Alan Bannon Signs specialising in commercial premises signage from internal directional systems and door plaques to individually raised letters for the exterior of your premises and large totems, which are popular in business parks.

When you contact Alan Bannon Signs you are dealing with an Award winning shop front designer, who consults with his client in choosing the correct colour options and lighting to enhance their premises.

ABsigns is located in Unit W3A Tougher Business Park, Naas, Co. Kildare. P.0 45437788.For More Information Please Visit. http://www.absigns.ie

from the songs to the album art to this video, everything about this album has come together perfectly. kingprince is available on itunes now, and will see a physical release next year. show your support.

- panda

URL : http://www.flashgame-girl.com/Puzzle-board/Cannonball-Follies-2.html

Game description :

The Objective of this Game is to shoot the cannon ball into the bin.

Game controls :

Up Arrow Key, Down Arrow Key – Adjust the Angle.
Left Arrow Key, Right Arrow Key – Adjust the power

Get ready for a TRANFORMERS showdown with this two-pack of robot-to-vehicle character figures that includes an admirable AUTOBOT hero and a deceiving DECEPTICON warrior! This two-pack of detailed robot figures convert to awesome vehicles and back again! Each figure has key-activated features that unleash cool effects.
After sitting out most of the most recent battles pulling guard duty and watching Earth kung fu movies, DOWNSHIFT hasn’t had nearly enough adventure. Released from his duties by OPTIMUS PRIME, he goes in search of the legendary Pirate Oasis. This mythical place is a lost lake, deep in Death Valley, and the home of notorious pirate CANNONBALL, terror of the highways.

More>> Transformer Toys

Forget about the 9.8 score for a plain, wave-less dive into the water from the platform.  Take a few steps back and begin your enthusiastic approach to the end of the board, a little hop, bend your knees and off you go…screaming, “Cannonball!”

(SPLASHHHH…)

That’s the feeling I want you to have when you’re buying a home! Enjoy it!

This blog is focused on the information, technology and advice that new home buyers need to get into the real estate market, and having a little fun at the same time.  There has never been a better time and opportunity to buy a home.  Lowered home prices, tax credits, low interest rates and immediate information at your finger tips are the exciting variables that make this opportunity so grand.

I hope you enjoy this site, share with your friends and don’t forget to check out my other Web site, www.HomesByHigh.com.

Cannonball Crisis
Cannonball Crisis

Cannonball Crisis Game
Cannonball Crisis Game Description : The aim of the game is to clear all the cannonballs at the top of the screen by firing up a cannonball of the same color to create a touching group of three or more.
How to Play Cannonball Crisis Game? Keyboard Controls:
Left / Right Arrow Keys – Aim.
Spacebar – Fire.

Mouse Control:
Mouse – Aim / Fire.

At a time when everyone actually looks forward to enhanced advertising methods for bringing up their business to a new height, the advertisement method of vehicle graphics acts as the eye catcher.

Marketing is the keyword on which every single decision of our business actually depends. And if you follow a good marketing plan, there are chances that your business may achieve its highest peak within a very few days. This becomes the main reason why we always look into finding better and more effectual advertising methods that may help us change the fate of our business. And here, vehicle graphics fits just perfectly to help you avail your requirements. However, once you have the right plan, you also need a good firm to convert your ideas into a successful active plan. And, in such a case Alan Bannon Signs comes in as a relief.

Alan Bannon Signs offers you this exclusive method of advertising through the vehicle graphics that helps you bring into notice your business into the eyes of the customers and users across the city. Being a quite experienced signage company, the quality and the facilities offered here at Alan Bannon, are simply impeccable. You can be rest assured of the quality and the designs that you will receive from the top designers of Alan Bannon Signs.

Everything from the style, the colors and the content that needs to be embossed onto the vehicle as a mode of advertisement, is discussed in details with the clients by the designers. This effort makes sure that all your requirements are met with by the firm and that you avail the best results of this new and innovative advertisement method.

