And to the Master of Servants I bow

My head ascended with pride,

Upon the face of this king I address

His bitter tears old, aged and dried.

Fear not damnation, but that of me

For I am both your kind and the divine,

With chaos, so will there be peace

Until at last this great plain be mine.

My Lord, King and Master did now sigh

His anger to rage did now become clear,

As with a click of his finger’s he gave

Ordering death upon all I held so dear.

My inner strength did surface here

As vengeance was not my victory key,

For it was that which rests in my soul

The very construct which created me.

© Marcus Kasabian De Storm -2009-

How I love the Twisty Bug!  This great item from Discovery Toys is good for hand-eye coordination as baby learns how to hold it like a rattle.  It also teaches cause and effect when baby learns it makes noise when he/she shakes it.  Also, baby learns the wings “click” when they are twisted.  The BEST thing is that the wings are teethable…and we know how much babies like to chew on their toys.

The best news is that the Twisty Bug is part of the Discovery Toys Winter Sale.  Follow this link and stock up…they’re only $5 each!

Plus, if you buy one by midnight tonight (Sunday, December 27th), I’ll donate my entire commission ($1 per Twisty Bug) to the March of Dimes.  That’s a win, win, WIN!

Click here to view the Winter Sale handout!

You can shop the sales directly at my Discovery Toys home page.  Just click here!  And hurry…these great deals probably will fly right out of the warehouse!

• Do you know the objectives of your customers (and their customers)?
• Is your service offer designed with the customer in mind?
• Are your internal systems (ordering, billing, shipping, computers, financial, etc.), geared toward how the customers prefer doing business with you?
• Do you constantly measure customer satisfaction?
• Do you continually meet with your customers to determine their needs today and tomorrow?
• How is value created, delivered, monitored, and maximized in your organization?

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.

http://www.shopplasticland.com/

At this online store, you can buy vintage and retro clothes, cute accessories and random stuff. Personally, I am in love with their stuff, as they sell books, clothes, shoes, wallets, bags, decor and jewellry.

Click the link and browse through the store. Enjoy~!

Honestly, one of the most difficult parts of tending bar, is waiting on customers that want service, but don’t know what they want. I understand that sometimes people are drunk and can’t remember the full order, or maybe they see someone they want to buy a drink for after I have poured the rest of their beverages and am waiting for them to pay me. I understand that these things happen. But it’s not very cool. If I go to a busy bar, and I want two beers, a margarita without salt, and a Cape Cod, this is what I do:

First off I find somewhere that the bartender can easily see me. Standing on the far side of the bar or behind the bartender is a bad idea. Also don’t be afraid to make some noise. Only don’t start spouting out orders if the bartender hasn’t connected with you first. (i.e. eye contact, a point or a nod, ect.) Just make your readiness known.

Secondly, know what you want. Better than that, know specifically what you want. If bartenders were mind readers, no one would pour your drinks cause we’d all be rich off the stock market or something. Instead of “a beer”, say “a Corona”. It’s a win- win situation: you get what you want, and I don’t have to talk to you. Once you’ve figured out what you want, think to yourself, “Can I legally purchase the amount of drinks that I want?”. If the answer is “I don’t know, I just wanna get fuckerd up”, then you’re in the majority. If that’s the case, usually the bartender will ask you if you have someone to help you carry those, or something. Just say yes. If you’re gonna break the law, you might as well lie. I know, Utah laws blow.

Next is something called “string ordering”. A string order is when you’ve ordered your drinks, the bartender makes them, and then you want something else. This is not cool. I understand that you are spending money, and blah blah blah….. But the fact of the matter is that it makes other people wait longer for service, and makes you look like a dick. Again, know what you want before you order.

Third: paying for your drinks. After ordering everything that you want, please don’t walk off or start a conversation. Stay focused, drinks are on their way. If the bartender has to chase you down, or get you attention so that you can pay for your beverages, you have discounted my next point. Be ready to pay. Please. Either have a card or cash in hand. Don’t make people wait for you to finish your point, or have to pull out 16 ones. If you already have a tab open, good. But assuming that the bartender remembers your name is silly. Just say your last name. It’s easy. Anyway, now you’ve got your drink, and paid for it, then left a decent tip. Successful transaction!

