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By Seymour Hersh – The New Yorker

You start with the land; you do not start with peace.

I spoke to Bashar Assad, the president of Syria, this winter in Damascus. Assad assumed the presidency after his father’s death, in 2000, when he was thirty-four years old, and he expressed some empathy for President Barack Obama, who, like Assad, was confronted with a steep learning curve.

One note: a transcript of our talk, provided by Assad’s office, was generally accurate but it did not include an exchange we had about intelligence. A senior Syrian official had told me that, last year, Syria, which is on the State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism, had renewed its sharing of intelligence on terrorism with the C.I.A. and with Britain’s MI6, after a request from Obama that was relayed by George Mitchell, the President’s envoy for the Middle East. (The White House declined to comment.) Assad said that he had agreed to do so, and then added that he also has warned Mitchell “that if nothing happens from the other side”—in terms of political progress—“we will stop it.”

Quotes from our conversation follow.

President Barack Obama:

Bush gave Obama this big ball of fire, and it is burning, domestically and internationally. Obama, he does not know how to catch it.

The approach has changed; no more dictations but more listening and more recognition of America’s problems around the world, especially in Afghanistan and Iraq. But at the same time there are no concrete results…. What we have is only the first step…. Maybe I am optimistic about Obama, but that does not mean that I am optimistic about other institutions that play negative or paralyzing role[s] to Obama.

If you talk about four years, you have one year to learn and the last year to work for the next elections. So, you only have two years. The problem, with these complicated problems around the world, where the United States should play a role to find a solution, is that two years is a very short time…. Is it enough for somebody like Obama?

Hillary Clinton:

Some say that even Hilary Clinton does not support Obama. Some say she still has ambition to be President some day—that is what they say.

The press conference of Hillary with [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu [in which she appeared to walk away from the Administration’s call for a freeze on settlements] was very bad, even for the image of the United States.

Israel and the United States:

To be biased and side with the Israelis, this is traditional for the United States; we do not expect them to be in the middle soon. So we can deal with this issue, and we can find a way if you want to talk about the peace process. But the vision does not seem to be clear on the U.S. side as to what they really want to happen in the Middle East.

Negotiations with Israel:

I have half a million Palestinians and they have been living here for three generations now. So, if you do not find a solution for them, then what peace you are talking about?

What, I said, is the difference between peace and a peace treaty? Peace treaty is what you sign, but peace is when you have normal relations. So, you start with a peace treaty in order to achieve peace…. If they say you can have the entire Golan back, we will have a peace treaty. But they cannot expect me to give them the peace they expect…. You start with the land; you do not start with peace.

The Israelis:

You need a special dictionary for their terms…. They do not have any of the old generation who used to know what politics means, like Rabin and the others. That is why I said they are like children fighting each other, messing with the country; they do not know what to do.

[The Israelis] wanted to destroy Hamas in the war [in December, 2008] and make Abu Mazen strong in the West Bank. Actually it is a police state, and they weakened Abu Mazen and made Hamas stronger. Now they wanted to destroy Hamas. But what is the substitute for Hamas? It is Al Qaeda, and they do not have a leader to talk to, to talk about anything. They are not ready to make dialogue. They [Al Qaeda] only want to die in the field.

Europe and the Iranian nuclear negotiation:

This is not European but Bush’s initiative adopted by the Europeans. The Europeans are like the postman; they pretend that they are not like this but they are like a postman; they are completely passive and I told them that. I told the French when I visited France.

Iran:

Imposing sanctions [on Iran] is a problem because they will not stop the program and they will accelerate it if you are suspicious. They can make problems to the Americans more than the other way around.

If I am Ahmadinejad, I will not give all the uranium because I do not have a guarantee [in response to American and European insistence that most of Iran’s low-enriched uranium be sent abroad for further enrichment to make it usable for a research reactor, but not for a bomb]…. So, the only solution is that they can send you part and you send it back enriched, and then they send another part…. The only advice I can give to Obama: accept this Iranian proposal because this is very good and very realistic. [Note: the Iranian position appeared to be shifting this week.]

Lebanon:

The civil war in Lebanon could start in days; it does not take weeks or months; it could start just like this. One cannot feel assured about anything in Lebanon unless they change the whole system.

Cooperating with the United States in Iraq:

They [American officials] only talk about the borders; this is a very narrow-minded way. But we said yes. We said yes—and, you know, during Bush we used to say no, but when Mitchell came [as Obama’s envoy] I said O.K.… I told Mitchell by saying this is the first step and when find something positive from the American side we move to the next level…. We sent our delegation to the borders and [the Iraqis] did not come. Of course, the reason is that [Nouri] al-Maliki [the Prime Minister of Iraq] is against it. So far there is nothing, there is no cooperation about anything and even no real dialogue.

George Mitchell:

I told him, you were successful in Ireland, but this is different…. [Mitchell] is very keen to succeed. And he wants to do something good, but I compare with the situation in the United States: the Congress has not changed…. But the whole atmosphere is not positive towards the President in general. And that is why I think his envoys cannot succeed.