As a design, you can easily add up your company logo design along with the offers and its services along with the contact details of your company. Moreover to make it look more attractive, you can simply select any color or shade for the fonts imprinted in the graphic design. Thus in short, you can actually easily advertise your new brand or business into this huge global market and thus make people know about it and its services. This is an easy way to promoting your business in a highly competitive market that always looks out for more innovative ideas. Also, the statistical studies show that these vehicle graphics can actually draw to about 70,000 views of customers and users every single day. And this makes it a very famously followed advertising method throughout world. So, make sure that you get your business advertisement a good attractive design designed by the designers of Alan Bannon Signs that helps you take your business to a sky touching level. For more information please visit.http://www.absigns.ie

One day, she swore, I’ll disappear. Like a bird’s shadow as it flits into the forest. And they’ll ask, what happened to that girl, with the dark eyes and swollen heart, with ink-stained hands and tip-tumbling words? Whatever happened to that girl? And she said she’d laugh and throw a cannonball into the creek–the remedy to dead bodies that sink. That laughter would drift into the breeze and any scenthounds searching would catch it like a cold and follow it’s mirth(lessness) all the way back to where she once stood on the bank, footprints still sucked into the cold mud. Maybe it was a ghost, the chief whispers prophetically, before pulling back the dogs and taking his leave.

Signage, in today’s world plays a very crucial role in the success of any business or work. Well, it’sone method of advertising that has surely taken the level of promotion and marketing to a completely new horizon. And, one phase of signage is that of premises signage.

Being a very widely spread system, signage is categorized into premises signage, vehicle signage graphics, exhibition and events, online advertisement, etc. And here particularly, we shall discuss about premises signage as offered by one of the best signage firms called Alan Bannon Signs.

Alan Bannon Signs is an experienced signage firm based in Naas, Ireland that has offered its best signage services to its clients, ever since its commence. The firm offers special premises signage services that you may not really avail from the other premises signage firms.

Well, as the name itself suggests, premises signage mainly deals with the signage services required in the specific areas or locations, like buildings, streets, shops, and many more. Yes, the floor signs that you see in the airports, the road signs that you see on the streets, the safety signs across the roads and other places, the directions in the malls and the theaters, shop signs etc. everything is a part of premises signage. And you can avail all these facilities here at Alan Bannon signs.

The design consultants here at Alan Bonnan, make sure that they consult their clients to decide every single detail, may it be the shape, style or the color of the signs that are required by the clients. Thus, with the high quality work experience and services provided at Alan Bonnan, you can surely imprint your shop or house name largely on the walls of your house, giving it a stylish look. Or you can actually emboss the name in beautiful fonts on the boards and get them nailed on to the gates or the doors of your house or shop. Similarly, you can also write the company names using the stylish raised letters that have a special attraction amongst the clients.

The premises signage also helps you locate places in the tourist’s destinations and not get lost. Thus, you can easily have a look at the signs in the entertainments centers, commercial places, business buildings, etc. to direct the paths to the customers and users for their safety. So, you need not worry at all for all the premises signages required by you as, no matter what designs you want or which styles you wish to follow, you can avail them all at Alan Bonnan signs. For more information please visit. http://www.absigns.ie

Advertising ideas are the hot solutions that make path for the success of your newly launched brand or business. Millions of people launch their business, but merely a few succeed in getting through to a kick start. And yes, no mistakes in guessing, it’s the advertising fundas that actually matter.

Any idea that helps bring your business into the notice of people will help you achieve your business goals. Well, however whenever it comes onto advertising, one name that pops up in my mind is that of the Alan Bannon Signs.

Alan Bannon Signs is a well experienced signage form based in Naas, Ireland that deals with the various aspects of graphic advertisings such as premises signage, vehicle graphics, mobile advertising, and also exhibition & event signage.