Next time, I’d like to talk about limits and what to do in case you’ve been cut off. Until then, be safe and watch for deer.

limited time christmas offer – free shipping within canada! there are only a couple issues left!. you could get one for your mom/dog/dad/son/cousin. if you want. click image for details.

I was on my way to a coffee shop this morning, and I thought about my order.  I was planning ahead.  It hit me that I don’t typically just order off the menu.  I tend to order off the off menu – you know – the hidden menu.  I can’t just order a medium vanilla latte.  I have to add a few extra pieces of instruction to it – which is not a bad thing, that’s just the nature of ordering coffee these days.  We’ve turned it into this personalized ordering experience.   Do this with the milk?  Sweeten it with this?  Don’t add foam?  Make it this hot?  Put this in it?  Add another cup?  What is your ridiculous coffee order that you just have to have?

I also do it to most sushi chefs when I go to eat sushi.  I know what I like.  I ask if they can make it – and typically, they don’t want to be shown up.  It adds a bit of adventure to the experience.  It opens up the menu and the experience to try different things that don’t show up on the menu.

On the one hand, someone can think that I’m super picky and high maintenance.  On the other hand, I’m confronting the notion of the platonic dish (click on the link to see a previous post about it.  Basically, it’s the idea that chef has decided what tastes good, and it’s the idea of challenging the chef’s composition of the perfect ingredients for a specific dish).  Some would say that I’m being a jerk by ordering off the off menu, but others would say that I’m being wise by getting exactly what I pay for.

What does it say about me that I order off the off menu?  What you say says something about you?

The a la carte meat thing? Probably will not work. The difference in cost is huge (although it must be said that in some cases the meat was bigger/better than it would have been from the box, I think (?) – chops seemed thicker, anyway). And in the meantime I’ve gotten better about eyeballing how much of everything to cook, so I have less in the way of leftovers, so I can use the sliced ham for sandwiches. Leaving just sausages to stockpile, and I’ll sort something with those. Most likely requiring a weird conversation with friends along the lines of ‘anyone want a free packet of sausages every two weeks?’.

There will probably be some meatboxes that have a higher proportion of stuff in them that we don’t want, and on those weeks I might stick with just getting £25 worth of chicken breast/mince/whatever and work around it. The pre-sliced chicken breast actually worked out really well – unless I’m missing something it genuinely is cheaper than whole chicken breast, and having a bag of chunks to deal with actually made me weigh out what I’d use, which led to the magical ‘no leftovers’ achievement.

I’m still incredibly crap about planning and ordering. My box is delivered on a Wednesday and I usually look at and re-arrange my order on a Saturday (and it has to be finalised by 10 pm Monday) – and it feels like I haven’t even started using the stuff from the most recent box when I do this, plus I seem to think in terms of ‘do I have enough X to get me through the next 5-7 days’ when I need to think in terms of ‘do I have enough X to get me through the next 10-12 days’. Which is idiotic. Because of this, I keep ending up running out of onions, garlic, potatoes, tomatoes…

Freezing the milk has been working well. I’m starting to play with semi-skimmed for the first time in my life – the full fat milk is so rich that, as much as I love it, I’m actually thinking I need to cut back a bit… Just started on the first semi-skimmed today, and it’s good, seems to make my tea the same colour as store-bought full fat milk did.

This week and last week I was back to my standing order of the mini fruit and veg box, plus supplemental potatoes, onions, mushrooms, eggs (a dozen this week – I’ve been eating them so much I haven’t had enough leftover for baking. These eggs are amazing.), peppers, garlic, milk… I’ve shlumpfed into being less adventurous (probably laziness from being ill and then frazzled trying to catch up with things), and I’m just sticking to the same meals over and over. (Which means that the cavolo nero is in my fridge making me feel guilty until I bin it.) I’ll be trying something new tonight (purple cabbage with apples), and soon I hope to try soup – I got a mouli and all. Maybe not this weekend. We’ll see how long leeks keep. Got to see if The Kid will give soup another try – all sorts of other things she likes now that she didn’t before, and that would really help get us through the winter…

In other news, I got a pair of bokashi composters, about which I have mixed feelings… The principle of it seems to be that you put in your food waste and sprinkle a layer of bran that’s been doped with good bacteria, and the bacteria breaks down the food waste in a kitchen-safe, non-smelly way, and you get liquid that you tap off the bottom of the thing periodically, and when it’s full you leave it for two weeks before dumping it in a hole in the garden.