Criticisms of some Israeli policies at the J-Street founding conference:

Ahh … that is new!… But we should educate them that if they are worried about Israel, then the only thing that can protect Israel is peace, nothing else. No amount of airplanes or weapons could protect Israel, so they have to forget about that.

Pakistan’s government:

They supported [Afghan President Hamid] Karzai and realized he cannot deliver. I do not know why they supported him and why—nobody knows why.

American power:

Now the problem is that the United States is weaker, and the whole influential world is weak as well…. You always need power to do politics. Now nobody is doing politics…. So what you need is strong United States with good politics, not weaker United States. If you have weaker United States, it is not good for the balance of the world.

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]]> http://ccindiananews.wordpress.com/2010/02/04/lewis-wright-installed-at-central-christian-seymour/ Thu, 04 Feb 2010 14:35:05 +0000 ccindiananews http://ccindiananews.wordpress.com/2010/02/04/lewis-wright-installed-at-central-christian-seymour/ http://gamerisms.wordpress.com/2010/02/04/final-fantasy-x/ Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:02:25 +0000 gamerisms http://gamerisms.wordpress.com/2010/02/04/final-fantasy-x/

Japanese Release: July 19, 2001
North American Release: December 20, 2001

The PS2’s very first own Final Fantasy. There was so much hype on how it’s going to receive the 128-bit polish, moreover, it is the first FF game to feature speaking voices; and fans were anxious. This one takes its story in the world of Spira, where you play a young lad on his way to compete in a sporting game called Blitz. Unfortunately, in the middle of the game, a monstrous creature ravages the event and sucks him in vortex. Enter the beginning of his quest.

This one still retains main elements of an RPG — you start alone, meet people who eventually form a party with you, fight baddies in order to grow stronger, and play a few mini games as side quests. But unlike the previous FFs, this one doesn’t have a level system. Instead, vanquishing foes would gain you points for the Grid, which appears like a web with nodes on them. You can freely choose where to go on the grid and acquire whichever ability you choose, given you have the qualifying requirements. Higher abilities are locked with keys that can be received later on as the story progresses. In the end, you can have all characters with the same abilities.

In battle, you can automatically switch with a reserve member by clicking on one of the shoulder buttons of the controller. Being an active turn-based system, doing this won’t cost you a turn. But in typical RPG fashion; the more different reserves you call to back you up, the more the points will get divided. There are still desperation attacks, now called “Overdrive”, and they are activated depending on how much damage a character receives. Summon monsters, called “Aeons”, are still existent. But only a single character can cast them. Choosing to call upon an Aeon would evacuate the other party members, leaving the Aeon and the caster only. The Aeon can choose to attack, defend, and leave. These creatures also have their own Overdrive gauge, which would really help when the battle is siding on the enemy’s favor. Weapons, armors, and accessories can be purchased, customized, or received.

Difficulty-wise, FFX is quite on the hard setting. Since it has a few modifications from the previous ones, it’s going to take a little practice and exposure. The graphics have improved although some characters move a little rigidly, especially on the facial expressions. It’s not the most compelling FF story around to play. It’s a bit draggy even. Although these are fairly overlookable knowing that there are tons to do ahead to keep one occupied, not to mention the eye-candy cutscenes.

Personal Score: 80%

Pictures from the red ledge sesh at seymour. skiers and snowboarders killed it!

Skier video at www.nike.com

Snowboard video at www.nike.com

Trimnell’s career-high 42 leads Owls

FLOYDS KNOBS — Unstoppable.

That’s just one word to describe Seymour senior Matt Trimnell after his season- and career-high 42-point performance on Friday night against Hoosier Hills Conference foe Floyd Central.

Twenty-seven of Trimnell’s points came from behind the 3-point line and he had 11 rebounds in the Owls’ 69-61 victory.

Trimnell only missed one of his 10 long-range attempts, and he was 12-for-19 from the floor and 9-for-10 from the free-throw line to cap off a stellar night.

“We got the ball inside good and then kicking it back out,” Trimnell said. “It seemed like no one was guarding me, and most of my shots I hit, I was wide open.”

Besides Trimnell’s numbers, the Owls’ defensive energy halted the Highlanders.

“I think that’s what won us our game,” Trimnell said. “We didn’t put up huge numbers on offense, but we did a good job from the very get-go on defense. It was a great effort by everybody, no one played bad and it was a team effort.”

Owls coach Scott Miller couldn’t have agreed more about his team’s defense. That was important with having Floyd Central’s 6-foot-8 Jeffrey Thompson to guard in the post.

“Defensively, our intensity stayed put the entire game,” Miller said. “Thompson’s going to score. He’s big, he’s powerful, he has improved a great deal over a course of a year. One thing we really stressed in practice this week was going after (Cody) Banet and (Brandon) Codey, and we really locked them down.”

Trimnell sank four 3s and Nolan Fife hit one in the opening period, and Trimnell’s fourth one gave the Owls an 18-6 lead at 1:56, and Seymour led 20-8 after one.

