I am sitting at my desk at the Global Ministry Center, responding to emails just as I do every day. This email is from Stephen in Kenya; that one is from Galia in Bolivia. Another flies into my inbox from Amos in Ghana.

Oh wait, I need to look at this note from Sharon in Sri Lanka. Let me check that question from Ricot in Haiti. Ah, here’s that answer I sent to Igor in Brazil — so many emails from colleagues around the world.

Some of them have intermittent Internet connections in an office; others are working from a cell phone while traveling to a church partner. Some are dealing with drought; others are in the midst of a flood.

As I begin my morning, someone else is ending his or her workday. We speak different languages. We live in separate time zones. We follow different customs and practices. We lead such vastly different lives.

Every one of these emails brings greetings and blessings from field and area staff. I may not have met these individuals face-to-face, but I know them: I have seen their pictures, I have prayed for their family members, and I have worked closely with them.

We are all connected by the fact that Christ dwells in our hearts. We are also connected because we believe in the mission of Compassion. No matter what the situation behind the email, every one of these messages contains gratitude to the Lord for the mighty work He is doing.

I am blessed to have a great team to work with at the Global Ministry Center. I am also blessed to have co-workers all over the world.

Together we are one in Spirit.

“Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.” — Colossians 3:16, NIV

Prayer: Dear Lord, thank you for allowing the message of Christ to dwell richly in us. Remind us to pray for our co-workers, including those who sit right next to us and those who sit thousands of miles away.

---

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kelly Hedgecock works with the International Program Complementary Interventions (CIV) team. Part of Kelly’s role is to ensure that crisis updates are properly communicated to our global partners. She also assists in processing CIV proposals and funding. Kelly has been on staff at Compassion since 2006.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

Is his poetry any good? The answer for anyone who can't read Bengali must be: don't know. No translation is up to the job

Rabindranath Tagore was born 150 years ago today. This weekend festivities and seminars are being held in his honour across the world. In London, the BFI is hosting a season of films inspired by his work; last night his fellow Bengali (and fellow Nobel laureate) Amartya Sen gave a talk at the British Museum; a two-day conference at the University of London will, among other things, examine his legacy in the Netherlands, Poland and Germany.

I consulted two dictionaries of quotations, the Oxford and Penguin, to check the most memorable lines of this poet, novelist, essayist, song and short story writer. Not a single entry. They skipped from Tacitus to Hippolyte Taine as if there was nothing in Tagore's collected works (28 thick books, even with his 2,500 songs published separately) that ever had stuck in anyone's mind, or was so pithily expressed that it deserved to; as if what had come out of Tagore's pen was a kind of oriental ectoplasm, floating high above our materialist western heads, and ungraspable. In fact, I could remember one line clearly enough, and vaguely remember a whole stanza. The first is how he described the Taj Mahal: like "a teardrop on the face of eternity". The second is the inscription Wilfred Owen's mother found in her dead son's pocketbook: "When I go from hence, let this be my parting word, that what I have seen is unsurpassable." But I owe this knowledge to (a) a tourist guide in Agra, and (b) to a biography. Reading Tagore himself had nothing to do with it.

True, writers can't be ranked merely by their quotability, but Tagore's neglect is extraordinary. No other language group reveres a writer as 250 million Bengali-speakers do Tagore. Shakespeare and Dickens don't come into the picture; the popularity of Burns in Scotland 100 years ago may be his nearest equivalent in Britain. Every Bengali will know some Tagore, even if they can't read or write and the words come from a popular song or the national anthem (those of both India and Bangladesh use his verse). The visitor to Bengal can easily find some comedy in the mass adoration. Years ago, trying to penetrate a layer of Kolkata bureaucracy, I spent hours listening to bureaucrats on the subject of Tagore – "his translations into English are like embroidery seen from the back," one said – while getting nowhere with the unrelated topic I was meant to be investigating. Then again, love of literature can slide into fetishism, and from there, obscenity. When Tagore died in 1941, the huge crowd around his funeral cortege plucked hairs from his head. At the cremation pyre, mourners burst through the cordon before the body had been completely consumed by fire, searching for bones and keepsakes.

It's hard to think of any other writer anywhere who has aroused this level of fervour, but Tagore might still be seen as a purely local phenomenon, a curiosity and irrelevance to the world beyond Bengal. Except that he wasn't. In 1913 he won the Nobel prize for literature, the first non-European to win a Nobel. The story is well known. In 1912 he sailed from India to England with a collection of English translations – the 100 or so poems that became the anthology Gitanjali, or "song offerings". He lost the manuscript on the London tube. Famously, it was found in a left luggage office. Then – decisively – WB Yeats met Tagore, read his poems and became his passionate advocate (while pencilling in suggestions for improvements).

Events moved at breathtaking speed. Tagore had arrived in London in June, he had his anthology published by Macmillan with an introduction by Yeats in the following March, and on 13 November 1913 he was awarded the Nobel. Before he left Kolkata he knew one person in London, the painter William Rothenstein. Two years later he was a global phenomenon. The notion that literary prizes secure reputations and sell books is modern publishing wisdom, but nothing compares with what the Nobel did for Tagore a century ago. Gitanjali found a vast audience in its many editions. In the tremulous months before the first world war, as well as during the war, its spiritual message and reverence for the natural world struck a chord. It contains the lines Owen wrote in his pocketbook, and soon had translations in many other languages, including French, by André Gide, and Russian, by Boris Pasternak.

The success turned everyone's heads, including Tagore's. He became the most prominent embodiment of how the west wanted to see the east – sagelike, mystical, descending from some less developed but perhaps more innocent civilisation; above all, exotic. He looked the part, with his white robes and flowing beard and hair, and sometimes overplayed it. Of course, the truth was more complicated. The Tagores were among Kolkata's most influential families. They'd prospered in their role as middle men to the East India Company, whose servants named them Tagore because it was more easily pronounced than the Bengali title, Thakur. The west wasn't strange to them. Rabindranath's grandfather, Dwarkanath, owned steam tug companies and coal mines, became a favourite of Queen Victoria's and died in England (his tombstone is in Kensal Green cemetery). As for the poet himself, this was his third visit to London. On his first, he'd heard the music hall songs and folk tunes that he later incorporated into his distinctive musical genre, rabindra sangeet.

More than anything, what Tagore stood for was a synthesis of east and west. He admired the European intellect and felt betrayed when Britain's conduct in India let down the ideal. His western enthusiasts, however, saw what they wanted to see. First, he was an exotic fashion and then he was not. "Damn Tagore," wrote Yeats in 1935, blaming the "sentimental rubbish" of his later books for ruining his reputation. "An Indian has written to ask what I think of Rabindrum [sic] Tagore," wrote Philip Larkin to his friend Robert Conquest in 1956. "Feel like sending him a telegram: 'Fuck all. Larkin.'"

Is his poetry any good? The answer for anyone who can't read Bengali must be: don't know. No translation (according to Bengalis) lives up to the job, and at their worst, they can read like In Memoriam notices: "Faith is the bird that feels the light when the dawn is still dark" is among the better lines. Translator William Radice thinks that Tagore's willingness to tackle the big questions, heart on sleeve, has made him vulnerable to "philistinism or contempt". That may be so – see Larkin – but perhaps the time has come for us to forget Tagore was ever a poet, and think of his more intelligible achievements. These are many. He was a fine essayist; an educationist who founded a university; an opponent of the terrorism that then plagued Bengal; a secularist amid religious divisions; an agricultural improver and ecologist; a critical nationalist. In his fiction, he showed an understanding of women – their discontents and dilemmas in a patriarchal society – that was ahead of its time. On his 150th anniversary, we shouldn't resist two cheers, at least.

Job Description: Sales & Operations Manager

READ ENTIRE DESCRIPTION BEFORE APPLYING.

