3018867    การดูแลการคลอด    Labor And Delivery Management

สรีรวิทยาที่เกี่ยวกับการเจ็บครรภ์และคลอด การดูแลการเจ็บครรภ์และการคลอดอย่างเหมาะสม

(Physiology related to labor and delivery, practice in appropriate labor management and conducting of the delevery.)

(3018867 จุฬาลงกรณ์มหาวิทยาลัย)

Zwift is an online ordering service enabling independent hospitality retailers to accept orders through the internet. Its fast, easy and safe for both the restaurants and their clients.

This week, Pedros Pit Pizza Restaurant in Port Melbourne went live with their new website www.pedrospit.com.au and are now reaping the benefits of secure online ordering.

Verse1
I got something that you would like
Let me pick it up at the UPS
And deliver it straight to you
I hope you get happy once you see

Cause when I put it down you’ll be please
So get ready for what I’ma give to you
And be happy when I hear that moan
Man I love it when you smile good

Prechorus
So baby I know I’m doing something right
Baby I please you every night
Just look at that smile on your face
Ain’t no one do it better then me-a

Chorus
I got a package delivery just for you
I won’t mail I’ll drive it to drop it off
You love what’s inside when you open it
I hear your moan is higher then what I think

I got a package delivery just for you
Go ahead love it when I drop it off
Open it and be pleased by it
I got a package delivery just for you

Verse2
I can be your pool man, mail man
Don’t matter I’ll do it better then he can
House cleaning up his mess he left in your crib
Post man coming up giving you what you love

Knock knock, who’s there? Opens the door
You smile when you see what I have for you
Fellas getting mad cause your with me
I’ll I put it down real good for you tonight

Prechorus
So baby I know I’m doing something right
Baby I please you every night
Just look at that smile on your face
Ain’t no one do it better then me-a

Chorus
I got a package delivery just for you
I won’t mail I’ll drive it to drop it off
You love what’s inside when you open it
I hear your moan is higher then what I think

I got a package delivery just for you
Go ahead love it when I drop it off (love it)
Open it and be pleased (pleased) by it
I got a package delivery just for you

Hook
I got a package, package, package delivery
I got a package, package delivery
I got a package, package, package delivery
Open it and moan to it

Chorus
(Ohhhhhhhh yeah) I got a package delivery just for you
I won’t mail I’ll drive it to drop it off
You love what’s inside when you open it
I hear your moan is higher then what I think

I got a package delivery (package delivery baby) just for you
Go ahead love it when I drop it off
Open it and be pleased by it
I got a package delivery just for you

I got a package delivery just for you
I won’t mail I’ll drive it to drop it off
You love what’s inside when you open it
I hear your moan is higher then what I think

I got a package delivery just for you
Go ahead love it when I drop it off
Open it and be pleased by it
I got a package delivery just for you

It’s difficult enough to attend to and comprehend what patients are telling us, especially given the disparities in language, varying abilities to be articulate, and the intense emotions involved. However, many of us would agree that the real challenge is understanding what our patients are not telling us—reading between the lines of what is actually said. Patients mainly communicate to express physical, informational, and/or emotional needs. Many factors (e.g., pain, anxiety, lack of information) may get in the way of their expressing these needs clearly. In order to respond to what they may feel are communication difficulties, patients may need to say something without really saying it. As Gwen van Servellen points out, explicit expressions of these difficulties are usually accompanied by deeper meanings. Here are a few that van Servellen identifies:

“I hate to have to tell my story over and over again.” Can I be spared some of this wasted energy and humiliation?

“Each doctor I talk to tells me something different.” Can I even trust my doctors if they’re not together on this?

“My nurse looks ‘overwhelmed.’ How come s/he isn’t able to respond to me?” What work do they do if they’re not taking care of me?

“My nurse says, ‘I’ll be back in five minutes’ and s/he doesn’t come back at all.” I can’t trust what s/he says to me.

“People come into my room all day without asking my permission.” Who should be in my room? How can I tell if they’re supposed to be here? What is going to be done to me?

“They can’t figure out why I’m sick.” Do they really know and they’re just not telling me?

Trust is key in the health care outcomes both patients and providers seek. As van Servellen asserts, the handling of interpersonal difficulties is both the contributor to and the result of effective (ineffective) healthcare delivery.

van Servellen, G. (2009). Communication skills for the health care professional: Concepts, practice, and evidence (2^nd Ed). Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.

Do you have disc golf gear on your Christmas shopping list this holiday season?? If so please stop by our family friendly disc shop. Disc Golf Pro Store is offering extended holiday store hours. We will be open on Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 11am-5pm starting on 11-27-09 thru 12-20-09. We are located in Garland at Jupiter and Kingsley inside Vikon Bazzar. You can even call us for a special appointment Monday-Thursday if you cant make it on the weekends. Also, be sure to find us on Google to print out special holiday coupons. Happy Holiday’s from www.DiscGolfProStore.com

Yes indeed. That’s chips as in British chips (French-fries, pomme-frites etc.) Battons of fried potato bathed in salt and vinegar for me please, mother…

So, when I awoke this morning, wifey was fully occupying one half of the bed. This is no comment on her size, even being pregnant. This is the fact that she likes to sleep with not only a duvet, but a zillion layers of blanket and coverings. The weight pressing down on her while she sleeps should leave her the shape of a pancake. So with her 2.5 tons of bedclothes, wifey takes up at least half of the bed. That doesn’t bother me, as I can quite happily and easily get by with what’s left and have room to move.