The Highlanders coughed the ball up six times in the second period, allowing the Owls to convert and lead 35-21 at halftime. Seymour’s lead bubbled to 18 twice in the second quarter, on an inbounds score by Trimnell at 3:37 and a drive by Mitch Hunnicutt at 1:57.

Floyd Central came out of the locker room with some fire, shooting 6-for-13 from the field and outscoring Seymour 16-14 in the third quarter, capped off with a steal and long 3 at the buzzer by Banet. That put the Highlanders within 49-37.

The Highlanders broke into a single-digit deficit at 3:06 of the fourth quarter off of Banet’s bucket, and they were within striking distance three times in the final minute off of Owl miscues, but at least five missed shots midway through the period set them back.

Seymour held tight by making 17 of its 20 free throws in the final period, at one point connecting on 14 straight. The Owls finished the game 22 of 28 from the line.

“We certainly got sloppy late in the game, but we battled our way through, and this is something we could have won a little bigger because we had a lead,” Miller said. “It’s also something that we could have coughed up under the pressure we had, had we not knocked those 14 down in a row.”

Aside from Trimnell’s 42, Jacob Carmichael scored eight points and Zach Toppe six.

“A gutsy performance tonight from Zach, who’s playing a little bit injured (wrist), scored a couple points for us, took care of the basketball and made a huge difference for us and settled us down,” Miller said.

And of Trimnell, Miller said, “What can you say about Matt Trimnell? Forty-two points, a shooting performance like that. Great effort.”

Floyd Central was led by Thompson’s 20 points and 10 rebounds, while Banet added 17 points and Codey 10.

The Owls improved to 7-6 overall and 3-3 in the HHC and tonight will travel to Franklin Central.

The Highlanders dropped to 10-5 overall and 3-3 in the HHC.

Box score

At Floyds Knobs

Seymour               20               15               14               20—69

Floyd Central               8               13               16               24—61

Seymour (7-6): Zach Toppe 1-5 3-4 6, Jacob Carmichael 2-4 4-4 8, Nolan Fife 1-5 1-2 4, Matt Trimnell 12-19 9-10 42, Connor Kirtley 1-9 2-2 4, Jase Hunnicutt 0-1 2-4 2, Mitch Hunnicutt 1-1 1-2 3, Josh Joray 0-1 0-0 0, totals 18-45 22-28 69

Floyd Central (10-5): Andrew Mitchell 2-8 2-2 6, Cody Banet 5-15 5-8 17, Brandon Codey 4-10 1-2 10, Barrett Crone 2-4 0-2 4, Jeffrey Thompson 7-13 6-6 20, Wade Niehoff 1-2 0-0 2, Ben Allen 0-1 2-2 2, Connor Schellenberg 0-2 0-0 0, Nick Veroff 0-0 0-0 0, totals 21-55 16-22 61

3-point goals: Seymour (Trimnell 9, Fife, Toppe), Floyd Central (Banet 2, Codey)

Rebounds: Seymour 24 (Trimnell 11, Kirtley 7), Floyd Central 27 (Thompson 10, Banet 4, Allen 4)

Turnovers: Seymour 14, Floyd Central 15

Fouls: Seymour 18 (fouled out: Fife), Floyd Central 23

Junior varsity

Seymour               4               0               5               7—16

Floyd Central               4               9               14               11—38

Seymour (2-11): Canyon Dailey 4, Brian Clark 4, Tanner Stuckwisch 3, Evan Beach 2, Grant Hubbard 2, Charlie Brown 1

January 29, 2010

 Seymour’s Matt Trimnell hits 9 threes, scores 42 points in 69-61 win over Floyd Central By Jeff Robinson Special to The Courier-Journal Randy Gianfagna said his Floyd Central boys’ basketball team might have missed one significant detail on homecoming night against Seymour: guarding Matt Trimnell on the wing. Trimnell scored from afar early, late and throughout the game, burning the Highlanders for a career-high 42 points to lead visiting Seymour 69-61 on Friday night. “We didn’t follow the scouting report tonight,” Gianfagna said. “Trimnell is a great shooter, and we didn’t get on him and he had a great game. I don’t think we followed our game plan. “This is the worst game we’ve played all year. I think we pushed the panic button early. I tried to tell them in the second quarter that we were only down 13 and there was a lot of game left, but Seymour hit all the free throws late and did everything it needed to do.” Trimnell hit 9of11 three-point shots, and he didn’t wait long to get started, nailing his first one two minutes into the game. The 6-foot-4 senior, who averages 25 points a game, hit four threes in the first four minutes — drawing a foul and completing the four-point play on the last. That helped the Owls (7-6, 3-3 Hoosier Hills Conference) build a quick 18-6 lead. The Highlanders (10-5, 3-3) never really recovered, though Jeffrey Thompson kept them in it early, scoring seven of his team-high 20 points in the first quarter. He also finished with nine rebounds. Floyd Central had turnovers on 11 of its 31 first-half possessions and trailed 35-21 at the intermission. Cody Banet (17 points) hit two three-pointers in the third quarter, and Thompson completed his second three-point play of the night to cut Seymour’s lead to 41-32 with 3:47 left in the period. But Trimnell answered with threes on the Owls’ next two possessions to push the lead back to double digits. He scored all 14 of Seymour’s third-quarter points. Floyd got within eight twice in the fourth quarter, but the Owls went to work at the free-throw line, hitting 17of20 in the final minutes to remain comfortably ahead. Trimnell, the lone Seymour player in double figures, hit 7of8 free throws in the fourth quarter and 9of10 overall. He shot a blazing 12of14 from the field and added seven rebounds. Trailing by 12 late in the game, Floyd made a dramatic surge when Brandon Codey (10 points) and Banet each got a steal and layup off consecutive inbounds passes in less than 10 seconds to make it 60-52 with 1:03 left, but the deficit proved too large.

