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RED CREEK BROTHERS - BOOK 2
Jake Forrest had always believed in honor. It was how he lived his life, made his choices. Dressed in army greens, he stood tall and proud, his startling blue eyes focused on the task at hand, his broad chest swelled with pride. Then it all disappeared, and Jake wanted only to forget…
A PEACEFUL WOMAN…
It was only in the arms of Ramona Hardy that Jake found peace. But the small-town doctor had fought demons of her own, and she knew the love growing between them could never last…until Jake stopped running from his past. Their future depended on it.
RED CREEK BROTHERS: Three brothers travel the road to love in a small Colorado town.
Jake Forrest had not slept well last night In fact, he hadn't slept at all. He'd lain in bed and stared at the ceiling, thinking that if he could only rest, he might not look so haggard for his brother's wedding. Twice, he'd nearly gotten up for a belt of whiskey—that usually put him out—but he'd been afraid he might just stay up drinking till dawn. It had happened before, when the demons were on him.
And the demons were on him now. They had been for more than a week, climbing from the trunk where he managed to periodically wrestle them and tormenting him with haunting memories and visions burned forever into his mind.
Now, standing beside the altar as his brother took his vows, Jake swayed in exhaustion. He held himself rigidly erect, focusing on Lance and on the joy that shone in his eyes as he kissed his brand-new bride. In spite of himself, Jake smiled. Wasn't that something? Lance married. Jake had honestly believed his brother would never settle down.
But then nothing was turning out the way Jake thought it would.
Tyler, supposedly the happy family man, had walled himself off up on his mountain, shunning women as if they were rats carrying plague. Lance, the footloose ladies' man, was married with a child. And Jake was supposed to be the soldier. Likely a lieutenant colonel by now if he hadn't bailed out four years before he could have retired in style.
No, things were not turning out the way he had imagined.
The wedding party started their march down the aisle. Jake automatically held out his arm for the woman he was paired with—a small brown wren with a bosom that could hardly be contained in the unfortunate choice of bridesmaid's dress. The rest of the bridesmaids looked like confections in the simple yellow satin. This woman was a little too round for it, a little too pale to be wearing that sunny shade.
She smiled at him, and he felt ashamed of his critical thoughts. In return, he managed to muster something like a smile. She squeezed his elbow as if offering support. "Are you all right?" she whispered.
Jake scowled. What had she seen? Did he look as haggard as he felt? He'd forgotten to get his hair cut, and it was too long, and he'd nicked himself shaving, but he thought the black tux made him look a bit like his old self. Maybe not.
"Just tired," he said. The words came out on a gruff note he hadn't intended, making him sound worse than he felt.
The woman—what was her name?—nodded. There was something empathetic in her eyes, something that made him feel annoyed. How dare she look at him as if she knew his thoughts? As if she knew it wasn't a hangover that made him feel miserable, but days and days without a single restful minute of sleep. He swallowed the fury it roused in him.
"We're almost finished here," she said. "Then we eat."
Judging by her rounded shape, she probably looked forward to that, he thought darkly. Again, his meanness shocked him. In repentance, he tried to find something he liked about her as they stood on the church steps waiting for the limos that would take them to the reception.
For one thing, she wasn't really overweight. She was, as his mother would say, buxom. With generous hips and breasts, and arms that were a little fuller than the current emaciated standard. He didn't like buxomness particularly, but looking at her, he had the sudden feeling she would be very soft. Warm and soft and easy to hold close in the darkness of a sleepless night.
Her name suddenly popped into his mind: Ramona. Ramona Hardy. She was one of Tamara's friends, but he didn't know much more than that.
"Lance has done this up right, hasn't he?" she asked with a grin. "And Tamara looks like Cinderella."
Jake looked at his new sister-in-law. She wore an elaborate white gown, covered with beads and lace and pearls. Her dark hair was swept into a knot on top of her head. As he watched, Lance put his hands on his bride's face and kissed her, pulling away with an expression of stunned wonder on his face. Tamara glowed.
And just like that, Jake wasn't standing on the church steps on a bright, late-spring day in Colorado. He was in an Iraqi village still smoking from the bombs that had tumbled buildings to rubble. Somewhere, a child screamed, and Jake couldn't find it. Couldn't find it until he ducked into the half-standing ruin of a house and saw the boy pinned—
He shuddered violently at the flashback, slamming back to the happy noise of the wedding party. He blinked hard to clear the dry graininess of his eyes and tried to hold himself upright. To hide the trembling of his hands, he shoved them into his pockets.
Ramona looked at him, steadily, clearly. Her eyes were big and brown, as big as a doe's, and once again he thought she saw more than she should. She didn't say anything, just kept her small hand on his elbow. He was absurdly grateful.
"He's spent a damn fortune on this wedding," Jake managed to say aloud.
"From what I understand, he can well afford it. What good is money if you can't spend it on something like this once in a while?"
Jake shrugged. "They look like Barbie and Ken."
Ramona smiled gently. "I think that's the whole idea."
"Yeah," he said. "Barbie and Ken and picket fences and the whole happily-ever-after game." Jake stared at the bride and groom with a fierce, hollow ache in his chest. "What bullshit. "
"No one gets a happy ending, ever?"
"I've never seen one." Jake looked at her. "You make plans and have big dreams, and everybody tells you hard work makes things happen. And there you are one day, thinking you built something solid, something concrete you could put your hands on, and what happens? Life has a way of turning concrete dreams into a house of cards." His words held a harsh rasp born of his weariness. "No," he repeated, "I don't believe in happily ever after."
Her small, strong hand tightened on his upper arm, and those wide, sympathetic—no, empathetic—eyes saw far more than he wanted them to see. Appalled that he'd been so brutally honest at a moment when he should have been taking pleasure in the joyful wedding of his brother, Jake looked away.
And to his amazement, Ramona said nothing at all. Nothing placating or soothing or nullifying. As if she knew how he felt.
The roiling disturbance in his chest increased in intensity. How dare she think she knew anything? He stiffened, pulling himself away from her, but that small hand stayed firmly wrapped around his arm, almost stubbornly giving him comfort and a measure of strength he didn't want to accept.
The limos arrived, sleek and black, hired out of Denver at an outrageous price. "See," Ramona said mildly. "That wasn't so terrible, was it?"
"Better hurry up," Jake said, moving forward. "Before they turn back into pumpkins."
At the reception, Ramona watched Jake Forrest carefully. Her instincts screamed that he was in trouble. Big trouble, judging by the hollows under his eyes. Gauntness had whittled away the handsome boyishness she remembered from high school, turning his face into something coyote-hungry.
Ramona cornered Louise Forrest as the older woman left the dance floor, flushed from waltzing with an amiable looking Latin man Ramona didn't know. Smiling at the color in Louise's cheeks, Ramona teased, "New boyfriend?"
"Oh, heavens, no!" Louise protested. The ruddiness in her cheeks deepened. "I'm well past the age of boyfriends. He's just a wonderful dancer."
"I saw that." Ramona glanced over her shoulder. The man, short and spare, with a thick black mustache, watched Louise depart with a twinkle in his dark eyes. "Who is he? I haven't met him."
Louise snagged a paper napkin from the buffet table and blotted her lips. "Alonzo Chacon. Lance hired him a couple of months ago. He does authentic adobe bricks, the old way."
"I'll have to go see how he does it," Ramona said, and meant it. She admired craftsmen.
"You should." Louise looked straight at her. "What's on your mind, honey? That boy of mine got you worried?"
"Yes." Ramona wasn't surprised at Louise's perception. She halfway suspected it was no accident she and Jake had been paired in the wedding party. "You're worried, too, aren't you?"
"You bet your life I am. For one thing, I don't think he ever sleeps, not unless he's flat-out drunk."
"That's pretty evident." Ramona glanced at Jake. He stood at the bar, a glass of something amber in his hand, giving his trademark grin to a slim, leggy blonde. "I thought he might pass out on the church steps."
Louise scowled at her son. "He hasn't got a lick of sense about women lately, either. They're all a bunch of loose, fast girls with only one thing on their minds."
Ramona smiled. Leaning negligently against the bar, tall and well formed, with his carelessly long, dark hair and vivid eyes, Jake looked like a movie star. "Well, you have to admit he's a very attractive man."
"Who's going to get himself killed if he doesn't make peace with himself." Louise thumped her empty glass on the table. "I saw the same thing happen to my father. He was just a boy when he fought in WWII. They called it combat fatigue back then: He was among those troops who went into Dachau, and he had nightmares that made him wake up screaming night after night. He didn't eat. He couldn't work. It was a terrible thing."
"Did he get well?"
Louise pursed her lips in an ironic expression. "I'll never know. He went off to look for work one morning when I was in my teens and never came back."
Ramona put her hand on Louise's arm. "I'm sorry."
"Ancient history," Louise said with a shrug. "But I don't aim to lose my son the way I lost my daddy, you understand?"
"Of course." She inclined her head. "I have the feeling you think I might be able to help him, and I don't think you understand that I'm a G.P., not a psychologist or psychiatrist. I treat bodies, not minds."
Louise made a scoffing noise. "I know that. I'm not that dumb."
"Do you want a referral for a good counselor? I know the man who leads the support groups at the VA home."
"Nope," Louise said firmly. "He won't go to one. I want you to help."
Ramona grinned. Few women could be as steadfastly stubborn as Louise Forrest once she'd made up her mind to something. Patiently, Ramona said, "I'm not qualified to treat him."
"So why do you spend all that time out there with those old coots at the VA home, huh?"
"Some of those old coots are in pretty bad shape physically. They need medical doctors."
"Mmm-hmm. You think I don't remember your daddy?"
Ramona looked away. "I don't."
"I know you don't, honey. He's not the only Vietnam vet who self-destructed years after he came home. And it's a terrible thing that you lost him to it, but look what good things have come out of it."
Ramona felt a small clutch of emotion in her throat. The reasons for her devotion to the vets at the home were a lot more complicated, but Louise would not know all that. Lightly, Ramona said, "There are no mysteries about my psyche, are there? I'm a doctor because I wish I could go back and save him."
"That's what I mean, sugar. God can turn anything into a positive."
"Maybe." Ramona wasn't entirely sure about that, but a wedding reception hardly seemed the place to hold a philosophical debate.
"Listen." Earnestly, Louise took her hand. "I'm not asking you to perform miracles, but Jake's out there at the VA home a lot. He goes in the evenings. Maybe once in a while, you could just…be there."
Ramona waited.
"You having a calming way about you, Ramona. It might be real nice for him just to have a woman friend—" she shot a dark glance toward the bar "—he could talk to."
Louise would not give up until she extracted a promise, and Ramona gave her a resigned smile. "All right. I'll see what I can do, okay? No promises. If Jake is suffering posttraumatic stress disorder from his combat duty, he'll need more than a friendly shoulder to cry on."
Louise winked and patted her hand. "Good girl. I knew I could count on you."
"Louise, don't expect too much. It's a serious condition."
"Are you taking your blood pressure medicine properly?"
"Like clockwork."
The man Louise had been dancing with joined them. "I must steal this woman," he said to Ramona. "She is the only one here who can dance. Okay? You done?"
Ramona was charmed to her toes by the lilting accent and twinkling eyes. "I'm done."
"This is the doctor, Alonzo. Ramona Hardy. She said she'd like to see your work sometime."
"A lady doctor? You must be very smart." He inclined his head. "Sure, sure you can come. Anytime. I am always working."
Louise pushed none too gently at Ramona's arm. "Go get something to eat," she said, and sent a meaningful glance behind Ramona. Jake had filled a plate and now sat at his place at the table. Ramona's bouquet was on the chair next to him. As she watched, Jake took a long breath as if preparing himself for some painful task, then picked up his fork.
For one moment, Ramona was transported backward over the years. She was sixteen and very studious, a shy girl who hid behind thick glasses and tried her best to camouflage her overdeveloped bosom under baggy clothes. Her shyness was only increased by the comments the boys constantly made about her chest, as if it belonged to them. As if it had something to do with who she was.
And across the years, she remembered standing in the doorway of the cafeteria, mortified by a knot of boys who had trapped her as she went in to buy her lunch. They made crude remarks in quiet, snickering voices and shoved each other until one "accidentally" put his hand right there.
Jake Forrest had come to her rescue. Big and strong, and as clean-cut then as he now was ragged, he had grabbed the boy manhandling her and twisted his arm behind his back. With a quick jerk of his head, he indicated Ramona should go, and she had. When she tried to thank him the next day, he'd just shrugged. "No big deal."
He didn't remember her, Ramona thought now—and maybe that was for the best. He wouldn't remember what a terrible, nerdy little wallflower she had been. How many times had she wished there had been someone like Jake Forrest to rescue her a year later from another group of boys?
She shoved the thoughts away. She was over the trauma of that awful day. More, she'd won. The boys had gone to jail.
And because she had survived that brutal day when she was seventeen, because she had built a solid, warm life in spite of the evils in the world, she knew she could help Jake Forrest.
If he would let her.
At the very least, she could offer kindness to repay him in some small way for that long-ago act in her defense. Catching up the skirt of her ridiculous bridesmaid's dress, she headed across the room.
Jake felt better after he allowed himself a solid belt of single malt Scotch on the rocks. Scotch was good medicine—and not only for sleeping. It blunted the edges of his rage and sorrow and lostness. Enough of it could even make him forget everything entirely for an hour or two. Some days, the idea of simply crawling into that tall green bottle and never coming out was very appealing.
Trouble was, a drunk couldn't afford imported Scotch, and Jake really didn't care for anything else.
The food was very good—catered by an upscale establishment that had grown used to satisfying celebrities and the simply wealthy who kept second homes in Red Creek to be close to the best skiing to be had this side of the Atlantic. He ate wafer-thin slices of smoked salmon and strawberries and whole-grain bread with real butter, and the knot in his gut eased. By the time he spotted Ramona returning to the table, he felt much mellower and not nearly as defensive about her all-too-knowing eyes.
Pretty eyes, he could think now, without danger. Big, soft, get-lost-in-them brown. As she made her way across the room, he noticed that people stopped her often—and bent down to hear her gentle voice. They smiled after her, and even the restlessness of children confined by patent leather shoes and unfamiliar dress clothes seemed to settle a little as she moved among them, stopping to touch this one's shoulder, murmur a joke in that one's ear, scold another who was teasing his sister.
Peace and calm followed after her like the glow of a good wine.
He grimaced. Fine and well if you were looking for a mother, or maybe even a mother for your children. She was the type of woman who wanted to domesticate the world—probably had herbs hanging from her kitchen rafters and rows of home-canned tomatoes and beans on her shelves.
Not his style.
Restlessly, he scanned the room, feeling his disturbance rumble in his loins. Sometimes sex helped almost as much as liquor, and there were several possibilities in the room. Somehow, he couldn't seem to rouse himself enough to get out of the chair.
When Ramona sat down beside him, Jake briefly imagined her in his arms, all warmth and softness. A little of the tight anxiety eased out of his neck. "I bet you put up your own jam, don't you?" he said before he could help himself.
To his surprise, she laughed. The sound was much huskier and richer than he expected. It made him think of thick woolen blankets on a cold, cold night. "You make it sound like something criminal. Don't you like jam?"
"I don't think about it." He picked up a roll and suddenly did think about the rows of ruby soldiers his mother had made every year. "Do you ever make chokecherry?"
That laugh again. A little fuller this time. "I made a lot this year. There were so many chokecherries last fall I gave thought to starting a new hunger drive—chokecherries for the world." Her dark eyes danced. "What do you think?"
He smiled, almost against his will. "So do you have any left?"
"Well, I don't know. If putting up jelly is a criminal activity, maybe you ought to be careful about becoming an accomplice." She speared an artichoke heart on her fork. "Did you taste these? The sauce is wonderful."
"Slimy green vegetables aren't my thing."
"Shame on you." She popped it into her mouth and made a noise of pleasure. "Wonderful!" Spearing another, she held it out to him. "Try one. Really. You'll be glad."
He looked at her for a long moment. Maybe she wasn't as plain as he first thought. Her coloring was nice—the hair that was swept up into some elaborate system of braids was not just brown, but brown and blond all mixed together, and very healthy. He wondered how long it was and what it would look like spread over her shoulders.
A faint, almost unnoticeable ripple moved down his thighs. Impulsively, he leaned forward and snagged the triangle off her fork, knowing she had meant him to take it with his fingers.
The taste exploded on his tongue. He widened his eyes to show his approval. "That's good."
She grinned, and he decided her mouth was very nice. A nice mouth was one of his requirements in a woman. How had he missed it earlier?
"You might be surprised how many wonderful, slimy green vegetables there are," she said.
He picked up his fork. "May I have another one?"
"Of course." She leaned back to give him access, and Jake speared another from her plate. He smelled something nice coming from her skin, very light, a perfume or something.
"You smell good," he said.
"Thanks. So do you."
He met her gaze and felt a flame arc between them—that undeniable frisson that passed between a man and a woman, a frisson that had nothing to do with anything except perfect chemical alignment. Chemicals didn't care if her figure was the kind he usually admired, or whether she had home-canned peas on her shelf. He let his gaze sweep over her face, light on her mouth, travel downward to the plump breasts too tightly confined in the ridiculous dress. For a minute, he was a little dizzy—his exhaustion rising to the fore—and had to close his eyes. With an effort, he opened them again and made a stab at flirting. "You like my cologne, huh?"
Maybe he'd expected her to be flustered. She was not. She met his gaze steadily, a tiny smile hovering at the corner of her mouth. "Yes."
Something about that expression teased his memory, and he frowned for a minute, trying to place her. The snippet jelled and he saw her laughing with an old soldier as she checked his blood pressure. "You work at the VA home, don't you?"
"That's one of my stops, yes."
"Are you a nurse or something?"
She raised her eyebrows. "Women are not only nurses."
"A doctor?" He couldn't keep the slight surprise from his voice. Not because she was a woman, but because he associated women who achieved such grueling positions with a much more aggressive personality. "You're a doctor?"
"Amazing as it may seem, I am."
"I didn't mean it like that." He shrugged and took another artichoke heart from her plate. "Most women with big-time careers are kind of…" He stopped, noticing the tightness of her mouth. "Ah, never mind."
"No, please," she said in a silky tone, "I love to hear sexist comments from the lips of macho soldier boys."
He laughed. It just came out of him all at once, sounding rusty and unused because it was. "Touché," he said. "I'm sorry."
"Accepted." Tiny flames of humor danced in her eyes. "I mean, you can't really expect a soldier to be politically correct, now can you?"
"Ex-soldier," he said automatically.
"Ah, that's right. You're retired, aren't you?"
"No," he said without the usual pang. Amazing how far a little Scotch, a little food, and a woman to flirt with went toward silencing his demons. "You have to complete your commission to retire. I resigned."
"I see." She picked out a perfectly shaped, bright red strawberry and admired it on her fork. "That's beautiful, isn't it?"
"You guess? Look at it again. This is the queen of all strawberries, and by some fine accident, she ended up on my plate. And my mouth." She bit into the flesh, and Jake found himself admiring the movements of her pretty lips. A bawdy comment bloomed in his mind as he watched her savor it, eyes closed, all concentration focused on the task. Another prickling wave of desire washed down his thighs. A little more insistent this time.
"Are you flirting with me, Doctor?"
She smiled. "Maybe a little. Isn't that what one does at these things?"
She made it sound so harmless and innocent and simple. He'd forgotten innocent pleasures even existed and he was suddenly quite glad to realize they still did. "I guess it is." Impulsively, maybe because she made him laugh, he held out his hand. "In that spirit, I think you should dance with me and let me flirt back."
She frowned. "I'm not much of a dancer."
"It's easy." He stood up, still patiently holding out his hand. "Just follow me."
She hesitated for a moment, just long enough to make Jake want to reconsider. He wasn't kidding himself for a second. He wanted to get laid, and this was the woman his body wanted, no matter how inappropriate it was. Or impossible. He couldn't go around sleeping with the local doctor.
Plus, in his current mood, it was dangerous to give in to any whim. Once he had her softness close to him, he wouldn't be thinking about appropriate or inappropriate. He'd be thinking about how to seduce her.
Bad idea. Even Jake had some honor. He stuck to the fast, brittle women his mother despised, simply because they didn't want anything more than he did—a quick, impersonal roll in the hay. Ramona, with her soft eyes and plush warmth, was not the same kind of woman at all.
But before he could sit back down, she took his hand and rose gracefully. "I hope you don't fall down from exhaustion," she said.
"You can hold me up," he replied, and led her onto the floor.
~ … ~
© 2008-2016 Barbara Samuel
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University Lecturer Strikes Important Blow for Part-time Workers
In Roddis v Sheffield Hallam University, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) held that the fact that the claimant was employed under a zero-hours contract did not mean that his contract could not be compared with that of a colleague who worked full time for the purposes of his claim that he had suffered less favourable treatment as a part-time worker.
The case concerned an associate university lecturer who worked as and when required by his employer. After he lodged a complaint under the Part-time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000, an Employment Tribunal (ET) found that, although it did not advertise itself as such, his contract was clearly of the zero-hours variety.
The ET went on to dismiss his claim on the ground that no valid comparison could be drawn between his position and that of a full-time, salaried, lecturer in that they could not be said to work under the 'same type of contract', within the meaning of Regulation 2 of the Regulations.
In upholding the associate lecturer's challenge to that ruling, the EAT found that the ET had erred in law in adopting too narrow an interpretation of Regulation 2. Both he and his full-time comparator were employed by the same employer and both their contracts were permanent, in the sense that they each had the protection of notice periods and had acquired statutory protection from unfair dismissal by dint of their length of service.
In the EAT's view, it could not be that a zero-hours contract of itself constitutes a different type of contract for the purposes of Regulation 2, since the consequence of that would be that an employee on a zero-hours contract would never be able to compare himself with a full-time worker.
In substituting a decision that the associate lecturer was employed under the same type of contract as his full-time comparator, the EAT further noted that, if the ET's interpretation of Regulation 2 were correct, it would frustrate the entire purpose of the Regulations, which is to enable comparisons to be made and to prohibit unjustified less favourable treatment on the ground of part-time worker status.
The case was sent back to the same ET for determinations to be reached as to whether the associate lecturer and his full-time colleague were engaged in the same or broadly similar work and, if so, whether the former had been subjected to less favourable treatment, contrary to Regulation 5.
The contents of this article are intended for general information purposes only and shall not be deemed to be, or constitute legal advice. We cannot accept responsibility for any loss as a result of acts or omissions taken in respect of this article.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Photography as a physical activity and a return to using film.
I have come to consider myself as a lazy photographer. I just can't be bothered with lots of the technical complexities that seem to be associated with photographic practice. Certainly I have never been inspired to carry a large format camera around; it just seems too much like hard work. Photography is a very simple activity, made complicated by some people's approach. What it should revolve around, is where you stand and when you release the shutter. Kodak's advertising "You press the shutter and we'll do the rest" was certainly the case when shooting on Kodachrome, we all waited with great anticipation for those little yellow boxes to fall through the letter box.
But for many their preoccupation would be continually changing film and developer combination, hours spent in the darkroom with different paper combinations, as well as split grade printing. I did try lith-printing once and even produced a successful print but it all seemed too much of a hassle to be an enjoyable experience. I have found the move to digital capture and processing even less inspiring. My final departure from film photography came a little over two years ago when I sold my last film camera and bought a digital replacement, which would work with existing lenses. However, since then I have felt quite empty about my attempts to be a photographer, it has made me feel even lazier. There should have been some fight and struggle to produce the work. Easy photography is poor photography. Rewards have to be earned.
There is some satisfaction to photographing early in the morning. There is the initial struggle to leave a warm bed, to arrive at a remote location before the sun has risen. Then the day opens, as a stage play with the curtains opening to reveal the opening scene, as the sun rises, no one is sure what will be shown. I have found myself continually returning to the same location, the view doesn't change but the recorded image is always different. Perhaps this is why photography can become so obsessive. However, even after this effort, once home and the data downloaded, within a few clicks I have a very high quality print in my hands. It is all too easy. Even while capturing the data it is all too easy to "Chimp" and get distracted on the task in hand. The magic has been lost. The lack of physical challenge found in much contemporary practice, which involves highly constructed scenes, using props and models to create a planned scene. There may be much effort put into the organisation of such work and I don't under estimate the challenges it provides. But it can be seen as a sedentary process, which reflects our current working lives. Previously work was primarily a physical act but now far too many of us are tied to a desk, transported back home with minimum effort but this life style is leaving us tired and un-healthy, shallow and empty.
There are those photographer's whose work is created directly through physical activity, Hamish Fulton's walks and Greg Lucas' feats on a rock face are amongst the well-known but there are others where physical activity is less obvious. I have always been an enthusiastic about the work of Mick Williamson, who uses a half frame camera, shooting in excess of a roll per day. I have this vision of him developing his exposed films at the weekend, in a large day light tank that holds five rolls, one tank in each hand. The whole process would have even the most enthusiastic gym user go weak at the very thought. Mick should by now have arms the size of a prize boxer. Having met him I can assure this is not the case but all that activity must help keep him healthy. An artist must have experiences as a reference point to work from and clearly for Fulton, his art results only from walks in the landscape, he is able, because of physical activity of the walk, to give a more informed understanding which he can share with us. As Eugene Smith showed in his work "Minimarta", an insight can only truly be gained by living within the community he was illustrating. The same can apply to Konttinen's work "Byker" and Paul Hill's work "White Peak Dark Peak". I have for a long time believed in the informed view a resident can have on their own community or landscape because they understand it more, through living in it.
In his book "On Being a Photographer", David Hurn suggests one of the most important purchases is a good pair of shoes, implying rightly, that a photographer should expect to spend much of their time either standing or walking. He also stresses the importance of being interested in your chosen subject matter, not the subject of photography in itself. I do wonder how far Ansel Adams walked with his large format camera to make his work and the early landscape photographers such as Brady and Emerson didn't have life easy. The challenge of moving their equipment and the difficulty in handling and processing their images should not be underestimated. Here there was a physical as well as intellectual challenge, now life is made easy, everyone can be a photographer and perhaps that is a good thing. There are two other photographers who have always interested me and have kept using film. Both Trent Parke and Roger Palmer have consistently used black and white film, producing traditional silver based prints. A search on Google will soon bring you to a video of an interview with Trent Parke and his discussion about the physical nature of film development. He uses very long development times and uses this process to think about what he is trying to create and the discipline involved in the production of the work. His use of light is quite remarkable, while Palmer's work is concerned about location and change in landscape. It would all be too easy for him to use a larger format camera but like Parke they both made the decision to use a handheld 35mm camera. Roger Palmer's work was recently part of a four person exhibition at the Milton Keynes gallery. Although some of the images are quite small, the key ones were large and like Parke's, had texture to them. Something which is lacking in the perfect world of digital capture, the resulting pictures are just too good, which leaves the viewer uncertain if they are real. Their plastic texture and "correct" colours create a false image. It is of course possible to use a digital technique to make your images look like they were shot on Tri-x, but I would argue why not just use Tri-x in the first place. I didn't feel I had the patience to sit behind the computer to achieve this end result and my previous experience of digital manipulation is that the results look identical and lack the serendipity of using film. Getting the initial capture right, makes the rest of the process easy.
I was also interested in the parallels between Roger Palmer's work and that of Thomas Joshua Cooper. Initial comparisons are simple, both work in the landscape using black and white film, producing large scale silver based prints. However, there are other similarities in their approach. Both look at locations around the world that are linked and it is these connects that make their work interesting. But while Palmer may use his 35mm hand camera, creating many images, Cooper will only make one exposure, on his historically old view camera, at each location. His confidence in his technique must be considerable.
After seeing Palmer's work in Milton Keynes and obtaining a copy of his most recent book "Circulation" I was feeling inspired and in need of a New Year's resolution, decided to return to using film. A quick search on ebay, soon revealed there is a lot of choice, finally settling on an Olympus XA compact camera, which was small enough for my pocket but also gave me some control. Most importantly it took a picture when I pressed the shutter release and didn't "beep" every time it tried to control the image for me.
For some years now I have lived near Blackpool, it is a town that we will all have opinions and images of. For many it will bring back memories of childhood holidays, while for others the growth of "Stag n Hen" parties will be their only experience of the resort. Having spent my early years camping in Wales and not wanting to follow in the footsteps of many other late night photographers, who do nothing but reinforce the town's stereotypes, I had started to feel the need to look at the town for myself. It is windswept landscape particularly out of the holiday season, which is when I found myself wandering along its foreshore. However, it still seemed dominated by the famous artificial lights, as well as deserted attractions and a substantial constructed seafront, which protects it from the relentless action of the tide. Using a hand held film camera would mean that the task of photographing would not become over burdensome but did provide a return to the inherit pleasure of the simplicity I believe photography has, by just creating pictures. Hopefully the images will also lack the refined "texture less" polish created by digital capture. As to the initial results, it has only convinced me that I have a long way to go. But I will endeavour to follow David Hurn's advice, to remain focused through simple physical activity by concentrating on the subject matter before me and not the technology in my hand.


