Good evening readers.

Just got back from The RPV Advance and wanted to share some info with you.  Today, (Saturday) Sarah Palin will be in Fairfax to sign copies of her new book “Going Rogue”.

The details:

Where:  BJ’s Wholesale Club

13053 Fair Lakes Shopping Center
Fairfax, VA 22033

When:  11:00 AM – 2:00 PM

Further details:  “The book signing will be done on a first come first serve basis. Paid members will be allowed two books signed per membership card.” So if you happen to be in the Fairfax area later today, head on over and say hello.

Although I’ll be down in Williamsburg until tomorrow evening, hopefully I’ll have some good video of the event to share with you all when I get back.

~See videos below

Argh, I was trying to be really good and limit my RP music lately since it is a very busy last couple weeks of school…BUT I can’t help it when they post three new videos from Studio 10 and one more from Fox News.  Rockapella is, simply put, AMAZING…and I can’t wait to go see them again…Jonathan, you better be ready!!!

I was looking for a happy song that showed the Pella boys’ personalities to post to go with something I’ve been writing about places in my hometown like Covered Bridge, Cranberry Station, etc. because just as I rediscovered RP, I’m learning more about my little town.  Andover really has its own character and pleasantness, and I understand why people flock there during the summer (as much as Andover can cause strife every now and then, I really enjoy the town).  I was going to put up “It’s a Small World” because Rockapella’s concert version is so catchy and reminds me of when I was little (and really, REALLY wanted wooden clogs because of the ride and song).  THEN these videos came along and they would work out perfectly BUT I don’t really feel like writing today.  I just wanted to share them for those of you who watch the videos on here…enjoy =)

***All posted videos from Studio 10 and link from My Fox Tampa Bay via Rockapella.com (Youtube: Rockapelladotcom )…go visit their website www.Rockapella.com!  ***

Jeff is even sans guitar pick-up throat mics and still sounds great.  Video #1 is “Winter Wonderland” and 1:52 to the end of the song is my absolute favorite bunch of parts.  Video #2 is a fun interview with the guys…they sing  hints of “Folgers” as well as “Carmen Sandiego” and discuss their music…really good.  Video #3 is “Silver Bells” which has always been one of my favorite songs from them (now I don’t have to post the HSN version)…And then there is a link for another video of an interview + ”Winter Wonderland” from My Fox Tampa Bay which is quite funny.

Interview about their music, Folgers, Carmen Sandiego, and Kevin.

And one more link:

My Fox Tampa Bay – Rockapella Video – Winter Wonderland

Well, I better get back to work…back to the world of science plus some economics, film, emergency care, and honors mixed in.  Trying to focus amidst all of the excitement now.  Only 17 days until Fairfax which also means the semester is over…just gotta keep going a little further.  I’m going to try to cut out Pella holiday music at 10 days and the rest of the RP music at 7…gonna be quite the task…but I can’t wait!

With love and until next time,

~LLP

Back in mid July the NBR decided to put a chunk of their content behind a subscription wall. I was one of many amateur untrained unqualified bloggers that not only objected to being characterised as such, but was pretty scathing about the decision to lock away the content. NBR in turn referred I guessed to myself and others as “amateur hour, self righteous and all knowing bloggers.”

So how has the NBR fared? It was a half-assed launch, but they seem to have settled into a modus operendi. They are doing several things well – their site design is crisp and easy to use, their reporters are excellent and they are covering great stories.

NBR’s page impressions have clearly declined since the wall was erected, and we can expect that this was expected by them. It’s surprising to me that Interest.co.nz had not performed better versus NBR though:

It gets very interesting when we add Stuff and NZHerald (this is why I am using indexing as they are so large) into the mix:

Neither NBR nor interest.co.nz are performing well, while each of the two major media companies have grown their traffic substantially, with the big winner being Stuff.  According to several people on twitter (My thanks to @wrumbsy, @natobasso, @jadE_tangyfruit, @edcorkery, @jransom and nameless others on Twitter direct message) this was perhaps due to a bit of a redesign in August, a continuous series of tweaks since then and the effect of increased traffic from quizzes. NZ Herald have also been tweaking recently, which may account for their recent rise in PIs. I have no idea what drove their spike though – does anyone know?

We can see that the average time spent in a session rose sharply during that spike for NZHerald (and dropped a bit for Stuff) in late September/Early October, but that it has fallen away. Stuff on the other hand saw an initial drop and has been rising steadily since, to the point where visitors to both sites spend about the same amount of time there each time- almost 400 seconds.

When we look at the Unique Browsers (indexed again) we see that interest.co.nz is wallowing while searching for another financial crisis to drive traffic, while NBR improved a little but lost it again recently. Stuff and NZHerald continue to be inseparable, and have distanced themselves from their business and investment focused brethren.

The  sharp drop in unique browsers after the wall came up (especially versus other sites) shows that NBR’s decision caused them to lose a lot of readers.

And finally we get to my favorite measure – how much time was spent on each site by all people. It’s similar to the stories above, and shows that Stuff has kicked up and continues to do so, while NBR’s growth was stymied in July and they have fallen behind, to languish with interest.conz.

Finally let’s put this in perspective.

NBR and interest.co.nz are tiny compared to Stuff and NZHerald. They do however attract very interesting demographic and action-oriented segments of readers though, and so advertisers like to use them.

The other telling point in the chart is that Stuff have surfed past NZHerald in total time spent on the site. This is a big accomplishment, and so congratulations to everyone there. NZHerald are of course not standing still either, and the battle will continue for a long time. I expect that there will never be a winner unless one party blinks and tries something stupid like, well erecting a subscription paywall.

But let’s go back to the NBR – just what happened since the wall was erected? Here are all of their key traffic statistics measures gathered into one chart. and all indexed from April 6 as above:

As you can see they have all dropped. You could take your pick of start and end dates, and I have done so for this final chart. It makes for grim reading if you are selling advertising for NBR.