|Seymour |20 |15 |14 |20 |69 | |

Floyd Central |8 |13 |16 |24 |61 | [end chart]

Seymour (7-6) — J. Hunnicutt 2, M. Hunnicutt 3, Toppe 6, Carmichael 8, Fife 4, Trimnell 42, Kirtley 4.

Floyd Central (10-5) — Mitchell 6, Thompson 20, Niehoff 2, Banet 17, Codey 10, Allen 2, Crone 4. 3-point goals — Toppe, Fife, Trimnell 9, Banet 2, Codey.

HIGH SCHOOL BOYS BASKETBALL: Trimnell’s 42 too much for Highlanders to handle

BY CHRIS STONER
sports@newsandtribune.com

FLOYDS KNOBS January 30, 2010 12:54 am

— Memories of Floyd Central’s 1989 Indiana Mr. Basketball Pat Graham were awoken Friday night in Floyds Knobs.
However, this shooter was wearing a purple uniform.
Seymour’s Matt Trimnell dropped in 42 points, including nine 3-pointers, and single-handedly shot down the Highlanders on Homecoming as the Owls won 69-61.
“He had a great night. We knew he was a good shooter and we didn’t take anything away from him,” Floyd head coach Randy Gianfagna said. “He hit his first couple and then the basket I’m sure looked like the ocean to him. We helped off of him when we shouldn’t have.”
The Highlanders fell behind early and never led in their third Hoosier Hills Conference loss of the season. Seymour jumped out to a 12-1 lead at the 4:13 mark in the first period, courtesy of three quick Trimnell bombs.
“We just didn’t pay attention to the scouting report to get out on their shooters,” Gianfagna said. “We didn’t get out on their shooter tonight. We got down 12-1 and I think we pressed the panic button.”
Floyd (10-5, 3-3 HHC) didn’t get its first field goal of the game until 2:03 left in the opening stanza as Jeffrey Thompson’s three-point play made it 14-6. On the next possession, Trimnell converted a rare four-point play, hitting his fourth triple and pushing the Owls to an 18-6 advantage.
“I didn’t think we were very fundamental tonight, defensively or offensively. That’s a recipe for disaster,” Gianfagna said. “I’m mad at our assignment defense tonight.”
Trimnell hit his fifth 3 with 3:58 left in the second frame, pushing his team’s lead to 28-12. Thompson, who equaled his career high with 20 points, scored 11 of the first 12 points for Floyd. A Cody Banet field goal with 3:11 left until intermission was the first bucket by a Highlander not named Thompson.
“I called a timeout with four minutes to go in the second quarter and just told the guys there was two and a half quarters to go and we’re only down 13. Let’s just settle down,” Gianfagna said.
The hosts shot just 31 percent and committed 12 turnovers in the first half.
“We didn’t practice well all week and that’s the way we played,” Gianfagna said. “We probably played our worst game of the year and still only got beat eight.”
Seymour (7-6, 3-3) pushed its lead to as many as 15 points in the third frame before a Banet steal and 3 at the third period horn made it 49-37 entering the final eight minutes.
Trimnell scored all of his team’s 14 third-quarter points.
Floyd would get no closer than the final margin in the fourth quarter as the Owls connected on 17-of-20 free throws in the final frame to secure their seventh win of the season.
“They did a good job and made us chase in the fourth quarter,” Gianfagna said. “They made all their free throws late and did everything you’re supposed to do with the lead.”
The Highlanders placed three players in double figures as Banet had 17 points and Codey 10 to complement Thompson’s 20.
Floyd will hit the hardwood again tonight at Evansville Reitz.

SEYMOUR 20 15 14 20—69
FLOYD CENTRAL 8 13 16 24—61
Seymour (7-6, 3-3 HHC) — J. Hunnicutt 2, M. Hunnicutt 3, Toppe 6, Carmichael 8, Fife 4, Trimnell 42, Kirtley 4.
Floyd Central (10-5, 3-3) — Mitchell 6, Niehoff 2, Banet 17, Codey 10, Allen 2, Crone 4, Je. Thompson 20.
3-point field goals — Seymour 11 (Toppe, Fife, Trimnell 9); Floyd Central 3 (Banet 2, Codey).
Rebounds — Seymour 28, Floyd Central 31.
Turnovers — Seymour 16, Floyd Central 18.
JUNIOR VARSITY: Floyd Central 38 (4-9-14-11) — Wortham 6, Miller 2, Jeffries 7, Sharp 0, Bomersbach 8, Peters 5, O’Neal 3, Knight 2, Jo. Thompson 5; Seymour 16 (4-0-5-7) — Tormeehlen 0, Stuckwish 3, Brown 1, Mills 0, Dailey 4, Miller 0, Clark 4, Beach 2, Hubbard 2.

