?We always meant to get married,? said the Senior Legal Helpline caller. ?But something always got in the way.?
Now her brother is in the way. ?He?s going to evict me from our house. Can he do that?? he asked. The answer: In most states, in the absence of a showing of an ?equitable interest,? the answer is yes. He may have to pack up and move out, even though, as he insisted: ?We?ve always loved each other!?
The caller is in his mid-seventies, as is his long-time cohabitee. They have lived together in a house to which she held warranty deed and sole ownership for the better part of 35 years. She inherited the house from her parents. It is valued at $125,000.
Six months ago she designated a brother as her agent under a power of attorney, deeded him the family home and moved to an assisted living facility. ?She didn?t know what she was doing,? contends the caller. ?She is suffering from dementia.? The brother, now named as the sole owner on the deed that was duly witnessed and notarized, has served the caller with a ?notice to vacate letter.?
While the caller has spent more than three decades outside the responsibilities of marriage, he now finds himself outside the legal protections of a marriage contract recognized by state law.
?Cohabitation? is defined as ?living together in a sexual relationship without marriage.? Currently, we are told that 60 percent of all marriages are preceded by cohabitation, but fewer than half of cohabitating unions result in marriage. This one did not result in marriage. And while they may have viewed their relationship as an alternative to marriage, the law doesn?t necessarily support that view.
Cohabitees may not be able to make decisions in a medical emergency, or benefit from the other?s retirement plan, or inherit the other?s property. And if they decide to part, jointly purchased property may not be divided equally.
The caller may wish to challenge the transfer of the family home, contending that his partner was mentally impaired when she executed the deed. But without the protections of a marriage contract, it may not make any difference. He should, I advised, be prepared to relocate to another domicile.
My advice to cohabitating couples: ?Put it in writing.? Or, ?get around to it? and make a trip to the courthouse.
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Eviction after 35 years of cohabitation | Elderlaw Forum
The day after the 2012 NFL regular season ended, Judge David Doty convened a hearing on the question of whether the NFLPA should be able to pursue a collusion claim arising from the salary-cap penalties imposed in March on the Cowboys and the Redskins.? The day after the 2012 NFL regular season ended, Judge Doty issued a decision.
In short, the NFL removed a total of $46 million in cap space from the two teams for treating the uncapped year of 2010 as, well, uncapped.? The NFLPA, despite agreeing to the cap penalties in exchange for an agreement by the league to artificially increase the 2012 salary cap to a level north of the 2011 number, claimed that comments made in the aftermath of the announcement of the cap penalties disclosed for the first time that shenanigans were occurring in 2010.
The NFL argued that any potential claim for collusion was barred by the simple fact that the parties agreed in 2011 to end all litigation when finalizing a new Collective Bargaining Agreement.? Judge Doty agreed, finding that ?the NFLPA released the claims it attempts to assert in the underlying action.?
As a result, the settlement agreement won?t be reopened, and the NFLPA won?t be able to pursue upwards of $1 billion in damages from the NFL.
While the union may now appeal the outcome, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has a reputation for being conservative and, thus, pro-business.? Which makes it highly unlikely that Judge Doty?s decision would be overturned.
Indeed, most judges regardless of politics prefer to see settled cases remain settled.? In this case, the NFL and the NFLPA resolved their differences, including any claim that there was collusion in 2010 regarding the uncapped year that, based on the penalties imposed on the Cowboys and Redskins, wasn?t really uncapped.
Fond of your family name? Good -- it's about to get a bit more visible. Foursquare is planning to display full user names on profile pages, explaining in a recent community email that the old policy has become confusing. "If you search for a friend on Foursquare, we show their full name in the results, but when you click through to their profile page you don't see their last name." The team says these abbreviations made sense in Foursquare's early days, but recently users have been asking for change. "We get emails every day saying that it's now confusing." The social network hopes that displaying users' full surnames will help mitigate confusion between the John Smiths and John Smythes of the world.
The company's tweaked privacy policy promises to share more data with businesses, too, giving store owners greater visibility of customers who have recently checked in. Users who want their quests for coffee to remain anonymous still can, of course -- Foursquare was careful to remind users that they can change their "full name" whenever they want, and can opt out of sharing their location information with businesses. We wouldn't want to step on any toes, would we? Head past the break to see the email for yourself, or check out the adjacent source link to read Foursquare's "Privacy 101" summary.
Americans from across the country express their frustration with lawmakers in Washington who have yet to reach an agreement on averting looming tax increases.
By Tracy Connor, NBC News
Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker said Friday that ?the American people should be disgusted? the nation?s leaders haven?t been able to avert the fiscal cliff.
Well, mission accomplished.
John Makely / NBC News
Abigail Holt, 17, (right), of Hartford, Conn., says Washington's inability to avert the fiscal cliff is "annoying."
Across the country, people are shaking their heads about negotiations that go nowhere and fingers that point everywhere while the nation hurtles toward the precipice of a new economic crisis.
?They should make a plan, make up their minds and do something!? Abigail Holt of Hartford, Conn., told NBC News.
She?s 17 years old and admits she?s just learning about the federal government and the fiscal cliff. But she knows this much: ?It?s annoying.?
And that's being polite.
Writing in the Daily Beast, Howard Kurtz called the nation's capital "the country?s biggest day-care center." The famous sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer hit below the belt, noting on Twitter that "Members of Congress who can't compromise probably aren't good lovers."
Californian Pat Marshall said the politicians "appear to be very self-centered on making sure that they?re taken care of and the American public comes second."
After an hourlong meeting Friday with congressional leaders that he described as "constructive," President Obama acknowledged that people outside Washington were bewildered by D.C. "dysfunction" and that time -- and patience -- were running out.
Lawmakers have 'lost touch' Indeed, with higher taxes and deep spending cuts looming without a deal, Americans? faith in Washington is dissipating by the day.
A Dec. 9 Gallup poll found that 59 percent thought it was likely the White House and Congress could hammer out a deal to avoid a slide down the cliff; by this week, that had sunk to 50 percent.
Skeptics were gaining ground, meanwhile: 48 percent think an agreement before the year-end deadline is unlikely, up 10 points from two weeks earlier.
John Makely / NBC News
Rich Dodds, 49, of Houston, Texas, says the elected officials in Washington have "lost touch" with Americans who will be affected by the fiscal cliff.
?It doesn?t feel like they?re doing much,? said Rich Dodds, 49, an energy product manager from Houston, Texas. ?I think they?ve lost touch with who the American people are. It?s a pretty elite group in Washington.?
The fact that both houses of Congress went into recess -- the Senate took a nearly week-long break, and the House is still on vacation until Sunday -- bothered some.