Until morning. When Murphy (the lurcher/dog/monkey/muppet) decides it’s time to climb onto the bed and get some morning cuddles. He’s not subtle. And he’s not small. He weighs three stone, can stretch out to almost five feet long, and appears to be essentially a short-haired bag of coathangers. And when he climbs on for morning cuddles, he lands between wifey and myself like a small elephant. Wifey and her mound of heavy coverings aren’t likely to shift, but the sudden addition of 3 stone of dog on top of the duvet means that said duvet sinks down between us beneath idiot dog and disappears from above me.

And of course, the wedge being driven between us propels me steadily toward the edge of the bed. So within a minute of Murphy deciding it’s time for cuddles, I am lying on a strip of bed four inches wide, with hardly any duvey and my pasty white buttocks hanging precariously out over the side of the bed. Until I either give up and get up, or I fall out of bed and land next to Seth, the other lurcher who is happy to stay in his own bed.

And that’s my morning routine at the moment!

And my current irritation is the fact that I am trying to arrange purchase and delivery of a christmas present to another country. Amazon sell it and do gift packaging. However, when you add international delivery in time for christmas and the packaging, the result is a little over SIX TIMES the cost of the actual product. Now tell me that’s not ridiculous. I’ve had a look at online companies in the country I want it delivered to, and they can do it in time, cheaply and gift-wrapped, but they don’t actually stock the bloody thing and couldn’t get it in time to send for Christmas. So in the end I’ve plumped for a company I trust that will do the job cheaply, but don’t do gift wrap.

Ah well.

And now the time for fried potato pieces.

Yay.

Have a goon ‘un, y’all!

Ciao

By Clare Murphy
Health reporter, BBC News

It was once imparted to the father over the phone, yet now it’s men themselves who often tell their exhausted partner the sex of the child she has just delivered. But could men be more of a hindrance than a help in the delivery room?

French obstetrician Michel Odent says yes, and even blames fathers for an increasing rate of births by Caesarean section.

At a debate hosted this week by the Royal College of Midwives, Mr Odent will argue against what he dubs “the masculinisation of the birth environment”.

The presence of an anxious male partner in the labour room makes the woman tense and slows her production of the hormone oxytocin, which aids the process of labour, so the French doctor contends.

This, he says, makes her much more likely to end up on the operating table having an emergency Caesarean section.

“Having been involved for more than 50 years in childbirths in homes and hospitals in France, England and Africa, the best environment I know for an easy birth is when there is nobody around the woman in labour apart from a silent, low-profile and experienced midwife,” he says.

“Oxytocin is the love drug which helps the woman give birth and bond with her baby. But it is also a shy hormone and it does not come out when she is surrounded by people and technology. This is what we need to start understanding.”

He will be debated by Duncan Fisher, a leading advocate for fathers, who, while pressing for more preparation for fathers, argues they are there because women want them to be – “and we should trust mothers’ instincts”.

Here we come

Certainly men’s appearance on the labour ward does co-incide with a rising number of caesarean births – although ironically their arrival was in part a backlash against doctor-led, highly-medicalised care in favour of a more woman-centred approach.

In the 1960s only about a quarter of men in the UK attended the birth of an infant, today it is well over 90%.

It is seen as an important rite of passage for any involved father, as well as a marker of social progress – the less developed a country, the more likely childbirth is to be seen as a woman’s business best conducted behind closed doors.

“But I think the other issue is the lack of one-to-one care of women by midwives,” says Winnie Rushby of Doula UK, an organisation which provides birthing support from experienced, but non-medically trained women. “Fathers have been called on to provide that help.

“Some of them are very attuned to the emotional and psychological needs of their partner. But if they are shocked by bodily fluids and very agitated by the pain they see her in, this could play on her mind and stop her psychologically entering the place she needs to be to deliver the baby – the birthing ‘zone’, if you like.

“We’ve gone from men not being there to virtually all men being there. We need to find a new medium, where there is no shame in discussing whether the father should be there or not. Women need to start asking if they really do want him there – and if so, is he prepared for what will go on.”

Staying home

In fact, the greatest advocate of putting men in the mix was US doctor Robert Bradley, who in 1962 published Father’s Presence in Delivery Rooms. This was a review of 4,000 cases when husbands were present.

He concluded, quite contrary to Dr Odent, that the husband’s presence as a so-called “birth coach” actually helped the woman to relax. “With husbands coaching, we have more than 90% totally unmedicated births. No other approach comes near to that figure,” he wrote.

Iran only recently allowed fathers into the delivery room after the health ministry in Tehran asked doctors to reduce the number of Caesarean births.

At 70% it has been among the highest in the world, and has been explained largely by women’s fear of childbirth. Bringing in the men, it was hoped, would provide women with the reassurance they needed to deliver their baby without surgery.

Whether some men do in fact aid or irk in the delivery room is likely to remain a staple – and unresolved – debate, as any clinical trial would be almost impossible to conduct.