Copyright © 1999-2010 cnhi, inc.

Party Snake has a blog.

I want one

Comp was good times. Seymour absolutely kills it. I won shoes!

and some other things. BUT pictures and possible video to come!

My Cupcake Roomie and I have to find a place to live. Cause you know, there’s nothing else crazy going on in my life right now

She sent me this link to consider today OMFG! Srsly, Jo Jo?

::

In other news, JD Salinger has died. I first read Salinger when I was 15. I started with The Catcher In The Rye, moved on to Nine Stories where I read A Perfect Day For Bananafish. I didn’t read Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters* for two more years. So in those two years between 15 and 17, I lived in a world where vacation leads to demise. Then I found out the back story and realized that it was marriage, not vacation. Of course, I was 17. What the hell did I know?

Now at 29, I think it was the nature of the bananafish that leads to the end. I still probably don’t know much. So there’s that.

And in a few days when the last 24 hours of my life don’t sting so bad, I’ll tell you all how I’m Seymour. How I’m what happened when Seymour changed one little thing. But also how that twin bed is still a lonely place for everyone.

And if you haven’t read the stories, then shame on you. Go track them down. I would post a link here like I did on Twitter, but I feel unethical doing so. Especially with encouraging you read the printed word and all earlier this week. That said, I’m positive the Google could help you track down an online copy of the story -as the 2nd listing- in .23 seconds. Just sayin’.

I really liked how he wrote stories. I like how he said things.

And some advice I decided not to heed: “Don’t ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody. ” -JD Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye

le sigh

*my copy of Raise High was given to me by my friend Will, who was a homeless man I met while working at Peaberry Coffee downtown. We had a conversation about my love of Salinger and how I could never find a copy of Raise High The Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour- An Introduction in bookstores. Days later he brought the copy into the coffee shop for me. That still blows my mind.

So if you look up at Grouse Mountain these days, the main run, the Cut, looks unseasonably bare, which is kinda scary since the Olympics are coming up pretty fast. I used to ride Grouse back in the day up untill the past 2 years, since I turned 19. A Y2Play season pass at Grouse gets pretty expensive, around $280. A season pass for a 19 year old at Seymour is only 220 bucks, and if your a student, its only 200! I hadn’t rode there for a while so I was pretty excited. Last season was pretty good, and I havent been able to get up too much latley..

My first day this season.. well it wasn’t even a day of snowboarding, we went up there and it was pouring rain, so we turned back. Next time my friends and I went up, same thing, but we stuck it out.. It wasnt too bad though, Seymour hooked us up with these plastic poncho bags. They kept us pretty dry, and it stopped raining after a while..

Anyways, my friend and I went up Friday. It was soo sunny and warm, it was like spring, definetly sweater weather. As we were going up there we were making fun of Grouse cause of the bare run, not thinking Seymour would be like that.. We get up their and what do you know, the main run is competly bare and closed. So we head up the Mystery Peak chair and start coming down. To our suprise it was pretty good, tons of snow, lots of sun, and the park was sick. We went up again on Sunday, and there werent any wait times for the lifts, and some good news, it started SNOWING.. exactly what we needed.

So even though it looks like its bad up there, hit up Mount Seymour, they have a good amount of snow and their park is tons of fun.

             Happy Shreddin

SEYMOUR, CT – Homebuyers have been quick to snatch up the premium homesites now available at Rolling Hills, the collection of just 70 single-family residences being developed by Baker Residential in Seymour, CT.

The heightened buyer activity has left an extremely limited number of homesites available on the coveted Read Oak Lane and a select few remaining on secluded Hidden Meadow Road, a quaint cul-de-sac street that backs directly up to wooded terrain, indicates Sales Representative Mary Ellen DeRosa.

“We are extremely impressed by the amazing response these premium homesites have received since being released late last year,” says Ms. DeRosa. “They have quickly set themselves apart from the market and have had tremendous appeal to those looking for spacious single-family homes in an ideal suburban location enhanced by a considerable amount of peacefulness, solitude and protection.”

Residences at Rolling Hills boast four-bedrooms and elegant floorplans that range from 2,100 to 4,000 square feet and include 2.5 baths, two story entry foyers, formal living and dining rooms, large family rooms with fireplaces and colonial mantles, luxury kitchens with exquisite granite countertops, hardwood flooring and an oversized pantry and full basements. Additional standard upgrades include full asphalt driveways, concrete walks and stone foundations. Most residences lie on private, half-acre homesites.

Attractively priced from $424,900, each housing layout is spacious and loaded with an array of designer appointments as standard features. Creating a dynamic New England inspired streetscape, homes offer a choice of either Arts and Crafts or a traditional exterior.