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Five accused of stealing welfare funds plead not guilty
Published 6:45 am Friday, February 21, 2020
Trial dates have been set for the former head of Mississippi's welfare agency and some of the other people charged with misusing money that was intended to help needy people in the nation's poorest state.
Court records show former Department of Human Services director John Davis pleaded not guilty Wednesday in Hinds County Circuit Court.
Five other people are also charged in the case. Four of them pleaded not guilty this week, and trial dates were set for two of them. Court records do not show a plea for one person.
State Auditor Shad White announced Feb. 5 that Davis and the others had been indicted on state criminal charges in what he called a "sprawling conspiracy." White said investigators believe at least $4 million in federal welfare money was stolen.
At least $48,000 of that paid for a luxury drug rehabilitation program for a former pro wrestler, according to the indictments, which also alleged a politically connected nonprofit administrator and her son took more than $4 million — including more than $2 million invested in two Florida medical companies.
In addition to Davis, those indicted are the ex-wrestler, Brett DiBiase; former Department of Human Services employee Latimer Smith; Nancy New, who was founder of the Mississippi Community Education Center and New Learning Resources; her son Zach New, who was assistant executive director of the education center; and Anne McGrew, an accountant for the education center.
Davis' trial is scheduled to begin June 1.
Ann McGrew pleaded not guilty Wednesday, and her trial is scheduled to begin June 1.
Nancy New pleaded not guilty this week, and her trial is scheduled to begin Sept. 28.
Zach New pleaded not guilty Tuesday. Court records do not show a trial date for him.
DiBiase pleaded not guilty Thursday. Court records did not show a trial date for him.
Court records on Thursday did not show any sort of plea having been made by Smith, and the records did not show a trial date for him.
Davis worked for the Department of Human Services for 28 years, and then-Gov. Phil Bryant, a Republican, chose him to lead the agency in 2016. Davis retired as director in July.
Nancy New and Zach New are charged with stealing more than $4 million in welfare funds thatDavis allegedlysteered to the nonprofit Mississippi Community Education Center, which was supposed to help poor people find work, childcare and education.
Nancy New had given campaign contributions to current Gov. Tate Reeves and Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann,both Republicans who were elected in November.
Reeves said Feb. 6 that he would set aside any campaign money from any people indicted in the welfare fraud case. He said if anyone is convicted, he would give the money to the state.
If they are not convicted, Reeves said he would give the campaign contributions to charity.
Hosemann said Thursday that his campaign received $5,500 from Nancy New, and he will give the money to charity to help children with autism.
Deadly fight breaks out between workers at Mississippi Wendy's restaurant
Two employees at a Mississippi Wendy's restaurant got into a fight inside the restaurant and one of the two was... read more