About CleanBeeBaby: We are a new business poised for strong growth across the country. CleanBeeBaby is an eco-friendly cleaning service for baby car seats and strollers. Our service targets families with children under 5 who are time-starved, worried about health and safety, and hate cleaning. Additionally, regular cleaning with eco-friendly methods allows for parents to re-use and recycle car seats and strollers, decreasing waste. Our mobile service partners with retailers all over the LA area (from Pasadena to Santa Monica, and Hermosa Beach to Westlake Village) to clean baby gear while moms are inside shopping. We also do house calls and private events. We launched in March 2011 in Los Angeles. You can learn more at www.cleanbeebaby.com or www.facebook.com/cleanbeebaby

Why work for us: Working for a start-up allows you to learn many skills and competencies as you are required to wear “many different hats.” You will experience the various aspects it takes to run a business – from marketing, sales, operations, business development, and much more. Getting in to a start-up in the launch phase is a rare and precious opportunity, and there will be many opportunities for increasing responsibility as we grow and start to franchise. We’re building a company culture based on exceptional customer service and truly delighting the parents who come to us. We want happy, well-adjusted, and humble employees who work hard and are passionate about working with parents and young children. In turn, we will provide a fun work environment with flexible perks and benefits. We’re committed to developing leaders in our business who will want to stick around for many years!

Responsibilities:
General management of mobile business, including coordinating house calls, open & close at retail sites, customer service and labor management. Looking for someone who is RELIABLE, TRUSTWORTHY, and OUTGOING.

Customer Service & Business Management:
• Answer all incoming phone calls from 9-5 Monday through Saturday. Schedule appointments for customers and answer questions about the business. Up-sell customers to higher end service packages. Respond to all customer service emails/inquiries within 24 hours. Manage calendar.
• Provide excellent customer service throughout the day including greeting customers, collecting information, taking payments, providing giveaways and ensuring all needs are met
• Help with general office duties and marketing tasks such as writing blog posts for website, data entry of customer details, updating facebook / twitter status to announce locations, keeping record of sales and services, employee work times, and house call log sheets
• Ensure compliance with all regulations and insurance requirements surrounding car seat installation, as well as compliance with local and city regulations for parking, labor laws, etc.

General Operations:
• Set up site at retail locations including tent, tables, and equipment/supplies. Clean-up site in evening and ensure proper storage. Recharge mobile devices and wash towels overnight.
• Become proficient at cleaning and using all car seats and strollers. Train and check employee’s work to ensure high quality standard. Regularly help with cleaning when busy or working alone
• Complete car seat certification course and help parents reinstall car seats in vehicles after cleaning service is completed
• As needed, help with house calls including pick-up, drop-off, or cleanings at customers’ homes (or sometimes at your own home)
• Maintain a safe and clean site (including a clean van which needs to be hand-washed weekly)
• Order and pick-up replacement supplies and manage inventory carefully to ensure adequate reorder lead time
• Help with general mechanical duties such as maintenance of equipment, van, and generator
• Perform tune-ups and repairs on strollers when needed. Coordinate drop-off/pick-up with repair experts, bike shops, seamstresses as needed
• Help in developing operations manual which will be used in franchising the business

People Management:
• Ability to work closely and professionally with retail partners to set up logistics for site set-up
• Managing labor – ensuring timely arrivals, a focus on safety, compliance with workplace rules such as dresscode and no smoking, disciplining and documenting workers who are late or do not comply. Will assist owner in hiring and firing labor
• Communicate frequently with owner regarding status updates, issues/problems. Debrief owner each evening on day’s sales via email or phone.
• Provide suggestions and ideas to owner for new site locations, customer reactions and suggestions, and operational improvements including cleaning methods

Skills:
• Self-motivated and driven; Experience working autonomously with little supervision
• Ability to juggle many tasks and work quickly during tumultuous times of high stress
• Experience managing hourly workers
• Customer service experience in a retail or restaurant setting, particularly when dealing with wait times and service backlog

Qualifications:
• Problem solving—the individual identifies and resolves problems in a timely manner and gathers and analyzes information skillfully and collaboratively.
• Oral communication—the individual speaks clearly and persuasively in positive or negative situations, demonstrates group presentation skills and conducts productive meetings.
• Quality management—the individual looks for ways to improve and promote quality and demonstrates accuracy and thoroughness.
• Judgment—the individual displays willingness to make decisions, exhibits sound and accurate judgment, and makes timely decisions.
• Planning/organizing—the individual prioritizes and plans work activities, uses time efficiently and develops realistic action plans.
• Safety and security—the individual observes safety and security procedures and uses equipment and materials properly.

Preferred qualifications that are “nice to have” but not required:
• experienced Certified Child Passenger Safety Technician (training can be provided if not already completed, but prefer experienced applicants)
• Technical skills and mechanical competence for helping with repairs and van/equipment maintenance
• Cleaning industry experience and contacts
• speaks Spanish
• Any business experience in Marketing, Bookkeeping, etc

PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is occasionally required to stand; walk; sit; use hands to finger, handle, or feel objects, tools or controls; reach with hands and arms; climb stairs; balance; stoop, kneel, crouch or crawl; talk or hear; taste or smell. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 40 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by the job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus

EDUCATION: Prefer at least 2 year college degree or technical school training

WORK AUTHORIZATION: Must have US work authorization, proof of social security card/passport and drivers license.

COMPENSATION: $2500/month, with opportunity for raise within 3 months after trial period. This company is a start-up, and despite the long hours, we are not able to pay much yet. We hope to offer better pay after we get off the ground! Some benefits may be negotiated based on your priorities (e.g. work schedule, vacation, health care, etc). Profit Sharing/Bonus available. One year commitment required or training costs must be reimbursed.

To apply: please email resume and cover letter outlining your skill sets and desire to work in a start-up. Email subject should be “Open Manager Position”. Include the sentence “I read the detailed job description” as the last sentence in the cover letter to be considered.

Attention: Ms. Jennifer Beall, cleanbeebaby@gmail.com

Hiring Organization: CleanBeeBaby

• Location: Los Angeles
• Compensation: $2500/month (raise after 3 months) plus profit sharing/bonus and flexible benefits
• Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
• Please, no phone calls about this job!
• Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.

Job Description: Sales & Operations Manager

READ ENTIRE DESCRIPTION BEFORE APPLYING.

About CleanBeeBaby: We are a new business poised for strong growth across the country. CleanBeeBaby is an eco-friendly cleaning service for baby car seats and strollers. Our service targets families with children under 5 who are time-starved, worried about health and safety, and hate cleaning. Additionally, regular cleaning with eco-friendly methods allows for parents to re-use and recycle car seats and strollers, decreasing waste. Our mobile service partners with retailers all over the LA area (from Pasadena to Santa Monica, and Hermosa Beach to Westlake Village) to clean baby gear while moms are inside shopping. We also do house calls and private events. We launched in March 2011 in Los Angeles. You can learn more at www.cleanbeebaby.com or www.facebook.com/cleanbeebaby

Why work for us: Working for a start-up allows you to learn many skills and competencies as you are required to wear “many different hats.” You will experience the various aspects it takes to run a business – from marketing, sales, operations, business development, and much more. Getting in to a start-up in the launch phase is a rare and precious opportunity, and there will be many opportunities for increasing responsibility as we grow and start to franchise. We’re building a company culture based on exceptional customer service and truly delighting the parents who come to us. We want happy, well-adjusted, and humble employees who work hard and are passionate about working with parents and young children. In turn, we will provide a fun work environment with flexible perks and benefits. We’re committed to developing leaders in our business who will want to stick around for many years!

Responsibilities:
General management of mobile business, including coordinating house calls, open & close at retail sites, customer service and labor management. Looking for someone who is RELIABLE, TRUSTWORTHY, and OUTGOING.

Customer Service & Business Management:
• Answer all incoming phone calls from 9-5 Monday through Saturday. Schedule appointments for customers and answer questions about the business. Up-sell customers to higher end service packages. Respond to all customer service emails/inquiries within 24 hours. Manage calendar.
• Provide excellent customer service throughout the day including greeting customers, collecting information, taking payments, providing giveaways and ensuring all needs are met
• Help with general office duties and marketing tasks such as writing blog posts for website, data entry of customer details, updating facebook / twitter status to announce locations, keeping record of sales and services, employee work times, and house call log sheets
• Ensure compliance with all regulations and insurance requirements surrounding car seat installation, as well as compliance with local and city regulations for parking, labor laws, etc.