?This is one of the most important issues and they are not even working,? said Bill Prosser, 49, a telecommunications salesman from Clifton, Va. ?I?m very disappointed in them.?
Nicole Hayward, 28, of Brooklyn, N.Y., was so angered by the congressional recess that she posted a petition on Change.org demanding lawmakers get back to business.
?I turn on the news every day while I?m getting ready for work and I saw coverage about how Congress was going to break for the holidays and we might not have a resolution,? the marketing director said. ?I thought, who cares about their holiday vacation? It really got me going.?
Hayward got only 101 signatures on her petition. She attributed the lack of interest to cynicism.
?The reason why the average American doesn?t pay attention to this issue and the details is they think Congress will come together and pass something that just kicks the can down the road and things won?t change in [their] life,? she said.
John Makely / NBC News
Bill Prosser, 49, of Clifton, Va., says members of Congress should be locked in a room until they can make a deal.
Bipartisan blame Inside the Beltway, Democrats are condemning Republicans and vice versa for the stalemate. But the nation?s voters are more bipartisan in their blame, with neither Republicans nor Democrats obtaining majority support.
?Essentially, right now, 25 percent of the public approves of the job the GOP congressional leaders are doing and 40 percent approves of the job the Democratic leaders are doing,? said Jocelyn Kiley, a senior researcher for the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.
Prosser thinks there?s a time-tested way to bring the two sides together before Jan. 1 -- something akin to the old papal conclaves in which cardinals were locked in a room until they chose a new pontiff.
?Just say you?re not going to leave until you have a deal,? Prosser said.? ?Get in a room -- and get it done!?
Who do you blame for the nation teetering on the edge of the fiscal cliff?
Sokari writes about Earthling, a short story by Diriye Osman: ?Set in Peckkahm south London, Diriye explores sexuality and sister to sister relationships in a British Somali family where desires to be married and to live out of the closet are set against each other. Mental illness and death, two familiar themes in Diryie?s work, are explored as Zeytun turns to the internet in search of ways of dying but really its a search for freedom.?
Becoming successful at a home-based business is not everyone?s good luck, but you should not let that keep you from trying it out. Especially today when there are plenty of computer home-based businesses that can be put in place for a very low cost. All it requires is a low cost, high-speed Internet access, and the motivation to spend a bit of time doing the research. In contrast to a local brick-and-mortar business, which is expensive to set up, and is confined to local customers, your computer business can be world wide. Anybody, in a global context, who can hook up to the Internet, can be a prospect.
I Want To Make Money
There are many ways to get your toes wet in case you are seriously considering a business online. To make a start you most definitely don?t need to be an IT nerd, but being familiar with using a personal computer would be very helpful. Frequently, making money online has nothing to do with your technical skills, but with how much you know about the things you love doing. An individual who is a proficient writer could, as an example, have a web business that does copywritng. Writing could also be done freelance, doing jobs for people who either can?t stand writing or aren?t any good at it. What it comes down to is determining a group of individuals who have a need for something, like say, articles, and providing them with it. Put together a portfolio of your work, do some marketing, and, hey presto! you?ve got a business.
Online auction web sites are another avenue from which a lot of people are making good money. You can acquire items at wholesale value and sell them at retail price, or you may already have products suitable for selling on the web. Online auction websites, such as eBay, do the hard work of bringing the customers to your offers. Your job is first off to figure out a price and list your item, then wait for the sales. As soon as your product is sold, you get sent the funds and then you have the product delivered to the customer.
Lots of erstwhile challenges and obstructions have been done away with by the advance of technology. The advent of the laptop or computer has put ownership of a business within the reach of regular individuals. Not only does the internet have a lot of products to sell, but there is ample information online to show you how to sell them. The very best way to start a business on the internet, is to find someone who has a business model you like, and pattern yours after theirs.
Instead of a fulltime business you could just be after an additional income stream, which the Internet caters for handsomely. Spend a little time on your computer looking for information on starting a web business, and you will find plenty of it. You can only start making money once you get your business started, so don?t delay in doing your research.
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The biggest, most tragic news of 2012 in local retail will likely continue to shake the community for a good portion of the year to come.
A masked gunman, later identified as 22-year-old Jacob Roberts, opened fire Dec. 11 near the food court at Clackamas Town Center, killing two adults and seriously injuring a teenage girl. Terrified shoppers dropped purses, shopping bags and strollers as they made for the doors. Others ducked into stores and sat for hours with employees as police searched for the gunman, who subsequently killed himself in a back hallway.
The violence chilled shoppers young and old who came to realize how safe they'd once felt in malls, especially during the holidays.
Retailers at Westfield Southcenter in Seattle, where a teenager was killed in a gang-related shooting in 2008, said it can take six months to a year to regain some sense of normalcy.
Indeed, people returned to Clackamas, shopping and writing words of support on memorial stars along the mall's railings. On the day after Christmas, usually one of the busiest days of the year, traffic was strong, though many shoppers and store employees commented it didn't seem as busy as some years.
"A lot of people have come out to support local merchants and national ones. That's the right thing to do," said John Jost, owner of Eugene-based Excalibur Cutlery & Gifts, which was hit financially by the mall's two-day closure following the tragedy. "It does take a while for memories to fade."
In other retail news, there was plenty of activity.
Comings
In February, Target Corp. announced plans to open a City Target in downtown Portland's Galleria Building. The 89,000-square-foot location at Southwest 10th Avenue and Alder Street will feature a pharmacy and the usual fashion and home offerings. A few blocks away, across from Pioneer Place mall, will come a long-awaited mega Apple store. Development plans call for a 165-foot-long, glass-enclosed store.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which for years battled Portlanders and politicians to wend its way into the Rose City, found a way to bring its price-slashing smiley face to town: defunct grocery stores. The Arkansas-based chain opened three mini-me versions in shuttered grocery stores in Lake Oswego, Beaverton and Gresham. Wal-Mart also updated and added groceries to its Southeast Portland location and broke ground on a 90,000-square-foot store with groceries at Hayden Meadows in North Portland.
Goings
Last January, in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Tilman Fertitta sealed the deal on his purchase of McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurants Inc. He immediately took the Portland company private and, according to many regular diners, reduced the chain's once-famous selection of local wines.
Lisa Sedlar, who joined New Seasons Market in 2005 and was named chief executive in 2010, announced she would leave the Portland-based grocery chain to launch her own line of healthy convenience stores. The grocer's leadership, which has since named Wendy Collie as CEO, liked Sedlar's idea and took a minority stake in her new venture.
Makeovers
Many of the metro area's malls unveiled updates and expansions this year.