The new Ashford design recently joined Rolling Hills’ already impressive list of housing plans. Appealing to empty-nesters, this design boasts a first-floor master suite, ideal for those who want the ease of one-level living, but don’t want to sacrifice space.

Rolling Hills boasts the unique blend of country-style living in a convenient and commuter-friendly location. The neighborhood is situated on a breathtaking hilltop in Connecticut’s Naugatuck River Valley, yet is also an easy commute from many of the area’s business and entertainment corridors. Route 8 runs directly through the town for a quick trip to Fairfield County or the Connecticut shore, while nearby Route 34 connects Seymour to New Haven and Interstate 84 and 91 provide efficient access to New York City and Westchester County.

“Seymour itself also offers much for young families to do,” says Ms. DeRosa. “The town features seven different parks with facilities such as hiking trails, playground equipment, softball fields, a baseball field, a soccer field, a Little League complex and a skate park.

“There’s also the Keith Mitchell Forest which offers 229 acres of pristine land that provides hiking and wildlife viewing for visitors and the Housatonic and Naugatuck Rivers where fishing and other water sports can be enjoyed. Boutique shopping can be found in Seymour’s quaint downtown district which is lined with brick sidewalks and old-fashioned streetlamps.”

Young couples and families will also appreciate the highly-regarded Seymour public school district which features three elementary schools, the Seymour Middle School and Seymour High School.

For additional information on Rolling Hills, please call (203) 881-8100 or visit http://New.HomesAtRollingHills.com.

The Rolling Hills Sales Center is open Thursday through Monday 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. or by appointment.
To visit the community from Route 8 North or South, take Exit 22 l;(Bank Street) to Route 67. In approx. ½ mile, turn left onto Skokorat Rd. Rolling Hills is 1.3 miles on the right.

###

First, congratulations to JNE on welcoming Imogen’s little brother, the nicely named Oliver George!

Aly turned five on December 17, but we finally got around to throwing his birthday party this weekend.  We invited his whole pre-K.  (No, the party was not in our house.  Our guests wouldn’t fit in our house, even standing still.)  

Anyway, I knew his classmate Micah was a girl.  (Lest that trouble you, the Biblical Micaiah is a gender neutral name  - the original Peyton.)  But imagine my surprise when I learned that Delayni is a boy.

In other random name spotting:

• I met a baby Miriam;
• Apparently an Australian family has a singleton (or two), two sets of quads and now twins born in October. And no reality show deal as of yet!  Darren and Dale Chalk named their kids Shelby, Matthew, Ellie, Joseph, Emma, Samuel, Alice, Sarah, Milly (who died in infancy) and Tiger-Lilly.  After solid classics like Alice and Joseph, the parents chose Tiger-Lilly feels a bit off, doesn’t it?  They have yet to release the twins’ names;
• Could Lux be the next Zoe?  Life Unexpected debuts on the CW January 18.  Heroine Lux grows up in foster care.  The series begins when she finally finds the parents who put her up for adoption.  Another contender for baby name inspiration?  The dad is Nate Bazile, nicknamed Baze;
• The latest series of The Bachelor includes contestants named Tenley, Valishia and Vienna.  (In DC, two of three names appear on a Metro Map.)  I can hear Tenley catching on.  But Vienna?  Pretty, but all I think is sausage.  Oh, and the bachelor this time is Jake;
• For Real Baby Names spotted a Zoeanna – a new, but inevitable and not unappealing compound name.   But does it rhyme with Joanna or is it Zoe Anna?  There’s also a girl named Swift and and boy called Rugby;
• Bewildertrix spotted a Vitalia.  Vidalia is an onion, but Vitalia is another of the lively Vita/Vida names;
• For every local hospital releasing the generic “Emma, Aiden Top Baby Names at Hospital Center,” a few do post surprising results.  At the Greater Baltimore Medical Center, the top girls’ name was Mary.  At Cowlitz County, Washington’s Saint John’s Medical Center, it was Peyton/Payton/Paityn;
• What a lovely surprise to stumble on a blog featuring four nicely named children – Mountain Mama Jenny is mom to Evelyn, Gretchen, Sylvia and Peter.

Elsewhere online:

• Swedish officials recently rejected the name Allah.   The land that gave us Abba and Ikea takes a hard line on “names that can give offence or be seen to cause discomfort for the bearer.”  No word on whether you’ll find a tiny blonde Nevaeh or Cohen toddling ’round Stockholm;
• Babble has an interesting article on Baby Name Regrets written by a mom who dared to name her son Seymour, nicknamed Sy;
• Sebastiane continues her world tour of names popular elsewhere, this time touching on the undiscovered – in America, at least - Leonie;
• Nancy the Wise brings us That Baby Name Might Be a Bad Baby Name If … Amen;
• Nymbler’s Top Baby Names for 2009 were Charlotte and Jack.  Ho-hum.  But check out the names with “a lot of activity,” including Alix, Fiammetta, Leandro and Aytan;
• Nymbler also posted December 2009 results.  The Top Five new baby names were Dash, Nala, Mairead, Azalea and Payson.  Payson is a surname and a town in Arizona, but I think there’s also a television tie-in with this one, or was it a movie?  Please comment if you recall;
• Nameberry listed popular names from around the world, including some lovely choices, from Jovana to Noor, Lewis to Hugo.