General Operations:
• Set up site at retail locations including tent, tables, and equipment/supplies. Clean-up site in evening and ensure proper storage. Recharge mobile devices and wash towels overnight.
• Become proficient at cleaning and using all car seats and strollers. Train and check employee’s work to ensure high quality standard. Regularly help with cleaning when busy or working alone
• Complete car seat certification course and help parents reinstall car seats in vehicles after cleaning service is completed
• As needed, help with house calls including pick-up, drop-off, or cleanings at customers’ homes (or sometimes at your own home)
• Maintain a safe and clean site (including a clean van which needs to be hand-washed weekly)
• Order and pick-up replacement supplies and manage inventory carefully to ensure adequate reorder lead time
• Help with general mechanical duties such as maintenance of equipment, van, and generator
• Perform tune-ups and repairs on strollers when needed. Coordinate drop-off/pick-up with repair experts, bike shops, seamstresses as needed
• Help in developing operations manual which will be used in franchising the business

People Management:
• Ability to work closely and professionally with retail partners to set up logistics for site set-up
• Managing labor – ensuring timely arrivals, a focus on safety, compliance with workplace rules such as dresscode and no smoking, disciplining and documenting workers who are late or do not comply. Will assist owner in hiring and firing labor
• Communicate frequently with owner regarding status updates, issues/problems. Debrief owner each evening on day’s sales via email or phone.
• Provide suggestions and ideas to owner for new site locations, customer reactions and suggestions, and operational improvements including cleaning methods

Skills:
• Self-motivated and driven; Experience working autonomously with little supervision
• Ability to juggle many tasks and work quickly during tumultuous times of high stress
• Experience managing hourly workers
• Customer service experience in a retail or restaurant setting, particularly when dealing with wait times and service backlog

Qualifications:
• Problem solving—the individual identifies and resolves problems in a timely manner and gathers and analyzes information skillfully and collaboratively.
• Oral communication—the individual speaks clearly and persuasively in positive or negative situations, demonstrates group presentation skills and conducts productive meetings.
• Quality management—the individual looks for ways to improve and promote quality and demonstrates accuracy and thoroughness.
• Judgment—the individual displays willingness to make decisions, exhibits sound and accurate judgment, and makes timely decisions.
• Planning/organizing—the individual prioritizes and plans work activities, uses time efficiently and develops realistic action plans.
• Safety and security—the individual observes safety and security procedures and uses equipment and materials properly.

Preferred qualifications that are “nice to have” but not required:
• experienced Certified Child Passenger Safety Technician (training can be provided if not already completed, but prefer experienced applicants)
• Technical skills and mechanical competence for helping with repairs and van/equipment maintenance
• Cleaning industry experience and contacts
• speaks Spanish
• Any business experience in Marketing, Bookkeeping, etc

PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is occasionally required to stand; walk; sit; use hands to finger, handle, or feel objects, tools or controls; reach with hands and arms; climb stairs; balance; stoop, kneel, crouch or crawl; talk or hear; taste or smell. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 40 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by the job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus

EDUCATION: Prefer at least 2 year college degree or technical school training

WORK AUTHORIZATION: Must have US work authorization, proof of social security card/passport and drivers license.

COMPENSATION: $2500/month, with opportunity for raise within 3 months after trial period. This company is a start-up, and despite the long hours, we are not able to pay much yet. We hope to offer better pay after we get off the ground! Some benefits may be negotiated based on your priorities (e.g. work schedule, vacation, health care, etc). Profit Sharing/Bonus available. One year commitment required or training costs must be reimbursed.

To apply: please email resume and cover letter outlining your skill sets and desire to work in a start-up. Email subject should be “Open Manager Position”. Include the sentence “I read the detailed job description” as the last sentence in the cover letter to be considered.

Attention: Ms. Jennifer Beall

• Location: Los Angeles
• Compensation: $2500/month (raise after 3 months) plus profit sharing/bonus and flexible benefits
• Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
• Please, no phone calls about this job!
• Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.

Clients Services and Implementation Specialist

Exterro, Inc. is the leading provider of legal governance, risk and compliance management software solutions. Exterro's enterprise-scale Fusion suite of solutions unifies technology in a comprehensive management platform. Fusion provides a single collaborative framework from which legal, IT and records management teams can work through legal governance, risk and compliance management processes, from information management and e-discovery through production.

As a Client Success Specialist, you will help to manage software implementation projects for customer accounts from inception to completion and act as a liaison between the company and the client to ensure that all targets and requirements are met and projects are successfully completed.

You will implement software in complex enterprise environments and train end-users while being expected to manage multiple, complex projects for Exterro's Fortune 500 and law firm clients along with creating and updating implementation materials. You will also providing customer service support to new and existing clients.

Roles and responsibilities:
• Work with customers and their resources to successfully implement end-to-end discovery workflow management solutions.
• Provide customers with guidance and support in the areas of document Retention and Preservation, and insight into the most effective utilization of Exterro Fusion technology.
• Provide updated and ongoing communication with customers and internally through: updating and delivering implementation project plans, writing customer reports to communicate customer meeting goals and outcomes, and maintenance of data associated with customer status.
• Assist sales and business development staff in pre-sales activities such as defining solutions, crafting proposals and presenting solutions to customers.
• Provide web-based and on-site training for law firm and corporate customers.
• Provide responsive and exceptional customer service to new and existing customers.

Skills and experience:
• The ability to quickly grasp how litigation support departments function and have a deep knowledge of the benefit and role technology plays in a legal environment.
• Bachelor’s degree preferred.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills, responsiveness, and attention to detail.
• Excellent customer service skills.
• Proven presentation skills and experience presenting remotely using WebEx or a similar web presentation tool.
• Familiarity with MS Project a plus.
• Experience with PMBOK, Lean, Six Sigma, and other project methodologies a plus.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, constantly changing environment.
• Willingness to work on a flexible work schedule to support customers in different time zones in the US.
• High level of professionalism.
• Training Background a plus.
• Strong documentation skills with Microsoft Office Suite of products
• Willingness and ability to travel (domestically) 40-60% of the time.

Exterro offers a competitive salary in addition to comprehensive benefits, such as:
• Health, Dental and Vision Insurance: Exterro pays 90% of employee premium; enrollment eligibility the first of the month following employment start date.
• Life Insurance: Exterro pays 100% of premium; benefit is 1x annual salary.
• PTO: 15 days of PTO per year.
• Paid Holidays: 8 paid holidays plus 2 Floating Holidays per year.
• 401(k) plan


Send your cover letter and resume to e-mail provided. Exterro requires a background check and drug-screening for employment.

• Location: Portland, OR
• Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
• Please, no phone calls about this job!
• Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.

BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF THE BAY AREA (www.bbbsba.org ) is seeking an experienced Grants Writer/Manager who will manage a diverse portfolio of grant funding sources to support program and capacity resources for our local non-profit agency. The position is full-time and exempt, and will be based in our San Francisco office. This position requires demonstrated track record as a grants writer/administrator - transferable skills will not be considered in lieu of required experience.

POSITION DESCRIPTION:
BBBS of the Bay Area has a highly successful track record of securing national and local support for its core programs in our 5-county region, with approximately 35% of our annual budget derived from government grants and corporate/private Foundation revenues.

This position is responsible for producing all grant proposals, LOIs, reports and related communications to funders to secure/maintain financial resources for the agency’s local youth mentoring services.

The Grants Manager will work under the direction of the Chief Development Officer to secure budgeted grant resources from government, corporate and public/private foundation sources, identify new sources of grant revenue to support program growth and capacity-building initiatives outlined in the agency’s Strategic Plan, and cultivate opportunities to expand relationships with existing funders.

The successful candidate for this position must have a minimum 3 - 5 year track record as a professional grant writer, able to demonstrate highly effective and compelling writing skills resulting in funding awards and a disciplined attention to detail in managing workflow. He or she must be able to work closely and collaboratively with senior management team and staff to identify appropriate program opportunities to match agency and funders' priorities.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Maintains, directs and executes a strategic Grants Program that effectively matches program & organizational needs to funding opportunities from government/corporate/private foundations.

• Works closely with lead staff to develop compelling approaches and materials that win financial support for our programs and help build capacity, meet programmatic goals.

• Manages all writing, data collection and submissions of LOIs, grant proposals and reports to prospective and current grant funders.

• Meets deadlines, including timely acknowledgment of award notices, compliance of all required data/progress reports to funders.

• Stewards relationships with existing corporate and foundation partners and develops effective relationships with new supporters.

• Maintains accurate database records and report management of grant activity using Salesforce.com database tools

• Provides weekly/monthly and ad hoc grant reports for internal discussion/review of projected/secured/pending grant awards and measurable metrics.

• Researches, identifies and prioritizes new sources of funding on an ongoing basis, will keep up-to-date revenue projections and ensure that annual income targets are met.