The 13-year-old Woodburn Company Stores completed its final build-out, adding 16 stores as part of a $10 million expansion that added 38,569 square feet. New names included footwear retailers The Puma Store and Crocs, and clothing retailers Maurices and Charlotte Russe. Jantzen Beach also spent the year reworking the once-enclosed mall in North Portland into a 100,000-square-foot, U-shaped design that allows shoppers to access stores from the outside. The $50 million overhaul, which will add about 30 new stores, also included a revamp of the mall's Target, which added groceries.
Westfield Vancouver installed new carpeting, sleek furniture and a couple of new retailers. The update's main attraction is a snazzy Cinetopia 23 theater, which offers massive movie screens, including one 80-footer, as well as food and cocktails delivered to moviegoers' comfy seats.
Metro-area J.C. Penney stores have gotten spiffed up, too, incorporating several flashy stores-within-stores as part of the Texas-based chain's complete overhaul. Along with the new look, the retailer no longer relies on coupons or doorbuster deals to woo customers, relying instead on "every day low prices." Initial marketing confused some shoppers and the jury's still out on whether former Apple executive Ron Johnson's leadership at the venerable chain will be a success.
Fred Meyer, the locally based subsidiary of The Kroger Co., also completed a number of regularly scheduled, though major renovations in the Portland area. The chain's Hollywood West store in Northeast Portland, which will gain a New Seasons as a neighbor just a few blocks away in 2013, unveiled an $18 million update designed by a Eugene firm. Overall, the chain will spend $40 million on renovations at three Oregon stores, including its Tualatin location, next year.
Steven Bridges, left, receives a wedding ring from Michael Snell, early Saturday at City Hall in Portland, Maine.
By NBC News wire services
PORTLAND, Maine - Gay and lesbian couples exchanged their vows early Saturday as Maine's new same-sex marriage law took effect a minute after midnight.
Among them were Steven Bridges and Michael Snell, who held a commitment ceremony six years ago but wanted to make their marriage official under state law.
"It's historic. We've waited our entire lives for this," said Bridges, a retail manager, who's been in a relationship with the Snell, a massage therapist, for nine years. Bridges, 42, and Snell, 53, wore lavender and purple carnations on black T-shirts with the words "Love is love."
With Snell's two adult daughters looking on, they exchanged their vows in the city clerk's office after getting the first marriage license issued to a same-sex couple in Portland. They said they'll hold another ceremony with friends this summer, after the weather warms up.
Voters approved gay marriage in November, making Maine and two other states the first to do so by popular vote. A law is already in effect in Washington state; Maryland's takes effect Tuesday.?
Nine of the 50 U.S. states plus the District of Columbia, have now legalized gay marriage. Another 31 states have passed constitutional amendments banning it.
In Portland, a half dozen couples huddled with friends and family in freezing temperatures outside the building before the doors to the city clerk's office were opened at 10 p.m. local time.
"We've been together for 30 years, and never thought that this country would allow marriages between gay couples," said Roberta Batt, 71, an antiques dealer and retired physician with silver hair and round eyeglasses. She planned to marry her longtime partner, Mary, who stood nearby.
"We're just very thankful to the people of Maine, and I hope the rest of the country goes the way this state has," she added.
Suzanne Blackburn and Joanie Kunian, of Portland, were among those in line to get their license at midnight, but they didn't plan to wed immediately. One of their grandchildren wanted them to get married on Valentine's Day.
"I don't think that we dared to dream too big until we had the governor's signature," Blackburn said. "That's why it's so important, because it feels real."
Watch the most-viewed videos on NBCNews.com
In Bangor, the city clerk's office was planning to be open on Saturday from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. for residents to obtain marriage licenses. The Brunswick town clerk's office was set to be open from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday by appointment. As of midday on Friday, five same-sex couples had booked appointments, the office said.
Robert F. Bukaty / AP
Sarah Dowling, left, speaks Nov. 1 at a gay marriage rally, accompanied by her partner of 18 years, Linda Wolfe, and their daughter, Maya Dowling-Wolfe, in Portland, Maine. Dowling and Wolfe planned to marry after a law allowing same-sex marriage took effect at 12:01 a.m. Saturday.
More lavish same-sex weddings are being booked starting in the spring at the On the Marsh Bistro in Kennebunk, said owner Denise Rubin.
"We support it wholeheartedly," she said. "We look forward to being part of a whole new wave of wonderful thinking."
The tide of public opinion has been shifting in favor of allowing same-sex marriage. In May, President Barack Obama became the first U.S. president to say he believed same-sex couples should be allowed to get married.
A Pew Research Center survey from October found 49 percent of Americans favored allowing gay marriage, with 40 percent opposed. The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review two challenges to federal and state laws that define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
Just a day after Washington became the latest state to allow gay couples to marry, the U.S. Supreme Court will take a serious look at same-sex marriage for the first time ever. NBC's Pete Williams reports.
The nation's highest court said this month it will review a case against a federal law that denies married same-sex couples the federal benefits that heterosexual couples receive. It also will look at a challenge to California's ban on gay marriage, known as Proposition 8, which voters narrowly approved in 2008.
Washington state's law legalizing same-sex unions took effect on Sunday, December 9, and Maryland's law takes effect on January 1, 2013.
This article includes reporting by Reuters and The Associated Press.
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Tumor boards linked to little association with effects on cancer carePublic release date: 28-Dec-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Zachary Rathner Zachary.Rathner@oup.com 301-841-1286 Journal of the National Cancer Institute
There is little association of multidisciplinary tumor boards with measures of use, quality, or survival, and measuring only the presence of tumor boards may not be adequate in determining their effects on cancer care, according to a study published December 28 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Tumor board reviews offer a multidisciplinary approach to treatment planning, which encompasses doctors from many specialties reviewing and discussing the medical condition and the treatment of patients. Even though the use of tumor boards is widespread, there is little data on how it affects cancer care.
In order to determine the effects tumor boards have on cancer care, Nancy L. Keating, M.D., M.P.H., Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, and colleagues gathered information about tumor boards from 138 Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers and linked cancer registry and administrative data to gauge receipt of stage-specific recommended care, survival, or use for patients with colorectal, lung, prostate, hematologic, and breast cancers diagnosed during 2001-2004 and followed through to 2005.
The researchers found only a modest association between the presence of tumor boards and the types of treatments that patients received. Most types of care for lung, prostate, hematologic, and breast cancers were unaffected by the presence or types of tumor boards. For seven measures, the rates of some types of care were higher (lung cancer and prostate cancer) whereas others were lower (lymphoma and palliative care). "This could mean that tumor boards did not, in fact, influence quality of cancer care in the VA setting," the authors write. "Additional research is needed to understand the structure and format of tumor boards that lead to the highest quality care."