In the end the average for the statistics (a contrived statistic to be sure) dropped almost 30% due to the wall being erected. The average amount of time spent on site has fallen the least, but people are looking at 34% less pages and people are spending 38% less time on the site. That 38% is extremely worrying given that competition has grown in the meantime, and thus NBR’s overall  share of media attention has fallen away sharply. Advertisers care about that sort of stuff, so the revenue from advertising should be expected to fall accordingly.

Was it the right decision?

That’s hard to tell. The pricing is excessively high for non corporates, the way existing newspaper subscribers do not get a free ride is not fair and the original implementation seemed rushed. The quality of the writing and the actual website are not in dispute – it’s just a shame that less of us are seeing the content. The unknown that determines success or failure is simply how many paying subscribers there are, and what will and is happening when the first bunch of subscribers roll over into the next six month period. I await the news – though I probably won’t be able to read it at NBR.co.nz.

Photo by J. Suzuki

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday for three reasons: food, fat tires, and fatheaded friends.
Wednesday evening in bed, trying to fall asleep (w/little success), I  thought: this is how Christmas used to be.
The surprises,  the ritual (ride, blab, ride, ad delerium).
Thursday morning, former Marinite John Loomis was to meet his friend  Paul (Bike Intelligencer) Andrews here at eight. But John showed up late… giving me a chance to show the author of the redoubtable blog our tumbledown fief.

Then caught up with Lothar (Mr. Loomis) while going hypoxic on the first climb to Azalea Hill.
Spotted on the Triple Ripple:  the 2.0 verson of Tommy Breeze (taller than dad now!) with  his Drake teammate. Also at large: Nicky Fisher in fine flannel fettle.
I was talking to Paul who murmured, “that guy who just kissed your neck…looks like Gary Fisher“.

It was. What surprised me was that I hadn’t felt anyone nearby. He must have planted it in the ONE spot on the back of my neck (just southeast of the wattles) where all the random  smooches land. There’s quite a callous.  Joke alert.
I bade Gary suggest to a Euro promoter that I go with him to some epic retro ride. When I look at bike magazines, the advertising still only mentions men (like the Kenda tire “Legends of the sport”). Gary, you gotta tell ‘em how I inspired your look, and urged you out of the clone zone.

Eh?

Speaking of originals, I saw two  riders sporting  leopard fuzzy duds (my favorite of a hundred fleece patterns).   Each thought theirs was the only one in existence, as did I Yes, I have a set too… Many kids were in full racing kit–Drake High, Redwood, and faux Lance. In fact I’ve never seen so many sub-ten year olds on this grueling  four hour loop. In fact, over the decades this ride, while still predominently men, has taken on a strong family flavor. Lovely.
Too bad I had to return home early to cook.

Fifty hellos greeted me as I picked my way down the rocks.
There were still riders noodling up the hill at ten a.m, but the fast majority had gotten started–as is their wont–at seven a.m.
When I drove past the downtown party at ten-thirty, I realized this was the  only year I’d arrived in time for beer. Every other year, I’d pull in at one p.m. asking, “what happened?”
For all those prior years, I’d been lingering on the land too long. With that heavy ol’ banjo, that tea thermos, those cups and those cakes.

Missing 2/3 of the actual ride wasn’t as tragic as  I’d thought.
Just being outside on a fine day makes me ecstatic.  But caveat biker: watch where you drop your bike.

SeeKay saw a ranger drive over some luckless tandem wheel on the pre-knoll (great reason for riding over to the true Smoker’s Knoll: trucks do not hover there). It’s the second bike he’s seen driven over on the Appetite Seminar day, which is the one day that guys in trucks are swarming around in search of  accidents. Ahem.
Still, they’re a damn sight safer than the quartet of horsemen who helpfully volunteered to ride (abreast) counterclockwise…to respond to emergencies.
If you have ever ridden a fire road enough to know the turns, and you think it’s all clear ahead because you waited until you were alone for  a swift section…imagine encountering four guys on horses spread evenly across the fifteen foot road…Ow.  But back in town, after I’d cleaned up and put way too much lipstick on: a radiant Mike Posey found me at the beer station,. It had been a while since I danced with his five year old daughter at Kurt & Paula’s wedding.
“Your kids in college yet?”
“My 330 pound son has a football scholarship to college..”
“Has your daughter broken 250 pounds?”
“She’s a speech pathologist, doing great”.
Mike owns Ray’s Cycle, a popular Vacaville bike shop, second generation.

The Answer is Most Likely Nothing.   I am thankful this Thanksgiving that I live in a country often referred to as the land of opportunity and the envy of the rest of the world.  It is a country where my parents who were poor, could emigrate from another country, dream that with hard work, could obtain an education, eventually find a professional job, and dream that their children could live the American Dream.  I am hopeful that Obama learns the lessons of the Pilgrims so that this American Dream is not taken away from my children.  The following is excerpted from Stephen Coakley on my Facebook page  I think its an important lesson about Thanksgiving and the state of our country.

It’s almost Thanksgiving, its timely to remember that the pilgrims figured it out in Year 2.  On August 1, 1620, the Mayflower set sail. It carried a total of 102 passengers, including forty Pilgrims led by William Bradford. On the journey, Bradford set up an agreement, a contract, that established just and equal laws for all members of the new community, irrespective of their religious beliefs. Where did the revolutionary ideas expressed in the Mayflower Compact come from? From the Bible. And, because of the biblical precedents set forth in Scripture, they never doubted that their experiment would work. But this was no pleasure cruise. The journey to the New World was a long and arduous one. And when the Pilgrims landed in New England in November, they found, according to Bradford’s detailed journal, a cold, barren, desolate wilderness. There were no friends to greet them, he wrote. There were no houses to shelter them. There were no inns where they could refresh themselves. And the sacrifice they had made for freedom was just beginning. During the first winter, half the Pilgrims — including Bradford’s own wife — died of either starvation, sickness, or exposure.