My main motivation to do this was that I had so much more food waste once I started getting the vegbox, and it felt really shitty just binning it all. But after about two weeks with the bokashi box, I’m not sure this is the way to go. Nothing seems to be happening, and no liquid is being formed in the bottom, and I’m using loads of the bran (they say more than necessary can do nothing but good, but if you use too little you can end up with a hot smelly mess which is NOT compost). Maybe I have too much food waste? Maybe it’s too early to say? I’ve cut back on what I put in, and I’m just going to wait and see, but so far it seems like I have a bucket of kitchen scraps for no good reason. :/ Most likely I’m wrong, which in cases like this is always nice.

Java suggests two techniques for defining an ordering on a collection of objects. The first is implementing the Comparator interface, as a stand alone comparison mechanism. The second is making the objects comparable, by making their class/es implement the Comparable interface.  

When the ordering is inherent to the class nature, such as with class Integer, implementing the Comparable interface makes sense. In the other cases, we don’t want to add specific ordering logic to the class implementation. Instead, we implement comparators on a need to basis. We may also want to implement multiple comparators for the same class, thus having many ordering schemes.

Regardless of the interface we choose to implement (Comparable/Comparator), there are some important rules to follow. Suppose that we need a class for maintaining a set of points in the plane, ordered by their distance from a fixed point. Let’s first define a class for representing a point:    

public class Point{
    private int x;
    private int y;
    public Point(int x, int y) {
        this.x = x;
        this.y = y;
    }
    public int getX() {
        return x;
    }

    public int getY() {
        return y;
    }

    public boolean equals(Object other){
        if (!(other instanceof Point))
            return false;
        Point otherPoint = (Point) other;
        return x==otherPoint.x && y==otherPoint.y;
    }

    public int hashCode(){
        return x ^ y;
    }

    public double distanceFrom(Point other){
        int dx = x-other.x;
        int dy = y-other.y;
        return Math.sqrt(dx*dx+dy*dy);
    }

    public String toString(){
        return "("+x+","+y+")";
    }

 }

And now let’s define the OrderedPointSet class, which uses a TreeSet with a comparator for maintaining the sorted set of points efficiently: 

public class OrderedPointSet {
    private SortedSet<Point> points;
  private Point refPoint;
  public OrderedPointSet(final Point refPoint){
        this.refPoint = refPoint;
        points = new TreeSet<Point>(new Comparator<Point>(){
            public int compare(Point p1, Point p2) {
                double dist1 = refPoint.distanceFrom(p1);
                double dist2 = refPoint.distanceFrom(p2);    
                if (dist1>dist2)
                    return 1;
                if (dist2>dist1)
                    return -1;
                return 0;
            }
        });
    }
    public void add(Point p){
        points.add(p);
    }
    //returns the reference point followed by a list of points ordered in ascending distance from it

    public String toString(){
        return refPoint+":"+points.toString();
    }

    //Other methods
    ....
}

We can now test our implementation: 

OrderedPointSet ps = new OrderedPointSet(new Point(0,0));
ps.add(new Point(1,5));
ps.add(new Point(10,10));
ps.add(new Point(5,20));
ps.add(new Point(5,5));
System.out.println(ps);

The output contains all points, with their right order:  

(0,0):[(1,5), (5,5), (10,10), (5,20)]
 

Apparently the job is done. However, the implementation has a major flaw, that can be detected with the following test scenario:  

OrderedPointSet ps = new OrderedPointSet(new Point(0,0));
ps.add(new Point(5,10));
ps.add(new Point(2,11));
ps.add(new Point(5,5));
System.out.println(ps);

We expect to see 3 points in the output, but we see only two:   

(0,0):[(5,5), (5,10)] 

How did this happen? The first two points, though not equal, have the same distance from the reference point  (square root of 125). The TreeSet implementation (as well as other SortedSet implementations) never invokes the equals() method on its items, and relies only on the comparator implementation for determining equality. Therefore, from its point of view, points (5,10) and (2,11) are equal. When trying to add the latter, the collection stays unchanged, because it obeys the contract of Set.add(), which doesn’t permit overriding. As a consequence, another part of Set’s contract is broken: we add two distinct items (according to equals method), and yet one of them is rejected.
The problem originates from the comparator implementation above, which doesn’t define an ordering consistent with equals, as required by the SortedSet documentation. The formal definition is as follows:  

The ordering imposed by a comparator c on a set of elements S is said to be consistent with equals if and only if c.compare(e1, e2)==0 has the same boolean value as e1.equals(e2) for every e1 and e2 in S.        

