Friday, March 07, 2008

Plans have been finalized

To celebrate the pending graduation and start of college by Sarah, Renee and I have scheduled a family trip to our nation's capital.  While I won't share the exact dates here, the trip will be sometime after the school year is over.

 

We still have plenty of time to schedule our itinerary for the days we are there, but I am more than willing to take suggestions for "must see" and "should avoid" options that are there.  We will be staying at the Hotel Harrington ("... convenient to everything in D.C.").  Please feel free to leave a comment with suggestions for our trip.  We will be there five full days and two half-days (arrive at 1:00pm on a Wednesday and fly out at 6:00pm on the following Tuesday).

 

We found a website titled DC Flyby, that provides a 'downtown birds-eye tour of DC.  


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Saturday, March 01, 2008

Who would have thought it was a 'historical' site?

I just found out that the house I lived in at Holdenville, OK was recently cut into four pieces, moved to a ranch in Texas and reassembled.  The individual responsible for this action was T. Boone Pickens, and with the reason being that this was the house his family was living in when he was born!

 

During the 'research' for this posting (finding a couple of Wikipedia links, see above), I found out that due to complications during his birth, T. Boone was the first baby born at the Holdenville Hospital via Caesarean section.

 

How cool is that?


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Friday, February 29, 2008

Another dream shattered

Finally, someone has managed to photograph the pot at the end of the rainbow!!!

Wouldn't you know it:

rainbow-pot


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Wednesday, February 27, 2008

No, I haven't fallen off the face of the planet

Life has just been kicking me while I am down!!!!!!


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Sunday, February 10, 2008

Cinderella - Steven Curtis Chapman

Dads with daughters: You might want to find a tissue before you watch/listen to this one:

 

 

LYRICS:

     She spins and she sways to whatever song plays
     Without a care in the world
     And I'm sitting wearing the weight of the world on my shoulders
     It's been a long day and there's still work to do
     She's pulling at me saying "Dad I need you!
     There's a ball at the castle and I've been invited and I need to practice my dancin'
     "Oh please, Daddy, please!"

 

Chorus:
     So I will dance with Cinderella
     While she is here in my arms
     'Cause I know something the prince never knew
     Oh I will dance with Cinderella
     I don't want to miss even one song
     'Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight
     And she'll be gone

 

Verse 2:
     She says he's a nice guy and I'd be impressed
     She wants to know if I approve of the dress
     She says, "Dad the prom is just one week away
     And I need to practice my dancin'
     "Oh please, Daddy, please!"

    

Chorus:
     So I will dance with Cinderella
     While she is here in my arms
     'Cause I know something the prince never knew
     Oh I will dance with Cinderella
     I don't want to miss even one song
     'Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight
     And she'll be gone

 

Verse 3:
     But she came home today with a ring on her hand
     Just glowin' and tellin' us all they had planned
     She says, "Dad the wedding's still six months away

     But I need to practice my dancin'
     "Oh please, Daddy, please!"

 

Chorus:
     So I will dance with Cinderella
     While she is here in my arms
     'Cause I know something the prince never knew
     Oh I will dance with Cinderella
     I don't want to miss even one song
     'Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight
     And she'll, she'll be gone


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Saturday, February 09, 2008

Britain is repossessing the USA

A Message from John Cleese

 

To: The citizens of the United States of America:

 

In light of your failure to nominate competent candidates for President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately.

 

Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties overall states, commonwealths, and territories (except Kansas , which she does not fancy).

Your new prime minister, Gordon Brown, will appoint a governor for America without the need for further elections.

 

Congress and the Senate will be disbanded.

 

A questionnaire may be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed.

To aid in the transition to a British Crown Dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:

 

You should look up "revocation" in the Oxford English Dictionary.

 

1. Then look up aluminum, and check the pronunciation guide. You will be amazed at just how wrongly you have been pronouncing it.

 

2. The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as 'favour' and 'neighbour.' Likewise, you will learn to spell 'doughnut' without skipping half the letters, and the suffix -ize will be replaced by the suffix -ise.

Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. (look up 'vocabulary').

 

3. Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noises such as "like" and "you know" is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication.

There is no such thing as US English. We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell- checker will be adjusted to take account of the reinstated letter 'u' and the elimination of -ize. You will relearn your original national anthem, God Save The Queen.

 

4. July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday.

 

5. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers, or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you’re not adult enough to be independent.