In an accompanying editorial, Douglas W. Blayney, M.D., Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford School of Medicine, notes that tumor boards may not influence quality in a large, integrated health system such as the VA as much as they might in smaller centers and writes that measures of adherence and survival are difficult to track and therefore while it is tough to determine the overall efficacy of tumor boards, they "have too long a history for them to be easily abandoned," adding that, "until there is carefully constructed public reporting of process adherence and outcome, we are left to hope that cancer doctors, their leaders, and the systems that they build will use recognized measures of structure and process and work toward superior outcomes."
###
Contact Info:
Article: Nancy L. Keating, M.D., M.P.H., Keating@hcp.med.harvard.edu
Editorial: James Larkin, jlarkin@stanfordmed.org
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Tumor boards linked to little association with effects on cancer carePublic release date: 28-Dec-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Zachary Rathner Zachary.Rathner@oup.com 301-841-1286 Journal of the National Cancer Institute
There is little association of multidisciplinary tumor boards with measures of use, quality, or survival, and measuring only the presence of tumor boards may not be adequate in determining their effects on cancer care, according to a study published December 28 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Tumor board reviews offer a multidisciplinary approach to treatment planning, which encompasses doctors from many specialties reviewing and discussing the medical condition and the treatment of patients. Even though the use of tumor boards is widespread, there is little data on how it affects cancer care.
In order to determine the effects tumor boards have on cancer care, Nancy L. Keating, M.D., M.P.H., Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, and colleagues gathered information about tumor boards from 138 Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers and linked cancer registry and administrative data to gauge receipt of stage-specific recommended care, survival, or use for patients with colorectal, lung, prostate, hematologic, and breast cancers diagnosed during 2001-2004 and followed through to 2005.
The researchers found only a modest association between the presence of tumor boards and the types of treatments that patients received. Most types of care for lung, prostate, hematologic, and breast cancers were unaffected by the presence or types of tumor boards. For seven measures, the rates of some types of care were higher (lung cancer and prostate cancer) whereas others were lower (lymphoma and palliative care). "This could mean that tumor boards did not, in fact, influence quality of cancer care in the VA setting," the authors write. "Additional research is needed to understand the structure and format of tumor boards that lead to the highest quality care."
In an accompanying editorial, Douglas W. Blayney, M.D., Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford School of Medicine, notes that tumor boards may not influence quality in a large, integrated health system such as the VA as much as they might in smaller centers and writes that measures of adherence and survival are difficult to track and therefore while it is tough to determine the overall efficacy of tumor boards, they "have too long a history for them to be easily abandoned," adding that, "until there is carefully constructed public reporting of process adherence and outcome, we are left to hope that cancer doctors, their leaders, and the systems that they build will use recognized measures of structure and process and work toward superior outcomes."
###
Contact Info:
Article: Nancy L. Keating, M.D., M.P.H., Keating@hcp.med.harvard.edu
Editorial: James Larkin, jlarkin@stanfordmed.org
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
There are various sorts of travel backpacks for ladies designed for those who desire to choose backpacking for holiday. Traveling alone isn't just for guys, women these days travel on their own just about everywhere. Nevertheless the majority of individual or the what is known as solo vacation relating to backpacking is usually tailored for men Ladies really are exclusive since we really need to combat unneeded attention particularly when we vacation alone and it may be rather demanding for many people.
Women from time to time opt to vacation alone due to numerous aspects. A few factors which I could picture will probably be somebody who just turned single again, desires to break free on her own for a short period, gain strength and possibly to provide evidence she can get it done on their own, probably looking for religious experience or simply really wants to do things in a different way. Recommended for you would be to go backpacking and find a special constr ucted vacation backpacks for ladies. Schedule your holiday perfectly and exercise lodging safety and always arrange to reach a location during day time. Remember to keep your traveling document secure and also be sure you dress adequately to prevent yourself from undesired notice. Actually do communicate with family members and good friends as you vacation and also a smart and efficient way would be to post your travel and leisure blogs. A well specially designed holiday backpacks for women should be capable of support the actual shoulder blades pad as women are generally lighter weight compare with males and this will be more ergonomics to manage it. It shall be wiser to decide on light-weight backpacking due to the fact is really a safer choice compare to traditional holiday backpack simply because it helps to reduce chance of injuries for example sprained shoulder joint, back discomfort and knee complications.
A lighter in weight travel backpacks for girls also allow women vacationer to be far more reactive with regards to urgent situation. It's quicker to duck and also run away if you have a less heavy load on your back especially if you encounter natural disaster like mudslide or even crashing branches. Apart from that you can enjoy your vacation and traveling far more distance as well as take pleasure in the mobility and also independence when you vacation light. Single vacationers espe cially ladies require the simplicity and luxury as opposed to struggling with aching muscles and also lower back pain as a result of a sub standard travel and leisure backpack. Therefore, prior to start the journey it's a good idea to search and also look around online backpacks for additional information prior to selecting one.
Single female vacationers face far more danger and also it's imperative to apply essential traveling safeguards. Take a compass and guide of course, if you can invest a Gps navigation that is loaded with the latest map which is extra reliable. Try and stay with a familiar path that's incredibly well visited to make sure that when you are confronted by misfortune aid is available out quicker. Once you have all your travel backpacks for ladies all securely filled you are prepared to enjoy the vacation!
Cloudysky has been travelling around for vacations and is giving tips on how to choose travel backpacks for women. For more infor mation abouttravels backpacks for women please read this review.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A powerful winter storm that has dumped a foot of snow on parts of the United States forced the cancellation of 457 flights on Thursday and threatened more havoc as it hit the New England states with fierce winds.
The heaviest snow was falling on Pennsylvania, New York and New England, and winter storm warnings continued over a majority of the U.S. Northeast, the National Weather Service said.
The massive storm system touched off tornadoes in the South and produced snow in Texas before barreling down on the densely populated Northeast.
The service forecast 12 to 18 inches of snow for northern New England after the storm moved northeast out of the lower Great Lakes, where it left more than a foot of snow on parts of Michigan.
The storm front was accompanied by freezing rain and sleet, creating hazards on the highways and at airports.
A Southwest Airlines jet skidded off the runway at Long Island MacArthur Airport, about 50 miles east of New York City, as it taxied for takeoff, Suffolk County police said.
None of the 134 people aboard Tampa-bound flight No. 4695 was injured, police said.
"It's been undetermined at this time if weather was a factor," a police spokeswoman said.
Snow was due to fall in northern New York, Vermont and New Hampshire at up to 2 inches an hour, with winds gusting to 30 miles per hour (48 km per hour), the weather agency said.
So far, 457 U.S. airline flights scheduled for Thursday had been canceled, according to FlightAware.com, a website that tracks flights.