Actually, for solving the problem described above it suffices to enforce only one direction of this rule: if two items are equal according to the comparator, they must be equal according to the equals() method. However, failing to comply with the other direction will result in a different violation of the Set interface -  the collection may accept two items despite the fact that they are equal according to equals().
Returning to our example, the fixed version of the comparator enforces consistency with equals by breaking distance ties of distinct points arbitrarily:

public int compare(Point p1, Point p2) {
    double dist1 = refPoint.distanceFrom(p1);
    double dist2 = refPoint.distanceFrom(p2);    
    if (dist1>dist2)
        return 1;    
    if (dist2>dist1)
        return -1;
 
    int dx = p1.getX()-p2.getX();
    if (dx != 0)
        return dx;
    return p1.getY()-p2.getY();
}

Proving that the consistency rule holds for this code is easy:

Let p1,p2 be points.

(Direction 1) Assume that p1.equals(p2). Then, p1.x=p2.x, and p1.y=p2.y. In this case, when running compare(p1,p2), conditions on lines 4 , 6 and 10 will not be met. The returned value is then p1.y-p2.y, which is 0, as requested.
(Direction 2) Assume that compare(p1,p2)=0. That means that the method must have terminated at line 12 (the other return statements never return 0). Therefore we know that p1.y=p2.y. Also, we know that condition on line 10 was not met, hence p1.x=p2.x. In other words, p1 and p2 are identical, so p1.equals(p2) is true, as requested.

Summing up, when implementing a Comparator (or Comparable)  interface intended to be used in some SortedSet implementation (or as a SortedMap key), make sure the comparator complies with the consistency with equals rule. This will guarantee that the collection respects the Set contract, and does not exhibit weird behaviours. After implementing the comparator, it may be wise to prove that the consistency property really holds.

As you prepare your holiday shopping lists, please keep the following deadlines in mind if you plan to order any Discovery Toys products:

• December 8th is the last day to place an order with Standard Shipping for Hanukkah.
• December 13th is the last day to place an order with Standard Shipping for Christmas.

These deadlines are from the company and apply to all orders placed through the Discovery Toys Link website.  If you plan to place an order through an Educational Consultant, please add a few extra days to be safe.

If you find yourself needing replacement/additional parts for any of your Discovery Toys products, many are available.  For example, you can order additional power screwdrivers for your Motorworks set so all siblings can have their own ($6/screwdriver).  If you need pegs for your Giant Pegboard, additional balls for your Hammer Away or Castle Marbleworks, or a cup for Measure Up! set, I would be happy to help.  Please e-mail me for a complete list of replacement parts!

Edition of 50.
30 dollars + shipping

Order your copy now!

Palimpsest Magazine is a heterogeneous anthology of multiples, an unbound magazine comprised of print, audio, textile, video, etc. Included artworks are editioned by either the artist or designer.

issue/01 now available! Contributing artists include:
Tess Edmonson
Chris Foster
Holyoak/Thompson
Kevin Hainey
Tobias Rochman
Willie Brisco
Christopher Mills
Brendan Reed
Simon Schlesinger
Fragua/Roy
Aisling Macken
Stacey Ho
Matt King
Alex Pensato

Curated by Danielle St-Amour, Arianne Dinardo and Tess Edmonson.
Design by Craig Fahner/Nicole Legault/Danielle St-Amour.
For a catalogue of contents, visit our website.

Part of the point of getting the boxes (whether meat or veg) was to force myself to try things I hadn’t tried before. But I plateaued very quickly – I was really happy to find a few new things that worked well and I wanted to stick with them. So in this week’s order, which should include a meat box, I think I’m actually going to order a la carte for the meat. After two meat boxes (=one month), I have discovered that I probably won’t ever eat enough sausages or sandwich meat to make them work. (I have so much food leftover most nights that lunches are taken care of. Maybe someday I’ll tap that resource in a different way.)

So now I feel like I’m in an Agatha Christie novel (a not-unpleasant experience), sitting at the kitchen table with lists and menus – more so than before, because I was able to wing things before based on what arrived in the boxes.