When spring finally came, Indians taught the settlers how to plant corn, fish for cod and skin beavers for coats. Life improved for the Pilgrims, but they did not yet prosper! This is important to understand because this is where modern American history lessons often end. Thanksgiving is actually explained in some textbooks as a holiday for which the Pilgrims gave thanks to the Indians for saving their lives, rather than as a devout expression of gratitude grounded in the tradition of both the Old and New Testaments. Here is the part that has been omitted: The original contract the Pilgrims had entered into with their merchant-sponsors in London called for everything they produced to go into a common store, and each member of the community was entitled to one common share. All of the land they cleared and the houses they built belong to the community as well. They were collectivists! Bradford, who had become the new governor of the colony, recognized that this form of collectivism was as costly and destructive to the Pilgrims as that first harsh winter, which had taken so many lives.

He decided to take bold action. Bradford assigned a plot of land to each family to work and manage, thus turning loose the power of the marketplace. … Long before Karl Marx was even born, the Pilgrims had discovered and experimented with what could only be described as socialism. And what happened? It didn’t work! What Bradford and his community found was that the most creative and industrious people had no incentive to work any harder than anyone else, unless they could utilize the power of personal motivation! But while most of the rest of the world has been experimenting with socialism for well over a hundred years — trying to refine it, perfect it, and re-invent it — the Pilgrims decided early on to scrap it permanently. What Bradford wrote about this social experiment should be in every schoolchild’s history lesson. Here’s what he wrote: “‘The experience that we had in this common course and condition, tried sundry years…that by taking away property, and bringing community into a common wealth, would make them happy and flourishing — as if they were wiser than God. For this community [so far as it was] was found to breed much confusion and discontent, and retard much employment that would have been to their benefit and comfort. For young men that were most able and fit for labor and service did repine that they should spend their time and strength to work for other men’s wives and children without any recompense…that was thought injustice.’”

The Pilgrims found that people could not be expected to do their best work without incentive. So what did Bradford’s community try next? They unharnessed the power of good old free enterprise by invoking the undergirding capitalistic principle of private property. Every family was assigned its own plot of land to work and permitted to market its own crops and products. And what was the result? “This had very good success,”’ wrote Bradford, “for it made all hands industrious, so as much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been.” In no time, the Pilgrims found they had more food than they could eat themselves. … So they set up trading posts and exchanged goods with the Indians.

The profits allowed them to pay off their debts to the merchants in London. And the success and prosperity of the Plymouth settlement attracted more Europeans and began what came to be known as the ‘Great Puritan Migration.’” So the Pilgrims decided to thank God for all of their good fortune. And that’s Thanksgiving. Have a happy Thanksgiving.

I am thankful this Thanksgiving that I live in a country often referred to as the land of opportunity and the envy of the rest of the world.  It is a country where my parents who were poor, could dream that with hard work, could obtain an education, eventually a job, and dream that their children could live the American Dream.   I am hopeful that Obama learns the lessons of the Pilgrims so that the American Dream is not taken away from my children.

Blog by Dr. Phillip Chang, MD:  Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon with offices in Loudoun, Fairfax, and Winchester Virginia.  Join me on Facebook.

Quickwrite before I leave for my Uncle John, Aunt Debbie, Abby, and Rachel Thanksgiving dinner so I apologize for any errors in spelling or grammar and for the …I will fix those later.

Ponderance of the day: If one doesn’t like what how they treat other people looks like written down, why do it?

Anywho, I thought yesterday was going to be a terrible day after it went downhill about halfway through.  It was right before I set out to drive from Alliance to my grandma’s in Kinsman to have an early Thanksgiving for my Uncle Mike and his family…it was a long teary-eyed drive and a lot of thinking…plus this song (and the first minute of “Up on the Roof”).  I don’t listen to “Snowstar” nearly as often as other songs because this super-hyper-Christmas song on caffeine and sugar never fits my mood…there’s a lot going on in it.  BUT I like it now   Another Scott original to the rescue!  

This video doesn’t really do the song or the group justice because the sound is unbalanced, but I didn’t want to illegally post the song itself; however, I did want to share how it differs from your usual Christmas song.

            Snowstar: By Scott Leonard

“It never happened,
that thing that made you cry
it never happened
Erase it from your mind

See one glowing drop of starlight
floating slowly to the ground
shooting luminescent snow white
all directions without sound

Feel your ever-red preoccupation
everheavy hestitation
disappear within the fallin’ snow

See what’s happened,
It happens over time
It had to happen
for you to leave behind…

The hills of frozen tear drops
rolling slowly from your heart
The sting of what should be: stop waiting
Here’s where you start

See the breath of possibility
the edges of all you can be
reappear with the fallin’ snow

Crystal snowflake
whisper cool across my mind
Send a smooth-as-velvet breeze
Clear a path for us to see
forever, forever in the fallin’ snow

It’s gonna happen
Don’t waste a worry why
That day will happen
Erase it from your mind

Through crystal veil of snowflake
speeding light of mercury
whiskin worries cross the snowscape
velvet far as you can see

There’ll be symphonies of planets rising
hosts of angels improvising
new beginnings in the fallin’ snow”

Things are going to happen; they’re always going to happen…and I think I’ve finally learned how to deal with them.  It’s a good thing I pondered out “People Change” and posted it when I was ready or this could have been disastrous.  Anywho, so I had to stop at Quinn’s before I got to my grandma’s to fix my makeup and try to make myself look somewhat presentable before I walked in looking upset.  I managed to pull that off and actually had a wonderful evening with my Uncle Mike, grandma, grandpa, mom, dad, sister, Jonathan, and little cousins…THEY ARE ADORABLE!!!  Emma is 10 now, Andrew is 8, and Max just turned 6…playing around with them and hearing them laugh made me realize what truly matters to me and what affects my life. 