“But what we do know is that there are many reasons why the number of emergency caesarean sections has risen – including obesity, older mothers, and fear of litigation – none of which have anything to do with the presence of dads,” says Patrick O’Brien, a consultant from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

“Having a baby together is an intense, life-changing experience that most couples want to experience together. The father can be an immensely reassuring presence for the mother.

“And as for the suggestion that men won’t cope with the so-called gore – well, most of his role can be carried out at the head-end, talking, mopping her brow, offering sips of water. Of course a man shouldn’t feel forced to be there, but I have yet to meet one who said after the birth of his baby – ‘I wish I’d stayed at home’.”

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/8377099.stm

Published: 2009/11/25 11:59:42 GMT

© BBC MMIX

This story starts about half-way through a huuuuge delivery.  We’ve been here an hour and a half already.  We’re outfitting this guy’s entire apartment; two bedroom sets with mattresses, living room, dining room and entertainment center.  Everything but the sofas have to be put together.  This guy, and his, um, “decorator” are completely plastered, drunk.  I’m not even sure they know we’re here.  It’s almost eight o’clock in the evening and we’ve been grinding all day.  Late to every delivery, I’ve already scratched my arm up pretty good and smashed my right hand.  My partner, however, has hit his head twice and tripped over the bed rails at this very delivery.  All we have left is to finish this guy’s delivery and one more stop.  We’re dog tired, beaten up and hungry.  To top it all off, we’ve haven’t used the bathroom all day. 

Now, I’d like to point out, we don’t make a habit out of using people’s bathrooms.  I don’t like letting strnagers in my place.  I feel uncomfortable using the bathroom in someone else’s place.  We were thirsty and this fella gave us some kind of energy drink, which by the time it was empty, we were full.  Ready to burst we had to ask him.  Of course he said yes, that guy was in the best mood ever.  He couldn’t wait for us to leave, so he could break in the new bed with miss decorator.  Afterward, we felt so relieved.  We knocked out the rest of this guy’s stuff and, after refusing a couple glasses of wine, went on to the next, and last, delivery. 

When we were on the phone, this woman, who also sounded drunk, was pissed that we were so late.  However, when we arrived she cordially greeted us and invited us in.  She offered us everything from cookies to hot chocolate.  She was following us around as we worked, which is kind of offputting.  Always with her drink in her hand, she smiled everytime one of us looked up from our work to catch her face.  What’s with this lady?  She is starting to creep me out.  Her husband sat alone on the sofa and his eyes seemed to locked in a roll everytime we looked to his direction.  Maybe they were fighting when we showed up.  Anyway, almost finished, my partner and I headed out to truck for her last piece.  I asked him in a whisper because she’s standing in the doorway, “What’s her deal, man?”  “She’s weirding me out.”

When my partner turned around he was beet red, laughing hysterically.  I started laughing just lookin at him.  we were completely inside the truck by the time he composed himself long enough to speak, “I felt a draft when we came out here.  My fly was open, and my dick was hangin out!!”

We both burst laughing.  I probably got as red as him, I couldn’t breathe it was soooo funny!!  His cock had to be hangin out since we used the bathroom at that guy’s house almost two hours earlier!!!

We took a minute, or two to compose ourselves.  When we went in, to our surprise, the lady’s face had been wiped clean of any smile.  She looked at us for a second, then walked off to the living room with her drink.  We were trying not laugh again.  A few weeks later, we returned to her house to exchange a piece.  My uncle was with me because my partner took a few days off.  As soon as we walked in the door, the first thing she said was, “Where’s the big guy?”

HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHa!!!!!!!!!!!

If you’re just joining us, be sure and check out the Fancy Plans Guide to Childbirth: Volume 1, in which we covered Pre-Delivery Preparations, Driving Arrangements and Checking In.

The modern delivery room: inviting as all hell.

The Delivery Room
This is where the miracle of childbirth happens.*

* If any attending medical personnel refer to the “miracle” of childbirth, have them replaced immediately with competent personnel. Otherwise, these starry-eyed attendants will be voting down the epidural and suggesting your wife deliver the baby in the nearest swimming pool. The only people who should be referring to this as a “miracle” are you and your wife.**

** Your wife will not be referring to this as a “miracle” as the word “miracle” tends to indicate something effortless and painless. In fact, it will most likely be referred to as a “curse” or “cruel joke” that is inflicted on all women by uncaring, useless men. Namely, by you on her.

Your doctor will now ask your partner to do any number of impossible things, like “breath easily,” “get comfortable” and “stop swearing.” You, as the man, have exactly two directions to follow: shut up and get out of the way.

Your partner may be saying something like, “The baby’s coming now!” Base your reactions on the actions of the medical team. Depending on the woman, “right now” can mean anywhere from ten minutes to thirty-six hours. Until they spring into action, find somewhere uncomfortable and take a seat.

While you browse 30-year-old copies of Highlights and AARP pamphlets, nurses will shuttle in and out checking vital signs like blood pressure and dilation. (Based on your previous answer, you will be greatly surprised at where the nurses believe your partner’s pupils are located.)

While the breech position earns more points for complexity, it almost always loses points for presentation.