American Airlines had the most canceled at 55. A total of about 1,500 U.S. flights were canceled on Wednesday.
New York state activated its Emergency Operations Center late on Wednesday to deal with the first major storm of the season.
Governor Andrew Cuomo warned the heads of seven utilities they would be held accountable for their performances. Utilities near New York City were criticized for lingering outages after Superstorm Sandy devastated the region in October.
New York state has seen little snow during autumn and winter. Buffalo, New York, was 23 inches below normal for the season before the storm, said Bill Hibbert, a National Weather Service meteorologist.
"We're short and even this big snow isn't going to make it up for us," he said.
The storm dumped record snow in north Texas and Arkansas before it swept through the U.S. South on Christmas Day and then veered north.
The system spawned tornadoes and left almost 200,000 people in Arkansas and Alabama without power on Wednesday.
At least five people were killed in road accidents related to the bad weather, police said.
(Additional reporting by Dan Burns and Neale Gulley; Editing by Daniel Trotta and Dale Hudson)
Because just once isn’t enough, Jessica Simpson decided to make her pregnancy reveal through both Twitter and a Weight Watchers ad. Filmed at the same time as the commercial where she shows off her 50 pound weight loss, she proudly announces her second pregnancy in this new video. Watch here:
One of the most irritating things about enjoying videos, movies, and TV shows online is the sheer number of places you must navigate to in order to get the content. Each of the major television networks has its own channel, some of which serve up some full episodes some of the time, while others just serve up teaser clips and ongoing snippets, like the opening monologues for "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson."
The last full moon of 2012 will rise into the night sky this week in a year-ending lunar treat.
The full moon is actually an instantaneous event when the moon is exactly opposite the sun in the Earth's sky, and this month that occurs on Friday morning, Dec. 28, at 5:21 a.m. EST (1021 GMT). But, to the naked eye, the moon "looks" full for a couple of days on either side of that time, so the exact date doesn't matter.
Many owners of new telescopes are disappointed when they look at the planets. At its largest, the planet Venus is just barely one arc minute in diameter, about 1/30th of the diameter of the sun or the moon, and all the other planets appear smaller than that.
Telescope owners complain that the planets don't look any larger with a telescope than they do with the naked eye. That isn't true of course, because any telescope will magnify everything dozens or hundreds of times. But when something is as small as a planet, even a lot of magnification won't make it look very big. [Amazing Moon Photos of 2012]
Moon size comparison
The reason why the sun appears 30 times bigger than Venus is because the sun is very large. Its true diameter is more than 100 times that of Venus, or of Earth, for that matter, since Venus and Earth are about the same size. The moon appears 30 times bigger than Venus not because it is large, but because it is very close to us. The moon is 2,159 miles in diameter (3,475 kilometers), as compared to the Earth's 7,926 miles (12,756 km) and Venus' 7,521 miles (12,104 km).
In other words, the moon is just slightly more than a quarter of the diameter of the Earth or Venus. Mercury is the planet closest in size to the moon at 3,032 miles in diameter (4,879 km), about 40 percent larger than our moon. One of the reasons that Pluto was demoted to "dwarf planet" status was its small diameter of only 1,485 miles (2,390 km), two-thirds of the diameter of our moon.
Our moon is very large in proportion to its planet, Earth, more than any other moons in the solar system except for Pluto's moon Charon. But because other planets are much larger than Earth, several of their moons are much larger than ours, including three of Jupiter's moons (Io, Ganymede, and Callisto) and one of Saturn's (Titan). Of these, Ganymede is the largest at 3,270 miles (5,262 km), slightly larger than the planet Mercury.
The moon as a planet
Even if you don't own a telescope, looking at the moon with the naked eye can show you the challenges faced by planetary observers.
Earlier this week we saw Jupiter shining brightly alongside the moon. It would take a telescope magnifying about 40 times to make Jupiter appear as big as the moon does with the naked eye. When Mars was closest to Earth in 2003, it took a telescope magnifying 75 times to make Mars appear as big as the moon with the naked eye. At present Mars on the far side of the sun, and requires a telescope magnifying 430 times to make it appear as big as the moon does with the naked eye.
So, if you want an observing challenge similar to trying to spot Jupiter's Great Red Spot or Mars' polar cap, try observing detail on the moon with your naked eye.
The man in the moon
What most people see when they look at the moon is "the man in the moon." This is a pattern of light and dark caused by the albedo markings on the moon. ?Albedo? is a measure of how much light gets reflected by an area on a planet.
Darker areas on the moon's surface, which the early astronomers called "seas," although we now know that they are dry and airless, form the face of a man, in our mind?s eye. Or, they may form a woman, or a rabbit, depending on your culture. These are very similar to the dusky markings which astronomers observe with telescopes on Mars and Mercury, also called albedo markings.
If you try to sketch the markings you see on the moon, you will find, as experienced planetary observers do, that you can see much finer detail than the man in the moon. You should be able to see some of the smaller seas, such as the Mare Crisium, on the eastern limb of the moon, and one or two of the brighter craters, such as Tycho towards the southern limb.
Once you have tried to sketch the moon with your naked eye, try observing it with a small binocular. You will be amazed at how much more detail you can see, and will begin to experience the wonder Galileo must have felt when he first turned his primitive telescopes on the moon. There really is another world out there.
If you snap an amazing photo of the year's final full moon on Friday and would like to share it with SPACE.com for a potential story or gallery, submit photos and comments, including your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.
This article was provided to SPACE.com by Starry Night Education, the leader in space science curriculum solutions. Follow Starry Night on Twitter @StarryNightEdu.
Copyright 2012 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Nexes finally spoke I attended a gathering of the elder races held by Miathan ! In that meeting we talked and it was decided that Miathan would step back and turn the leading of man over to us the gods while he would keep the old powers from causing to much trouble for us the main representatives of the fey the elves,dwarves and giants said they would support us !The dragons have not yet decided. the Demons were against it from the start but the emperor of their race was distant and he remained silent the ones who spoke were the leaders of the three main factions !
so as it is we will be watched by him and he will only step in as needed!
DAVIS, Calif. ? A veterinarian at the University of California, Davis, has some good news about a dog from the Philippines who became an international hero after sacrificing her snout to save two young girls.
After completing six weekly intravenous chemotherapy infusions, Kabang appears to have beaten the cancer she was suffering from, Gina Davis, the primary care veterinarian at the William R. Pritchard Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital in Davis, told the San Francisco Chronicle (). http://bit.ly/Ti87pl
The dog, however, is still facing treatment for heartworms in her arteries before she can have the gaping wound on her face closed. Full treatment of that condition was put on hold during cancer therapy.