Other than the other common methods of advertising, one very unique but attractive method is that of exhibition & event signages.At Alan Bannon Signs, you will be offered various distinctive methods of exhibition and event advertisings such as the brochure holders, the classic roll ups, Fixzip structures, and many more that can prove to be a great help in attracting the eyes of a lot of customers and users from across the city.

Exhibitions are a great way to introduce new things in the eyes of people. But, to further lure the customers with your offers, you should have accessories and equipments that help you gain your goals. And this is just what the brochure holders, fixzip structures, zip classic, and the portable brochure holders at Alan Bannon Signs, offers you.

Each of these equipments are pure advertising sources that have designs and graphics of your business with your logo and contact details that will help your customers and users connect to you for their requirements. Thus, it is these small and large requirements of the customers and your services put together with the advertising features of Alan Bannon that will guide you to the successful path of your business.

Well however, the best part about these portable brochure folders and the classic roll ups is that they are easy to arrange and strong enough to stand by themselves. Also, their designs and patterns are by themselves attractive which will catch the eyes of passer bys thus promoting your business to a new level. These equipments can also be dismantled and put in together in just a matter of time without the help of any other person. Thus, they are in short your best exhibition and event advertising equipments. For More Information Please Visit. http://www.absigns.ie

The Breeders released a new EP in April 2009, but I opted to feature the song that made them famous. Though not as influential as The Pixies, The Breeders put out albums that were equally as quirky and original and often more diverse than Kim Deal’s work with The Pixies.

The Breeders “Cannonball”

Like what you see feel free to email me at tad@creativesquall.com and don’t forget to become a fan on Facebook. Check out the Creative Squall website to see how sketches grow up to be complete ideas.

Walking down the lane, do you think it would be possible to find a street or a store you have never visited and has no sign board displaying its name?

Signages are the most important directions today that we all note and follow to reach our destinations. And without signage, the world for us would be a completely lost place. However, not only do these signages play an important role in directing the paths, but they also play a vital role as a source of advertising.

Well, when talking of advertising through signage, the name Alan Bannon Signs simply doesn’t go unnoticed. The company has been a frontrunner in the field of signage since a respectable time and has successfully embedded its name as one of the best signage providers by becoming an Award winning shop front designer. The company specializes in various blocks of signage which includes all phases of the commercial premises signage like the door plaques, internal directional systems, the raised letters and symbols for the outer premises, large totems, etc. that are quite familiar in the business parks as well.

The advertising industry today has grown to a horizon that is completely unbelievable. It is the best weapon used by all companies and stores for marketing their brands. And so, nearly all companies look out for the best signage providers who fulfill all their requirements. Well, this is where Alan Bannon makes it mark in the signage industry.

You can avail their classic services and find the best ways to promote your work, business and even the new public constructions. At Alan Bannon Signs, you can avail signage services such as the Premises signage, Vehicle Graphics, Exhibition signage, Mobile advertising and Display systems. Each of these services, are unique and offers you a great way to enhance your work and business.

Premises signage as mentioned earlier is inclusive of the internal directions systems, large totems, etc. The Vehicle graphics similarly are the graphics used on the vehicles to either design a logo or for providing some basic information. Similarly, the Exhibition & event signages are mainly used in the stores and other commercial places for advertising things on them. This is availed through the use of brochure holders, classic roll up, bigzip signage, etc.

Apart from these general ways, you can also follow the vehicle advertising method and the display systems for promoting your services. Thus, it’s all your choice as to which service would be preferable for you and your business.

So, if you are looking for a good signage service provider for your new store in Ireland, make sure that you check out all the marvelous facilities offered by Alan Bannoon Signs.For more information Please visit.http://www.absigns.ie/

Alan Bannon Signs is the name that pops up in my mind, and may be even yours when we think of Signage and signage advertisements. The firm, being one of the most experienced signage firms, also has its very expressive website online that offers you everything about the firm in a nutshell.