The Delivery
As the contractions kick in and your partner’s physical exertion increases, the heady cocktail of pain, emotion and hormones will often result in you being held accountable for everything that has every gone wrong in the history of ever, due to your constant jackassery and inconsiderate actions. Try not to take this personally, you thoughtless prick.

As the swearing and unpleasantness continue, do your best to support your partner by saying as little as possible. Long-forgotten arguments and other points of contention will rise to the surface, starting from “You bastard!” and continuing on to touchy subjects such as these:

• Why you insist on continuing your questionable bloodline
• Why your parents insisted on continuing theirs
• The size of your genitalia in relation to past, better-endowed lovers
• The size of your shoes in comparison to the starting five of the L.A. Lakers
• Your million-and-one annoying habits
• Your childlike insecurity about having your genital size discussed in a room full of complete strangers, most of them women
• Your “thing” for golf
• Your “fucking” of her sister
• Your selfishness in allowing her to suffer the agony of childbirth alone

Try not to respond to any of these statements. Rebuttals such as “Well, you were the one who vetoed my contraceptive plan of anal sex and blowjobs,” or “In all fairness, she’s only your half-sister,” will only make the situation worse.

However, if your nurse is an attractive and "handsy" lesbian, by all means document the shit out of the delivery.

Documenting the “Miracle”
Despite the unpleasantness of everything involved, certain new father types will insist on aiming the camera at ground zero during the delivery and immediately uploading the video to the nearest public website.

If you feel you are one of these men, please consult a physician about an emergency vasectomy. You are too obtuse to be allowed to raise further, well-documented children. If you are uninsured, feel free to punch yourself in the crotch until the urge to start filming vanishes.

Some new fathers will feel this way out of ignorance. Let Fancy Plans break it down for you.

Remember the chestburster scene from Alien? Well, that’s what going to happen here. But instead of John Hurt’s chest it will occur in a body part that your are most likely particularly fond of. And instead of it being a slim, efficient killing machine, it will be an incredibly large and grumpy miniature human being that will drive you both to an early grave over the next 18-30 years.

If you still feel this is a beautiful moment that must e shared with others, then you are probably related to David Cronenberg or H.R. Giger.

If this is a C-Section, the rule still applies. Just replace “vaginaburst” with “disembowel.”

Coming up in the final installment: Post-Delivery Plans, Circumcision, Naming Your Child and Planning for the Future.

-CLT

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I had a friend come into town the weekend following my birthday to come celebrate with myself and friends. He had a craving for sushi and since we had all just woken up from a long night of partying the previous night, no one was in the mood to get dressed and go out so we opted for delivery. He asked me where was the best place to get sushi in Kingston and sadly I couldn’t suggest anything since my search for the best sushi in town was just beginning. I presented him with as many take out menus I could for sushi and upon much deliberation, we decided to go with Sakura. After debating further what we should order he opted for the complete dinner #19. Nara ($14.95)which included: California roll, strip loin steak, shrimp & vegetable tempura, dessert, steamed rice.  Since Sakura features free delivery for my area if I ordered more than $25 before tax, I decided to order Sushi Set A # 75 ($13.99) which included: 8pcs - Salmon, Tuna, Spicy Tuna, Spicy Salmon & 1 Salmon skin Handroll.

The food was delivered at the time they predicted 30-45 mins. I don’t know how standard that is for delivery time. At the time I lived near the Kingston centre so its one straight drive on bath rd to reach my apartment but in any case, I didn’t notice it too much as I was preoccupied with other things.

I didn’t do a review on my friend’s food since he pretty much inhaled it the second it arrived. It seemed like a substantial amount of food, at least it would have been for me so quantity for price seemed right. My meal included miso soup along with the sushi.  

The miso soup was actually pretty delicious. It was just a tad salty but passable. The tofu pieces found at the bottom was firm but silky. I don’t normally eat miso soup as I find it normally lacking in flavour or too salty or muddy but this was completely opposite of that.

This was my sushi set which included everything as previously described. Both the regular tuna and salmon were decent. Nothing too remarkable. The spicy salmon and tuna were not what I had expected. I had anticipated more of a roll. Their flavours were unremarkable as well. There wasn’t very much for spiciness. The spicy salmon and the tuna also tasted so similar, I couldn’t tell any difference. The nori around the hand-roll was a little soft from transportation and fell apart a bit while eating. The salmon skin inside wasn’t crispy, again probably due to transportation.

Once again nothing truly satisfying from Sakura. All passable if you’re just looking for a different meal. Best thing about it was the low minimum balance required for free delivery as most places require a $30-40 minimum and their delivery zone is rather large.

Sakura should be experienced once but I don’t know how many more times after.  

Sakura Japanese Restaurant
1350 Bath Rd., Kingston. ON
613-531-8882
website

Last night at work, I was telling Jackie of an interesting pizza delivery one night when I lived in my last apartment. I should have written about it when it happened, but I don’t remember if I had this blog then.

So, one night I place an order with PJ’s – of course – and when they brought the pizza there was a tag on the side with the information: what kind of pizza it was, when the order was called in and who prepared it. Where they list the name, however, I’m pretty sure they only have space for a few of the letters of the person’s name, which brings me to the discovery….

