Rootbeer Float with this printable couponSennheiser USA - My Song - free hatLOR-SS-052_email-2 - free shampoo sampleKFC Update: The latest news on the KFC coupons is this.... Take your printed coupons to KFC by May 19th and they will give you a form to fill out to get a new coupon. You will still get your free Grilled Chicken meal - plus a free drink now! They are just spreading out the valid dates on everyone's coupon so that not everyone gets free chicken on the same day. I have heard some stores are still honoring the coupons as they are so you may want to call before you head to your local KFC. I was able to use my coupon last week and we loved the chicken!!

High heel safa

Ladies & Gentlemen, Please welcome Yahoo! India Local

Yahoo! India has now introduced Local/Business search in India starting with a few cities (Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi ). It is the usual, Find "what" in "where" local search destination except there are a few cheeky cool things.Locality pages: for Koramangala, Indiranagar, Bandra West and Andheri West. Essentialist: On the Koramangala Locality page, I found a couple of interesting questions such as "Are you getting married?" , "Moving to Koramangala?" being asked at me. And on click, it gives an essential list of all businesses you may ever need in the process of getting married (Assuming you already have a girl) or moving. Pretty cool.Footprints: Assuming you have visited that business, then you could click on a "foot" looking icon and it will bump up a number. Something like digging a web page, I guess. I guess higher the footprint, more the listing will feature in your search, frontpage etc.If you are business owner of if you know a business, you could add details of it using the "Add a Business". I did'nt quite find a page/link to do that. But Y! Local did ask me about it when my search query did not yield a result. Such as thisThere is a fair amount of Maps integration as well, but is not useful practically yet. You can do stuff like move around the marker of a business to it's correct location, vote on it, save it etc.You can also send the listing on SMS, email etc. I also like the UI and the layout, but I also wish the frontpage was a little light and plain. Right now, it has one too many links.Cheers! to Yahoo! India.