• Participates in other agency activities as assigned, including but not limited to assisting with fundraising events, match activities, strategic planning sessions, and community meetings.


QUALIFICATIONS:

• 3 - 5 years demonstrated track record as a successful Grant writer, capable of cultivating and stewarding productive relationships with institutional grant-making organizations.

• Strong technical writing and editing skills, with the ability to interpret and package ideas in a clear and persuasive manner.

• Experience with all aspects of Grant research, cultivation, management and stewardship.

• Dynamic and engaging interpersonal communication style, experience in presenting one-on-one and in group settings. Able to facilitate and lead collaborations within the agency.

• Extremely organized and detail-oriented.

• Ability to work independently and as a team player, to take initiative and manage multiple projects in a fast-paced environment. Thrives under deadline pressures to produce consistently.

• Proficiency with a variety of software including Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, SalesForce.com (or similar donor database management system)

• Must be able to meet moderate physical demands of position including ability to lift/carry up to 25 lbs.

• Must have access to a reliable vehicle, valid driver’s license, and meet state of California-required automobile insurance minimums for travel throughout our 5-county region.

• Must pass criminal background check.

• Bi-lingual in Spanish a plus

SALARY:
We offer a competitive salary commensurate with experience. Excellent benefits package including four weeks of accrued paid time off in the first year, 11 paid holidays, plus medical, dental, vision, disability and life insurance.

TO APPLY:
Submit resume, grant writing sample and salary requirements. Due to the large number of applications received, we will be unable to respond to all inquiries – Only qualified candidates under consideration for the position will be contacted.

To learn more about our organization, please visit our local agency website at www.bbbsba.org

• Compensation: We offer a competitive salary commensurate with experience. Excellent benefits package including four weeks of accrued paid time off in the first year, 11 paid holidays, plus medical, dental, vision, disability and life insurance.
• This is at a non-profit organization.
• Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
• Please, no phone calls about this job!
• Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.

3:23 P.M. CDT

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Hey, it’s good to be back with you all. I’ll tell you what.  I want to thank General Colt for accompanying me up here.  I get the honor of introducing the General.

I was back here on February 11th, to welcome home members of the 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team in Afghanistan -- 155 of you got off that plane in the middle of the night, and the only thing that was more exciting than seeing you getting off is watching your families watch you all get off.  So it’s an honor to be back here so soon.

I know many of you have just gotten home in the past few weeks -- so welcome home.  And I know from experience that your families want more than anything to spend time with you.  And so, every time I show up at a welcome home ceremony, I’m always worried about getting in the way.  Because I remember when my son came back home from Iraq after a year, there were all these ceremonies.  And I kept saying, hell, man, stop, I want to see my kid.  (Laughter.)

So, anyway, I get it.  So let me just say how much gratitude the President and I have, and all Americans do, for you all.  You guys have been in the fight from the beginning.  And the risk you’ve taken, the incredible sacrifices you’ve made, the comrades you’ve lost, the losses you’ve personally endured -- you’ve been in some of the most inhospitable terrain in the world.

I’ve been there a number of times, back up those damn mountains.  I’d get a helicopter to go down 9,800 feet, and all I got on is a vest -- a bulletproof vest and a helmet and I’m out of breath climbing up about 40 clicks -- 40 feet.  And you guys are up there, 60 to 80-pound packs running around.  God, you’re amazing.  You just are amazing.  I’m in awe of the job you do, in awe of the job you do.  (Applause.)

As I said back in February, I want to also thank your families.  They made sacrifices as well, those intangible sacrifices -- those missed births and those missed birthdays, those missed graduations, those missed -- an occasional funeral. Perhaps more than anything else, just being missed, just not having you home.

The famous poet -- there was a famous poet I like to quote, John Milton, who said, “They also serve who only stand and wait.” Your families serve as well.  And the rest of America owes your families a debt of gratitude as well.  (Applause.)  And so, to all the families that are listening, I want to say their service is as real as yours and it’s as appreciated.

To the soldiers here, you are the most capable warriors.  Let me say this without any fear of contradiction, you’re the most capable warriors in the history of the world.  There has never, never, never, never been a fighting force as capable as you are.

It’s my job today and my honor to talk a little bit about the man that I get to work with every day.  We’ve just got to spend time with the assaulters who got bin Laden.  (Applause.)

By the way, I shouldn’t say this, but I’m going to tell you anyway -- the President is going to be mad I’m taking so long -- (laughter) -- but today was “Grandfather’s Day,” so I went by earlier this morning before I came out here to my granddaughter’s little spring play.  And after it’s all over she said, “Pop, come back to my classroom with me.”  I said, “I can’t, honey.”  She said, “Are you going someplace on Air Force Two?”  I said, “Yeah, I am, babe.”  She said, “Where are you going?”  I said, going to -- true story -- I said, “I’m going to Fort Campbell.”  I said, “We’re going to see the guys out there who got Osama bin Laden.” Absolutely true story.  She said, “Pop!” and then she grabbed a little friend of hers and she said,  “My Pop is going out to see the whales.”  (Laughter.)  Not the SEALs, the whales  (Laughter.) Because if they’re that good they got to be big, man.  They got to be big.  (Laughter.)  Well, you guys are the gorillas, I’ll tell you.

I want to tell you, look, I’ve watched -- I’ve been around a while with eight Presidents, so I’ve watched Presidents make some difficult decisions.  They’ve all had to make difficult decisions.  But sitting in every meeting getting ready and planning for this mission and assault, for the mission to get bin Laden, I saw something extraordinary.  I saw a President who was told the odds -- told the odds weren’t but much more than 50/50 that he’d be there and we could do this, but they were considerably less than 100 percent.

And I, along with the all the rest of his national security team and Secretary of Defense, stayed -- everyone else, we sat around there and he asked our advice and we gave him our advice, and we told him told him a little this and that.  And finally, he just looked at all of us and said, I got faith in the -- I got faith in these guys.

He walked off on his own without anybody giving him any guarantees at all and he decided -- because he believed in not only the SEALs, but believes in all of you.  He has absolute total faith in all of you.  And he made that determination, and it was an amazing thing to watch.  But it was because he had the absolute confidence that you were there.

And so he decided, when he got into office, because of the fight you all were in from the beginning, that the number one priority was to get Osama bin Laden.  And he knew the risks, he knew there were significant risks, and more importantly, special operations risks to the people who were risking their lives getting there.  But he didn’t hesitate, nor did your guys.

Bob Gates said something interesting.  I’ve known Bob for a long time.  He said, it was one of the gutsiest decisions I’ve ever seen made and one of the gutsiest raids.  This is going to go down in history, what happened.  This is going to go down in history.

And here to introduce your Commander-in-Chief, the guy that I’m proud to serve with, is one of the country’s leading warriors himself, Deputy Commanding General of the 101st Airborne Division, General Jeffrey Colt.  Ladies and gentlemen, General Colt.  (Applause.)

GENERAL COLT:  Thank you, sir.

I can only try to tell you today just how proud of you that this Division and this local community are.  But more importantly, today, you’re going to get to hear from the Commander-in-Chief just how appreciative he is of all of your service and your sacrifices.

Please join me in this great privilege of welcoming the President of the United States, Barack Obama.  (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, Fort Campbell!  (Applause.)  101st Airborne Division—Air Assault, hello!  (Applause.)

General Colt, thank you for that great introduction -- it was great because it was brief.  (Laughter.)  More importantly, thank you for the extraordinary leadership that you’ve shown here at one of the largest Army bases in America.  (Applause.)

And let me just say, I make a lot of decisions; one of the earliest and best decisions I made was choosing one of the finest Vice Presidents in our history -- Joe Biden, right here.  (Applause.)

Chaplain Miller, thank you for the beautiful invocation.

I want to thank General Colt for welcoming me here today, along with your great Command Sergeant Major, Wayne St. Louis.  (Applause.)  The Quartet and 101st Division Band.  (Applause.)  All these troopers behind me —- you look great.  (Applause.)  You noticed they kind of hesitated.  (Laughter.)  

We got a lot of folks in the house.  We’ve got military police and medical personnel.  We’ve got the Green Berets of the 5th Special Forces Group.  I think we’ve got a few Air Force here.  Ohh -- (laughter.)  Well, we thought we did.  There they go -- okay.  Come on.  (Applause.)  And, of course, the legendary Screaming Eagles.  (Applause.)  And although they’re not in the audience, I want to acknowledge the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment —- the Night Stalkers -— for their extraordinary service.  (Applause.)