Who prepared it? Well according to the information on the tag…
“Your order was prepared by Christ.”

My thoughts?
“This pizza’s gonna be amazing!”

So, the true impact of the postal strikes on online fashion retailers has finally been quantified….and it ain’t pretty! Despite many of the big online firms putting clear notices on their homepages stating ‘we are not affected by the postal strikes,’ many shoppers turned to the high street in October to guarantee their purchases on time!

The IMRG Capgemini e-retail sales Index, which measures online sales, has revealed today that October sales growth dropped by 5% in the last week (a fall of £53 million to put it into context!) after the postal strikes significantly dented sales. Shoppers spent £4.2 billion in total.

Within clothing, which is normally the star peformer, delivery concerns had a huge impact on sales, almost halving the amount compared to previous years. Clothing sales grew by just 13.2% in October, compared to an average of 27% in October for the last few years. The month started strongly but rapidly deteriorated in the last few weeks as a direct result of the strikes.

The report says: “many shoppers turned away from online stores and returned to the high street to avoid delays in getting their winter wardrobe and festive party outfits.”

However, on the up side, the study predicts Christmas will come early for online stores this year, as shoppers rush to avoid postal strikes by stocking up on presents in advance.

…not all bad then!

fashionbite xx

Você provavelmente já deve ter visto nossos novos outdoors por aí. Nosso objetivo com essa campanha é mostrar os diferenciais em nossos lanches e pretendemos falar/escrever sobre eles nos próximos posts. Vamos começar com a base de tudo, o PÃO.

Nosso pão é artesanal e retangular, além do tamanho não ser nada tímido. Gostamos de te servir bem, por isso caprichamos no pão que você vai comer. Macio e fofinho, o pão é de fabricação especial e com certeza você sentirá a diferença.

Dimensões:

• 16 cm de comprimento,
• 8 cm de largura
• 6 cm de altura.

Gostou? Peça aqui: www.aiqfome.com/maringa/hotnburger

Não esqueça… Missão Delivery continua: 30 minutos ou seu pedido de graça. Veja o regulamento.

Saúde!
Equipe HB

I’ve recently guest blogged for the Industry and Parliamentary Trust on strategy and delivery. The post looks at the causes of the frequent disconnection of strategy and policy from delivery, across all three sectors.

To read more, click here.

I’m usually a big fan of Nordstrom, but my recent transaction with the company has made me NEVER want to shop there again!  Why you ask?  Because it took six weeks, ten phone calls to customer service, three calls to UPS and a letter to Nordstrom’s corporate headquarters to get the coat I purchased!!

I don’t know about you, but I find that sort of service unacceptable.  I ordered my coat on Sept. 20 and didn’t receive it until Oct. 30 , when I was told it would arrive in 5-8 business days! 

So what went wrong?  Apparently the coat left the Nordstrom’s warehouse via UPS.  From there, UPS “tried” to deliver the package to my second-story apartment but couldn’t find my unit (out of an eight-unit building).  Shocking, I know. 

Seeing that the UPS carrier was too lazy to walk up a flight of stairs – that’s a story for another day – there was no package notice left to alert me that the coat was sent back to Nordstrom. 

So, Nordstrom sent out ANOTHER coat and the cycle with UPS started all over again.  But here’s the kicker…Nordstrom failed to inform me (the customer) of the status of my order.  So in the meantime, I’m calling the company’s customer service and getting the runaround.  On three occasions customer service promised me the package would arrive the next day and it never did.  On two occasions they promised me a return phone call and never called back – infuriating!

Finally, four weeks after my purchase I got a UPS slip on my apartment door saying the package couldn’t be delivered.  I called UPS and they said the package had been sent back to Nordstrom.  So I called Nordstrom and they finally explained the troubles they were having with shipping and asked me for an alternative address to ship the coat (which they should have done weeks prior).  I gave them my work address and the package still didn’t show up for another 10 days!

The most disturbing part of this whole story is that I probably would never have received my coat had I not been such a squeaky wheel.  Also, I had asked for a refund for all the time I spent tracking down this coat (40 days) and Nordstrom wouldn’t give me one.  If I were you, I’d think twice when ordering from this company.  Unless you have the time to order you swimsuit in February so it’s there by June.

And let’s not let UPS off that easy.  The icing on the cake is that I got a UPS delivery a week later to my second-story apartment.  What’s that all about?!  Do their carriers pick and choose the packages they want to deliver?  If Nordstrom was smart it would switch to Fed-Ex.

The holidays are here! It’s a time to enjoy family, hopefully a little time off from work and a time to shop for more things for others to be thankful for.

It’s also a very stressful time. We’ve got great expectations of what will be and should be over the holidays. Many of us are traveling from here to there and our sheer numbers in tight places make everything a wee bit more difficult. Sometimes we even forget about being thankful for each other and we slip into a wee bit of holiday rage. You know, that time when we may yell at a fellow traveler for taking up too much overhead bin space or trample our neighbor in an effort to the get that special Black Friday deal.