Fatal Illusions

Today I'm introducing suspense novelist Adam Blumer, who just saw his debut work, Fatal Illusions, release from Kregel Publications. Adam works full-time as a freelance writer and editor. He lives in Michigan with his wife and two daughters. For a chance to win a copy of Fatal Illusions, please leave a comment about our conversation with Adam.Mark, welcome to Forensics and Faith. First tell us about Fatal Illusions:Pastor’s wife Gillian Thayer, a calligrapher, is mourning the loss of twins who died at birth when she makes a discovery that shatters her world. She finds a love letter written to her husband, Marc. Before she can confront him, someone shoots Marc. He recovers, but the situation involving the woman who shot him is so complex and the media so relentless that the Thayers decide to take a sabbatical at a historical lighthouse in Michigan’s U.P. But someone else has also moved to the area--a serial killer and amateur magician who dreams of being the next Houdini. He strangled several young women in Cincinnati, but to pursue his dream of being a great magician, he must put the murders and his past behind him. He thinks he just needs time and distance, but he soon spots his next victim and can’t help himself. When Marc, the last person to see the victim alive, is arrested, he and Gillian find themselves thrust into the heart of a murder investigation and into the sights of a ruthless killer. You've said God called you to be a writer. How did that happen?I loved writing imaginative tales when I was a kid, but I didn’t start taking my writing seriously until I won a state high school creative writing contest. That’s when I realized that my writing was better than average and that perhaps God wanted me to do something with it. Because I loved writing and got good grades in English, I decided to get a journalism degree in college; it seemed like a smart vocational decision fitted to my skills. By then, it was pretty much a given in my mind that God wanted me to write. Exactly what I was supposed to write I didn’t know yet. For fourteen years I served as a staff editor for two ministries, but I always preferred writing stories.Inquiring minds always want to know about getting that first contract ...It took me a long time. I spent about twenty years pursuing novel writing seriously (and experiencing some ups but mostly downs) before my book proposal for Fatal Illusions got some attention. I began Fatal Illusions in 2002 in conjunction with a Writer’s Digest correspondence course on novel writing. I finished the first draft in the fall of 2005 and began contacting literary agents. In January 2006, agent Steve Laube, a well-known and respected voice in Christian fiction, asked to see the full manuscript. Though he ultimately declined to represent me, he sent me a two-page letter, pointing out how few manuscripts reach the stage that mine did, and gave me eight pointers on how to make the novel publishable. Energized, I followed his advice and got to work, but I still couldn’t find an agent or publisher.A year later, I contacted Kregel Publications about opportunities to edit books from home (my day job is as a freelance editor). The managing editor noticed on my resume that I had written several unpublished novels and asked to see my latest project. Kregel liked what they saw in Fatal Illusions and accepted it for publication. God opened a door I never could have opened for myself!Whoa, twenty years is a long time. What kept you going?I’m not really sure other than that God gave me the drive to keep writing and not to give up on the idea of being a published novelist. For quite a while, though, writing a novel was more a hobby than something I seriously thought was going to lead to publication. I wanted to be a novelist, of course, but I had a wife and two daughters to support. So I did editing to support them, published some short stories and articles on the side, and kept writing novels when I had time, wondering (and often doubting) whether anything would ever come of it. Each time I wrote another novel I believe I grew and improved as a novelist, so the unpublished novels weren’t wasted effort.Why did you write Fatal Illusions? What was your inspiration?Frank Peretti’s earliest supernatural thrillers taught me that Christian novels can do more than entertain. I wanted to write something not only suspenseful but also meaningful. My prayer is that the message will resonate with readers and maybe even challenge their spiritual thinking.The novels of Mary Higgins Clark also inspired me. I studied the organization and plot lines of her novels and wondered if I could write something as good. I also like her shifting points of view and her short, numerous chapters. (Readers might notice a resemblance.) Her novel You Belong to Me especially inspired me to try my own hand at a serial killer “female in jeopardy” suspense tale. Because most Christian readers are women, I decided to make my main protagonist female—in fact, a pastor’s wife, a protagonist you don’t read about very often. Add to that my love of true crime and forensic science, and I was on my way. Christian suspense novels by Brandilyn Collins and Terri Blackstock have also been a big influence.A past experience also provided a creative springboard. A church voted to remove from membership a believer who was sincerely repentant of immorality. I began to play the “what if” game in my mind. What if the person who was disciplined got really ticked? What if he or she became mad enough to kill? I thought a church discipline scenario created an unusual motive for murder—hence one of the subplots in Fatal Illusions. I also read Ruth Brandon’s The Life and Many Deaths of Harry Houdini. This biography of the famous illusionist fascinated me and helped me develop the characterization of my serial killer. In fact, readers will discover an important plot clue connected to Houdini.That's a lot of inspiration! Talk to us about writing from the female POV. How hard was that for you? It did create challenges in making Gillian a three-dimensional character who doesn’t think like me. Among several issues, she struggles with private grief and needs a godly female mentor in her life. Describing her struggles as a woman who has unique emotional needs and insecurities was often challenging. Thankfully, I had a few female first readers and editors to help me get her right. Tell us about underlying themes in Fatal Illusions.Mainly I probe the themes of secrets and deception (or “illusions” as my title suggests, though on a secondary level). As believers, how do we lie to ourselves and to others? Do we try to hide who we really are inside? What happens if we try to live a lie? Should spouses ever keep secrets from each other? What can happen if they do?I also encourage readers to consider how they would protect their families if they faced the same type of evil the Thayer family must confront. (My serial killer cyber-stalks his victims weeks before he makes his move.) Many of the novel’s themes are areas I’ve had to work through in my own thinking. When life doesn’t make sense, how do I respond? Do I trust God, even when His ways are difficult to understand?Sounds like you did quite a bit of research to make this book accurate.Yes, more than I expected. Calligraphy didn’t require much research because I had dabbled in it in high school and won a few awards. Information about magicians wasn’t tough to find either because I had already been researching Houdini on the Internet after reading a biography about him. For serial killers, I watched a lot of Forensic Files and Body of Evidence on TV and read Mary Higgins Clark and other crime/suspense authors. One big area I had to research was police procedure, since a retired homicide detective helps the Thayers catch the Magician Murderer. I researched crime scene investigation, forensic science, computer crimes (since my villain is a cyber-stalker), and other related areas. But these have always been areas of interest, so I hardly thought of the research as work. Because Gillian is a professional calligrapher of famous quotations, Bible verses, and love poems, I also had to research her literary side, since that’s her lens for viewing the world.What was the hardest part about writing this book?Finding the time to write a suspense tale of this scope and complexity. (I’m a full-time freelance editor and write novels after my regular work.) I spent a lot of evenings and weekends on this project. Another problem was that I constantly questioned my abilities and doubted that my stuff was good enough to be published. These doubts fed procrastination. After all, if nobody’s going to want my novel, why push myself so hard? You can imagine my surprise when Kregel bought my novel. Today I write with a different attitude about my projects; I see them as God’s calling. God has opened doors I never could have opened for myself. I’d be a fool not to take advantage of every opportunity He gives. May He receive the glory!A question just for fun. What's the quirkiest thing that's ever happened to you?Has to be when I went on a trip to the Holy Land and met my wife. In the spring of 1995, still single and disillusioned with dating, I gave up on the idea of dating anyone ever again. I decided to go on a trip to the Holy Land as sort of a spiritual pilgrimage; I wanted to meditate on God and see what He wanted to show me about Himself. Wouldn’t you know it? What I least expected happened. At the Boston airport, I met Kim, a gorgeous brunette (her church group met mine) who’d brought the same novel to read on the airplane, A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. No kidding. Then at London’s Heathrow Airport, the ticket person thought she and I were a couple and put us together on the all-night flight to Tel Aviv. Kim didn’t care for her sardines, so I ate them. The relationship appeared to be promising. To cut to the chase, we chatted in Jericho, conversed in Nazareth, and talked nonstop in Jerusalem. On the way home I sat beside her on the plane. A few weeks later, I visited her in Milwaukee and met her parents. By New Year’s, we were engaged. Pretty amazing, huh? I now tell singles not to look for a marriage partner. Seek God, and He’ll put you on a collision course if marriage is His plan for you.We have quite a few aspiring novelists here at F&F. As your final remarks, what advice do you have for them?Be patient and work hard, but keep in mind that doors will open for you only in the Lord’s timing. We can’t rush God. If He has prompted you to write, God gave you that desire for a reason. Explore what His will could be, but learn to wait on Him—perhaps even for a long time. When He’s ready, He’ll let you know. In the meantime, seek Him with your whole heart. Thank you, Brandilyn, for the opportunity to introduce myself to your readers.----------------------------Reminder: If you'd like a chance at a free copy of Fatal Illusions, please leave a comment. I'll randomly draw a name and announce winner tomorrow.Buy Fatal Illusions from Amazon.Buy from Christianbook.com.