Now, I’ve got to say, some of you are starting to look a little familiar -- because last December, when we were at Bagram, I was out there to thank you for your service, especially during the holidays.  And we had a great rally, a big crowd -- it seemed like everybody was there from the 101st.

And since then, I know we’ve had quite a few homecomings.  The Rakkasans.  (Applause.)  Destiny.  (Applause.)  Strike.  (Applause.)  Bastogne.  (Applause.)  And some of the Division Headquarters —- the Gladiators.  (Applause.)  On behalf of a grateful nation —- welcome home.  (Applause.)   

Of course, our thoughts and prayers are with General Campbell, Command Sergeant Major Schroeder, and all of the Screaming Eagles and troops that are still risking their lives in theater.  And I’m so pleased that Ann Campbell and Marla Schroeder, and some of the inspiring military spouses are here.  Where are they at?  Right over there.  (Applause.)  We are grateful to you.  God bless you.  There they are.  Thank you so much.  (Applause.)  This happens to be Military Spouse Appreciation Day.  (Applause.)  And we honor your service as well.

Now, I didn’t come here to make a really long speech.  I know you're hearing that.  (Laughter.)  It’s like, yeah, it’s hot!  (Laughter.)  What I really wanted to do was come down and shake some hands.  I came here for a simple reason —- to say thank you on behalf of America.  This has been an historic week in the life of our nation.  (Applause.)  Thanks to the incredible skill and courage of countless individuals -— intelligence, military —- over many years, the terrorist leader who struck our nation on 9/11 will never threaten America again.  (Applause.)

Yesterday, I traveled to New York City, and, along with some of our 9/11 families, laid a wreath at Ground Zero in memory of their loved ones.  I met with the first responders —- the firefighters, the police officers, the Port Authority officers —- who lost so many of their own when they rushed into those burning towers.  I promised that our nation will never forget those we lost that dark September day.   

And today, here at Fort Campbell, I had the privilege of meeting the extraordinary Special Ops folks who honored that promise.  It was a chance for me to say —- on behalf of all Americans and people around the world —- “Job well done.”  Job well done.  (Applause.)

They’re America’s “quiet professionals” -- because success demands secrecy.  But I will say this.  Like all of you, they could have chosen a life of ease.  But like you, they volunteered.  They chose to serve in a time of war, knowing they could be sent into harm’s way.  They trained for years.  They’re battle-hardened.  They practiced tirelessly for this mission.  And when I gave the order, they were ready.

Now, in recent days, the whole world has learned just how ready they were.  These Americans deserve credit for one of the greatest intelligence military operations in our nation’s history.  But so does every person who wears America’s uniform, the finest military the world has ever known.  (Applause.)  And that includes all of you men and women of 101st.  (Applause.)

You have been on the frontlines of this fight for nearly 10 years.  You were there in those early days, driving the Taliban from power, pushing al Qaeda out of its safe havens.  Over time, as the insurgency grew, you went back for, in some cases, a second time, a third time, a fourth time.

When the decision was made to go into Iraq, you were there, too, making the longest air assault in history, defeating a vicious insurgency, ultimately giving Iraqis the chance to secure their democracy.  And you’ve been at the forefront of our new strategy in Afghanistan.

Sending you -- more of you -- into harm’s way is the toughest decision that I’ve made as Commander-in-Chief.  I don’t make it lightly.  Every time I visit Walter Reed, every time I visit Bethesda, I’m reminded of the wages of war.  But I made that decision because I know that this mission was vital to the security of the nation that we all love.

And I know it hasn’t been easy for you and it hasn’t, certainly, been easy for your families.  Since 9/11, no base has deployed more often, and few bases have sacrificed more than you.  We see it in our heroic wounded warriors, fighting every day to recover, and who deserve the absolute best care in the world.  (Applause.)  We see it in the mental and emotional toll that’s been taken -- in some cases, some good people, good soldiers who’ve taken their own lives.  So we’re going to keep saying to anybody who is hurting out there, don’t give up.  You’re not alone.  Your country needs you.  We’re here for you to keep you strong.

And most of all, we see the price of this war in the 125 soldiers from Fort Campbell who’ve made the ultimate sacrifice during this deployment to Afghanistan.  And every memorial ceremony —- every “Eagle Remembrance” —- is a solemn reminder of the heavy burdens of war, but also the values of loyalty and duty and honor that have defined your lives.

So here’s what each of you must know.  Because of your service, because of your sacrifices, we’re making progress in Afghanistan.  In some of the toughest parts of the country, General Campbell and the 101st are taking insurgents and their leaders off the battlefield and helping Afghans reclaim their communities.

Across Afghanistan, we’ve broken the Taliban’s momentum.  In key regions, we’ve seized the momentum, pushing them out of their strongholds.  We’re building the capacity of Afghans, partnering with communities and police and security forces, which are growing stronger.

And most of all, we’re making progress in our major goal, our central goal in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and that is disrupting and dismantling -- and we are going to ultimately defeat al Qaeda.  (Applause.)  We have cut off their head and we will ultimately defeat them.  (Applause.)

Even before this week’s operation, we’ve put al Qaeda’s leadership under more pressure than at any time since 9/11, on both sides of the border.  So the bottom line is this:  Our strategy is working, and there’s no greater evidence of that than justice finally being delivered to Osama bin Laden.  (Applause.)

But I don’t want to fool you.  This continues to be a very tough fight.  You know that.  But because of this progress, we’re moving into a new phase.  In the coming months, we’ll start transferring responsibility for security to Afghan forces. Starting this summer, we’ll begin reducing American forces.  As we transition, we’ll build a long-term partnership with the Afghan people, so that al Qaeda can never again threaten America from that country.

And, as your Commander-in-Chief, I’m confident that we’re going to succeed in this mission.  The reason I’m confident is because in you I see the strength of America’s military -- (applause) -- and because in recent days we’ve all seen the resilience of the American spirit.

Now, this week I received a letter from a girl in New Jersey named Payton Wall.  She wrote to me on Monday after the news that bin Laden had been killed, and she explained how she still remembers that September morning almost 10 years ago.  She was only four years old.  Her father, Glen, was trapped inside the World Trade Center.  And so, in those final, frantic moments, knowing he might not make it, he called home.  And Payton remembers watching her mom sobbing as she spoke to her husband and then passed the phone to Payton.  And in words that were hard to hear but which she’s never forgotten, he said to her, “I love you Payton, and I will always be watching over you.”     

So yesterday, Payton, her mom, and her sister, Avery, joined me at Ground Zero.  And now Payton is 14.  These past 10 years have been tough for her.  In her letter, she said, “Ever since my father died, I lost a part of me that can never be replaced.”  And she describes her childhood as a “little girl struggling to shine through all the darkness in her life.”

But every year, more and more, Payton is shining through.  She’s playing a lot of sports, including lacrosse and track, just like her dad.  She’s doing well in school.  She’s mentoring younger students.  She’s looking ahead to high school in the fall.  And so, yesterday she was with us —- a strong, confident young woman -— honoring her father’s memory, even as she set her sights on the future.

And for her and for all of us, this week has been a reminder of what we’re about as a people.  It’s easy to forget sometimes, especially in times of hardship, times of uncertainty.  We’re coming out of the worst recession since the Great Depression; haven’t fully recovered from that.  We’ve made enormous sacrifices in two wars.  But the essence of America -- the values that have defined us for more than 200 years -- they don’t just endure; they are stronger than ever.

We’re still the America that does the hard things, that does the great things.  We’re the nation that always dared to dream.  We’re the nation that’s willing to take risks -- revolutionaries breaking free from an empire; pioneers heading West to settle new frontiers; innovators building railways and laying the highways and putting a man on the surface of the moon.

We are the nation -- and you’re the Division -- that parachuted behind enemy lines on D-Day, freeing a continent, liberating concentration camps.  We’re the nation that, all those years ago, sent your Division to a high school in Arkansas so that nine black students could get an education.  That was you.  Because we believed that all men are created equal; that everyone deserves a chance to realize their God-given potential.

We’re the nation that has faced tough times before -- tougher times than these.  But when our Union frayed, when the Depression came, when our harbor was bombed, when our country was attacked on that September day, when disaster strikes like that tornado that just ripped through this region, we do not falter.  We don’t turn back.  We pick ourselves up and we get on with the hard task of keeping our country strong and safe.