I love spending time with family for the holidays, but I am not a big fan of the traveling. For some reason United Airlines thinks it’s funny to repeatedly lose our luggage. Last year over Christmas our suitcase was delivered to us after 5 days, right before we turned around to fly back home. Well worth the $15 each way we paid to have it flown to Pennsylvania in the first place.

This time we flew directly to Pennsylvania from Los Angeles, not passing go, not collecting two hundred dollars. I really did think to myself, “what could possibly go wrong?”

Our bags were delayed. It’s a sad and lonely feeling when you’re standing at the baggage carousel, watching the bags come out and twirl around on the belt. The people you flew in with are collecting their luggage and going off to have their adventures while you continue to stand there, waiting. Finally the belt stops and you are alone, still waiting for a bag that isn’t coming.

In this particular instance it only took just over one full day for our baggage to arrive but we were put through the wringer by United’s baggage claim staff while waiting. There were several times I caught them lying to me and when I called them on it they’d punish me by placing me on hold for increasingly long periods of time. Finally, I heard from the delivery company that United contracts to and after being told all day that the delivery company is unreachable by the public I was informed that they are public and they were shocked to hear that I was told by United that I could not contact them. The reason why, I learned from the delivery company, was that my luggage had only just arrived with them, which was in direct opposition to what I was told throughout the day by United.

So here you read me telling you that I caught United Airlines as a company, through their employees, lying to me and treating me badly. In order to give them their say I contacted them, told them I was writing this and asked if they would like to comment, promising to include it here. My response was a form letter telling me how to go about filing claims for delayed or damaged luggage. Should they reply in person at a later date I will place their response in the comments section.

The moral of the story, I believe, is that people will continue to be people, not always nice, often only looking out for themselves. Companies do the same to an even greater degree, but we continue to deal with it to get to spend time with the people we love.

That said, there’s no reason we should continue to put up with such treatment from the companies that rely on our patronage for their continued existence. We should demand better and if enough of us do it then they will treat us well and make that time we spend with our families even more precious.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009 is drawing to a close, and 2010 is waiting in the wings… Our dynamic team at Badec Bros Deco will be taking a well-deserved break from 18 December 2009, until 6 January 2010. You have until Thursday, 26 November 2009 to place your orders for delivery in 2009! From next week on, we will be taking the orders for 2010.

Therefore, should you wish to have your very own signature Cubedec steel dustbin, interactive sculpture, Cubedec shelving, Cubedec miniature Zen garden box, 2010 Soccer World Cup décor, mild steel lamp shade, mild steel screen, Cubedec laser-cut logo, gabion counter, narration stand, gabion light cage, gabion bollard, gabion water feature, sculptured living wall, sculptured flagpoles, unique pot and drip tray, customized sculpture, Cubedec bench, trendy steel décor with your company logo emblazoned on it, mild steel inspirational slogan, steel laser-cut signage, mild steel mould, Cubedec Pot, hanging sculpture, gabion pot, gabion wall or gabion terrace, wooden or steel feature poles, bar code trellis, Cubedec water feature, pergola, arch, sculpture or trellis, you can contact our energetic and knowledgeable sales representative, Mareleen van Zijl, on her cell phone at 078 800 5112, the office number at 012 460 7990, or via e-mail at mareleen@badecbros.com

She will gladly arrange an appointment with you to listen to your ideas and to stun you with our own creative ideas! You dream it, we manufacture it!

Badec Bros Deco will create a 3 dimensional render and calculate a quotation FREE OF CHARGE for you! We can deliver your unique Badec Bros Deco product(s) within 10 to 15 working days, upon acceptance of the design and quotation and the required 50% deposit. These services come standard and will not cost you a cent extra! We offer a 1 year guarantee on all our products.

Last week, New York State’s Department of Labor issued a press release announcing the findings of a recent investigation of restaurants in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Park Slope. From the release:

In April 29, 2009, sixteen Department of Labor investigators paid surprise visits to 25 restaurants and coffee shops along Fifth and Seventh Avenues, from late afternoon to ten o’clock at night. Only two of the restaurants were found in compliance, while 23 had minimum wage, overtime, and other basic wage violations. After inspecting the 25 in Park Slope, the Department expanded the cases to include two jointly owned restaurants in adjacent neighborhoods. In total, 207 workers were underpaid more than $910,000. Some of the worst violations were for delivery employees working 60 to seventy hours per week and paid a salary of $210.00 to 275.00 per week. At one restaurant, workers were paid as little as $2.75 per hour.

First of all, how fun must that day have been for DOL investigators? I would have gladly paid $100 for the opportunity to tag along and watch the faces of bosses drop as the government demanded that they open their books and interview their workers.

The story has gotten good coverage in the media, certainly helped by the fact that the sweatshop conditions were found in Park Slope. For non-New Yorkers, Park Slope has become one of those neighborhoods that is so easy to make fun of that it’s not worth the trouble. Stereotypes of residents include: progressive to the point of parody; chalk full of artists/writers/people-who-hang-out-in-coffee-shops-at-11 am; and lots of parents obsessed with the latest in child rearing techniques. In a very diverse borough, it’s also noticeably not. It’s worth mentioning that many of the most ardent critics of Park Slope are suspiciously Park Slopeish themselves. For example, I’m noticeably not diverse and before getting a real job spent a decent amount of time fighting over table space for my laptop in coffee shops.