So, first thing this week – we’re so happy with the milk that I want to avoid having to supplement with normal milk, so I’m going to order four or five litres and try freezing a few (they go out of date before the week is up, of course, so to get a week’s worth I’ll try freezing). The cost of the milk is only slightly higher (within 10p) than the milk at the shops, so this is a painless switch. The eggs are slightly more painful (I tended to shop for the cheapest free-range I could find, if not the cheapest full stop), but on flavour alone I’m happy to switch entirely to Riverford eggs. And at the risk of sounding like a complete loony, I was surprised to find that the boneless chicken breasts with skin on were much, much easier to a) remove the skin from, and b) cut, than I remember from past experience with shop chickens. (I seriously intentionally paid extra for skinless for years based on it being too much of a pain to remove the skins myself, after having done it a few times… And now I feel like a moron.)

It seems like I can make chili once every fortnight (with leftovers enough for two additional meals), and roast chicken is a favourite but gets old weekly, so that also is relegated to once a fortnight. Ah. But of course – if I’m not ordering a box, I don’t have to order two weeks’ worth of meat at a time… Hm. It will work out more expensive, but I think that’s unavoidable, and preferable to throwing things out.

After lots of backing and forthing, I think we’ll get the Seasons box this week. The Favourites box is more appealing (less unfamiliar stuff), but I like the idea of everything coming from within the UK, and again, I do want to be forced to try new things. So this week I get to figure out What To Do With Swede. (Also, can anyone tell me why all soup now needs a food processor? What did people do before food processors? And can I do that?)

So, this week: Seasons box, containing onions, swede, leeks, brussels sprouts, broccoli, cavolo nero, red cabbage, cauliflower. Need to add to that: mushrooms, eggs, milk, possibly carrots. For meat, I think bacon and bacon bits, some diced chicken breast which looks to me like it comes out cheaper than whole breasts, but maybe I’m doing the sums wrong, and pork chops which might be enough for two meals or three, not sure. That may or may not be enough to get us through the week.

The Appeals Chamber at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) today delivered its Judgement in the case of Dragomir Milošević.  Appeals Chamber partially affirmed the convictions against Dragomir Milošević and reduced his sentence to 29 years. The Appeals Chamber Judgement may be found here and a summary here.

Dragomir Milošević is the former Corps Commander of the Sarajevo Romanija Corps of the Bosnian Serb Army (VRS). Milošević was charged with conducting a campaign of attacks on the city of Sarajevo, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of civilians. On 12 December 2007, the Trial Chamber convicted Milošević of four counts of crimes against humanity and one count of war crimes. He was sentenced to 33 years’ imprisonment. The Trial Judgement can be found here.

Carolines Room Ordering Is Fun
Carolines Room Ordering Is Fun

Carolines Room Ordering Is Fun Game
Carolines Room Ordering Is Fun Game Description : The room is one big mess and mommy is checking soon! Can you help Caroline to clean up her room? Dont forget to use the vacuum cleaner!
How to Play Carolines Room Ordering Is Fun Game? Use the mouse to pickup an item, click on the outlined areas to place an item.

I’ve been wearing contacts since I was ten years old. Yes, I know! What were my parents thinking? Surely I lost them. Why yes I did, thankyouverymuch, luckily my smart step dad took out insurance.

I had contacts back in the days of using enzyme cleaner in distilled water. Did I just date myself? You had four different solutions. A soaking solution, a rinsing solution, and a cleaning solution. Then the distilled water with enzyme tablets. You had to have a near science degree just to WEAR contacts back then. At least they were soft contacts, those hard ones always looked painful.

Fast forward to today, my gosh, look at all the available contact options. You can get three month wear, six month wear, bi-weekly wear, colored, even bi-focal contacts. Seriously! They have come a long way. I can’t wear the extended wear. I tried and my eyes watered, constantly. It was 3-D blurred vision – I was not happy.

“Why?” asked the doctor your eyes are getting MORE oxygen with these. Um, gee doc, I don’t know. Apparently, I see better with oxygen deprived eyes. Go ahead smother them!

They put me back in the same bi-weekly lenses I had been wearing for many years, until this last visit. This doctor based on medical issues [cough] allergies [cough] recommended daily wear contacts. You wear them ONE day and toss them. A fresh new pair every day for those with dry allergy ridden eyes.