Kabang ? a female mongrel ? had the first of three arsenic-based heartworm shots on Dec. 4 and is expected to receive the other two in the second week of January, Davis said.
"It will be one to two months for her to recover from that before she goes in and has the surgery," Davis said.
Kabang had her snout and upper jaw sheared off when she jumped in front of a speeding motorcycle, saving her owner's daughter and niece from serious injury or death, according to newspaper reports in the Philippines.
The dog ended up in Davis earlier this year after a nurse from Buffalo, N.Y., spearheaded a fundraising campaign to bring her to the U.S. Veterinarians in the Philippines were apparently unable to treat her injuries.
Surgeons are planning to perform two or three procedures. The first will involve dental work, extractions and covering exposed roots.
They will then try to close the dog's wound and restore nasal functions. The dog's bony structures are currently exposed to air, increasing the chance of infection, Davis said.
Kabang may return to the Philippines in May or June. The bill for her treatment is expected to top $10,000.
Davis said despite Kabang's many conditions, the dog appears to be in good spirits.
"She has come through everything very well," Davis said. "Her appetite is still good. She's still bright and happy."
MADRID (AP) ? Rafael Nadal's return to competition has been delayed by a stomach virus.
The Spaniard was scheduled to play in an exhibition tournament in Abu Dhabi on Thursday after missing seven months because of tendinitis in his left knee. But he said on his Facebook page Tuesday that his doctors ordered him to pull out when he was running a fever, telling him his body needed rest.
"My rehab has gone well, my knee feels good and I was looking forward to competing," he said.
The 11-time Grand Slam champion hasn't played since June, when he lost to 100th-ranked Lukas Rosol in the second round at Wimbledon.
The injury prevented Nadal from defending his Olympic singles gold at the Olympics in London, where he was supposed to be Spain's flag bearer at the opening ceremony. He also had to pull out of the U.S. Open and Spain's Davis Cup final against the Czech Republic, which his teammates lost without him.
Top-ranked Novak Djokovic and No. 3 Andy Murray were also scheduled to play at Abu Dhabi.
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Home improvement can be as simple as painting an area or higher complicated like remodeling the home. No matter, these are generally some tips you might find important to avoid unneeded disappointment and/or migraines.
When seeking to repair that residence, it?s a great idea to utilize electricity-efficient lighting effects. Not only will you save a ton of money over time, your home will also be a lot more beneficial should you ever plan to sell it. As an extra, new eco lights last a long time in contrast to only a few weeks.
Some quick and easy home improvement projects can produce big electricity savings. Putting in Energy Superstar qualified light bulbs will lower your carbon pollutants and use 75 percentage much less energy that your current incandescent light bulbs. Insulating your hot water heating unit can prevent your water heater from throwing away energy and save some costs.
When getting a contractor for home improvement job, check their Far better Company Bureau document. This is certainly a terrific way to determine if you will find any problems on apply for the company which will definitely be described as a key red flag. Opt for an organization which has a stellar status with the BBB.
Freshen up the look of your ageing restroom without re-tiling. Scrape any gathered grout, and after that re-grout rather than replacing the floor tile. Buff out any remaining haze to make it appear glowing and new. Include new light fixtures, a medicine drawer, bath doorways or an expensive tap for more impact.
Pick stains, paints, glues, and sealants that happen to be produced in a way that won?t launch chemicals to your air by using them. Search for reduced No-VOC items, but in addition try to look for paints made with whole milk healthy proteins, clay, planet pigments, or lime. Stains can be done with linseed or citrus fruit gas.
If you are intending to do an renovating in your residence, ensure your maintenance issues are set very first. Don?t devote granite surfaces in case the pipes or cabling is out-of-date and desires correcting. You might find yourself having to rip out what you?ve done soon. Additionally, buyers in today?s market need to know that this house they may be acquiring is in good condition. And, who knows when you may want to market up.
One of the most effective ways to further improve your heating system and air problem technique is to clean up air vents. You realize the environment air vents are unclean after they seem black colored. Dust the vents extensively. Examine the air vents occasionally since if they transform black colored quickly, there might be a much bigger problem.
A home is a great room to transform in a playroom, home business office or health and fitness center. Should your basements has a minimum of 7 feet of head place and remains dry, the upgrade should be comparatively easy. If dampness is an issue, check with an experienced to correct the matter before you start any project.
When you are attempting to put in a gentle outside, consider picking a backyard movement sensor light. If you put in an outdoors motion sensor light, it is going to only come on should there be movements outdoors. This will assist with preserving electricity as your gentle is definitely not jogging at all times.
For those who have hired some other service to assist you a residence enhancement project ? constantly inspect the finished job thoroughly ? prior to paying the ultimate installment for that providers. By performing this evaluation, you do have a far better potential for getting discrepancies and inadequacies from the contracted job adjusted. After you have paid 100 %, it can be more difficult to acquire these complaints remedied!
Redesigning job is anything several truly feel unwell-equipped to carry out by themselves. The important thing to keep in mind, although, is the fact with all the correct info, anything is achievable in this kingdom. Benefit from the suggestions with this part, and you may in the near future anticipate to carry out an extensive array of home improvement careers that will heighten the appeal of your property.
There is more content available about compressor parts look at Deetta Y. Arya?s site there?s plenty of information not detailed in this post, go to Author?s website to discover more.
Here is an abridged and updated version of a love story I wrote many years ago, maybe in the mid 1990s, more than 15 years ago ...