What might get lost in the story, and in my digression into the complicated psychology that can go into Park Slope bashing, is that the problem isn’t Park Slope. The DOL could have selected restaurants on the Upper East Side, Chelsea, Chinatown or Brooklyn Heights and found similar abuses. It’s not a Park Slope problem: the problem is the endemic abuse of dishwashers and delivery workers within the restaurant industry.

Last summer I wrote a piece about income inequality, which included contrasting the lives of a delivery worker with a hedge fund manager. The delivery worker was paid less than $2 an hour, and much to the DOL’s credit, they gave me a call after reading the piece and asked if they could help. I put them in touch with the worker but don’t know what came of it.

Later in the year, for my book, I delivered food in the Manhattan neighborhoods of the West and East Village, Chelsea, Murray Hill, Gramercy, and the Flatiron District. Here’s a section about some of the folks I met and the wages they earned:

One Mexican man delivers for an Indian restaurant, and is paid
twenty-five dollars in cash for a twelve-hour shift, which he works
six days a week. On a good day he makes $50 in tips. Another,
who cooks and delivers for a pizza joint, gets four dollars an hour
in cash and takes home between $30 and $40 in tips. He also
works twelve-hour shifts, six days a week. A nineteen-year-old
Ecuadorian I meet while locking up my bike just started at a Thai
restaurant; at the end of each day he’s given $20 in cash, and earns
an additional $40 or so from tips. When I ask how they’re able to
survive on their income, the answer is always the same: They live
in a small apartment with many others.

It quickly becomes obvious that I don’t need to “investigate”
the prevalence of illegal wages in the food delivery business: that’s
all there is. Over the two months that I deliver food, I speak to perhaps fifty deliverymen about wages, and never meet another person who matches my princely wage of $4.60 an hour

I would suggest that after this first successful operation, the DOL spend a month doing swat-style swoop-ins of restaurants throughout the city. Target twenty per neighborhood. Hit them hard. Move on to the next neighborhood. Hit them hard. And if they need any help, I’d love to serve as a volunteer.

How many hundreds of sentences are used in a sermon?  And they all matter.  But they don’t all matter as much as a few of them.  I suppose I would suggest the following sentences as worthy of extra effort:

1. The Main Idea. Hours might be spent crafting and honing the main sentence for a message.  That would be hours well spent.  The main idea is the boss of everything in the message, it is the filter through which much extraneous “good stuff” is sloughed off.  It is the burning hot focus that is to be seared into the heart and mind of the listener.  It brings together understanding of the passage with emphasis on the life-changing relevance for the listener.  The main idea really is all it’s cracked up to be, and it’s absence will only confirm that billing!

2. The first sentence. It’s great to start the message with an arresting introduction.  Instead of beating around the bush until you get into your stride, much better to start with a bang.  It may be a startling sentence.  It may be an intriguing sentence.  It may be a contemporary paraphrase of that infinitely powerful sentence, “once upon a time . . . ” (narratives do grip listeners fast!)

3. Transition sentences. I think transitions are oft-neglected.  A good message with poor transitions will lose people.  Give some extra effort to transitioning slowly, smoothly, safely.  Keep your passengers in the car when you take the turns.

4. The final sentence. That last sentence can ring in the ears as silence descends and you move to take your seat.  Despite the best efforts of over anxious worship leaders or people chairing meetings, the final sentence can resonate in a life.  Don’t fizzle to a halting stop.  Stop.  Clear.  Precise.  Having arrived at your destination.  Having achieved your goal.  Having parked the message with exactly the final sentence you determined.

Preaching may involve hundreds of sentences, but a few of them are worth extra careful crafting!

Last week a fellow sales rep was complaining about another job of hers had been screwed up in production and wouldn’t deliver on time.  She may lose this client because this is not the first time there have been errors with their account.  I listened and expressed the appropriate amount of concern.  All sales people understand that quality control is one of the most frustrating parts of our job – we literally have no control over the quality of the product that is produced.  Or do we?  

I am not knocking my production staff.  The guys that I work with are AMAZINGLY meticulous, thoughtful, and detail oriented.  But no matter what industry you are in, there is a margin of error.  This article will tell you how to make as sure that those errors happen with OTHER people’s jobs, not yours.

So how do you effectively  implement a quality-control program when you actually have nothing to do with the production process?  You become a part of the production process.  Duh.

Now before you get all “but it’s not my job” on me, you need to stop your whining.  If you want to get results you need to change your perspective.