The main aim of every person entering a website is to simply avail all the information that he wants about the website, to the extent that he develops a trust in their services and also takes their help for all his requirements. And trust me, as this is exactly what the Alan Bannon Signs website offers us!

The website clearly provides you with all the information you may wish to know about the firm, their wide ranged services and also their excellence achieved in offering these services. To throw some more light on this, the website offers you a video detailing about its experiences and work offered to its clients. This small video, briefs you completely about the excellence achieved by the Alan Bannon Signs in the field of Signage.

With this small introductory video, you can also read about the company’s profile and its wide spread services and facilities offered to all its users and customers across places. The website gives you the complete knowledge about the firm and also shows you their products and services with the help of all the pictures displayed under different categories.

Based on the services, the website of Alan Bannon Signs is categorized into several parts which are inclusive of: Premises Signage, Vehicle Graphics, Exhibition & event, Mobile Advertising, Display Systems, Full color print, Safety Signs, Banners, Labels, and Others. Each of these categories gives you a clear idea about the services and the quality of work offered to the customers here by Alan Bannon Signs.

Once you click through these categories, you will find beautifully arranged, clear images that give you a complete idea about the category and its offerings. Accompanying these images is a small description that dictates you about the products and the services offered under the category. Well, apart from these categories, you can also find their contact page which perfectly gives you their location through the map system along with the basic information such as the address, telephone and fax number. Furthermore, to help you contact the support team of Alan Bannon, the website also offers you the form system which you can submit with all the information required, in order to avail their services for gaining your goals.

So, if you wish to avail the experienced and excellent services of the Alan Bannon Signs, make sure that you click through their website today. For more information Please visit.http://www.absigns.ie/

I didn’t get into Damien Rice until after “Volcano” exploded, after he had already been on Last Call With Carson Daly, answering questions about whether or not he knew that Colin Farrell had made out with Britney Spears.

The bassist in my band at that time was pretty insistent that I listen to the Irish folkie, but since I have and always will be stubborn in my music exploration (I have to “discover” it “myself”), I didn’t get around to it right away.

It wasn’t until my Junior year of High School (‘03-’04) that I “stumbled” upon my bassist’s burned copy of O. I was in one of my electives, one of those taught-by-a-coach-to-justify-his-cushy-salary classes. We had a lot of downtime, so I made frequent visits to my CD player, digging my head into the cushion my crossed arms made on the desk, fleeing to the world of aural stimulation.

The first thing I noticed about O was how soft it was. The opening track, “Delicate,” was treated as such, until that climactic final chorus. As the album unfolded, the music became a pool for me to sulk in, to dwell on the “rough” time I was going through as a 16-year-old growing up in a white, upper-middle class community, who had just lost his dog and had been rejected by a girl whom he had rejected previously to pursue a long distance relationship with another girl he hadn’t seen since the 7th grade. And on top of that, his parents were always harshing his buzz about taking out the trash. I often refer to my Junior year as my “Dark Year.”

“The Blower’s Daughter” had become my go-to track as I found myself many a lonely night, pondering my place in the world of love and sadness, but mostly questioning whether or not I would ever get to kiss the cute and quirky Vietnamese girl I had fallen in love with. Moving on to ”Cannonball,” I found that most of these songs were evoking those same kinds of existential questions.

And then I found out that the girl I hadn’t seen since 7th grade had a boyfriend. How fitting that “Cheers Darlin’” rose to the top of my faves list. How dare she. How could she?

I think at some point, each song played a significant role in my depression, covering me like a blanket, keeping me in a constant state of feeling sorry for myself.

Yes, Damien Rice has a special place in my heart, a place that, for nostalgic reasons, has no filter, where my judgement of musical character has no power, a place where I can’t differentiate between legitimately good music and legitimately bad music. Because nostalgia is basically my musical kryptonite.

Side Note: Other music that I can’t categorize as either Louis Lane or Lex Luthor: Third Eye Blind, Matchbox Twenty, GooGoo Dolls, etc. Pretty much a whole lot of music from the 90s.