Have you ever seen a handsome strapping young man reading a Mills & Boon Romance? And that too so blatantly in front of so many people in a crowded railway compartment?I did. On the?Deccan?Queen. Yes, on the Deccan Queen ? my favourite train that takes you from Mumbai to Pune every evening. And back from Pune to Mumbai in the morning.Let me tell you about it.But first I?ll tell you about myself.My name is Priya. I am twelve years old and I?m a pretty girl. I love train journeys and I have travelled a lot, especially on the Mumbai Pune route. But this was the first time I was travelling alone. So my loving father, who dotes on me since I am the only thing he has in this world, was very very anxious and worried.My father had come to see me off at Mumbai?s magnificent CST Railway Terminus. He seemed uneasy and kept on saying the same things again and again, ?Priya, take care. Don?t get down at any station. It?s only a three-hour journey. She?ll come to pick you up at Pune. I?ve told her your coach and seat number. And I?ve told uncle here to look after you.??Uncle? was a young man of about twenty-five on the seat next to mine. He was very handsome, well-groomed, smartly dressed in a light blue T-shirt and trendy Jeans. 25...? Maybe slightly older ? but certainly not 30...!?He had a smart elegant beard. A proper well-kept full-grown beard, not the repulsive dirty-looking horrible two-day designer stubble young men sport nowadays. They think the filthy hideous stubble on their face looks fashionable, but let me tell you it looks sick and makes me feel like puking. But this guy had a gorgeous beard ? it suited his face perfectly and made him look very handsome and manly.?Don?t you worry, sir,? he said to my father, ?she?ll be delivered safe and sound.?He gave me a friendly smile.I liked him and felt happy to have him as a companion. And of course, I had the window seat in case he turned out to be a bore.Now my father was talking to the train-conductor, probably telling him the same things to look after me and all that. I felt embarrassed but I didn?t say anything for I knew my father loved me very much and genuinely cared for me. After all, as I told you, we have no one else in this world except each other. I felt worried about him too.That?s why when he kissed me on the cheek just before the train started, I whispered in his ear, ?Papa, don?t drink too much.?I knew how much he hated to be lonely, and now I wouldn?t be there to look after him, to take care of him, to mother him!I looked at my watch. Ten minutes past five. Right on the dot. Soon the mighty Deccan Queen was speeding towards Pune. We would be there by dinner-time.I looked at ?uncle? ? just a sideways glance. But he did not notice me as he had already buried himself in the pages of the Mumbai Mid-Day newspaper.I took out my iPod from my bag, adjusted the earphones in my ears and looked at him again. He was still buried in his newspaper, totally oblivious of the world around him.I pressed my earphones tighter and tried to hear the music from my iPod, pretended to ignore him, made pretence of trying to look out of the tinted-glass window of the air-conditioned chair car. But my eyes kept wandering, trying to steal a glance at him when I thought he wouldn?t notice, but secretly hoping he would notice me and say something, talk to me. But he remained glued to his newspaper as if I just did not exist!How mean and snobbish? It seemed he had no manners! I hated him and decided to ignore him.After some time the young man next to me folded his newspaper and kept it in the rack in front of him. Then he pulled out his bag from below his seat, opened the zip, took out a book from his bag and kept it on his knees in front of him.It was a ?Mills & Boon? romance! I smiled to myself. This young man seemed to be quite an interesting character. Young men in their twenties don?t read Mills & Boon. Or do they? You tell me. Anyway, he opened the Mills & Boon and started reading intently.I know it is bad manners to disturb someone who is reading, but I was so curious to know more about him that I just could not resist.I shut the iPod, pulled earphones out of my ears, and said, ?Hello, uncle. I?m Priya.??Oh yes! I know. Priya. Age 12.??How??? I asked surprised.?I read the reservation chart,? he said.?No. No. Papa must have told you my name,? I said.?But he didn?t tell me your age, young lady,? he smiled mischievously and said, ?Whenever I begin a train journey I always find out who my fellow-passengers are.??You a detective or something???No, No!? he said smiling, ?I?m a Shippie. A Chief Officer in the Merchant Navy.?He held out his hand, "Girish Joshi. And don?t call me uncle. Call me Girish ? just Girish.?We shook hands. His grip was firm and strong. Robust. Reassuring. Redoubtable. Just like he looked.The Mills & Boon paperback fell off. He picked it up and put it back on his knees. It really seemed funny ? a solid macho man like him reading a mushy Mills and Boon romance.?You been to Pune before?? he asked me.?Oh yes,? I said. ?We lived in Pune before we came to Mumbai.??Then you can help me out,? he said. ?Do you know a place called Vaishali? It is a famous restaurant, I think.??You don?t know Vaishali?? I asked surprised.?No,? he said. ?It?s the first time I?m going to Pune. But she told me it was a famous place and I would find it easily. That?s what she told me!??The person I have an appointment with. 10 o?clock tomorrow morning. She promised she would be there.??Yes,? he said. ?She told me that the Dosa at Vaishali is even better than the one at Shompen.??It?s the best restaurant in Port Blair. That?s where we met for the first time.??Port Blair! That?s where you met her, is it?? I asked. This was getting very interesting.?Yes. Last Year. We were sailing from?Singapore?to Mumbai and docked en-route at Port Blair for some emergency repairs. It was just a short stay of four days.?I love to talk to someone who loves to talk. And this was like a fairy tale. It was getting exciting and I wanted to ask him so many things. Who was she? What was her name? Was it love at first sight? What happened? About the Mills & Boon on his lap?But before I could speak, he suddenly said,? Hey! Why am I telling you all this? It?s supposed to be secret.??It?s okay,? I said. ?I won?t tell anyone.??Now you tell me about yourself, Priya. Why are you going to Pune?? he asked.?To see my new mother,? I blurted out, without thinking.And then like a stupid fool I told him everything. I knew I was making a mistake but he was so easy to talk to that my words just came tumbling out... my mother?s sudden death... my father sinking into depression? his drinking problem? everyone advising him to remarry? his refusal? just for my sake? and then this proposal and my father insisting that I see her first and we like each other.Everything ? I told him everything; and it made me feel good.?You mean your father hasn?t even met her?? Girish asked.?No. He hasn?t? we haven't even seen her. Papa has only spoken to her on the phone. Some relatives and friends of Papa are arranging the whole thing,? I said. ?Papa?s worried. He loves me so much. He wants me to like her first.?I could not speak any longer. Tears had welled up in my eyes. For some time there was silence. I felt very embarrassed at having told everything to a complete stranger. But strangely after telling him everything I felt good too.I wiped my tears and nose with my handkerchief and said, ?I am sorry, uncle.??Uncle? Hey come on. I?m not that old. Call me Girish. I told you, didn?t I? And don?t worry. Everything will work out.??For you too,? I said.?I hope so,? he said. I am making it to this appointment with great difficulty ? I made it almost by a hair?s breadth. I signed off my ship in?Perth?yesterday evening and managed to reach Mumbai just a few hours ago. And here I am on this train to Pune. She told me if I didn?t keep my appointment with her tomorrow, she?d go ahead and marry someone else.??So romantic,? I said. ?Just like in the movie ???An Affair to Remember???No. Some Hindi Movie? I don?t remember the name,? I said. ?You must be dying to meet her, isn?t it???Of course I?m dying to meet her,? he said. ?It?s