This is the third in a series of blog posts on successful retirement/transition planning from a company perspective. In the first blog, we talked overall about the potential cost (up to 213% of annual salary), and the steps to plan well in order to mitigate those costs. In the second blog post we talked broadly about succession planning. In today's post we'll cover transfer of institutional knowledge and in the next and final post in this series, we'll talk about mentoring and consulting both pre and post exit. Although it is an aspect of institutional knowledge transfer, it deserves a blog of its own.
Transfer of institutional knowledge from an exiting manager or executive to a successor and/or internal team is the most critical aspect of the exit process.
This knowledge includes both the practical and relationship knowledge it takes to make a company or department run well. It can take months to years to set up good processes and relationships, and to learn how different departments interface to create successful outcomes in the business. This knowledge can be taken for granted. Depending on the position the employee held and the type of business, it can take months and hundreds of thousands of dollars to absorb the breakdown in process generated by the exit and then rebuild what was lost. This has impact on product quality, employee morale and customer satisfaction and thus the bottom line. Because there isn't a budget line for this sort of cost and impact, it often gets overlooked until it is felt after the exit, and then it's too late to do anything about it.
What key relationships is the exiting manager/executive involved in? For this question it's important to look at the reporting relationships structure both above and below the employee as well as the lateral relationships which are often overlooked.
How are business outcomes impacted through those relationships? What is the employee doing day-to-day to keep work moving forward through these relationships? How will you transfer them? Will they all go to one person or multiple people?
What business process knowledge does the departing employee hold? Is it written down anywhere? If not, how much can be documented, who will document it and how long will that take? Who will be trained to keep those processes moving forward? Will it be an individual or a team who takes this on?
What skills and experience does the departing employee have that need to be replaced in the organization? Will that be done through mentoring inside the organization or through hiring from the outside? Or both?
What is it about the departing employee that everyone will miss? It could be integrity, kindness, good leadership, clear communication…whatever it is, those are qualities that keep employees productive in the business. Look both inside to mentor and grow these qualities in existing employees and outside the organization to hire them in.
You may look at this list and think, who has the time and budget to do this? The business will spend the time and money one way or the other. If you wait until after the exit, the cost in time and money will be higher, and the risk of negative impact on product quality and customer satisfaction will be higher. Planning ahead mitigates cost and negative impact on the business and thus the bottom line. An added bonus is through this process you may end up asking lots of great questions with the outcome of more efficient processes and relationships overall.
Contact us to learn more about how our Life Reinspired programs can help add value to your company while supporting your retiring employees.