Guns should only be handled by adults. If you're not adult enough to sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist then you're not grown up enough to handle a gun.

 

6. Therefore, you will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous than a vegetable peeler. A permit will be required if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public.

 

7. All American cars are hereby banned. They are crap and this is for your own good. When we show you German cars, you will understand what we mean.

 

8. All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you will start driving on the left with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go metric with immediate effect and without the benefit of conversion tables.

Both roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British sense of humour.

 

9. The Former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which you have been calling gasoline)-roughly $6/US gallon. Get used to it.

 

10. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French fries are not real chips, and those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called crisps. Real chips are thick cut, fried in animal fat, and dressed not with catsup but with vinegar.

 

11. The cold tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer at all. Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will be referred to as beer, and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as Lager.

South African beer is also acceptable as they are pound for pound the greatest sporting Nation on earth and it can only be due to the beer. They are also part of British Commonwealth - see what it did for them.

 

12. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as good guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast English actors to play English characters.

Watching Andie Macdowell attempt English dialogue in Four Weddings and a Funeral was an experience akin to having one's ears removed with a cheese grater.

 

13. You will cease playing American football. There is only one kind of proper football; you call it soccer. Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which has some similarities to American football, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like a bunch of nancies).  Don't try Rugby - the South Africans and Kiwis will thrash you, like they regularly thrash us.

 

14. Further, you will stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an event called the World Series for a game which is not played outside of America. Since only 2.1% of you are aware that there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable. You will learn cricket, and we willet you face the South Africans first to take the sting out of their deliveries.

 

15. You must tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us mad.

 

16. An internal revenue agent (i.e. tax collector) from Her Majesty’s Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition offal monies due (backdated to 1776).

 

17. Daily Tea Time begins promptly at 4 pm with proper cups, never mugs, with high quality biscuits (cookies) and cakes; strawberries in season.

 

God save the Queen.

 

Only He can.

 

John Cleese


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Tuesday, February 05, 2008

What did they expect to find?

Police: Crack Found in Man's Buttocks

 

clip_image001

Pierre Lynch (photo courtesy Washington County Police)

 

HAGERSTOWN, Md. (AP) -- Police searching a downtown home found a man hiding 15 plastic bags of crack cocaine in his buttocks.

 

Pierre Lynch, 20, of Washington, D.C., was searched after he went to a home on Charles Street Thursday night.

 

Police had gone to the home after officers saw suspected drug dealing in the area, Sgt. Jim Robison said.

Lynch was charged with possession with the intent to distribute crack cocaine, possession of crack cocaine, possession of drug paraphernalia, obstructing and hindering and making a false statement to police officers.

 

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)


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Thursday, January 24, 2008

I am not the author, but this speaks volumes:

Received from a friend:

 

A group of graduates, well established in their careers, were talking at a reunion and decided to go visit their old university professor, now retired.  During their visit, the conversation turned to complaints about stress in their work and lives.  Offering his guests hot chocolate, the professor went into the kitchen and returned with a large pot of hot chocolate and an assortment of cups - porcelain, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the hot chocolate.

 

When they all had a cup of hot chocolate in hand, the professor said: "Notice that all the nice looking, expensive cups were taken, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones.  While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. The cup that you're drinking from adds nothing to the quality of the hot chocolate.  In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was hot chocolate, not the cup; but you consciously went for the best cups... And then you began eyeing each other's cups.

 

Now consider this: Life is the hot chocolate; your job, money and position in society are the cups.  They are just tools to hold and contain life.  The cup you have does not define, nor change the quality of life  you have.  Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the hot chocolate God has provided us.  God makes the hot chocolate, man chooses the cups. The happiest people don't have the best of everything.  They just make the best of everything that they have.  

 

Live simply.  

Love generously. 

Care deeply.  

Speak kindly.  

And enjoy your hot chocolate.


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Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Irony in full-force for the local university newspaper

When I got a copy of today's O'Colly (university newspaper), I noticed the "above the fold" headline to be:  A linguistic letdown

 

The article with that headline was expanding on the idea that cell phone and internet lingo might have contributed to students' poor grammar in recent years, which would include spelling, proper capitalization and punctuation.  The photo to accompany the story was a possible paper that might have been turned in as a class assignment.  The image below was obtained from their web-site, but isn't as easy to read as the larger version on the front page.

 

Here is what I am able to read from printed copy:

an analysis of thermodynamic pro...

    i think that thermodynamics are when

pressure gets bigger b/c of heat.  not hotz like

heath ledger, but hotz like a fire,  if u need

sum amount of heat, then teh press will ...