So we helped my grandma prepare the food, set the table, bring everything in to the dining room, and got everyone to sit down.  We said grace and ate together.  All of the food was awesome and for once, everything went smoothly…my grandpa still “eats like a bird…a humming bird” but will clean his plate every time, Max ate half of the corn, Andrew had a feast, and Emma somehow got that girl shyness that runs in my family…we’re all pretty quiet.  I avoided getting a glass of wine because, you know what?  I just don’t need it…I’m still not used to the taste plus it reminds me of lab because I can recognize the smell as an alcohol as in -OH group…I think I’ve tried 10ish glasses since I turned 21 in July…not your typical college student.  Between my grandma getting annoyed (kinda jokingly) at my grandpa for telling goofy stories and my grandpa’s old farmer mentality and randomness, it’s always a fun dinner (No, that’s a BRAND NEW battery!!! I just bought it USED from Joe down the road the other day…). 

After dinner we all cleaned up and my cousins had a beanbag war in the living room.  The first wave of cousins would have never been allowed to do that when we were their age, but I’m glad they can…it definitely was a less tense night.  My grandpa tried to put a polka television show on, but that quickly got poo-pooed by the majority who wanted to watch cartoons.  My grandpa bartered with them for five minutes of his polkas then they could watch all of the cartoons they wanted…I definitely went to polkas with my grandparents when I was little and danced at them.  Back to the beanbags…DUCK!  Holy smokes, if you weren’t watching you were going to get hit…they’re all in baseball and other sports so they not only have good aim, but throw pretty darn hard too..luckily with years of softball, my catching abilities were spot on…Jonathan was not so lucky.  A couple of pictures got knocked over, but other than that I think the major causalities were from each other.  My dad, Uncle Mike, and Jonathan were all dying watching them…they were out of control!!! In a good way  

Well, then we showed them what the beanbags were actually for…the criss cross toss thingy that we used to play with (basically tic-tac-toe).  They wanted Jonathan and I to play it and every time we’d throw one, they’d throw the beanbags back to us 100mph!  Then they decided it would be fun to try to block us so we just kind of threw them with no real goal other than to reach the board. There were bags flying left and right and we kept getting hit, but it was a blast.  Then we tried to get them to play so Jonathan set up rules and they actually followed them.  One person stood like 10ft away on one side and the other stood on the other,  you were whatever block you flipped over first (X or O), and you had to wait your turn.  It seemed like whoever had the lead instantly lost it by flipping over the other person’s letters or nobody got anywhere.  At one point Jonathan needed one more and he just couldn’t no matter how hard he tried…jokingly Max whipped the beanbag at the board and helped Jonathan win…hilarious.  Every time Andrew won he yelled BINGO!!!!!! which was amusing   The winner played the next person in line so it was a Jonathan, Max, Andrew, and Emma tourney until desert time.  I got to talk to my Uncle Mike too for a while which was nice because I just haven’t seen him in a year…everyone is finally starting to relax from that strictness we all had to follow when I was little so the conversations are much more pleasant.  Over tea and coffee everyone laughed and had a good time…one of the best Thanksgivings I’ve enjoyed even if it was thrown together at the last second to make it early. 

So back to “Snowstar”…when I went out to my car as we were all leaving, I saw I had a message on my phone.  Never failing, it was not a nice one which upset me after the turnaround that had just occurred.  HOWEVER, I’ve got enough strength now to just turn off my phone, say “oh well,” and call it a day rather than dwell on it.  I asked Jonathan to drive to Niles so we could hang out.   We went to Borders, he bought some cold Mochas, and we talked…I actually didn’t get emotional this time trying to tell him about the terrible-ness of the day…great strides.  Jonathan’s cousin Greg called so we met him at Applebees.  It was nice to talk to Greg about life, politics, school, work, and especially how Jonathan can’t count out the beat in a song if his life depended on it.  After a great night of conversation, I decided to head home since I haven’t slept the past couple of days and knew last night would be no different. 

I woke up this morning happy which I didn’t think was possible after the unpleasantness of over half of yesterday, but I was just fine.  Jonathan sent me a text in the morning making sure I was okay and I told him I was…thanks to “Snowstar.”  He couldn’t believe it since I constantly skip the song on “Comfort & Joy.”  Bring on the snow tomorrow and my favorite season, winter!  ”It’s gonna happen ~ don’t waste a worry why ~ that day will happen ~ erase it from your mind…”  Yesterday was that day and today I am erasing it.  I’ve got less than a month left of school before Christmas break and fully intend on enjoying it.  I never liked Christmas much because my mom dislikes it and it is high stress for everyone…until this year.  I’ve been in a holiday mood since September and I’m fully prepared to make this season happy and great…not going to let anyone change that.  PLUS, after the last few weeks of school and the day after finals, I get to head to Fairfax, VA for my Rockapella Holiday Concert with Jonathan! I do wish I was heading to Durham, NC to see them with the rest of the girls, but that just didn’t fit into my schedule so Fairfax it is…and I can’t wait!!! Especially after how much their songs have helped me this past year  

This is what is getting me through the hard times now (T-minus 23ish days!)…the polar opposite of what you have caused…and I’m just fine  

With love and until next time,

       LLP

Worker dissatisfaction has hit new highs as bargaining falters for an unprecedented number of collective contracts, a long-time Invercargill unionist says.

Service and Food Workers Union organiser Barbara Anderson was among about 120 chanting and placard-waving  workers protesting wage freezes and stalled contract talks in Invercargill this afternoon.

Her union was joined by striking Southland Times journalists, school support workers, hospital support and clerical staff, cleaners, people who work with people with disabilities, and other members of the NZEI and the PSA.

The rally was part of a nation-wide “Lift the Freeze” campaign organised by the Council of Trade Unions. There were demonstrations in 26 other towns and cities.

Fair deal: A support worker protests low pay at a rally in Invercargill (Squall photo)

Most of those who gathered in the wind and rain at Invercargill’s Wachner Place were on strike.

Mrs Anderson told Southern Squall her union was embroiled in a startling number of contract talks which had spent many months going “absolutely nowhere”.