If you're new to shopping at drugstores or new to using coupons, it's possible you'll be confused as to why people store at places like CVS and Walgreens. Walgreens Mission Assertion We will deal with each other with respect and dignity and do the same for all we will provide workers of all backgrounds a place to construct will present essentially the most handy entry to healthcare providers and client items in will earn the trust of our customers and build shareholder value.
And prices are exacerbated by things like failed dropoffs that require reattempts — it may take a delivery driver two or three walgreens pharmacy locations times to deliver a package to a consumer's dwelling before finishing the transaction, which will increase delivery time and labor bills.
State legislation doesn't require pharmacists to seek the advice of the prescription database, although doctors, nurses, and others who write opioid prescriptions must achieve this. And Healey's office didn't have any cause to consider that Walgreens pharmacists weren't using the database.
Their ninety day supplies are $12 for generic and so they boast over 8000 varieties of medicines it can save you on and $9.99 for a 30-day can find their information underneath the pharmacy section.Scroll down and discover the Prescription Saving Club part.There they have a downloadable PDF of the medications they discount.
More than 8 million customers interact with Walgreens each day in communities across America, utilizing probably the most handy, multichannel entry to shopper items and providers and trusted, value-effective pharmacy, well being and wellness providers and recommendation.
A acquire of forty million prescriptions would add 4 p.c to Walgreens' fiscal 2016 whole of 928 million, however there is no assurance that Walgreens will get all the prescriptions from CVS, which is predicated in Woonsocket, R.I. And the extra volume will not necessarily enhance Walgreens' income by the identical amount CVS stands to lose.
High demand jobs embody these in Travel Nursing and Travel Physicians; Info Expertise (IT) for a wide range of industries, Development Trades, and numerous different Applied sciences, Training, and Forensics (for example, Accounting and Internet Security).
Journey tip number one can be to get good insurance, I haven't been to Nepal however Tibet is very similar and well being care is pretty primary by our requirements in plenty of places and the altitude sure takes some getting used to if you are a coastal dweller :). Journey mild and be ready to enjoy the individuals and the nation and you'll have a ball particularly if you make an effort to meet the locals.
In the Eighties, Walgreens owned and operated a sequence of informal household restaurants/ pancake houses referred to as Wag's , an try and compete with Woolworth's lunch counters The Wag's eating places had been very similar in concept to Denny's , IHOP , and Golden Bear.