Now, I struggled a bit with the whole waste thing, how much more trash was I creating? Was I killing the planet? How lond did they take to decompose? They are not recyclable, nor environmental friendly. In the end, I tried them for seven days – comfort – blessed comfort – won out.

For the first time in 27 years, my contacts were cozy. My eyes were content. Not just day one or two, but all day even late into the night. To a long time contact wearer (and nightowl), that is incredible. They cost a bit more but I don’t have to buy solution either. The pleasant wearing experience was worth every penny (and more).

I have used 1-800-CONTACTS for a quite a while. They are very convenient, not to mention top notch customer service. I was in such desperate need of contacts after my eye appointment in May, I went online Saturday night to order them. Thing is, I kinda forgot the brand. No worries, there were only TWO daily wear lenses. I picked the one I thought it was. I figured they’d verify with the office and get the right one anyhow (forgetting it was Sunday the next day and the office was closed).

The contacts arrived within the week, oh happy day, I HATE wearing glasses. I can’t see. I never feel awake. I had gotten so irritated that week, I had dug out an OLD, OLD pair of contacts to wear. Yuk! Major eye disturbance.

So here they were, fresh and brand new, I immediately put my lenses in…..and couldn’t SEE a thing! I thought, maybe I got a bad lens. I tried another pair, STILL couldn’t see. Ahhhh!

I was bummed. I went to work wearing glasses and called them. As I’m speaking to a rep, I notice the box is + not – like my prescription. Ooops. Yeah, my bad. I tell them, it’s the wrong prescription, I admit it’s my fault. They tell me according to the doctor’s office it’s the wrong brand too. Wow.

Not only do they fix it and ship it right away, they do not even charge me the extra money for the different brand which was more expensive. AND they didn’t laugh at me for my major flub! (wearing contacts for 27 years? HA)

Three months later, it came time to re-order again. I jump online, no problems. My prescription is there and verified, no chance of getting it wrong. I actually ordered six months worth of contacts, because you know, time flies.

The box came yesterday and I open it right up, CONTACTS! My CONTACTS are here. Here is what I find……

Inside the box.

One of the boxes.

What’s left inside the box after the boxes are removed.

83 contacts

Now either someone had a really bad day in shipping and took it out on a mean ole box of contacts, or the contact boxes had some major issues with each other when the box closed. *You’re in my space. Move over. Get your elbow off me. Stop wheezing! Are you looking at me? You want some of this. Why I outta…*

One box was completely ripped open – all the contacts broken apart and loose. Two other boxes were opened but not spilling contacts, the third box looked a little inflated but was fine, not opened anyway. I would have been okay if they were all there, but no, one box was short seven contacts. I had to call them and let them know. What a trip! (heh, literally!)

Apparently, those seven escaped during shipping or were kicked out of box club for talking about box club. Or maybe the shipping guy had a problem with them. You seven? You’re OUTTA here! What happens in the box stays in the box….no questions, right?

Rogue contacts, only me….

The Holiday Toy Sale is HERE–

with Discovery Toys® Educational Consultant Melissa Droegemueller!

For THREE days only, you can get high-quality toys at unbelievable discounts!

NOW is the time to get your holiday shopping “in the bag.”

• When you purchase FIVE products from Discovery Toys® during the Holiday Toy Sale, the 5^th toy is 10% off!

• When you purchase TEN products from Discovery Toys® during the Holiday Toy Sale, the 5^th toy is 10% off AND the 10^th toy is 20% off!

Please choose your most expensive items to receive the discount—we want you to benefit from this sale!

Consider one of the $99 bundles (attached) for your discounted item and increase your savings!

Place an order with friends to get to TEN—I’m happy to divide up the cost among multiple customers!

But wait—there’s more!

The following FIVE must-have items are 5% off during the Holiday Toy Sale!

• Measure Up! Cups (regularly $12.50, now $11.88!)—all ages
• Sunny Sounds (regularly $17.50, now $16.63!)—infant
• My Busy Day Blocks (regularly $20.00, now $19.00!)—toddler
• Busy Farm (regularly $20.00, now $19.00!)—preschool
• Wiz Kidz (regularly $12.50, now $11.88!)—school-age

All orders must be placed by MIDNIGHT, Thursday, November 12^th.  Please e-mail teachplayinspire@gmail.com and include a phone number, so that we can discuss payment options after I calculate your savings and add tax/shipping.