And in starbaby news:

• Sarah Chalke wears the boyish Elliott on Scrubs, but she gave her new son a nickname name more often heard on girl starbabies – Charlie, middle name Rhodes;
• The lovely Jean Smart has adopted a daughter, Bonnie;
• Country music’s Clay Walker has finally wearied of using his own name for his offspring.  After MaClay DaLayne, Skylor ClayAnne and William Clayton, he is now father to Mary-Elizabeth.  (MaClay and Skylor are Clay’s daughters with his first wife, which also explains the abrupt shift in style.)

That’s all for this week.  Thanks, as always, for reading!

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“There were ninety-seven New York advertising men in the hotel, and, the way they were monopolizing the long-distance lines, the girl in 507 had to wait from noon till almost two-thirty to get her call through. She used the time, though. She read an article in a women’s pocket-size magazine, called ‘Sex Is Fun-or Hell.’ She washed her comb and brush. She took the spot out of the skirt of her beige suit. She moved the button on her Saks blouse. She tweezed out two freshly surfaced hairs in her mole. When the operator finally rang her room, she was sitting on the window seat and had almost finished putting lacquer on the nails of her left hand. She was a girl who for a ringing phone dropped exactly nothing. She looked as if her phone had been ringing continually ever since she had reached puberty.”

The paragraph above is the beginning of J.D. Salinger’s novella ‘A Perfect Day For Bananafish,’ published in the 31st January 1948 edition of The New Yorker. It is the first story about the fictional Glass family created by Salinger. The lady mentioned above is Muriel; the wife of Seymour Glass, the eldest in a family of seven brothers and sisters, who in 1948 is 31-years-old and on a vacation in Florida. Seymour meets a six-year-old girl Sybil Carpenter at a beach and there is a conversation that follows. Seymour tells little Sybil a story about ‘bananafish’ and how it is a perfect day to spot them. They wade in the water for a while and then the man returns to the hotel. Below is the last paragraph of the story.

“He got off at the fifth floor, walked down the hall, and let himself into 507. The room smelled of new calfskin luggage and nail-lacquer remover. He glanced at the girl lying asleep on one of the twin beds. Then he went over to one of the pieces of luggage, opened it, and from under a pile of shorts and undershirts he took out an Ortgies calibre 7.65 automatic. He released the magazine, looked at it, then reinserted it. He cocked the piece. Then he went over and sat down on the unoccupied twin bed, looked at the girl, aimed the pistol, and fired a bullet through his right temple.”

Salinger’s 1951 book The Catcher In The Rye is by far the work he is most renowned for; both for acclaim and censure. The book is considered as one of the classics of post-war American literature. “A first-person narrative by Holden Caulfield, or rather, a dialogue between Holden and the reader, this novel is unique in literature by the apparent absence of the author.”

On January 1, 2009 Salinger turned 90 and he still remains the celebrity because of his absence from public space. The year 1955 was a very productive one for Salinger. In the beginning of the year he released Franny and by the end of the year gave a novella through which many of his past efforts would converge; Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters. It was also the first year of his marriage with Claire Alison Douglas on February 17, 1955. The wedding took place twenty miles west of Cornish, in Barnard, Vermont, and it was attended by only the closest of family and friends. Salinger had spent years drawing characters into the Glass family but it was only in 1955, with the publication of Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters that the members of Salinger’s ‘settlers’ assembled as a unit. The New Yorker’s editor William Shawn worked the year round with Salinger on this seminal work about the Glass family. In book form it was published with another story called Seymour An Introduction.

I am using an extract from Seymour An Introduction for the one brilliant poetic illustration in it: “It would be absurd to say that most young people’s attraction to poetry is far exceeded by their attraction to those few or many details of a poet’s life that may be defined here, loosely, operationally, as lurid. It’s the sort of absurd notion, though, that I wouldn’t mind taking out for a good academic run someday. I surely think, at any rate, that if I were to ask the sixty odd girls (or, that is, the sixty-odd girls) in my two Writing for Publication courses—most of them seniors, all of them English majors—to quote a line, any line from ‘Ozymandias,’ or even just to tell me roughly what the poem is about, it is doubtful whether ten of them could do either, but I’d bet my unrisen tulips that some fifty of them could tell me that Shelley was all for free love, and had one wife who wrote ‘Frankenstein’ and another who drowned herself.

I’m neither shocked nor outraged at the idea, please mind. I don’t think I’m even complaining. For if nobody’s a fool, then neither am I, and I’m entitled to a non-fool’s Sunday awareness that, whoever we are, no matter how like a blast furnace the heat from the candles on our latest birthday cake, and however presumably lofty the intellectual, moral, and spiritual heights we’ve all reached, our gusto for the lurid or partly lurid (which, of course, includes both low and superior gossip) is probably the last of our fleshy appetites to be sated or effectively curbed. (But, my God, why do I rant on? Why am I not going straight to the poet for an illustration? One of Seymour’s hundred and eighty-four poems—a shocker on the first impact only; on the second, as heartening a paean to the living as I’ve read—is about a distinguished old ascetic on his deathbed, surrounded by chanting priests and disciples, who lies straining to hear what the washerwoman in the courtyard is saying about his neighbour’s laundry. The old gentleman, Seymour makes it clear, is faintly wishing the priests would keep their voices down a bit.)