“It hasn’t been like this, not for as long as I’ve been working with the union. We’ve had wage freezes and hard talks before, but this is the first time in my memory that we’ve had so many issues at one time.”

Talks with IDEA Services (an IHC offshoot), the Southern Institute of Technology and Sanfords, and work on the multi-hospital service workers MECCA, had all stalled.

Low-wage staff were bearing the brunt of a government-led wage freeze “and when we’re talking about people who don’t ave the luxury of an MP’s perks, that’s not on”.

“People are hurting. We keep hearing politicians saying people need to tighten their belts in a recession, but why is it that those who can least afford it have to make all the concessions.”

There could be little doubt that most of the protests were, indeed, hurting. One cleaner, who asked not be named, said she felt ignored by government and her employer.

“I’m not anti the government or anything, but I just don’t understand how the suits in Wellington can expect me to accept a wage freeze when I’m on $12.94 an hour.

“I don’t want the earth, none of us do. All we want is a fair go.”

Southland Times staff are also on strike.

Sign of the Times: Protesters support striking journalists outside the Southland Times (Squall photo)

Engineering, Printing, and Manufacturing Union organiser Trevor Hobbs said their employer, Australian-owned Fairfax, needed to “get real”.

“It’s very hard to justify a 0% increase when you’re dealing with a company that continues to make good profits. It’s about time these workers got a fair deal.”

Supported by a cacophony of tooting car horns, the rally marched from Dee St to outside the Southland Times building.

Non-union workers gazed from the windows as famously non-union chief photographer Barry Harcourt appeared to laugh at the rowdy crowd below.

Council of Trade Unions president Helen Kelly said employers, especially the government, had to realise wage freezes were a backward step.

“It’s backward because low paid workers will spend all their salary which is good for the economy. It’s backward because we will never catch up with Australia if we can’t even increase the lowest incomes.

“It’s backward because wages elsewhere in the economy are still going up. Most of all, it’s backward because the cost of living is still going up too, so a wage freeze really amounts to a wage cut for those least able to afford it.”

Fair pay: Support staff at the wage freeze in Wachner Place (Squall photo)

Southland Times journalists are on strike to protest stalled collective contract talks. (story updated here)

Sources say the Times’ editorial floor is this morning staffed by non-unionised managers, a junior reporter and an intern.

Journalists’ union delegate Evan Harding told Southern Squall his members wanted a 2% wage increase but that the Australian-owned newspaper wouldn’t budge on a 0% wage freeze offer.

Union hardman: Southland Times EPMU delegate Evan Harding (Squall photo)

“And then, two weeks ago we read that Fairfax had given failed chief executive David Kirk a AU$4m golden handshake,” Mr Harding said.

“[Some in] Fairfax had publicly said this man had failed, and here it was effectively saying that someone who failed was worth more than the workers at the coalface.

“It’s been deflating, to say the least, for staff.”

Mr Harding said the Engineering, Printing, and Manufacturing Union had 31 members at the Southland Times. He understood 30 had not turned up to work today.

The strike couldn’t have come at a worse time for the newspaper which will now have to stretch scarce resources to cover some of the biggest stories of the year.

The Burt Munro Challenge has started and Deputy Prime Minister Bill English is due to open the long-awaited Gore Events Centre.

It appears the strike has also left Queenstown – a daily news battleground – open for the Otago Daily Times.

Mr Harding said Fairfax would struggle to attract journalists to Invercargill as long as pay and conditions lagged behind other mastheads.

The newspaper was the only Fairfax daily not to offer weekend or overtime rates: Fairfax needed to “get real”, if only to demonstrate it was committed to encouraging quality journalism.

“It’s worth noting that Fairfax has made another strong profit, admittedly not as strong as other years, and our own newspaper keeps running stories with economists saying we’re coming out of the recession.

“Why should we roll over and over and accept a wage freeze.”

 We’ll update this story as it develops: afternoon update here.

Fairfactor: Striking journalists make their point outside the Southland Times building this afternoon (Squall photo)

Oh, and by now you’re probably wondering why we care about a strike at a newspaper. We’ll drip-feed our reasons as they occur to us, but here’s some for a start:

Quality journalism needs quality journalists. We think that’s a hard, high ideal when journalists (that’s low-glamour, print journalists)  are treated shabbily.

Read this (the Big New Zealand Journalism Survey) about what journalists think about their job and – crucially – declining resources. It’s a real issue for New Zealand journalism and the quality of work we read.

A well-supported media is in all our interests. Our media shouldn’t simply be a cash cow for faceless investors.

(We also reckon a journalists strike must be the loneliest industrial action you can have: if a tree falls and there’s no one to write about it, did it make a sound…?)

I’ll be in Fairfax on Thanksgiving for the most fabled Thanksgiving Day mountain bike ride of all, the Appetite Seminar. Hundreds of cyclists all over the hills of Marin, quite the spectacle and a great time to say hello to familiar faces and meet new ones. See you there!

Where to Buy in 2010 is a complicated affair. The buyer has so much chatter to sift through, so many conflicting opinions, and so much emotion to manage, that while it is a great opportunity, it is also fraught with peril and possible future disaster.

To be clear: it is a good time to buy. But it is a good time to buy IF a buyer is wiling to set aside priorities of shiny and new and instead, buy into a neighborhood.

Rather than rank neighborhoods or get too complicated with a convoluted metric that only makes sense to a statistical geek like myself, I have color-coded 44 neighborhoods in to easy-to-associate categories: Green Light. Yellow Light. Red Light. The data I used to come to these opinions involved analyzing and comparing these neighborhoods over each of the last six years, calculating the marketplace average for that time span for sake of comparison, and then plotting that against the present-day active market conditions. I looked at units sold, units that failed to sell, the average selling price, the probability of sale and what today’s total active units and average sale price looked like. A neighborhood that exceeded a 50% chance of sale over each of the last 6 years was unusual. A neighborhood that was selling above the 6 year average in 2009 was also notable. A neighborhood that had high unit sales, scarce active listings, a high probability of sale and a geographically desirable location proved to be an overall market leader.