Toys will be delivered directly to the address that you choose in plenty of time for the holidays!

View the catalog online at http://discoverytoyslink.com/melissad.  Hope to hear from you soon!

Happy saving!

Melissa

We raise beef and we LOVE raising beef… but what really is included in our lives?  Hope a glimpse into our lives through a great big “Ranch Smile”  will bring you a bit of what we experience!  The latest option on McKinney Land and Cattle’s website is a continually changing page with the latest pictures of what we are up to!  Be sure to check it out!

As a reminder, we sent in our last shipment of the year!  The summer and fall shipments are entirely sold out – so make sure and get those orders in to reserve your side of McKinney Land and Cattle beef.

Blessings,

You have to be careful when shopping online for stag do t shirts. Although there are many sites with different versions are not (yet different quality & service), the prices are still generally very high, if the order T-shirts for everyone else compared. This is because t-shirt printing companies use the fact that most people do not know for Stag & Hen-looking shirt, how much does it usually to get personalized t shirts printed. Fortunately, it is easy toavoid those that (overloading, if you know how). If you want to know how to avoid tearing, read on …

From my own experience, I have found that the most expensive locations to order personalized t-shirts are made of, where you can make yourself online. It may seem like fun at first, but in reality it is a process that will cost much more tricky (your valuable time, especially if you have a number of stag do T-shirts and not just a one-off). They usually do not tellthe postage price only after you have designed the T-shirt – and do not be surprised if it were expecting more than you. You can really save a lot of time and money by your T-shirts designed for you by a professional.

You will find the best deals from the smaller, independent t-shirt printing company. The prices in general to be very competitive, and they individually design your T-shirts for you (the personal touch makes all the difference when you have received individual workdone).

Mornin’ Campers!

Oh what a lovely day, today. no, seriously, what a lovely day. well, i love it any way. Even if that stupid gutter is dripping!!!! wankster!

how am I supposed to not be happy today. its raining, P!NK’s live cd/dvd is supposed to come today, and, to be honest, i can’t think of ANYTHING that could make me happier.

so what if im that shallow and can only be happy by spending money. actually, you couldnt be more wrong. yeah, maybe I have that kinda, I dunno what youd call it… impression. but then, doesn’t everyone give wrong impresions… id say they do.

theirs so many other things that can make me megger happy… like actually SEEING p!nk…

haha just kidden… but that DID make me happy.

college again today. wowy im looking forward to it, and im wondering, am I gonna to spend the day just ordering a bajillion catalogues again, just so I can cut them out.

oh, that reminds me…

*** note to self = BUY PRIT STICK ***

lol.

TTFN Peoples!

xo.

Alright guys and gals, the NBA season is now in full swing (I think), and I’ve got a certified, on-card autograph of someone may or may not have been good just dying to get in to the hands of someone who actually cards about it!  All you gotta do is comment in the post below this one and your entered for a chance to win!

As for my random thought/question – how do card shops price their products?  I’ve been calling a couple area card shops recently trying to find out which ones would have 1962 Topps singles for the lowest price.  Not for me – I can only hope my collection will someday be as valuable as ‘62 Topps.  My dad is coming to town and is looking to complete his set.  Yeah… one of us will be buying ‘62 Topps, the other (me) will be sifting through the bargain relic bin in search of baseball hits.  Anyway… I’ve been using 2008 Sweet Spot as the comparison product, and asking in an “oh-by-the-way” manner if they had in ‘09 Sweet Spot yet, and if so how much did it cost.

One shop, which has priced out as more expensive on nearly every product I’ve compared to my normal shop, says ‘09 Sweet Spot is $27 per pack.  My regular shop owner said he won’t know how much it costs until he gets it in.   Huh????

Does anyone out there know how ordering cards through a distributor works?  Does he not know how much Sweet Spot he’ll be getting in?  Is he just waiting to see what demand is like?  Will the first batch be marked higher just because it’s new?? He has the ‘08 Sweet Spot marked at $20 per pack, so I just assumed ‘09 would cost the same.  He assured me that he ordered more ‘08, too, so I’m not incredibly worried, I was just curious if any of you out there know how ordering/pricing works.  I thought it’d be more ’set in stone’ than it seems to me.

As for the basketball contest – it ends tonight, when I’m done with work, which is just before the Yanks kick off the 5th (and possibly final!?) World Series game tonight.