AC Financial works with a number of companies throughout the investment funds industry to make sure we can bring you the best of Unit Trust & OEIC Administration Jobs. Our specialist consultants have a deep understanding of the market which we can bring to bear when finding you your new unit trust and OEIC administration job.
Our jobs in unit trust and OEIC administration include roles within Transfer Agency and Fund Accounting operations and oversight. If you can't find what you are looking for make sure you register with us to receive the latest unit trust and OEIC administration job alerts.


text:
Aleksa Brđović (ur. 29 lipca 1993 w Belgradzie) – serbski siatkarz, reprezentant Serbii, grający na pozycji rozgrywającego. Jego ojcem jest Dejan Brđović. W 2017 roku badania wykazały, że ma arytmię serca.

Sukcesy klubowe
Mistrzostwo Serbii:
  2013
Mistrzostwo Polski:
  2014
  2015
Superpuchar Polski:
  2014
Puchar CEV:
  2016

Sukcesy reprezentacyjne
Mistrzostwa Świata U-23:
  2013
Memoriał Huberta Jerzego Wagnera:
  2016
Liga Światowa:
  2016

Przypisy

Linki zewnętrzne
 profil fivb.org
 profil plusliga.pl

Serbscy siatkarze
Urodzeni w 1993
Siatkarze Skry Bełchatów
Ludzie urodzeni w Pančevie

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Brightline ramps up: Crews to conduct test runs on trains between West Palm Beach and Cocoa
By David Lyons
A launch of passenger train travel along Florida's central coast and on to Orlando becomes one step closer to reality next week when Brightline, the high-speed railroad, starts crew training along its expansion route to Cocoa.
The tests, which will start during the week of Jan. 17, will see engineers and conductors operating trains without passengers, and under the tutelage of supervisors, between West Palm Beach and Cocoa. The trains will travel no faster than 60 mph along the existing Florida East Coast rail line.
The program unfolds as the railroad copes with another round of South Florida crossing deaths involving motorists who tried to beat trains across the tracks despite the presence of gates, flashing lights and warning bells.
The training period is designed to give crews a chance to familiarize themselves with crossings, signals, landmarks, speed zones and other characteristics of a 130-mile stretch of the corridor.
RELATED: Brightline train rolls off California factory line for delivery to Florida »
Lasting for the duration of the year, the test runs are an important step for Brightline, whose chief goal in Florida has been to operate a high-speed regional rail link for leisure travelers between Miami and Orlando. The company has carried passengers between the downtowns of Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach since 2018, while also positioning itself as a convenient commuter option for business travelers among the three cities.
"Operating a train requires engineers and conductors to be intimately familiar with the rail corridor, including road crossings, signals, curves and speed restrictions," the company said in a statement. "During qualifying runs, Brightline train crews will work with a manager already qualified on the territory who will provide oversight and instruction."
Each test run will consist of one round-trip a day. A Brightline train with two locomotives at each end and four passenger cars will follow a northbound Florida East Coast Railway train by 10 to 15 minutes from West Palm Beach, to a point north of Cocoa. On the return trip, the Brightline train will follow a southbound FEC train back to Palm Beach County.
Brightline plans to conduct test runs of its high speed trains starting Jan. 17 between West Palm Beach to Cocoa. The idea is to familiarize crews with the north-south leg of its new segment to Orlando, which is expected to be completed by year's end. (Kevin Spear)
Brightline's service was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced the company to halt operations between March 2020 and early November 2021. Despite the interruption, construction on a $2.7 billion expansion to Orlando via Cocoa has continued.
The company expects the extension, which is 70% built, to be completed by the end of this year, Ben Porritt, senior vice president of corporate affairs, said by phone on Monday.
A head's up
Porritt said public officials up and down the line have been notified that the test trains will be coming through their communities. Though their speeds will be limited to 60 mph, the company envisions the trains running at speeds of 79 to 110 mph when the extension becomes fully operational.
Brightline trains will sound horns at all rail crossings and during emergencies.
"We have an aggressive outreach campaign which has been ongoing throughout construction," Porritt said.
RELATED: What makes the combination of South Florida drivers and high-speed trains so deadly? »
Since resuming operations in South Florida last Nov. 8, at least four accidents with five deaths have occurred on the rail line. Trains have collided with vehicles at crossings as drivers sought to beat the trains across the tracks even after gates were lowered and warning bells and lights were activated. Two deaths involved individuals who walked on the tracks. One was an apparent suicide.
The incidents brought the total fatalities to 53 since January 2018, including one during a test run before the trains started carrying paying passengers.
Recently, the company deployed cameras at two crossing sites in North Miami. During a six-week period, they caught more than 600 motorists driving around crossing gates that were lowering or were lowered. The company sent them all warning letters.
In advance of the test runs to Central Florida, the company is taking to local media to tell motorists to watch out for the trains and to obey laws that require them to stop and wait until the crossings are clear.
RELATED: Brightline train and car carrying 1-year-old child collide on the first day of rail service »
The campaign includes:
Public service announcements on radio and in local newspapers
Variable message boards at multiple crossings throughout each county to convey safety reminders
News interviews
Contacts with local government officials, police and fire rescue departments and school districts.
Announcements on Brightline's social media channels
Tom Rutkowski, Brightlines's vice president for engineering and chief mechanical officer, inspects the layout of a locomotive in late 2021. The trains are made by Siemens Mobility near Sacramento, California. (Kevin Spear)
Adding crews, train sets
Porritt said that while Brightline is hiring new train crews, the more experienced ones already on the job will be the first to receive the training.
South Florida principal appeals firing over Holocaust comments to Florida Supreme Court
Cherfilus-McCormick sworn in as newest member of House
"Our existing crews will be the first to be trained and we will continue to hire in the lead-up to launching Orlando, and continue to train those new engineers and conductors," Porritt said. "Our existing crews have between three and 30 years of experience, giving our locomotive engineers an average of 17 years of experience.
New hires are expected to have "at least 3 years of experience" and must be certified as engineers, he said.
Since last September, Brightline has been taking delivery of new train sets from the German conglomerate Siemens, which has been manufacturing them in northern California.
When the tests start next week, residents along the Treasure and Space coasts will see some of them pass through their towns and cities. Brightline currently has six train sets in operation with another four on the way.