So here is my 5-Step “Oops!” Factor Reduction Process:

• Never Eat Alone:  Nothing helps you develop a strong relationship with your production staff like regularly breaking bread with them.  I recommend spending at least 2 lunches per month with them if not more.  This will help you learn more about them as well as make you available if they have questions about a job of yours they are working on.
• The “Good Morning” Factor: This one is super simple but I can’t tell you how many people have told me that they appreciate it.  Say “good morning” to people and mean it.
• Roll Up Dem Sleeves: Walk around the production area to check in on your jobs at least once a day but phrase it to sound like you are offerint to help if they need it.  If they ask you to do something, DO IT and SMILE.  Remember that they wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t needed.  Be available to pick up, deliver, and in general be of service for your jobs.  If your support staff sees that you are engaged on the same level they are, they will care more about your jobs and you will be one of the first to know if there is an issue.
• Over-Appreciate Overtime: If you know the production staff has to work over a weekend or is being burdened with a lot of overtime this is your golden ticket.  Show up unexpectedly (when you are supposed to be off) bearing beer or some baked goodness.  Walk around with the case/plate and tell them how much you appreciate their hard work.  Even if they came in to complete someone elses’ job – yours will get some extra TLC next time around.
• Ask For Input: These people are most-often experts in their fields.  Our Bindery Manager has been in the industry for 37 years.  That is longer than I have been alive!  When you ask for their opinion on the best way to do something, you are giving them a sense of  worth for their knowledge and giving your client the benefit of the years of experience these people have.

Look – I know you can’t get involved in every step of the production process or it will inhibit your sales.  So don’t get involved in every step.  Just get a little bit involved.  A lot of the stuff I have done has been on my free time - deliveries after hours, taking cards home and collating them while I watch TV, and coming in on Saturday to bring my favorite guys a few ice-cold beers as they are finishing up an arduous extra shift.

Maybe this process won’t help you at all, but I will tell you from experience that the jobs I sell are consistently delivered ahead of time and with the highest quality.

As you walk around New York’s Greenwich Village you can practically throw a chopstick and hit a sushi restaurant, so what makes Japonica so special?  Fork thinks it starts with the super friendly and accommodating staff and the authentic Japanese decor, but the main reason has to be the fresh and incredible sushi. The restaurant is as clean as clean can be, colorful lanterns hang everywhere.

Japonica was opened in 1978 and quickly became one of the Village’s restaurant institutions. Often very crowded, reservations are a must. The waiting area is teeny tiny and the wait can be a torment. Without a reservation, the key is to go before 6:00 pm or not long before closing.  Along with tables, you can dine at the sushi bar as well.  There is also a tatami room for parties.

Is it worth it? Absolutely. The huge and quick turnover ensures that every morsel presented to you is fresh and Japonica’s exacting standards ensure that it is of the best quality available. The menu is huge. A huge variety of both raw and cooked items. The menu is a little on the pricey side, but the bento boxes are a great value and the maki are both varied and inexpensive. On the other side of pricey is the quality, which is second to none, and the HUGE portions you are served really make this restaurant a value.

Fork, Tea Strainer and Chopstix met at Japonica for dinner. Japonica is one of Chopstix’s favorite haunts. This being Fork’s first trip to Japonica, Fork followed Chopstix’s lead for ordering.  Being a piece of cutlery that is used to 3 courses, Fork was surprised to be told that an appetizer would be SO unnecessary.

The dinners all come with a salad to start. In most of the Japanese restaurants Fork has been to the salad served with dinner is a very sad salad. Wilted iceberg lettuce and dried up bits of carrot, usually slathered in a poor rendition of a ginger dressing. Not so here. This was a very large, extremely fresh mesclun salad mix, with bright, crisp carrots. The dressing was great. Not too thick, not too much, great balance of flavors – slightly sweet, slightly savory. Wonderful beginning to our meal.

Fork and Chopstix ordered the Deluxe Sushi.  While it rings in at a whopping $35.00, the cuts of sushi are huge.  The fish is very fresh, very high quality, the type of fantastic sushi you get cravings for and spend years searching for.  There were 8 pieces of sushi, a salmon roll, a piece of tamago (egg cake) and Tobiko (flying fish caviar). By the time  Chopstix and Fork finished, we were stuffed to the gills (we love food puns, don’t you?).  Many times after finishing a sushi platter your taste buds are left not completely happy or satisfied. When you finish eating sushi at Japonica, each of your taste buds has been hit and each are totally satisfied.

Tea Strainer ordered the Dinner Bento Box. This dining experience starts off with a bowl of miso soup. Once you finish your soup, placed in front of you is a large tray laden with lots of goodies. The bento box always arrives with a small garden salad, 2 vegetable dumplings, and asparagus; then a choice between 4 items – Tea Strainer chose unagi mini donburi (BBQ eel rice bowl); and then another choice between 4 items for the ‘main’ – Tea Strainer chose sushi.  All this for only $24.50

Ah, dessert.  A culinary adventure cannot truly be had without dessert. Because we all were so stuffed, dessert needed to be something small. Mochi Green Tea ice cream was the perfect choice. Sweet, yet small. As an explanation, mochi is actually a Japanese confection made from pulverized sticky rice, this paste then surrounds green tea ice cream. Green tea ice cream is slightly sweet and has a very nice distinct flavor.

We were allowed to eat at a very slow pace, not rushed or hassled. Water glasses constantly – and quickly – filled. All the staff smile and are accommodating. After we finished eating we were sent a glass of ice cold, sweet plum wine. Perfect ending to a perfect meal.

The wine list here is great – we went through TWO bottles between three pieces of cutlery! Beer is also available. Definitely make a reservation – or go at off hours. If all else fails, they deliver! PJs, sushi and a Godzilla movie, sounds like a plan to me!

Japonica ~ 100 University Place ~ NYC, NY ~ 212.243.7752