A nearby neighborhood at a higher dollar figure with an increased probability of sale but a 20% drop from peak average value and a location that made it’s future demand questionable got the Yellow Light. An area associated with million dollar properties but an average sales price in the $700,000’s and less than a 20% chance of sale this year… that was a pretty easy Red Light.

Within any of these areas, there are homes and pieces of dirt that are exceptional and valuable in the long-term. This is a study of how actual neighborhoods are doing, not individual properties. It is very apparent that dirt matters. It is also apparent that there are notable market improvements throughout Colorado Springs. Of the 44 neighborhoods researched, green lights were awarded to exactly half (22).

Lastly, before showcasing the performance of these areas, this project is not complete. As usual, I bit off more than I could chew… or at least chew and digest. I need to add at least a dozen different neighborhoods in the coming weeks to include multiple parts of Monument, the East-Side, the Southeast Side and Fountain. Right now I am showcasing the information for the areas where I personally show or preview almost every month, and definitely make an appearance every quarter. There are other neighborhoods in town that have made spectacular improvements on the city’s east and south sides; and there are parts of Monument where demand has disappeared almost completely. This data will take longer to process, but will be treated with the same value association.

So without further ado: Where to Buy 2010

Green Light:

Sundown, Nor’wood, Oak Valley Ranch, Pinon Valley, Fairfax, Gatehouse, Sable Chase/Misty Meadows and Meadow Ridge/Contrails are the market leaders. These are areas in northeastern and northwestern Colorado Springs that have endured the market setbacks with consistent popularity and surprising value resilience. Every area has enjoyed a better than 60% probability of sale year to date and typically enjoys a better than 64% chance of sale over the last six years. The market average year to date is around 46% and has been less than 50% for each of the last three years. Prices suffered in each of these areas between November and March of last year due to bank-owned properties slamming the marketplace. Buyers gobbled these up quickly, frequently in bidding wars. Values plunged almost 10% in less than 2 quarters. The resiliency of these areas is all proven in the fact that they are all rebounding in price to nearly the same point as they were at the end of 3rd quarter 2008.

Among the newer areas, Stetson Hills/Ridgeview and Cordera are very solid value propositions. Stetson Hills has posted more units sold than any other neighborhood in each of the last six years. It is a huge area and I have some reservations about lumping it as a single area. But it tends to rise and fall as a singular entity. Presently, the average price stands above the six-year average. Over 300 units will probably close this year, behind only 2004 and 2005. Cordera is a real surprise. A record number of units have sold this year already and prices have been stable throughout the four-year history. It also boasts a 65% probability of sale. Apparently the master plan and collection of builders is finding fans in the buyer community.

Additional neighborhoods that get the Green Light include Mesa Heights/Pleasant Valley, Downtown (Patty Jewett & Divine Redeemer), Wagon Trails and Vista Grande. These areas have been less resilient to price fluctuations and have a lower probability of sale, but still have certain factors that show price appreciation in 2010 is likely. In Pleasant Valley, the average year to date sales price is still above the six-year average and the probability of sale has varied no more than 6% over the last half decade, varying from 64% to 70%. The only reason this is not an all-star is because there is a slight over-supply of housing with 15 units presently for sale, when only 22 have sold this year. Vista Grande is priced below 2004 values but has only 16 houses for sale. Such scarcity against the demand of 59 year to date sales says that sellers can probably stop worrying about depreciation. The average asking price is 40% higher than the year to date sales price, so if a buyer is looking under $180,000, they’re probably buying very well in Vista Grande. Wagon Trails has started to return from the big 2008 foreclosure crunch. Thirty units may sound like a lot for sale, but considering that this neighborhood sold more than 190 units in both 2004 and 2005, that is a very low supply for an always popular area. Prices have taken a hit downtown in terms of what has sold, but the asking prices show that there is still some resilience. With supply and demand heading back to a direction that favors sellers, downtown should experience an additional pick-up in activity in 2010.

Wolf Ranch and Pinecliff are two Green Light surprises. Wolf Ranch probably suffered more from the market meltdown than any other sizable neighborhood. In 2007, the average sales price dropped almost 10%, and then 2008 saw three national builders leave the market (John Laing went bankrupt) and foreclosures swept across the area. But prices have stabilized which is very unusual for a market in the mid-$300,000’s and the probability of sale has increased to over 50% which is also unusual for the pricepoint. Pinecliff has taken a beating this year in price, but that is primarily due to a value-enhancing quality: there is very scarce inventory. What has been on the market in 2009 has generally been below-average in terms of price. Only 13 units have sold this year (peak was 27 in 2007), but there are only 7 for sale (this is a 440 unit neighborhood). This is characteristic of a marketplace where sellers with equity have simply waited out the market not wanting to compromise their investments.  The higher end properties will probably start selling once more units come on the market and buyers begin looking at three to four homes in the area rather than one or two here, and ten somewhere else.

Briargate hosts two areas where buyers can probably scoop up a pretty good bargain: Wedgewood and Summerfield. Both of these areas have averaged a 70% probability of sale in the last six years but have stumbled in 2009. That means they have sellers who probably are ready to unload their houses in an area that is typically a magnet for relocation traffic (which is a big part of why they have stumbled in 2009: relocation is off tremendously from the 2006 peak).

Neighborhoods that just squeaked in on the Green Light are Old Farm, Skyway, Rockrimmon and Springs Ranch. In each of these areas, the prices that are selling are well-below the average sold price and the peak. But the probability of sale is visibly increasing. Since all three areas have pockets of higher end properties interspersed with properties at or even below the market average, they deserve attention from savvy buyers looking for long-term investments. A caveat is that in all three areas, the present listing supply is generally leftovers from the summer season. These may move up the list by 2nd quarter 2010. Springs Ranch has not performed nearly as well as it’s northern neighbor Stetson Hills over the last three years. The bigger concern is that there are still 54 units for sale. Properties take longer to sell here and while the probability of sale has increased, there is not the supply:demand ratio swing that shows definite price growth now. It looks likely in 2010, but has not yet materialized. The probability of sale has increased in 2009 from 47% to 64%. This was in part due to sellers getting more realistic with lower prices.