Applications are invited for a PhD position, starting in October 2019, in the group Dr Marko Hyvonen at University of Cambridge (http://hyvonen.bioc.cam.ac.uk/) to study the mechanism of transmembrane signalling by TGFbeta family growth factors.
Our lab are interested in cell signalling via small G proteins of the Ras superfamily. We use a range of biochemical, biophysical and structural approaches to understand these fascinating proteins, which are involved in multiple cellular processes and are often deregulated in diseases such as cancer.


The M.KO truck box with PIEK certificate for silent inner-city distribution logistics.
The.MKO through-loading trailer with a Z.KO trailer enables full-length loading without unhitching.
Distribution and through-loading trailers enable you to easily combine loading capacities and separate them into two independent units as needed. This advantage makes them extremely flexible - for refrigerated and fresh produce logistics and in the general cargo business.


We have a large presence in Oklahoma City with one of our dry pet food factories located just 10 miles outside of downtown. Having served as a production facility for over 42 years in this area, we have left a big 'paw print' on this city.
Oklahoma City has the amenities of a big city with a small town feel. In addition to having a wide range of things to do, the temperate weather makes it possible to enjoy outdoor activities for a large portion of the year, and the cost of living is very low.
Purina workers at the factory in Oklahoma City, OK.
Plant image of Oklahoma City, OK factory.


Back To School season's in full gear-even for the expectant mamas among us! Destination: Maternity's flagship store on 575 Madison offers August classes for the blossoming mother-to-be. Take a look at the sampling of classes below.
Destination: Maternity Mondays features Prenatal Yoga and a breastfeeding support group; Tuesdays at 11am in August, any moms-to-be can participate in a gentler version of yoga called-naturally! – Gentle Yoga. The famished expecting mommies can then enjoy a FREE mini lunch while on a lunch break with Relax & Renew classes. Wednesdays and Thursday evenings in the 6pm hour offers Gentle Yoga and Prenatal Yoga instruction. Finally, expectant mamas can break the Saturday morning routine by indulging in PiloYoga: the art of stretching and strengthening for one's mind, body and spirit. Unless otherwise specified, all classes are $16 per visit or accepted with a Class Pass. Visit www.destinationmaternity.com, stop by the flagship store on the corner of 57th Street and Madison Ave. in Gotham or phone 212 588 0220 for more details.
Style Selection Class 11:00-12:00 PM on August 19th. See a Destination specialist to help you find the right wardrobe for you. Relax, enjoy refreshments and have the Destination: Maternity do all the shopping for you. This event is free.
Gifts That Make Ma-Ma-Ma Say Ho-Ho-Ho!


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The goal of the Case Study House program was to provide low-cost housing for the "ninety-nine" percent, especially for the millions of G.I.'s returning to civilian life after World War II. Charles and Ray Eames took this objective very seriously.
When Charles and Ray designed their own home, Case Study House #8, they sourced many of the parts from catalogs of industrially produced materials.
The Eames House incorporates pre-fabricated steel windows, Cemestos panels, Truscon steel beams and joists, chicken-wire, factory-standard glass, and parts from a marine catalog to create the stairway. These elements account for most of the home's structural components.
They also added industrial elements to the inside of the building, including materials from military aircraft. Built-in cabinets line the walls of the house, including the back of the seating alcove in the living room (see image above); the sliding doors over those cabinets are made of Plyon. Some of the windows are also outfitted with Plyon panels on the inside.
This material was marketed as fuel-cell liners by Swedlow Plastics, the original manufacturer, located just south of Los Angeles in Gardena, California. As a fuel-cell liner, the material was thin, strong, lightweight, and it resisted degradation. In addition, the Plyon proved to be translucent, durable, and capable of holding its shape. Those very same qualities made it useful as an interior finish.
Consider the alternatives to plyon that were available: Thin wood doors can warp or crack, and paper screens, like those used in Japan, have a tendency to tear. Sixty-six years have passed since Charles and Ray built the House, and none of the original Plyon panels have needed replacement. Durability was a key factor in everything the Eameses designed; in using Plyon, Charles and Ray were able to meet that standard. For the cabinets, they used Plyon panels in opaque white, and they chose a translucent version of the material for some of the windows.
The handsome Plyon details of the Eames House illustrate one of the many ways in which Charles and Ray fulfilled The Case Study House Program's values and objectives. It is a tribute to their ingenuity that they could take a material originally used for war planes and find a practical way to use it in post-war housing.
Learn more about The Case Study House Program by viewing the announcement designed for the initiative.
Thanks to the Eames House docents John and Lynne Kishel for their insight, scholarship, and the Swedlow Plastics scans from their personal collection of Eames House materials.