I didn’t really listen to the follow up, 9 mainly because the mp3s I downloaded (burned cds/paying for music was soooo 2003) were terrible quality, and because I had lost interest, having moved on to other folksmen to soothe my woes.

Lisa Hannigan’s since put out a nice little solo album. Here’s the first track.

The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes by Langston Hughes

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
When I’ve seen someone do something really well, it often inspires me to try it for myself – especially as it pertains to writing. When I read a really good book, it makes me want to write fiction. When I hear a really good performance, it makes me want to write songs.

And after reading The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes, I want to write poetry so badly that all of my thoughts have been forming in blank verse for days.

I first discovered Langston Hughes in high school. I was part of our school’s Academic Challenge Bowl team (yes, it’s even nerdier than it sounds) and one of my assignments was to read through this fat anthology of American Literature. The book had a section on the Harlem Renaissance. For the most part, I felt like a poser whilst reading it – I hadn’t really experienced the oppression or suffering in my fourteen years of life that Arna Bontemps and Claude McKay were describing. It made me vaguely uncomfortable to try to understand – how could I, an Asian teen living in the mostly-Caucasian suburbs and attending a predominantly Hispanic school, understand the woes and triumphs of a black man fighting for human rights in 1920s Harlem?

But then I got to Hughes.

***
What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore–
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over–
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

***

I knew what it meant to have a dream deferred. In some ways, a dream deferred is worse than a dream completely crushed. When a dream is crushed, you can let it go and start to heal. But a dream deferred leaves you with hope, leaves you hanging on. Sometimes you think you’ll never heal. And the reactions to this situation can vary from day to day. You might be angry one day, despondent the next, okay with it a few days later, and then back to anger by the end of the week.

Langston Hughes understood it. And I understood Langston Hughes. And, suddenly, I felt like I could read Bontemps and McKay and understand them, too.

I started picking up all the Hughes I could get my hands on. I haunted the library that summer, looking for poems I’d skipped over. I didn’t care much for poetry at that point in my life, but reading Hughes changed that almost instantly. Suddenly, I loved the lyrical quality that separates poetry from prose.

So when I ran into this book at Barnes and Noble a few years back, I just had to get it.

And I’ve been slowly reading through it ever since, savoring the verse and the rhythm and the words.

Hughes writes about a rainbow of topics, not all of them serious. He writes about love, freedom, poverty, oppression, beauty, pain – and every other shade of life experience you can imagine.

He’s famous for his contribution to the Harlem Renaissance, but his work transcends the movement. Hughes is relatable. He took his specific suffering and sees in it the thing that connects us all – humanity. He had a gift for showing you that glint of commonness amongst all the differences.

But Langston Hughes didn’t just write about the plight of the black man. I love that this volume includes his verses for children – fanciful verse, without a trace of the fire and sorrow that surge through so many of his poems for adults.

Through the course of reading this book, Langston Hughes has been cemented in his position as my favorite poet. He expresses so perfectly the gamut of the life experience. He understood it. And when I read him, I can, too.

View all my reviews >>

Well, kids, here it is: A practice review. I don’t really do this on a regular basis, so I figured I’d take the book I just read for my class (Films and Literature) and work on my mad reviewing skillz- try to work out a rhythm to it, if you know what I mean. Also, I have difficulty determining what, exactly, constitutes a spoiler; I’m trying to work that out here, as well, so if you’ve read the book, please let me know if you think it’s spoiler-y.

The Book: “The Virgin Suicides”, by Jeffrey Eugenides.

The story begins with the suicide of the youngest of the five Lisbon sisters, Cecilia, and works its way through the year following, culminating in the self-inflicted deaths of the other four. What the story really follows, though, is the efforts of the narrators (the story is told from a first-person-plural point of view) to get to know these four girls by every method possible- except, that is, by talking to them. The plural narrator is a (group of) teenage boy(s), and the girls are teenage girls; they don’t speak the same language. The story also revolves around the deterioration of the well-to-do suburban neighborhood where all these characters live. The Lisbon house itself is slowly falling apart, and Dutch Elm Disease is blamed for the public works department cutting down all the trees on the block.