  ---- blurred out image ----

 

Where is the irony you ask?  Obviously, I doubt this story was written overnight, and the work involved not only the writing of the article, but the preparation of the 'paper' being turned in for a class.  I also doubt whoever put the image together had any clue that a photo of Heath Ledger would be displayed immediately above their story.  Heath Ledger's photo had the caption of 'Batman', 'Brokeback' actor dies at 28.  Yep, that's the irony ...

 

I won't start trying to share various slants of morbid humor here, as I:

1. Don't want to offend too many people

2. Have so many different possible quips to say, I wouldn't know where to start!

 

Image from the paper's website:

netspeak


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Wednesday, January 16, 2008

It's all about the funny!

A friend sent me this, and I just thought I would share it with you as well:

    


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Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Have you ever wanted to say "Thank You"...

thankyouBeing that I am not really a shy individual, I haven't had a problem with stepping up to any military or public safety personnel to tell them THANKS for the service they are performing.  However, if you are somewhat reluctant to walk up to a stranger and share that feeling, maybe you should visit http://gratitudecampaign.org/

 

I have embedded one of their videos below (hosted by YouTube) for your viewing pleasure:

 


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Sunday, January 06, 2008

Tag, I'm it!

It's been a while since I been tagged for a List <qty> of <adjective> things about you that your readers probably don't know, but it happened yesterday over at 5150Life.  This particular tag is a Share Seven Weird things about yourself.  Those of you who have been following this blog for a while or have known me/worked with me in the past are probably wondering how I could narrow the list down to only seven.  I will try to provide some good (but not incriminating) information about myself here:

 

The rules are as follows: Simply link to the person who tagged you. SHARE SEVEN WEIRD things about yourself. Tag SEVEN bloggers to do the same AND include a link to their blog. Let each person know that they have been tagged and finally post the rules on your blog.

 

In compliance with the above mentioned rules, I have already complied with the "link to the person who tagged you" (see first paragraph) and "post the rules on your blog" (see second paragraph)

 

I. With the current configuration of my prosthetic leg, I have the ability to quickly disconnect the foot, turn it around, and re-attach it backwards!  It only takes me a few steps to adjust my gait (walking pattern) so that I don't limp or stumble.  This has been used for such fun as practical jokes and to interrupt  stressful times at the office.  Seems that people don't see someone walking with one foot pointed backwards everyday of the week!

 

II. I can't stand a repetitive sound/noise to continue on for more than a few minutes.  This can range from someone singing the same short verse or line of a song over and over and over and over and over (you get the idea), whiney dog yipping to get in the house, etc.  If the sound is one that tends to naturally occur or is mechanical in nature, they don't seem to bother me as much.

 

III. The last three cars I have bought cost a total of $2,500 and were later sold for a total of $2,800 (if you don't consider the amount I knocked off the last car due to charitable Christmas write-off0:

---1983 Pontiac J2000 w/+120K miles- bought for $300, driven for 2.5 years, sold for $500

 

---1964 Ford Falcon w/53K original miles- bought for $1,500 three days before my fall (which ultimately led to the amputation), sold for $1,500 (image and original television commercial 5MB Mpeg or 1MB RealMedia file)

 

---1981 Olds Cutlass Supreme w/41K original miles- bought for $700, driven for 2 years and sold for $800 (price reduced prior to receiving funds).  Linked image is tan in color, mine was gold.

 

IV. Valium makes me hyper!  Yep, the stuff that is supposed to be able to sedate elephants, rhinos and other large land mammals actually makes me wired like a little kid on Jolt Cola and Pop Rocks.  We found this out the weekend of the fatality pursuit I was involved with about 12-13 years ago (when I was still a cop).  Long story very short: I was in pursuit of a motorcycle rider, in speed well above the posted maximum.  He crashed and subsequently died.  I didn't deal with it very well mentally and a few days later suffered an anxiety attack while on duty and was rushed to the ER.  While there, I was given two doses of valium, which only slightly relieved the anxiety symptoms.  When I was finally released later that evening, my wife was told I would probably sleep for 12 hours, considering the dose I had been given.  I actually didn't get any sleep until sometime the next day.

 

V. Excessive cellphone texting drives me crazy.  This has nothing to do with #2 above (repetitive noises).  If you can text back and forth with a person for an entire conversation, just CALL THE PERSON!  If you already have the cell phone in your hands, and are 'chatting' with another person, why not just call them.