text:
'Game of Thrones': Second chances and second lives for key characters
By Michael Ordoña
May 16, 2019 | 6:00 AM
Kit Harington as Jon Snow and Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen. Will either character survive the "Game of Thrones" finale? (HBO)
Despite some vocal complaints over the last few "Game of Thrones" episodes, what truly sets the series apart is its considered character development, its knack for taking them to places viewers might have never expected. Here's a look back at a few of the more interesting arcs, tracing their often twisting paths from series beginning to series end, so naturally, there are spoilers ahead.
Character: Arya Stark (Maisie Williams)
Relationships: Daughter of Ned and Catelyn, sister of Robb, Sansa, Bran and Rickon; adoptive sister of Jon Snow
Story arc: Move over, Steph Curry: There's a new Baby-Faced Assassin, and she is bona fide. One might have suspected from the beginning, when she was a scrappy 11-year-old playing at toy swords, she would learn to use the real thing someday. Still, her eventual apprenticeship with a secret society of assassins had to come as a surprise. The teen survivor of her family's dire fate embarked on a Revenge Tour, slaughtering enemies by the dozens and then pulled off an act of humanity-saving heroism during the Battle of Winterfell. She started the show as a little girl and became one of the most lethal players on it.
FULL COVERAGE: The final season of 'Game of Thrones' »
Character: Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead Wright)
Relationships: House Stark (but also kind of House of Mystery)
Story arc: Bran starts the series as an ebullient, wall-climbing 10-year-old, has his body broken and falls into a coma (see Jaime Lannister), then undergoes a spiritual journey to embody a mystical force called the Three-Eyed Raven. His thousand-yard stare sees through time and space, and maybe into souls. No, this isn't another Dark Phoenix story ("Dark Phoenix," starring sister Sansa Stark, in theaters this summer) … yet. But Bran has, in a family that includes a resurrected-from-the-dead brother and a kid assassin, managed to become "The Weird Stark."
Character: Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke)
Relationships: Daughter of Aerys II (the Mad King, deceased) and Rhaella (deceased); sister of Rhaegar (deceased) and Viserys (very deceased); aunt to Aegon (deceased, wait – no – alive and her lover)
Story arc: Soon after she was born to the great House Targaryen, her Mad-King dad was slain (see Jaime Lannister). Cast into a desperate existence, she was traded by nasty brother Viserys for a military alliance with the Dothraki. Daenerys came into her own anyway, eventually becoming the Mother of Dragons – literal dragons – and Breaker of Chains for her habit of freeing enslaved peoples. But in her quest to take the Iron Throne, perhaps as she saw those she loved killed or abandon her in one way or another, she became warped — her arc bent toward that of her father ("Let it be fear"). In her mass-murdering siege of King's Landing, she proved forever it was she, not Queen Cersei, who was the most powerful individual in Westeros.
Character: Jon Snow (Kit Harington)
Relationships: Bastard son of Ned Stark, er, totally legitimate son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark, stealth heir to the Iron Throne. Adoptive brother of Robb, Sansa, Arya, Bran and Rickon. Boyfriend of his Auntie Danerys. Whoops.
Story arc: Jon/Aegon went through the most changes in terms of status – bastard (but nice guy), scrub in the Night's Watch, sworn virgin in the Night's Watch, Romeo of the Night's Watch, Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, betrayed corpse in the Night's Watch, King of the Bleeding North. Not to mention going from Stark bastard to Targaryen rightful king. He managed to stay humble, though he's more comfortable around women now, and more comfortable leading troops to slaughter. But finally seeing the monster his love/aunt/queen has become, can the reluctant Prince-Who-Was-Promised also become the Queenslayer? One thing never changes, though: If Jon drafted the battle plan, you might want to do the opposite. The guy is an amazing fighter, but he strategizes as if everyone on his side has a "Get Out of Death Free" card.
Character: Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau)
Relationships: Beloved son of Tywin Lannister, brother to Tyrion and brother/lover to Cersei
Story arc: Perhaps the most dramatic transformation has been Jaime's. The pilot episode established him as one of the most despicable men in the Seven Kingdoms. The golden scion of the smug, power-hungry Lannisters and one of the greatest swordsmen in Westeros, he was already known as "The Kingslayer" for his fatal (though deserved) betrayal of the last Targaryen ruler. Then we discovered his very special relationship with his sister, Cersei, which he covered up by pushing a child (Bran) out a tower window. Hard to come back from that.
But after leading Lannister forces in a war against the Starks, Jaime underwent a years-long odyssey that tore him down to the studs. As a prisoner, he came to admire the noble female warrior Brienne of Tarth, and in standing up for her, lost his sword hand – a persona-shaking blow. He suffered through the deaths of each of his and Cersei's children. In the face of the ultimate war between the living and the dead, he abandoned the double-dealing now-Queen Cersei to fight for humanity rather than twisted family loyalty. In the end, though, he left behind the new, positive life he could have had with Brienne et al to be with his true love as their world collapsed around them — literally.
Character: Sandor "The Hound" Clegane (Rory McCann)
Relationships: Brother of Ser Gregor Clegane, bodyguard to Prince Joffrey Lannister, captor of, then self-styled protector of Arya Stark
Story arc: Initially one of the loyal Lannister/Baratheon thugs and one of the most feared warriors in Westeros, the Hound did some bad things and developed eyes for Sansa Stark. Over time and largely through an unplanned, epic road trip with Arya and his defeat in combat at the hands of Brienne of Tarth, Sandor left behind the trappings of court and his misplaced loyalties. He joined the Brotherhood Without Banners in the fight against the White Walkers. The reformed Hound proved his selfless (somewhat fatherly) love for Arya by persuading her to abandon her quest to kill Cersei before his final faceoff (so to speak) against his evil, perfomance-enhanced brother, Ser Gregor "The Mountain" Clegane.
Character: Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner)
Relationships: Daughter of Ned and Catelyn, House Stark; wife to Tyrion Lannister; wife to Ramsay Bolton (very deceased, to everyone's delight)
Story arc: She began the series as arguably its least likeable character, pouting her way through the first season and, frankly, helping get her father killed. Her friendship with Tyrion, including their sham marriage, moved her forward. Then she survived horrible trauma at the machinations of Littlefinger and the cruelty of Ramsay Bolton, emerging stronger and smarter than one might have guessed she could become. Now she is the formidable Lady of Winterfell, wise beyond her years, and fiercely loyal to her family and to the North. In some ways, she sees even more clearly than supposed Smartest Man on the Show Tyrion. If she's left to rule from Winterfell, one has to expect the North to be in good hands. Though there has been, of late, a palpable swelling in the ranks of Team Sansa fandom, and with so many other contenders out of the way now, what happens if the remaining Targaryens take each other out — if Jon and Daenerys turn on each other, which now seems distinctly possible for the first time? Might this onetime whining tween ride her hard road all the way to the Iron Throne?
Alfie Allen portraying Theon Greyjoy in "Game of Thrones." (HBO)
Character: Theon Greyjoy (Alfie Allen)
Relationships: Ward of the Starks, raised as a family member as part of a military alliance.
Story arc: Theon had to be one of the most objectionable characters on the show, with one of the most annoying arcs, as he turned on his adoptive family – the Starks – betraying them though they had treated him well. His actions led Winterfell to fall into the hands of the degenerate Ramsay Bolton and the visitation of horrors upon many, including Sansa and himself. After having his Ironborn pride and identity destroyed forever by Bolton, Theon took several seasons to stand up for what he knew to be right – defending his sister Asha (a far better ruler and braver warrior than he) and making his last stand to protect Bran from the Night King – fulfilling a promise he made back in Season 1. In the end, his turnaround was so complete that Bran told him he was a good man. And that weirdo knows stuff.
Character: Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage)
Relationships: Despised son of Tywin Lannister, brother to Cersei and Jamie Lannister
Story arc: Lannister home movies are scored by Ramin Djawadi's sweeping orchestral take on "One of These Things Is Not Like the Others": Perfect blond Adonises and Venuses crowding out Westeros' Wisest, Tyrion. It's not just his dwarfism that made him an outcast in his own family – Cersei blames him for the death of their mother (in childbirth) and later the death of her eldest, Joffrey. The hyper-intelligent Tyrion would become something of a wastrel, turning his energies to the paid company of ladies and copious wine: "It's what I do; I drink and I know things." He killed his hateful father – on the toilet, no less – flushing his birthright and spiraling into booze-fueled depression. Then he met Daenerys and became the cleaned-up Hand of the apparently Mad Queen, and a bona fide power player in the endgame of Thrones.
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Imagine a pre-workout tailored perfectly to your needs.
100% effective, super cost-efficient, and it does all the things you want – with none of the fluff or marketing hype – all at a great price.
That's what we're going to be talking about today: how to make your own pre-workout supplement, why you should be creating a custom pre workout, and some advice on how to make the most of it!
Why Make your Own Pre-Workout?
The Challenges of Making Your Custom Pre-Workout?
How Do You Make Your Homemade Pre-Workout?
Do I Need to Cycle My Pre-Workout?
Control over your own pre-workout is going to be crucial. The biggest benefit is being able to pick ingredients for yourself – the supplement industry has some "filler" products and you can cut those out.
This means you're going to be paying for what you want – the things that help your goals – rather than some cutting-edge version of an ingredient you don't care about. This means more of what you want, less of what you don't, and paying for what you need.
We've mentioned already that you're paying for what you use, and this obviously means that you get to cut costs if you make your own pre-workout.
The vast majority of ingredients are inexpensive, and you usually end up paying through the nose for pre-workouts because of the cost of marketing or to line somebody else's pockets.
When you're making your own pre workout supplement, you'll be able to save money without missing out on the things you want.
Control isn't just on what you put into a custom pre-workout – it's about how much.
Many pre-workouts hide behind proprietary blends so that they can go heavy on the cheap fillers and provide less of the expensive active ingredients.
When you're building a custom pre-workout, you get to select the dosage based on your priorities. You can ramp up specific compounds to meet your goals, while others are only included for additional benefits or to add a bonus.
This level of control is great in an industry that has a bad reputation for selling a lot of ineffective products. When you make your own pre-workout, you can be certain that you're not getting short-changed on the stuff that matters.
Despite all the benefits, it's not all rosy for making your own pre-workout supplements.
The first one is that you actually need to know what you're going to be using. You need to know what your goals are and what you need to achieve them: you can't put creatine in without knowing what it's for. This takes a little research.
Secondly, there's a lot more effort involved. You get a much better product at a better price, but if you're strapped for time and don't mind paying a little more, there is less effort involved in buying pre-made pre-workouts.
Finally, you may have a few reservations about the taste of a custom pre-workout.
Say what you want about the many questionable products out there, but they're designed to taste at least moderately-pleasant. Since you're designing your own, you're probably going to want to drink it from a juice or other flavored drink, since it's probably not going to taste great.
This isn't a huge deal, but these 3 challenges add up and it's not hard to see why there are companies out there formulating pre-workouts for you. The real difference is that making your own pre-workout means a big time and effort investment.
If making your own pre-workout takes time, effort, and knowledge, we're here to save you a little of each. We're going to cover the basics of making your own pre-workout.
This is key – you need to know what you want to achieve from your workouts.
The point of making your own pre-workout is to provide yourself with all the best ingredients. If you're not tailoring a custom pre-workout to your own workout style, you're missing out on serious gains.
Your training is specific to your goals and your supplements should be, too!
Caffeine is key for any pre-workout to promote wakefulness, focus, and improve power output. It's got great benefits to metabolism and it has even been shown to improve endurance.
With a variety of positive effects, it's no wonder caffeine is the foundation of the vast majority of pre-workout supplements.
If you're able to, it should be included between 150mg and 500mg. Any more can be unhealthy at once, while any less has not been shown to have the key benefits we mentioned above.
Staying within this range means staying safe, but you also have to consider your total caffeine intake. This includes your pre-workout, but also your morning cup of joe and any sports drinks you consume through the day.
Too much can be a concern – more is not better, especially when consuming too much caffeine can lead to diarrhea and digestive discomfort. If this is your first time, it's safer to use caffeine capsules – which are sold at 200mg each – and just open them into your pre-workout with scissors.
This means a reliable amount, and far less risk of consuming too much caffeine.
If you don't respond to caffeine, there are caffeine-free alternatives on the market and you can learn more about those to help you build your pre-workout.
If you want a great workout – and a great custom pre-workout supplement – carbs are a good choice.
There are lots of myths about carbs, but one thing that is true is that carbs boost your workout performance. They reduce mental fatigue, improve power output, and too few carbs in your diet can even limit the amount of muscle you're able to build!
Cyclic dextrin is the best choice for this kind of carbohydrate, since it provides a more reliable and consistent-release formula. It'll get into your bloodstream quickly, providing you with the fuel you need for those intense workouts.
Creatine is essential for strength and muscle gains. It's a compound known for its boosts to strength by increasing the high-energy fuel in your muscles. This means stronger lifts and longer sets.
It also boosts the hydration and volume of your cells, which can boost muscle growth and keeps them healthy. On top of the strength and size gains, it also improves endurance performance and benefits to both heart health and reduced cancer risk. Win-win.
Creatine is widely available so you can get it relatively cheaply, but aim for a high-purity product that doesn't rely on secondary ingredients. The more extra stuff, the more you're going to pay.
Citrulline Malate can help boost your pump, which indirectly boosts your ability to gain muscle. This makes Citrulline a prime candidate.
Citrulline is much the same as creatine for your buying options: find something simple and pure, that doesn't have you paying extra for stuff you're not going to use, or that might already be in your pre-workout formula!
Beta-alanine is the #1 place to start for endurance. Beta-alanine reduces the onset of fatigue, helps you recover between sets, and boosts your mental ability to deal with training.
Reducing the amount of soreness during exercise and extending your time to exhaustion. This means being able to run, row or cycle for longer without giving up.
Reducing the odds and severity of muscle damage by removing waste products.
These are key for anyone looking to boost performance in longer cardio exercise.
It's available in large bags relatively cheaply, so you're going to be able to get plenty of the raw beta-alanine powder for your pre-workout.
The first is to purchase the specific ingredients at low costs and unflavoured. These can then be mixed together and blended with a product that has a flavor – like a juice or even a juice powder like Kool-Aid or other delicious powders.
This obviously means you're involved in a much larger amount of individual effort for finding, buying, and mixing products. This also means measuring out the specific concentration and other factors yourself, rather than having them figured out in advance.
This can be very cost-effective on a serving by serving basis: individual powders for creatine, citrulline, beta-alanine, and caffeine can be purchased for $10-15 and will provide far more servings than a pre-made supplement of the same concentration or size.
This also means being very careful not to overdose or under dose specific ingredients. Keep your eye on the caffeine intake specifically, since this is the ingredient with the most obvious, acute side-effects (like diarrhea and discomfort) when mixed poorly.
There are millions of combinations of ingredients for every different goal, so we're going to show off 3 of our favorite recipes for different DIY Pre-workouts.
These simple, effective mixtures will maximize effects with effective ingredients for each goal. The combinations are sometimes as important as the actual ingredients, so these are perfectly well-balanced.
Remember: always consult your medical professional if you have any pre-conditions or concerns about supplements!
This is a simple recipe for a pre-workout supplement that maximizes size, strength and recovery. It aims to provide you with the best long-term boosts to workout performance, pushing your athleticism and progress to the next level.
It's important to take the same detailed approach to endurance that you'd take to muscle building or strength. Nutrition is equally important for both, even if it requires different products and a different focus.
Carbs: again, 5-20g of carbs per serving will be great to support your endurance goals and fuel your muscles.
This is a general pre-workout supplement for the general gym enthusiast. It might not be quite as specific, but it provides the most important ingredients for overall health, wellbeing and performance.
This also makes for an effective pre-workout for CrossFit – something we've talked about extensively before!
Carbs: if you hadn't noticed yet, they're great workout-fuel whatever your goals!
There are a few pro tips you're going to want to incorporate for the best results, even when you're making your own pre-workout.
We recommend taking your pre-workout 30-60 minutes before your heaviest sets. This doesn't mean 60 minutes before you get to the gym.
Caffeine peaks at 60 minutes after drinking, while things like citrulline tend to take 45 minutes. Getting these into your body should be timed based on the toughest exercises and sets in your workout – you don't need to get hype for your warm-ups!
Endurance-based pre-workouts are slightly less of a concern since you're not worrying about instantaneous performance. The mental focus of caffeine slowly drifts away over 6 hours, so you're not going to be struggling to time your pre-workout.
You develop a resistance to caffeine over time, so you can benefit from taking a few days to a week off after 4-8 weeks. This isn't necessary, however. You'll be able to get better results for taking time off since other compounds – like beta-alanine – also reduce their effectiveness over time.
You have a trade-off with cycling pre-workout: you have to pick a week off or a slightly reduced effectiveness over time. This is going to depend on how much you lean on your pre-workout, and the timing.
We recommend cycling your pre-workout off during scheduled Deloading weeks, when training is lighter anyway and you don't need the big boost, to keep yourself performing at your limit.
This also means taking time off of other caffeine sources – your pre-workout might not be the only place you need to make changes if you're drinking 10 cups of coffee a day!
Making your own pre-workout is a great way to avoid some of the pitfalls we see with low-quality products. There are a lot of questionable pre-workouts on the market, which leaves a big gap for a pre-workout that you have control over.
There are services available for this sort of thing and mixing your own pre-workout comes with a few significant challenges. Overall, it's a great way of getting the most out of your supplementation if you're willing to put in the time and know-how to make it safely.
We've taken you through some of the basics of making a good pre-workout for yourself, but the decision on what to do – and what to include – is up to you and your goals. We recommend double-checking your effective doses and being careful.