Finally, a handful of neighborhoods that rate as near-misses. These are interestingly all Higher End areas… and Old Colorado City. These are yellow light areas for a fairly uniform reason. Flying Horse, Pine Creek, Mountain Shadows and Broadmoor Bluffs/Spires are all known for higher value homes than their 2009 average sales price. The 2009 average sales price is well below the 6-year average in each of these areas. But almost without fail, where the inventory problem lies in these areas is in units that are well-above the six-year price average, and often well-above the market-peak for average price seen in 2006 and 2007. Strangely… Old Colorado City has the same problem. OCC is really a $200,000 area, but the average sales price stands at $154,000 for the year. When the median on-the-market asking price is 35% higher than the year to date average sales price… something still is not right. These are some of the Yellow Light Properties, where green shoots are beginning but improvements are yet to get rolling but should begin by 2nd quarter, 2010. More on these tomorrow.

Dr.Arthur Yin Fan has been highly recommended by many friends/former patients in DC Urban Mom forum/website.

See Detail, go to: http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/jforum.page;jsessionid=6CC849C1F21385470C978CFCB7FFE49E?module=search&action=search&forum=3&match_type=all&search_keywords=arthur+fan

and

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/35451.page#234484

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/29626.page

www.ChineseMedicineDoctor.us

The Hundreds are killing it again with their Badam Capsule Collection. If you know The Hundreds, chances are you know Adam Bomb. Meet his bitter rival, Badam. In their words, ““Who’s Badam? If our buddy Adam is a relatively easy-going, nice, happy incendiary device, Badam resides all the way at the opposite end of the spectrum. Badam always looks like he’s seen better days, thanks to his bloodshot eyes and his sour expression.”

The collection release this Friday at both THLA and THSF. Check out the images below.

View Full Album

Thats what it looks like. I keep an active tab on whats happening in Country Club View (Fairfax 22032) and there is only one “active” property on MLS as of Nov 20th (yesterday)  assuming the data is accurate. The property is on Gadsen Drive. If you are not already working with someone, and would like to see it, please call Tom Robinson at (571) 235-1452.

For Sale  on Gadsen Dr, Fairfax, 22032

The Pulse diagosis is one of main methods in Chinese Medicine. Traditionally, the evaluation impression could be reached after four style of disgnostic methods. So, patient’s pulse is important in this pressecc.

Traditionally, doctor consider the pulse reflects patient’s constitution and patient’s illness change.  However, it may be affected by many other conditions, such as exercise, medications.

Herbal medicine could affect patient’s pulse in some extents, for example, qi-improving herbs may cause the pulse stronger. Even more, if th patient takes too much of qi-improving herbs, the pulse may become slipery or overstrong.

The medications may affect patient’s pulse very much, for example, if patient uses Progesterone, the pulse is slipery and like already get pregnanted.

The beta-blocker could decrease the pulse rate and force, so the pulse may be weak and slower than should be; The anti-hypertension drugs also affect patient pulse depending on specific style of action.

Some medications may be in-directly affect the pulse. For example, some antibiotics may hurt patient’s stomach, causing gastritis and pain, which may cause patient has a string pulse.

www.ChineseMedicineDoctor.us

I popped over to the Old Town Hall in Fairfax to photograph Charles at a recital this morning. He was part of the Friday Morning Music Club concert series. All FMMC concerts are free and performed as a public service. The Old Town Hall is a lovely place to photograph with its hardwood floors and original old windows with beautiful natural light. I got a few more images to use in the feature layout of the upcoming January/February 2010 issue of Hearing Loss Magazine.

This morning’s FMMC hour-long program consisted of:

Berbiguier: Trio For Flutes, Op. 51, No. 1 (Mvmts. i-iii); Albéniz (arr. Bill Holcombe): Tango from España (performed by Yvonne Kocur, Lauren Sileo, and Holly Vesilind—flute trio). You can listen to Yvonne Kocur’s graduate flute recital at George Mason University here. Listen to Lauren Sileo in a recording with pianist Bryan Wagorn here.

Albéniz: Selected solos, Charles Mokotoff, guitar. You can hear snippets of Charles’ music on his website here.

Haydn: On Mighty Pens, from The Creation; Bach: Wir eilen mit schwachen, doch emsigen Schritten, from Cantata No. 78 (Nancy MacArthur Smith, soprano; Carolee Gans Pastorius, mezzo soprano (guest); Patricia Parker, piano)

Sondheim: One More Kiss; Porter: So in Love; Weill: What Good Would the Moon Be?; and Rossini: Una voce poco fa (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Stacie Steinke, soprano. Steinke is the Artistic Director for Make-A-Scene Music and Entertainment.

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

If you are interested in reading more online about dystonia etiology,clinical features and treatments, there is a book there: http://books.google.com/books?id=bMKypn_B0tIC&pg=PA188&lpg=PA188&dq=dystonia+acupuncture&source=bl&ots=NQGwLxPXyM&sig=2r0ctp6cWWbcZgU-8TgQ6UnP0EQ&hl=en&ei=kiYDS8i8BNXVlAeendnuAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10&ved=0CB8Q6AEwCTgy#v=onepage&q=dystonia%20acupuncture&f=false

Skillful (self) execution

Rode with neighbors Chris and Matt– a red letter day,  because I wasn’t unwelcome.  Perhaps I tried a bit hard to become unwelcome….let me explain…

A million years ago, I rode a few months with the Wednesday boys  who met at Sunshine Bicycle Center here in Fairfax.

I didn’t wait to be invited. I just rolled up on beat-up Peugeot three inches too big, wearing my shortsleeve men’s madras shirt, khaki shorts,  and Clark’s wallabees (no cleat) with chartreuse socks.  Try to imagine what ten guys hanging out before the shop opened,  rocking their  latest (and it was new back then)  lycra  might be thinking. I didn’t realize at the time that guys check out every detail of outfits as much as we women do.