Note: I don't 'text', nor do I have a plan for it, but that will change when Sarah goes to college later this year.

Instant Messenger use on a computer doesn't count in this category. 

Texting to leave a message for another person when they have a chance to read it also doesn't count in this category

 

VI. I bite my fingernails.  There, I said it (or, actually, typed it).  Close-up pictures of me will normally have my hands hidden as I know my nails and cuticles look awful.  I have 'quit' before, just to fall off the wagon and start chewing/tearing them off.

 

VII. I multitask like crazy.  I have been known to be chatting with three or more people at the same time about different subjects (in person, on the phone or multiple IM chat windows).  These conversations might be going on while also prepping large-scale distribution email messages being addressed to a population of over 25K email addresses or some other computer support-related activity. (yes, 25,000 addresses - someone has to send out the "important information" mailings for the various university departments)

 

There you have it, the seven items I decided to share today.

 

The bloggers I have decided to 'tag' are:

Bubby: he was my Yoda, in regards to blogging

Brent: the first cop-blog I started following

Ambulance Driver: I really hope he 'plays well with others', as his should be fun to read

Johnny Law: another one that should provide for interesting reading

LawDog: just to get mentioned in his blog

Murphy: I regularly 'lurk' at his blog

Jack Army: I don't remember how I stumbled across his blog, but I'm glad I did


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And the winner is .... ME!

The last few sockets I have had made included an additional outer layer of cloth laminated to the carbon fiber, as a way of providing a little personality to the leg (previous posts with images: My logo on the socket, Cars socket & my website has a small image of one as well).

 

FredsLegs.com is a company founded by a prosthetist/amputee who recognized the fact that a prosthesis can be both functional and fashionable. Their SleeveArt concept takes high quality material (Spandex and Lycra) with fun and interesting designs, and turns them into sleeves that are pulled on over the socket of a prosthetic.  This way, an amputee can change the 'displayed personality" as they desire.  They really have some cool designs.

 

Visitors to the website can signup (via email) for a monthly drawing to win two sleeves ... one is the choice of the winner, and the second is the choice of the company.  I was lucky enough to be drawn as the final winner in 2007.  I've reviewed the available options several times (like I said, they have some really cool designs) and I finally made my decision.  I have emailed the information and now I will just sit back and wait for the postman to bring my my goodies.

 

Oh, did I forget to mention which sleeve I requested?  Well, when my choice and the mystery sleeve arrive, I will get some pictures of them and share in a future post.  Why don't you visit FredsLegs.com and check out their inventory?  Feel free to leave a comment with your vote of which one I should have chosen (pinks, purples, Flamingo and Child styles are not available as voting options!).


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Friday, January 04, 2008

Calling All Cops! - free training available (except $6 s/h)

Hi, I'm Ron and I'm an RSS Junkie!

(your response:  Hi Ron!)

 

Seriously, I use RSS feeds to keep up with a large variety of websites and blogs.  These feeds range from Microsoft related (for Windows Mobile, XP or Vista), Document Imaging, humor, law enforcement (cause I still have close ties to teh Law enforcement community), EMT and a few other topics.  I like using an RSS reader so I aware when new articles are posted, without having to visit each site each day.

 

One of the RSS feeds I have is for Blue Sheepdog, a site dedicated to "Serving Those Who Protect: Police Training and Officer Survival Tips".  A post from yesterday was titled Vehicle Stop Interdictions - Drug Interdiction for Patrol: Excellent Police Training Course from The Backup Training Corporation.  Within the article was a list of three great reasons to use the training, with number two being "FREE" (#1 was content is current and #3 was college credit available).  When a state employee sees the word FREE, it is almost a requirement for us to investigate further.

 

backuptraining

The Backup Training Corporation is offering the free training to SWORN* officer in the USA.  Topics in the course include: indicators of drug couriers, roadside interviews, search and seizure case law, concealment locations and methods, “source” states and frequent overland routes, the use of K-9s, profiling, documentation, and more. You can find a more complete list of training topics here.  They also have a FAQ about the free training here.

 

One of the great aspects of the service is the fact that the training can be used to satisfy state training mandates in many states:

trng-map

Their map with "click-able states" can be found here

The A-Z Approval list is located here

 

With the increased training requirements for law enforcement, as well as the problem with shift-work and area coverage, this self-paced computer-based training seems to have an ideal opportunity to assist departments, both small and large. 