See, there’s nothing we can’t do together, 101st, when we remember who we are, at that is the United States of America.  (Applause.)  When we remember that, no problem is too hard and no challenge is too great.

And that is why I am so confident that, with your brave service, America’s greatest days are still to come.  (Applause.)

God bless you.  God bless the 101st.  And God bless the United States of America.  (Applause.)

END
3:47 P.M. CDT

Up, and to the office, and thence to White Hall, but come too late to see the Duke of York, with whom my business was, and so to Westminster Hall, where met with several people and talked with them, and among other things understand that my Lord St. John is meant by Mr. Woodcocke, in "The Impertinents."¹ Here met with Mrs. Washington, my old acquaintance of the Hall, whose husband has a place in the Excise at Windsor, and it seems lives well. I have not seen her these 8 or 9 years, and she begins to grow old, I perceive, visibly. So time do alter, and do doubtless the like in myself. This morning the House is upon the City Bill, and they say hath passed it, though I am sorry that I did not think to put somebody in mind of moving for the churches to be allotted according to the convenience of the people, and not to gratify this Bishop, or that College. Thence by water to the New Exchange, where bought a pair of shoe-strings, and so to Mr. Pierces, where invited, and there was Knepp and Mrs. Foster and here dined, but a poor, sluttish dinner, as usual, and so I could not be heartily merry at it: here saw her girl's picture, but it is mighty far short of her boy's, and not like her neither; but it makes Hales's picture of her boy appear a good picture. Thence to White Hall, walked with Brisband, who dined there also, and thence I back to the King's playhouse, and there saw "The Virgin Martyr," and heard the musick that I like so well, and intended to have seen Knepp, but I let her alone; and having there done, went to Mrs. Pierces back again, where she was, and there I found her on a pallet in the dark ..., that is Knepp. And so to talk; and by and by did eat some curds and cream, and thence away home, and it being night, I did walk in the dusk up and down, round through our garden, over Tower Hill, and so through Crutched Friars, three or four times, and once did meet Mercer and another pretty lady, but being surprized I could say little to them, although I had an opportunity of pleasing myself with them, but left them, and then I did see our Nell, Payne's daughter, and her je did desire venir after me, and so elle did see me to, Tower Hill to our back entry there that comes upon the degres entrant into nostra garden ..., and so parted, and je home to put up things against to-morrow's carrier for my wife; and, among others, a very fine salmon-pie, sent me by Mr. Steventon, W. Hewer's uncle, and so to bed.

1. Whilst Positive walks, like Woodcock in the park, Contriving projects with a brewer's clerk.

   Andrew Marvell's "Instructions to a Painter," part iii., to which is subjoined the following note: "Sir Robert Howard, and Sir William Bucknell, the brewer." -- Works, ed. by Capt. E. Thompson, vol. iii., p. 405.--B. ↩

We're getting ready to head to Baltimore May 16-19, 2011 for RailsConf B'more: Round Two. We have some fun events planned. We hope you'll join us if you'll be there too.

Ignite RailsConf

Date: Monday, May 16, 2011 Time: 6:00pm Location: Sheraton Inner Harbor, 300 South Charles St., Baltimore, MD 21201 Expect: awesome 5 minute talks from 15 great speakers Ignite RailsConf is back again. Snag an Ignite RailsConf ticket to partake in the fun. Dr. Nic will be doing "Ignite Karaoke" a guaranteed 5 minutes of humor as Nic presents slides he's never seen before. Oh, and don't forget to stick around and join us for the after-party at Max's Taphouse. We'll have appetizers and beer for all. Should be a blast.

JRuby Hackfest at BohConf

Date: Tuesday, May 17, 2011 Time: 1:50pm-5:15pm Location: BohConf at the Baltimore Convention Center Bring: questions, code, desire, your laptop Expect: answers, fun, hacking, beer, and snacks At RailsConf 2008, in Portland, we had our first JRuby hackfest. Over 100 people showed up and we had a great time. It was cool to see applications leveraging Java technologies. We met new users who wanted to try debug some issues running their applications on JRuby. We also had some folks who wanted to help contribute patches to JRuby. Mix in some some snacks, beer, and great people....OMGZ...the event totally rocked. It is time for history to repeat.

Rubinius Office Hours

Brian Ford will be on-deck at RailsConf holding Rubinius help desk hours. If you have Rubinius questions, or want to share feedback about your experience with Rubinius, holler at @brixen in Baltimore or swing by the Engine Yard RailsConf booth to find out more Rubinius help desk details.

EventMachine RubyConf

Last but not least, there's also some planning in the works for EventMachine RubyConf, a half day event that will take place during RailsConf. Time, date and location are being worked out and will be announced shortly. Watch @emrubyconf for details. See you at RailsConf, or another event soon!

by Mike Krumboltz

He loves her, yeah, yeah yeah.

Paul McCartney is getting married. The Beatles legend recently announced his engagement to New York businesswoman Nancy Shevell. The news was first published in People magazine, which quoted an unidentified source. McCartney's publicist later confirmed the report.

Almost immediately, online interest in McCartney's future bride zoomed up the charts. Unlike her soon-to-be hubby, there isn't much information about Shevell. According to the official website of her place of work, New England Motor Freight (NEWF), Shevell works as a vice president and is "responsible for accounts receivable, corporate communications, benefits administration, purchasing of all supplies and equipment -- with the exception of trucks -- and overall office management." In other words, she's not in show business.

Again, according to NEWF, Shevell earned her Bachelor's Degree from Arizona State University, where she majored in transportation. She also serves as co-chairperson of the Arlene Walters Shevell Endowment Scholarship Fund, "a family foundation which provides self-help groups for parents of addicted children and financial support for individuals in accredited rehabilitation programs."

McCartney and Shevell met in 2007 in the Hamptons and have been an item ever since. This will be McCartney's third marriage and Shevell's second. A source told People, "They have the right chemistry. They're both cool, chilled-out, and optimistic."

Paul was married to Linda McCartney for 29 years until her death in 1998. He then married Heather Mills, which ended in a messy divorce in 2008. But we have reason to be optimistic about this union. According to the New York Post, Shevell is already quite popular with McCartney's five children. Always important to get the kids' blessing.

Follow us on Twitter

With two months left as theSecretary of Defense, Robert Gates visited with active duty and Reserve Airmen here May 6.

The visit marked the first time Secretary Gates visited here since he took office in December 2006.

He presented the Bronze Star to Senior Master Sgt. Arnel Abad, a 4th Fighter Wing civil engineer, for his actions in Afghanistan.

Immediately following the presentation, he met with Airmen who had just recently deployed and those preparing to deploy.
more...

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) led a congressional delegation to Qatar this weekend, her office said Friday.

Pelosi led eight other lawmakers on a trip to the Middle Eastern nation, where the U.S. military maintains its Central Command (CENTCOM) facilities.

"Our Congressional delegation is pleased to be in Qatar to thank the Qataris for their hospitality to our troops, and to receive briefings from senior American military and diplomatic officials as well as Qatari officials," Pelosi said. "This evening, our delegation met with His Highness Sheikh Tamin bin Hamid al-Thani, the Heir Apparent, to discuss U.S-Qatar relations and regional security issues."

The trip comes following the successful U.S. operation last weekend in Pakistan that successfully killed Osama bin Laden.

The trip included Pelosi, seven Democrats, and one Republican.

First black man to stand for office in Russia leaves pro-Kremlin party claiming its policies are acting as a brake on democracy

His business as a watermelon farmer and his promise to "toil like a negro" played to the worst stereotypes, but the man nicknamed Russia's Barack Obama seemed to offer a breath of fresh air when he ran for office on a pro-Kremlin ticket two years ago.

Now, Joaquim Crima has dealt a blow to the image of Vladimir Putin's ruling United Russia party by resigning from it with a scathing letter to the Russian prime minister, saying that the party is "acting as a brake on our country's road to democratisation".

Crima, 38, originally from Guinea Bissau, was the first black man in Russia to stand for public office when he put himself forward in district elections in Srednyaya Akhtuba, in the southern Volgograd region.

At the time, he praised Putin as an "excellent person, and a serious figure on the world stage" and said he wanted to follow the premier's example and go into politics with United Russia.