1981 was my first season as a racer, and as long as my boyfriend and I were together, I was immune to the heavy macho vibe. I raced every weekend, driven in style in Gary’s BMW sedan with the back  seats ripped out to accommodate our bicycles.
He puffed up with proprietary glee on those Wednesday rides, whenever I  hammered up the hills at the front. He  relished the fact that I was undroppable by Marin’s fastest. We both pretended not to care that my enthusiastic sprints for the city limits went un-contested (except by him).
“You’re racing more in one month than most of these these guys will do all summer”, he’d tell me. “They’re all show.”

I was pretty sure I was going to be a champion, and hoped my breaking-in period wouldn’t involve broken bones. I let the grumbling roll off me. Besides, my hands were full, trying to figure out how to ride in a straight–really straight–line, and not freak when someone rode alongside at 25 mph. These things take time.  Over the next couple of months both the women in the racing scene and the guys I trained with ’schooled’ me. And yes, even the women wished I would just take up wind surfing…

That autumn, I  broke up with Gary, and unwittingly entered a new era. Without his protective support,  I was food for the hounds.

I can’t forget the last time I rode  with them. My former mate was out of town.  By letting me lead through the maze of Fairfax streets, the gang ‘dropped’ me the only way they could:  by  veering off-route en masse behind me.

Otis G. and Garry Somers stood  waiting at the usual corner.

“Where’d everyone else go?” said Otis.
“They were behind me a second ago.”

From a different direction,  the pack approached.

I glumly rode along at the rear,  and  heard one of them hiss,  “can’t  she take a hint??”

I headed back home.  Numb.

Is it any wonder I hesitate to ask if I can barge in on someone else’s ‘regular’ ride?

For five or six years I’ve seen Chris, my neighbor, return muddy from what had to be a nice 2-3 hour dirt ride. Every time, I would supress the urge to invite myself along. It was especially hard to resist once his wife  told me that he rides circles around the young lions in his fire crew.

My competition chakra—ignore the gray hair—burns with the need to take  them all on.

Still.

But someone would grumble “It’s not a race”.

To which I might retort, “Oh, right“.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that any ride consisting of more than one man becomes a race.

Which brings me to this week, when  a certain Matt H. and his kid Sam appeared at our place to shoot pix of CC and I for the boy’s art school fort polio…

The dad (busily ‘keeping out of Sam’s hair”) admired our hovel, and  mentioned a regular appointment on the trails with Chris, my down-the-street neighbor.

“CAN I COME?” I hinted subtly.

“Sure, we go on Wednesday. Tamarancho if the weather’s good”.

With beginnerish anticipation, I met up with them on Iron Springs, and  we cruised onto “Alchemist” (the trail that links Goldman Trail to Iron Springs Road). I ought to have heeded that “newbie  phelan”, and just played it cool.

But then I wouldn’t be Being JP.

I announced that I like to pass people, even  on singletrack trail, ’cause it feels more like racing’.   Thank God  I told them, rather than ambushing them with my prowess.

“Just tell me  you’re passing, OK?” Matt shot back.

Ten seconds later I warbled “PASSING!”

Jamming myself into the four inches of trail alongside the poor guy,  I  jacquieknifed my front end, twirling off the bike in a reverse somersault down the leafy  trail’s edge. Musta been a hidden root under the leaves just as I made my move.

I meant to do that,  I thought to myself, dragging my (unharmed) bike back onto the trail. I  was covered with leaves.
Out loud, I said:  “Permit me to demonstrate my superior bike handling skills….heh!”.

Matt looked a bit taken aback, and Chris just said: “You ride in front“.

Inside, the voices mocked: “fool, salope, eedjit, stronza, corkskalle”.

I behaved the rest of the ride, and actually stayed behind most of the time so I could hear ‘em talk.

Maybe they’ll ask me back, but I won’t hold my breath.

What they promise

What you get

After reading a fellow blogger post on taking his son to Hooters, i was very surprised by the photo he included. Though it was very helpful to his case that waitresses exhibited minimal sexuality, i was shocked to see how little she resembled the “Hooters girl” image we have all come to know and love.

What is Hooters coming to when they resort to waitresses who are, as AOL parent dish states, “fairly average-looking.”

Publicity like this certainly can’t reflect well on Hooters. While this article reached the huddled masses due to its controversial content, there’s really no way that this photo has anyone racing to Hooters to get a look at the dream girl.  This pale, flat chested waitress, with her un-styled hair and bad haircut  is a poor excuse for a Hooters representative and a huge disappointment.

Whats going on Hooters? Why are you no longer trying to impress your customer base. Whether its just the Fairfax, VA location that the waitress labeled “Catherine” works at, or Hooters waitresses world wide, it seems to me they have become a bit sloppy.

Friday, November 13, 2009

ALEXANDRIA, Va. —  A northern Virginia family says their lives were turned upside down just 24 hours after getting their 14-year-old son received his seasonal flu and H1N1 vaccines.

Jordan McFarland is an avid young athlete who was unable to walk without the aid of a walker just one day after getting his flu shots. His father Calvin says doctors made a preliminary diagnosis of Guillain-Barre syndrome, a disease characterized by muscle weakness and sometimes paralysis.

About 1 in 1 million people who receive seasonal flu vaccines will be infected with GBS, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC adds that GBS is a condition that strikes people who have never received a flu vaccine.

The Alexandria, Va. teen had both a seasonal flu vaccine and an H1N1 shot a week ago, but his dad believes the illness is linked to the H1N1 flu shot. He says Jordan had regular flu shots four times before without a problem.

The CDC tells FOX 5 it is investigating five cases of reported Guillain-Barre Syndrome after patients had a swine flu shot. One of those cases is a 14-year-old in Virginia.

Click here to read more from MyFoxDC.com.