The meat of the narrative, though, at least to my mind, is the obsession the narrator(s) have with the Lisbon sisters, and the way that living in suburbia creates expectations of people that they can’t live up to and can’t escape. Trip Fontaine, the popular hot jock guy, winds up in a rehab facility in the desert somewhere, as much a ghost as any of the Lisbons. The narrator(s) are rehashing this story from decades after the fact; they live out their lives, but are still infatuated by their ideas of the girls, and where (if anywhere) those ideas are in relation to reality, discussing it still, “going over the evidence one more time”. They are only ghosts as well, living in the past, trying to find what it was that was so brilliant and beautiful, and forever finding it just out of reach. Even the neighborhood itself is gradually declining into a ghost of its former self, doomed to be a mere reflection of what was, and what could have been.

The experience of reading this novel is lovely. I know some people have found it weird and/or depressing, but I found it more melancholy than dismal, and Eugenides’ imagery is just gorgeous. It kind of evokes the way everything is so dreamy and surreal and beautiful when you’re a kid, with no experience of “real” life to get in the way; everything looks as if it’s an old photograph, misty and faded with time, which adds to the themes of the book. The descriptive passages alone are worth the read. I think the subtext is beautifully layered, though there were a few instances where it ran away with itself into cliche territory, but overall I enjoyed reading it, and I recommend it.

Well, there you have it. My very first book review.. um, ever. I hope it makes sense, and isn’t too spoiler-y (or not spoiler-y enough). Until next time, Beav out!

Reading books takes more time and represents a more significant chunk of your life than a movie-viewing experience does. Movies will take three hours from your life, tops, and they’re solitary activities where generally you’re only watching that movie. But I carry books with me for weeks (even if I’m reading quickly, I tend to read a bunch of things simultaneously), and that book immediately assumes an instant association with the period in my life when I read it.

A movie can be re-watched with little effort, but to re-read a book is very much a commitment. Reviews are thus a much more integral step in the reading process, as I’ve learned during my epic failure of completing the Cannonball Read. A review helps to encapsulate how the book affected me and what I was thus feeling and experiencing during the period in which I read it. Before attempting the Cannonball (read 100 books in a year), I don’t think I’d ever written a book review. Now I have seven snapshots of my reading history since January 1, 2009.

I was simply too ambitious in this task, and I’ll own up to that. Though one of my books was nearly 900 pages in length (the amazing, awesome I Know This Much Is True), two of them were just barely over 200 pages. Though others seemed to glide past the finish line ahead of schedule, I struggled to average one book a month. All told, though, I’m glad I tried. I got to put together a list of books I want to read, which required research and a thirst for good literature, and I probably read more than if I hadn’t at least tried the ambitious task of 100 books in a year. And that alone is a triumph for me.

The Cannonball will be back starting November 1st, and I will be participating again. The challenge has been softened considerably: 52 books in a year. One book a week. Doable, right? Enh, probably not for me. But I will try. I think the caveat I’m going to put on myself is that all 52 books must be books I already own. I have way more books than I’ve actually read, but every book I own (for the most part) is a book that I’ve wanted to read.

All in all, though I failed miserably, I’m still glad I tried at the first round. And with the promise of a monetary donation to charity if you finish 52 books, maybe I’ll actually finish the damn thing this time around.

Or, y’know, fail miserably again.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
To Kill a Mockingbird is a book about growing up, civil unrest, racism, hatred, love, friendship — it’s about life. It’s a classic that most kids read in high school. I had a friend who refused to read fiction, but he read and liked this one.