 

If there is a LEO in your life, share this information with them.  If they already know about it, that's great ... but if they don't, they need to look into it!

 

Note: I do not work for/with The Backup Training Corporation, nor will I receive any compensation from them for this posting.  This is done solely as an act to share information so that I may Serve Those Who Protect!

 

And, as Sgt Esterhous from Hill Street Blues would always say:

    "Hey - let's be careful out there"

   

 

*Those qualified include: any sworn law enforcement, military, or corrections personnel who act in a law enforcement capacity


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Thursday, January 03, 2008

Note: Not all of Oklahoma is this backwards

Man stabs another man with a pork chop bone

 

News report out of Ardmore OK advises than 38-year-old Tony Willis was arrested after he allegedly stab another man in the neck with a pork chop bone during a food fight.  This occurred outside a local business on New Year's day.

 

You can read the complete, albeit short, report here.

 

At least you gotta give the suspect credit for the ingenuity of using what he had available as a weapon.


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Sunday, December 30, 2007

Do you backup your blog?

BlogBackupOnline.com is a free service that backups my blog on a daily basis.  It currently has all 549 posts from this blog, starting with my Initial Post on 9/7/2003 (this post will be number 550).  When I found this service in May 2007, I had it run a full backup of my blog.  Once the full backup was completed, it was set to check my RSS feed for new posts on a daily basis.

 

Why did I worry about backing up my blog in May 2007?  To be perfectly honest, I really wasn't worried ... I just found a new blog related 'widget' to play with and had to try it out!

 

Images from my account BlogBackupOnline account(click to enlarge):

The image showing the Info tab (left image) shows Blog status (URL, Title, Blog type, # of posts and Space used) as well as the Images and feeds discovered within the blog.  The Dashboard image on the right is more basic information, but allows for adding new blogs to backup and manage the backup settings of the blogs already listed.

 

When setting up a blog for backup, the userid/password combo for posting entries is not requested/required.  If I wanted to backup a buddy's (bubby's) blog, I could do that very easily.

 

The reason the space used for my 549 posts is only 1.49MB is due to the fact all of the images from my posts are stored remotely away from the actual blogspot.com address for my blog.  Their FAQ page advises they are working on adding support for pictures and videos as well.

 

How can this help you? (besides if your blog host trashes your blog)

If you are currently using a hosting service such as Blogger, LiveJournal, Wordpress, etc and decide to move to your own domain, BlogBackupOnline has the ability to restore your previous posts to the same blog or a new blog.  (Blogger and the other major blog engines can be used to blog to a different domain).

 

After logging into the system, the Restore Wizard is as simple as:

1. On the Restore tab, input the URL and select the type of blog you are restoring to

       

2. Decide "Restore all my blog entries" or "Select blog entries to restore"

   If the second option is used, click Load blog entries, then select the entries.

       

3. Input the Username and Password needed to post to the 'receiving' blog

         (Yep, I like long passwords!)

      

4. Confirm your settings and click the Start Restore button

      

 

You can use the Log tab to determine the status of the restore process, as well as the daily backup actions:

     

 

The only issue that I am aware with in regards to the restore is the fact that Blogger (blogspot.com) will only allow the Restore Wizard to restore 50 posts per day until all have been transferred.

 

In case you were wondering, I am not affiliated with BlogBackupOnline in any way, other than as a very satisfied user of their service.  If you spend any time blogging, you owe it to yourself to go check this free service out.

 

Note: I keep a 'test blog' with Blogger that has the exact same template code as this blog.  When I try anything new out (Windows Live Writer, Restore Wizard from BlogBackupOnline, new ways of embedding videos, etc) or I feel like tweaking the blog template, I have a playground for the trials.  I have been involved with "Testing in Production" before, and it isn't any fun when things go south (which happens much too often with new technology).


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Friday, December 21, 2007

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Don't ya just hate when....

.... life gets in the way of blogging?

 

More posts in the future, as life should be slowing down in the future (or I will run out of energy).

 

However, please enjoy this video in my absence:



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Saturday, December 08, 2007

Prince Caspian

One of the fun things I have done with Hope over the past year is reading through the whole Chronicles of Narnia book series.  While the movie for book two (The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe) has been out for a while, it looks like the movie for Prince Caspian will be released May 16, 2008.  From the trailer below, it looks like the next installment has the potential of being better than the first!

 


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Monday, December 03, 2007