I can see, though, that I’m having a little of the usual trouble entailed in trying to make a very convenient generalization stay still and docile long enough to support a wild specific premise. I don’t relish being sensible about it, but I suppose I must. It seems to me indisputably true that a good many people, the wide world over, of varying ages, cultures, natural endowments, respond with a special impetus, a zing, even, in some cases, to artists and poets who as well as having a reputation for producing great or fine art have something garishly Wrong with them as persons: a spectacular flaw in character or citizenship, a construably romantic affliction or addiction—extreme self-centeredness, marital infidelity, stone-deafness, stone-blindness, a terrible thirst, a mortally bad cough, a soft spot for prostitutes, a partiality for grand-scale adultery or incest, a certified or uncertified weakness for opium or sodomy, and so on, God have mercy on the lonely bastards. If suicide isn’t at the top of the list of compelling infirmities for creative men, the suicide poet or artist, one can’t help noticing, has always been given a very considerable amount of avid attention, not seldom on sentimental grounds almost exclusively, as if he were (to put it much more horribly than I really want to) the floppy-eared runt of the litter. It’s a thought, anyway, finally said, that I’ve lost sleep over many times, and possibly will again.”

Would you like a bit of sunshine in your life? Take a look at Seymour, a sweet Lab/hound about a year old.

Seymour would like to taste a bit of the sunlight!

While Seymour can be hestitant, he is very affectionate and loves to be scratched under his chin.

He also leans and snuggles with you as if he’s known you forever.

Seymour would do best in a gentle, kind home where he can regain his confidence and socialize with other dogs (he’s learning how to get along with them).

If you would like that ray of sunshine, come visit Seymour in Kennel 6. For more information about Seymour contact doginfo@apsofdurham.org.

After three short hours of sleep, I woke up in the darkness that is 5:00 am, strapped my skis to my pack and hauled them up to Hastings, eliciting strange looks from the newspaper delivery man I met outside my door. Twenty minutes later I was in a packed car heading up to Mt. Seymour with my friend Max and three other very tired looking guys.

About an hour or so of skinning up brought us to the top of the chair just as the sky was turning pink. The cold weather we have been experiencing meant amazingly clear skies and views of Nanaimo to the west and an imposing looking Mt Baker to the south. Thin coatings of fog clinging to the city’s low points mimicked pools of water, offering an image of what Vancouver will look like when the icebergs melt and the sea level begins to rise.

A short and very cold descent on fresh corduroy spat us into the parking lot just as the ski patrol was starting their shift. I was back home before 8:00 am and very reluctant to start my real day back in the city.

• The pilgrims arrived in North America in December 1620.
• By the fall of 1621 only half of the pilgrims, who had sailed on the Mayflower, survived. The survivors, thankful to be alive, decided to give a thanksgiving feast.
• The Pilgrim leader, Governor William Bradford, had organized the first Thanksgiving feast in the fall of 1621 and invited the neighboring Wampanoag Indians also to the feast held at Plymouth, Massachusetts.
• The first Thanksgiving celebration lasted three days.
• Sarah Josepha Hale, the enormously influential magazine editor and author who waged a tireless campaign to make Thanksgiving a national holiday in the mid-19th century, was also the author of the classic nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”
• President George Washington issued the first national Thanksgiving Day Proclamation in the year 1789 and again in 1795.
• Abraham Lincoln issued a ‘Thanksgiving Proclamation’ on third October 1863 and officially set aside the last Thursday of November as the national day for Thanksgiving. Whereas earlier the presidents used to make an annual proclamation to specify the day when Thanksgiving was to be held.
• President Franklin D. Roosevelt restored Thursday before last of November as Thanksgiving Day in the year 1939. He did so to make the Christmas shopping season longer and thus stimulate the economy.
• According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Minnesota is the top turkey-producing state in America, with a planned production total of 49 million in 2008. Just six states—Minnesota, North Carolina, Arkansas, Virginia, Missouri and Indiana—will probably produce two-thirds of the estimated 271 million birds that will be raised in the U.S. this year.
• Snoopy has appeared as a giant balloon in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade more times than any other character in history. As the Flying Ace, Snoopy made his sixth appearance in the 2006 parade.
• The first time the Detroit Lions played football on Thanksgiving Day was in 1934, when they hosted the Chicago Bears at the University of Detroit stadium, in front of 26,000 fans. The NBC radio network broadcast the game on 94 stations across the country–the first national Thanksgiving football broadcast. Since that time, the Lions have played a game every Thanksgiving (except between 1939 and 1944); in 1956, fans watched the game on television for the first time.

HAVE A HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!