Crima, known locally as Vasily Ivanovich, came a disappointing third in the local poll in 2009, but his progressive electoral promises and his skin colour won him the Obama nickname and extensive coverage in the nationwide press. Putin met him last year and praised him for repairing a village road.

In a letter to the premier published online yesterday, however, the businessman said he was quitting United Russia because it had failed to raise state salaries or cut food prices and was "turning more and more into a party of bureaucrats".

The announcement came at a particularly embarrassing time for Putin, who arrived in Volgograd today to chair a United Russia conference.

Crima told Putin he was particularly disappointed that party bosses had refused last summer to help him send 20 tons of free watermelons to people in villages near Moscow that had been damaged by fire. "In the end they just rotted," he wrote.

To make matters worse, Crima has defected to Fair Russia, a political party set up by the Kremlin that has shown occasional signs of slipping its leash.

Venrock just snatched up 32-year-old tech rock star Marissa Campise from Greycroft. Apparently there was an "aggressive offer."

After doing some digging, we can see why.

Campise has a track record of working her ass off, both in the office and out.

“She comes across as a very calm, quiet, monochromatic individual, and then all of a sudden she speaks with laser-like focus, totally focused on the issue with total animation, and about as high a degree of energy as I can think,“ former boss Alan Patricof has said of her. 

Single mother, yoga instructor, and venture capitalist

Originally from Long Island, Campise paid her way through Yale while raising a child as a single mother.

Despite motherhood and a demanding career, she made time to become a certified yoga instructor, and teaches classes for free to entrepreneurs.

Campise has dabbled in entrepreneurship too, starting drink company Salubra Teas in 2007.  Although it wasn’t a successful venture, Campise says she learned a lot.

“Sometimes the best learning is just rolling up your sleeves and diving in.”

Campise achieves so much because she is resourceful.  Last year, she won a national Energy Makeover contest held by The Huffington Post, in part because she asked former employer and CEO of StockTwits, Howard Lindzon, to tweet her submission to his 200,000+ followers.

As the winner, she spent one year meeting with nutritionists, experts, and personal trainers, and she landed a segment on Good Morning America.

Meeting Howard Lindzon on Twitter

Campise graduated from Yale in 2006 with a history degree, but she wanted to work in finance.  She landed a job at Deloitte and Touche in their award-winning securitization banking team. “ I chose Deloitte because the interview process was very rigorous and I thought, I'm going to learn so much here.” Campise says.

Campise got her start in venture capital working with Howard Lindzon, whom she met on Twitter through a work-related interest in Russia.  She messaged him, and from there the two became fast and steady friends.

Lindzon later recruited her and took her under his wing. “He was so good to me,” she recalls. “He introduced me to every VC and entrepreneur he knew, and he taught me the whole early stage investing process.”

It was through Lindzon that Campise met her most recent employer, Alan Patricof of Greycroft.  It wasn’t long before Patricof offered her a job.

“Howard and I sat down and discussed the offer,” Campise recalls.  “He said, ‘You should take the position. You'll learn about Series A funding,’ which is what I wanted to do."  Campise says her parting with Lindzon was amicable, and that the two remain great friends.

Campise spent one year with Greycroft, where she learned to thoroughly analyze investments. It was through a Greycroft partner that she met Venrock partner, David Pakman.

Pearl Jam and David Pakman

“I first met David a year and a half ago at a Pearl Jam concert," she tells us.  “A partner at Greycroft had tickets and invited me and David was there.”  Since then, the two have remained in touch.

Despite a recent promotion at Greycroft, Venrock made Campise an offer she says she couldn’t refuse. “I think of Venrock as a place that I can really learn and grow from amazing VCs,” she says.  “I'm honored that they even found me interesting enough to want to work with!”

When asked what her future will look like, Campise tells us what she tells her son.

“I think about a long term career that allows me to find good people and build great businesses. I never think, will I be this title or that title, I think about enriching myself and being my best. 

"It sounds cheesy, but I'm a mother and I tell my son the same thing.  You should always have end goals and put your best foot forward, but I do believe that process matters.”

For the latest tech news, visit SAI: Silicon Alley Insider. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• OpenTable CEO Who Stepped Down Yesterday Expected To Land At Hot VC Firm
• 6-Month-Old Startup Lot18 Closes $10 Million Series B Round
• Twitter Has Bought Tweetdeck, Says Report

The Reading Partners (RP) Outreach Manager leads a team of Outreach Coordinators across the East Coast, who are each directly responsible for day-to-day volunteer outreach and recruitment for a one-on-one tutoring program in local elementary schools in a specific geographic region. The East Coast Outreach Manager will support programs in Washington, DC, New York and North Carolina, with additional regions added in the coming years.

The Outreach Manager is responsible for developing strategies and coordinating organization-wide volunteer outreach efforts and ensuring that all efforts are well executed and that volunteer recruitment goals are met. Outreach Coordinators are AmeriCorps members who typically have limited backgrounds in volunteer outreach, recruitment and management, and customer service, so the Outreach Manager plays a crucial role in coaching these staff members and ensuring that they develop the skills necessary to conduct effective outreach. With the support of the Outreach Manager, Outreach Coordinators will ensure that each school-based program has sufficient volunteers to meet its enrollment goal and build awareness about RP in the community. The Outreach Manager will work to ensure that Outreach Coordinators are effectively communicating and working with school-based staff members.

Organization Overview
Reading Partners’ mission is to expand the life opportunities of children in low-income communities by empowering them with strong literacy skills. Classroom teachers refer students to on-campus Reading Centers, where community volunteers provide one-on-one reading support through a structured, research-based curriculum. In 2011-12, Reading Partners will operate 45 Reading Centers throughout California and 15 sites on the East Coast.

Responsibilities
The Outreach Manager will manage and support a team of Outreach Coordinators, serving as a primary supervisor. The Outreach Manager is responsible for bottom-line volunteer recruitment, as well as management of Outreach Coordinators, and will be expected to:

• Execute onboarding, training and orientation process for Outreach Coordinators, who will likely have limited experience in volunteer management. Training will consist of 2 weeks before recruitment starts and ongoing semi-monthly trainings during the year.
• Provide oversight of RP’s volunteer recruitment and management system, including assurance that student enrollment goals for all regions will be met by effectively recruiting sufficient volunteers.
• Work with Outreach Coordinators to develop individualized recruitment plans for each region and site, and to ensure that plans are effectively executed.
• Ensure that communications to all community partners are high-quality, consistent and appreciative.
• Act as the quality assurance officer for all volunteer records in Salesforce database.
• Ensure that volunteers are satisfied with their involvement in RP and are well supported by Outreach Coordinators to ensure volunteer retention.
• Develop year-round calendar of volunteer involvement to continuously offer volunteers new and consistent ways to engage with Reading Partners.
• Work collaboratively with all wings of RP to maximize the benefit of volunteer involvement with all functional areas.
• Assist in developing, scheduling and conducting volunteer orientations and trainings.
• Other duties as assigned.

Working Relationships
• The Outreach Manager will report to the Regional Executive Directors of the East Coast. The position may be based in Washington DC or New York.

Qualifications
A successful Reading Partners Outreach Manager has a strong background in volunteer recruitment, management, retention and engagement. They have managerial skills and backgrounds and must be able to provide ongoing coaching to staff members who may have limited experience but who are committed to developing a high-quality volunteer program. The Outreach Manger should have firm experience working in customer service and must be able to independently identify and troubleshoot operational challenges. The Outreach Manager must be able to develop action plans, understanding that they will be held accountable for recruitment results.

Most importantly, candidates must be committed to providing excellent educational opportunities for all students and must be willing to work enthusiastically toward achieving this goal. Additional qualifications include:

Required
• Significant experience in volunteer recruitment and management
• Excellent communication, organizational and interpersonal skills
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience
• Experience in managing professional staff and in cross-departmental collaboration
• Ability to provide strategic coaching and support to develop skills within others
• Proven success in preemptively and proactively identifying and addressing problems
• Excellent computer skills, including MS Office Applications as well as background in database management
• Flexibility and adaptability in work schedule, including some night and weekend time
• Ability to interact effectively with diverse groups and build meaningful strategic relationships
• Experience in working in team environments
• Access to reliable transportation (public transportation or personal transport) to travel within a defined geographic region on a weekly basis
• Background in independent event planning

Compensation
This is a full-time, exempt, salaried position with benefits and a generous vacation/PTO schedule including flextime options. Salary is commensurate with experience. Reading Partners is an equal opportunity employer.