In March 2011 Linda Hubbard interviewed me for inMenlo about returning to photography as a profession after many years away from it. We hit it off and a journalistic partnership was born.
Since that time Linda and I have collaborated on some 100 articles about people in the Menlo Park Atherton area. As a celebration of this three-year relationship, I am proud to have an exhibition of my InMenlo portraits on display at Café Zoë (1929 Menalto Ave., Menlo Park) in the month of May. There will be an opening reception on May 7 from 5:30 to 7:30 pm.
It will be fun to reunite with many of the people profiled in InMenlo at the reception. Several of these photos also ended up as part of my True Calling Series of photographs depicting people who had found their passion in life and acted on it.
There are many other talented photographers and writers who contribute at InMenlo, and they will join us as well. I am very proud to be part of this team and the community we cover. Thanks also to Café Zoë owner Kathleen Daly for hosting the exhibition and the show.
I think we have just scratched the surface of all the rich and colorful personalities in our little part of the Peninsula. I hope I get to meet even more of you as the years go forth.


How to resolve PAM devices via Short Name across multiple domains?
Is there a way to refer to device names in other domains but avoid using FQDNs? In a typical UNIX system, this would be done by adding a "search" parameter into /etc/resolv.conf.
Here update the Domain Name section with all the domains you want to search.
Note: This will only work if you have DNS servers for both domains listed in the DNS Section.