been almost an year since we said goodbye to each other at Port Blair. While parting we promised each other that we would meet tomorrow ? the 25th of December this year at 10 a.m. at Vaishali restaurant in Pune.??Why the 25th of December???We met for the first time on the 25th of December last year. On Christmas Day. And yes, it?s her birthday!??But you must have kept in touch ? emailed ? surely spoken on the phone.??No. She didn?t give me her address. I searched for her on the net, the networking sites too. No luck. She was in Port Blair on a holiday. And me? Well I?ve been sailing since. She said if I really loved her I would come.?? He paused, picked up the Mills & Boon romance book from his lap and said, ?The only thing she gave me was this.??No. You are too small for Mills & Boon.?He kept the book in the plastic book-rack in front of his seat, turned to me and said, ?Hey, Priya. Why don?t you come to Vaishali tomorrow at ten? We?ll celebrate her birthday together and have a Christmas brunch. And then I?ll propose to her. If she agrees, we all we go some other place to celebrate and have a hearty Christmas Lunch.??But you haven?t even told me her name.??You?ll find out tomorrow,? he said, ?and suppose she doesn?t come, I?ll be heartbroken. Then you can console me. But I?m sure she will be there at Vaishali waiting for me. She promised. Whatever her decision, she said she won?t ditch me. She?ll definitely be there for our rendezvous.?I looked out of the tinted-glass window. The sun was about to set. Outside it was getting dark. Inside it was cold.The Deccan Queen slowed down. It was Karjat, the station in the foothills just before the mighty?Sahyadri?Mountains?.I turned to Girish and said, ?Let?s get down. You get yummy batata-vadas here.?We strolled on the platform eating the delicious batata-vadas with the lip-smacking chutney, and suddenly Girish said, ?I?m nervous. I hope everything works out well.??Me too,? I said. ?Papa needs someone. But he?s so worried for me? I wonder whether I?ll like her or not. And she too must like me.??Of course, she will like you. You will like each other. I?m sure things will be fine. Everything will work out for the better, for you, and also for me. Why don?t you bring her also to Vaishali tomorrow morning along with you? And we will all celebrate together!? he said.?Okay. If I like her, I?ll bring her with me.??I will,? I said. ?Like a?kabab-me-haddi.?We laughed and got inside the train. Pushed by three banker engines the Deccan Queen began its climb up the steep?Western Ghats?.?Hi, Girish!? an excited voice spoke from above.I looked up. Another young bearded man. But this was a boisterous type.?Oh, Hi Sanjiv. What are you doing here?? Girish said getting up form his seat.?Going to Lonavala,? the man named Sanjiv answered.?I?ve bought a cottage in Lonavala. A sort of farmhouse. Why don?t you come and see it???No, No,? Girish said, ?I?ve got an important appointment in Pune.??Tomorrow morning. At ten.??And where are you going to spend the night???I don?t know. Maybe some hotel or someplace.??Why don?t you spend the night with me in my bungalow in Lonavala? I?ve got a bottle of Single Malt and we?ve got so much to talk. If you want we can go out someplace. Come on let?s celebrate Christmas Eve together. I?ll drop you first thing in the morning in time for your appointment. It?s only an hour?s drive to Pune. In any case I have to go to Pune tomorrow to meet some relatives. I?ll drop wherever you want ? don?t say no.?I could sense that Girish wanted to go, so I said, ?It?s okay. I?ll manage. She is definitely coming to pick me up.?Sanjiv looked at me in a curious manner, so Girish said, ?This is Priya, my co-passenger. I promised her father I?d deliver her safely to Pune.??Hi, young lady,? Sanjiv said. ?Girish and I are batchmates and shipmates. We?re meeting after a long time.?I knew that both of them were dying to talk to each other and have a good time, so I said to Girish, ?You get down at Lonavala. I promise I?ll look after myself. I?ve got my mobile with me and I?ve got her number also. I?ll ring up my Papa the moment I reach Pune.?I insisted that I would be okay, and egged on by Sanjiv, a hesitant Girish got down at Lonavala, but not before we exchanged each other?s mobile numbers and he requested the lady across the aisle to look after me.It was only after the train left Lonavala on its final leg to Pune that I noticed that Girish had forgotten to take his ?Mills and Boon? romance paperback.I took out the book from the rack and opened it.On the first page was written in beautiful cursive handwriting:
In remembrance of the lovely time we had together in Port Blair.
PS ? Remember, there is a thin line between pity and love.As I looked at the message something started happening within me. Snehal? Same Shenal? It couldn?t be? Or could it be?Snehal. A loving person. That?s what the name Snehal means. Maybe it was just a coincidence. Is Snehal a common name? Maybe. It's possible. Maybe there are many Snehals in Pune.The Deccan Queen is rushing towards Pune. There will be a Snehal waiting for me at Pune Railway Station. A Snehal I am going to meet for the fisrt time. The Snehal my father wants to be my new mother.And do you know, what is the first thing I am going to ask her? I am going to ask her which is the best restaurant in Port Blair. And whatever her answer, I am going to take her to Vaishali restaurant on?Fergusson College Road?at ten o?clock tomorrow morning.And I am dying to see the expression on her face, and Girish's face too, when they see each other at the rendezvous.I will not return the Mills & Boon romance book to Girish. I will keep it for myself. I want to read it on my journey back from Pune to Mumbai by the Deccan Queen.And then I will tell my Papa all about the delightful journey on the Deccan Queen and the lovey-dovey rendezvous in Vaishali and how we celebrated Christmas together.
Merry Christmas.
VIKRAM KARVE
COCKTAIL ebook
About?Vikram Karve
A creative person with a zest for life, Vikram Karve is a retired Naval Officer turned full time writer and blogger. Educated at IIT Delhi, IIT (BHU) Varanasi, The Lawrence School Lovedale and Bishops School Pune, Vikram has published two books: COCKTAIL a collection of fiction short stories about relationships (2011) and APPETITE FOR A STROLL a book of Foodie Adventures (2008) and is currently working on his novel and a book of vignettes and an anthology of short fiction. An avid blogger, he has written a number of fiction short stories and creative non-fiction articles on a variety of topics including food, travel, philosophy, academics, technology, management, health, pet parenting, teaching stories and self help in magazines and published a large number of professional ?and academic research papers in journals and edited in-house journals and magazines for many years, before the advent of blogging. Vikram has taught at a University as a Professor for 15 years and now teaches as a visiting faculty and devotes most of his time to creative writing and blogging. Vikram Karve lives in Pune India with his family and muse - his pet dog Sherry with whom he takes long walks thinking creative thoughts.
Merry Christmas, HuffPosters! As is our tradition, we have stuffed our Featured Blog Post stocking with a line-up of holiday inspired offerings. I am spending Christmas in Hawaii with my daughters, my sister, and my ex-husband -- reflecting on the year gone by and following my own advice on reducing holiday stress (if you missed it, you can read the post here). And I am continuing another personal tradition: spending more time today on HuffPost's Impact and Good News sections, celebrating those committed to making things better, than on our Politics section, fuming over those who are making things worse. I'm also filled with gratitude and counting my blessings, which, along with my family, include our incredible HuffPost community -- our HuffPost team, our bloggers, our commenters, and all of our readers. You have been the greatest gift of all.
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Public release date: 28-Dec-2012
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