Perhaps it’s the way that Lee lays bare not only the thoughts, but the very heart of a young girl growing up in the Civil-Rights-era South. It’s remarkable how reclusive Harper Lee was able to so perfectly capture the voice of young Scout Finch.

Told from the perspective of a young tomboy (the aforementioned Scout Finch), the book is by turns funny, maddening, and heartbreaking. It’s a complete picture of Scout’s life — everything from acting out the stories about neighborhood mystery Boo Radley to the trial of Tom Robinson and the toll that it takes on the entire town.

It’s a great reminder that, although times are different now, people are essentially the same, families are essentially the same, friendship is essentially the same, and growing up is essentially the same. Whether you learn from television or from events unfolding in your own hometown, there comes a point where you realize that the world can be a cold, unfair place, and there’s no going back to the way things were.

But the book ends on a hopeful note — the world can be pretty harsh, but if you have people who care about you and that you care about, you’ll be okay.

Seriously. Must read.

View all my reviews >>

In case you were wondering, and I know you were, we DID make it to Stonington!  Hooray!  Emme and Elle hit two corners of the state in under 2 weeks… and yet it still takes 9 days to get an update post on it.  Ah well, let’s get focused.  Expect this post to be updated again soon enough, since Emme is writing it just before bed and definitely didn’t bother to proofread it, or consult Elle.  Whoops!

So we met up at the most reasonable halfway point we could think of: Westbrook.  It made for a good jumping off spot en route to New London county and the mythical, mystical, Stonington half of Mystic.  Unlucky for us, this would entail a heck of a lot of traffic.

View from the Bea-Mobile

Talk to Someone
Lucky for us, we also had some great suggestions from a Mystic-area native, Emme’s friend Dan, and the guidance of the office of State Senator Andrew Maynard.  As we’ve mentioned, Stonington is a tricky area.  So most of our talking came in advance of our Columbus Day voyage: Stonington is hard to do!

Do Something
We were able to identify B.F. Clyde’s cider mill as a great Stonington locale, touristy or not.  And SO delicious.  Even better for history buffs like ourselves, B.F. Clyde’s is a National Historic Landmark.

Emme & Elle Employ a Photographer

Emme had once heard all about it late-night on CTN, so it was a thrill to finally see the decades of hard work in action.  Of course, that doesn’t mean we had any idea what was going on.  Emme thought the signs prohibiting food and drink in a place that converts food into drink were hilarious, but our dear companion Bea made sure to set us straight.

We Have No Clue How This Works

Drink Something
Once we made our way through the mill area, we got to sample some of B.F. Clyde’s super delicious farm wines and hard cider.  If you haven’t been able to sample some of their offerings, we highly recommend.

See Something
Ah, Stonington Borough.  So, Mystical Dan had sent us a great list of places to check out, but most of the ones we found were on the Groton side of Mystic.  So, we’re definitely going to keep his list for later, but he did alert us to the quaint and super-New English (New Englandy?) area of Stonington Borough.

Cannonbaaaaaaalllllllll!

We know most Stonington voyagers would hit up the Mystic Seaport, we totally dig that suggestion.  In fact, we considered it.  But at the end of the day, we’d all been through there on field trips or something, and none of us had the cash on hand to fund a serious journey into Mystic’s seafaring history.  But it looked as cool as we remember, and we suggest that you support the state’s museums and whatnot, as they are totally cool, just totally not in the budget for all of us recent grads/state employees/people with poor money management skills.

Culture and History: Not in our Budget.

Emme felt transported back to Olde Cape Cod, and totally dug the great architecture and stonework around town.  Bea couldn’t stop complaining about the fishy smell where the car was parked.  Maybe THAT’S what prompted Bea’s Sea Captain voice… a mystery for our time.

Eat Something
You thought we’d been slacking off since our visit, but actually we’ve spent the week trying to burn off the calories we consumed on our Stonington voyage.  Thank you, BF Clyde’s, for your delicious donuts.

Healthy snacks.

No thanks, seafood restaurant, for your subpar clam chowder (not pictured).  Emme is unimpressed.

