 but haven’t yet had the chance to test that out yet!
3. It is dependable. Thanks to the generosity of family, friends, and the Jett Foundation’s Giving Fund, we could purchase the van brand new, and it runs perfectly. We take it everywhere the boys go, from clinic appointments in Denver to school, and all the fun things as well.
4. If my kids, with or without DMD, learn to drive in the Beast, they can drive anything. That pretty much speaks for itself. Enough said.
5. I can stand up in it. I’m 6 feet tall and can stand up entirely in the back of the van. It makes using tie-downs a cinch. It also helps when I need to adjust one of the boys or just stretch my legs on long drives.
6. We can use the back of the van like a daycare center, as my children, especially those who don’t have DMD, play many outdoor sports.
Here in Nebraska, weather in the spring, summer, and fall entails just about everything. Wind, rain, heat, and cold are all expected at most times.
When the weather doesn’t cooperate with our younger kids or our guys in chairs, we can camp out in the Beast while waiting for a softball tournament or a track meet. We put blankets down. We get toys out. We have a cooler full of snacks. We can get the boys out of their chairs and put the baby down.
And perhaps this is TMI, but we even have handheld urinals so that we don’t have to make a run through bad weather to take the boys to the bathroom. Also, in that same respect, a urinal is often a better option than a port-a-potty, even if a rare, accessible port-a-potty is available. OK, enough about that.
7. We can move things without a truck. Once, I bought an old, gutted piano and turned it into a potting table. We took the van to pick it up. We lifted it on the ramp, pushed it straight into the back, and brought it home. So easy!
8. If you’ve read my column previously, you’ll know that we had a baby girl four months ago. I don’t have to fold her stroller to take it with me. I lift it in through the side door, put the brakes on, and it travels easily around town.
9. I can find it easily in a parking lot. It is almost always the tallest van in the parking lot. So I look for the most elevated vehicle and know instantly where my van is.
10. Everyone knows it’s us! It’s like the theme song from “Cheers,” where everybody knows your name. Ours is the only van like this in town. Everyone knows it’s the Vertins — they’ll wave, honk, or stop by and come in just because they saw our van outside.
I’m stopping this list at 10 reasons, but there are so many more. Trust me, it has its downsides, like drive-thru car washes, and many drive-thru fast-food restaurants are out of the question.
And I now severely mistrust signs that say you need a 9-foot clearance to pass. I’ve made it through many of them. I hope that someday I won’t be writing a column about not ignoring 9-foot clearance signs!
Overall Length:.825"
Shoulder Length:.250"
Spring Bore Depth:.725"
The choice of "with" or "without" hole is an aesthetic preference and does not affect the functionality of the plug.
This plug is for Officer's length slides only. Available in Carbon Steel only. Must be installed by a competent gunsmith.Database Shootout: PostGIS and MySQL
Presentation | Presented
- Wim de Haas, Ministry of Transport, The Netherlands
- Wilko Quak, Technical University Delft, The Netherlands
Database shootout
Wim de Haas, Ministry of Transport, The Netherlands
Wilko Quak, Technical University Delft, The Netherlands
In this presentation the outcome of a series of benchmark tests will be discussed, as we put PostGIS and MySQL out of their comfort zone with a dataset of the Dutch highways captured on a 1:1000 scale.
This study is motivated by the need to determine from an independent source the pros and cons of the different RDBMS providers worldwide in clear figures and numbers. The last such excercise carried out by the TU Delft was in 2002, and was based on a Cadastral dataset.
The focus of the presentation will be on the analysis and interpretation of the results. A possible outcome at the end of the conference might be the start of a benchmark toolkit program, applicible across all Spatial databases.
Supporting FilesHopefully James Harden (33 points) and Chandler Parsons (31 points). The two combined to shoot 20-for-32 from the field (7-of-12 from beyond the arc) and 17-of-18 from the free throw line, with Harden alone shooting a perfect 16-for-16 from the charity stripe. The Knicks were led by the hot hand of Carmelo Anthony, who finished with 37 points on 14-for-24 shooting (7-for-12 from beyond the arc).
First Quarter
Apparently when packing up their things after their win against the New Orleans Hornets Tuesday night, the Knicks forgot one important thing: their defense. After giving up 114 points to the Dallas Mavericks Wednesday night, the Knicks defense was again non-existent from the start of this game. The Knicks did scored the first two points of the game but it would be there only lead of the night. The Rockets jumped out to a 20-9 start led by the hot shooting of Parsons (who?). The second year forward scored seven of the Rockets first 20 points, en route to an 18 point first quarter in which he made all of his eight shots. For the period, the Rockets would shoot 54% from the floor
Thankfully, the Knicks had Anthony to match him point for point, as he scored 18 points of his own to keep the Knicks in the game. The Knicks would outscore the Rockets 23-15 the rest of the quarter to cut an 11 point deficit to three, 35-32.
Second Quarter
After Parson’s barrage in the first quarter, it was time for Harden to show off. He scored 16 of his 33 points in the quarter, with nine of them coming from the free throw line. The Rockets began the quarter with a 14-6 run to extend their three point lead to 10. The Knicks would fight back with an 11-2 run to cut the deficit to one but that was as close as they could come all night. The Rockets used a 21-7 run (including twelve straight points) to take a 72-57 lead into halftime.
Third Quarter
The Knicks began the second half as if they would fight there way back into the game. They used a 16-11 spurt to cut the deficit from 15 to 10. Then all hell broke loose. The Rockets used a 13-0 run to push their lead to 23. Mixed in that run was a technical foul to Anthony, who was arguing with the refs ahead of the Knicks players while Patrick Patterson raced in for an open court dunk and later a flagrant foul on Tyson Chandler, who elbowed Omer Asik in the face in an act of utter frustration. The offensively challenged Asik scored 10 points in the quarter, part of his 18 point, 14 rebound performance. Again, Asik scored 18 points in the game. Remember when Tyson Chandler was the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year? Just last year? The quarter ended with the Knicks down 104-80 and the game completely over. The final basket of the quarter came on a three-pointer from former Knick Toney Douglas, drilling a three-pointer and putting the dagger thru the Knicks heart.
Fourth Quarter
Complete garbage time. The only Knicks starters to play were Anthony and Chandler and both were gone before the midway point of the quarter. But hey, Chris Copeland got in the game! The seldom used forward scored six points, bringing back memories of his strong play against the Rockets in the Summer League.
Up next for the Knicks, a 1:00 p.m. date on Sunday afternoon against the 3-10 Detroit Pistons at Madison Square Garden.
Notes
- Remember when this game was supposed to be all about Jeremy Lin? Overshadowed by the performances of Harden, Parsons and Asik, Linsanity still had himself an effective game. He scored 13 points, hauled in seven rebounds and dished out three assists. The other former Knicks point-guard, Douglas, had himself a nice game aswell, scoring 11 points while drilling 3-of-4 three-pointers.
- Did J.R. Smith go out in New Orleans? He’s shot just 7-for-20 in his last two games.
- After being able to win games early in the season while being out-rebounded, the Knicks were killed on the boards tonight and it certainly didn’t help their cause. The Rockets grabbed 49 rebounds to the Knicks 30. The Knicks were also out-rebounded in Wednesday nights loss the Mavs, 42-37.
- One of Mike Woodson’s challenge to the Knicks has been to hold opponents to under 25 points a quarter. They certainly haven’t