Lessons In Connecticuting

1. Never leave the house without Aoenghus, our trusty GPS guide.
2. Don’t invite Bea if you don’t want a day full of sea captain voices.
3. Find a guide who will personally show us around towns that may or may not be in other towns and may or may not clarify where they are.
4. Emme will never trust non-Cape Cod chowder.
5. Reading the notable resident section of the town’s wikipedia article would alert us to any possible Conan sightings… Emme is devastated to have missed all this: “Other famous residents have included the explorer Edmund Fanning, who discovered Palmyra Island south of Hawai’i; Revolutionary War hero Nathaniel Fanning; the Beaux-Arts architect Edward P. York, of York and Sawyer; the poet Stephen Vincent Benét, and the garden essayist Eleanor Perenyì. Pulitzer Prize-winning poet James Merrill, whose ‘Water Street’ evokes Stonington, moved to town in 1955. Ruth Buzzi of television’s “Laugh In” was born and brought up where Buzzi Memorials sits on Stonington Road. Harpsichord maker David Jacques Way’s workshop was in Stonington. Peter Benchley, the author of Jaws, also had a summer house located in the Borough. Since 1999, Stonington has been the home of 2004 World Series of Poker champion Greg “Fossilman” Raymer. Stonington has also been a destination for many famous persons, such as Viggo Mortensen, who rented a home in the area, and his The Lord of the Rings costar Elijah Wood; television host Conan O’Brien, whose sister lives in the Borough; and others, such as George Hamilton, Jimmy Fallon, Trey Anastasio of Phish and Dick Vitale of ESPN. Stonington has been the home to several on-location movie shoots, including Steven Spielberg’s Amistad and the Julia Roberts breakthrough movie, Mystic Pizza.”

The FairTax Book by Neal Boortz

My rating: 2 of 5 stars
I got this book from a friend who recommended it because he agrees with the concept.

Written by a politician and a libertarian pundit, this book explains the FairTax proposal.

I first heard of the FairTax when Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee backed it during his 2008 presidential run. Getting this book from my friend provided me with the opportunity to finally find out what the FairTax was all about.

It’s an interesting proposal, certainly. I can understand the appeal of having a flat percentage sales tax that comes with a monthly stipend for living expenses since I spend far less than I earn (You mean some people out there spend more than they earn? *chuckles* Oh, to be young and naїve again). And there certainly is a lot that I hate about our current tax system.

I know that some detractors claim that it would be too easy to cheat the FairTax system. But I wonder why I, an honest taxpayer, have to suffer because some chump decides to try and cheat the system. We honest folk are the ones who suffer most when someone else cheats on his taxes. We bear the cost of the countless amendments and changes to tax law. I’d be thrilled if more money was put into finding and punishing tax evaders as opposed to pumping money into reforming our current tax system.

However, the FairTax leaves some gaping holes that make me very uncomfortable. According to the book, the best way to implement the act would be cold turkey — i.e. starting January 1st the year after it’s passed, we would just start issuing the tax. No mention is made of whether retailers would adjust their pricing to reflect the new tax or if they would be given any help to understand the new policy. No mention is made of what would happen to the thousands of IRS employees that would be unemployed (yes, I understand that the fact that we need thousands of IRS employees just speaks to the current system’s inefficiency. I never said that the current system was working fine).

And my biggest problem with the book was Neil Boortz’s often inflammatory language. It smacks of propaganda to me and it makes a book harder to read for me, even if I agree with the policy underneath it all. I understand that Boortz is a radio talk show host and that this is just kinda how they talk. But I just didn’t appreciate the tone of the book, that’s all.

At the end of the day, though, I think we can all agree that the current tax system leaves much to be desired, and I have to admire Boortz for trying to bring a potential solution to the nation’s consciousness and Rep. John Linder for sticking to his guns for ten years. It’s more than I’ve done, I’ll give them that.

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