To Apply
Resumes are currently being accepted. Hiring decisions are likely to be made by June 2011, with the position beginning immediately.

To apply, please send the following to jobs@readingpartners.org:
-A cover letter which highlights your relevant experience and qualifications for the position, as well as the reasons for your interest in the position.
-A current resume.

• Compensation: Commensurate with experience
• This is at a non-profit organization.
• Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
• Please, no phone calls about this job!
• Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.

Stulman chows on Chinese food at home.

As the owner of Joseph Leonard, Jeffrey's Grocery, and lately Fedora, Gabriel Stulman says he has a hard time staying in. "It really is so easy, in this industry, to just be working seven nights a week," he laments. "As we have more restaurants now, it becomes easier to find yourself saying 'I haven't spent an evening service at Jeffrey's. I'm going to go work at Jeffrey's all night.' And then Saturday night say, 'Cool, I'm going to go work at Joseph Leonard.' And then Sunday night, 'I'm going to go spend tonight at Fedora.' And then Monday night, 'All right, let me go spend lunch service … ' and it's just so easy to end up working seven days." This week, though, Stulman and his wife (slash business partner), Gina, say they made a point of getting out and about — a task they took on gladly. For stories of mystery pasta and tripe at the Dutch, read on in this week's New York Diet.

Friday, April 29
My day started with a fruit smoothie from Lifethyme grocery. Gina likes to go there occasionally, and she gets these super-healthy green drinks that are … whatever. They're not really for me, but she drinks them. So she got me something — it was the first time I've ever had it, but I loved it. It was a strawberry, bananas, blueberries, and granola, all whipped up and turned into a smoothie. We consumed this in our office while reviewing a lot of the end-of-shift recaps and reports from the night before, which is how most of our days start.

I had lunch at Joseph Leonard on Friday. I had a meeting with one of our GMs, Matt, and we were discussing the Joseph Leonard wine list and planning out all of the changes that we want to incorporate into our wine list over the spring. I think it's important, if the food menu's changing, the wine list should be changing with it. We talked about this while consuming a smoked-trout salad. Matt had shrimp and grits, and I grabbed myself a few forkfuls off his plate, and we had a beet salad as well that we shared. The beet salad was with an herbed goat-cheese mousse, and it's red and golden beets that are diced into a real fine, tiny dice and then put into a ring mold, so it's like a terrine, actually, with olive-tapenade-covered crostini. It was a tasty, tasty lunch.

Friday nights are unique in my household. Both Gina and I are Jewish, and we do our best, as often as possible, to try to stay home on Friday nights, sort of in observance of Shabbat. Since our life gets rather busy, we don't always have the time to be home cooking that Friday-night meal the way my mother used to when I grew up. Usually what Shabbat ends up being is a random set of delivery from around the neighborhood places that we like. That weekend was sushi delivery from Ido Sushi, which is a spot on Seventh Avenue. What we got was nothing fanciful. We got two different sashimi platters with a whole array of … I think we had tuna, we had yellowtail, we had mackerel, we had salmon … just an array of whatever they had that they said was "of the day." Then we had a large portion of the seaweed salad, and we had vegetable gyoza. So we did all that with a bottle of French white, a great varietal called Pic Poul. And we spent the night basically on the couch. I think we watched a bad movie that neither one of us stayed awake for.

Saturday, April 30
We serve brunch at Joseph Leonard and Jeffrey's, but not at Fedora. Pre-service we have this thing, we call it "lineup." I think some restaurants call it "family meal." They're basically the same thing. Everybody sits down, and they eat a meal together, and we talk about any additions or specials of the night, and we do this right before we open the doors. The way we have our services set up is, they open up half an hour apart from each other, so that I can be at both meetings. So basically, what that means is I spent my morning drinking Stumptown coffee, sitting with all the waiters and bartenders, and sticking my fork into all manner of hash-brown specials, fried eggs with this, pancakes on one plate … it's just family meal. Lineup. That's what breakfast was.

Since I stuffed my face with one bite — each — of maybe nine types of egg dishes — and I think there was plenty of hollandaise spread around — I chose that lunch was going to not exactly be full-on. Plus, Gina and I wanted to have a date night on Saturday night, and we thought we'd start dinner early. So for lunch, I really just snacked on barbecued marcona almonds from Jeffrey's.

Gina and I wanted to go eat at somebody else's restaurant, which, again, I feel like another thing that slips away when you get so caught up working in your restaurants. But Gina and I were hell-bent on going to check out Andrew Carmellini's new spot, the Dutch. We did not have a reservation, and we didn't want to call in any favors, so we said to ourselves, "Let's go out to dinner super early, and hopefully we can get some seats." So we got to the Dutch at 6 p.m. The place was packed — good for them. But we were able to snag two barstools at the oyster bar, and we had just an awesome meal. Man, Andrew Carmellini is crushing it.

We ordered the dressed crab — all the crab meat was pulled out, and it was served with a Bloody Mary. I don't even know what was going on in his mind to think of that … genius. Had another dish called "Barrio Tripe." I get it. It was done with a lot of Latin flavors: It had Fritos corn chips on top of it; it had a lime, avocado; it had all this spice and pepper, and I devoured it. I didn't share at all. Then we got another dish, it was a fish crudo. It was called hiramasa. It was a fish I'd never heard of, but the way they described it was accurate, which was that it was sort of like yellowtail. Really good.

Then Andrew sent us out another appetizer. It was spring green beans, but they were all julienned, and it was with peanuts. It had a little bit of spice and heat to it. For mains, Gina had the striped bass, which was served with dirty rice, with chili beans and red sauce. Lovely. I had what they call the Pecan Duck, as in the nut. And I thought it was genius, witty, and super spot-on. It was duck exactly as you'd expect, dusted with pecans. Awesome stuff. For dessert, we had their homemade apple pie, and then there was cooked rhubarb on the side, and it was served with frozen custard. That is just all things good in my life. One of the cooler things: They don't bring you bread with your meal. They bring you a loaf of homemade cornbread with jalapeños and Cheddar in it, which is off the charts. Just so, so good.

For beverages — we do this at Fedora as well — it's called a barrel-aged cocktail. Basically, what people are starting to do, you get a wooden cask, you make a cocktail, and you put it in the wooden cask, and it ages, just like if you would put wine or whiskey in a wood barrel. They had a barrel-aged cocktail. I forgot the name, but they only had one. It was whiskey-based, and it was delightful. Gina started off with a glass of Vouvray sparkling, and then we had a bottle of 2007 Chablis.

To finish date night, we went to Hudson Clearwater. It's got one of these hidden entrances. There's this brick wall with a nondescript metal door, and you open the door into a garden, and then you walk sort of through the garden, where there were people eating, and then there were steps up into a restaurant. It's only been open for about four or five months. We went there and I had a sazerac and Gina had a glass of wine. I thought the place was beautiful, and they make a fine sazerac, and everyone was really kind to us. From there, we stopped by at two of our restaurants for cocktails on our way home. We stopped at Fedora and had a cocktail with some friends that were in the basement, and then we swung by Joseph Leonard and had a cocktail with some friends at Joseph Leonard, and then we called it a night. It was a good night. It was an awesome night.

Sunday, May 1
Sunday started off with that same fruit smoothie, because I really liked it. I discovered something this week that I think I’m going to be having a lot more. That was had over the course of the same lineups, but this time I kept my fork out of all the egg dishes. So I just had the fruit smoothie.

Lunch got skipped on Sunday. It's a bad habit, but I make up for it typically with dinner.

For dinner, we took out our bookkeeper-slash-financial-adviser. We took him out to L'Artusi, where I think I hadn't been in over a year. I had the … it was like tagliatelle. They had one of these names for a pasta type that I didn't recognize, but it was like tagliatelle. It was with all sorts of spring vegetables. There were fava beans, spring peas, asparagus, and it was a sort of, not cream, more like olive-oil sauce. We had a series of vegetables for appetizers. We had the Brussels sprouts that they do with pecorino, and I really love it because they peel off all the leaves, so the leaves got really crispy and fluffy. I love it when people do that. And we had sugar-snap peas that were just really lightly sautéed with a little bit of salt. And then, they make their own ricotta there. There was an appetizer of ricotta with these salty wafers, and that was delicious too.

Monday, May 2
Monday started off with just straight coffee by the cupfuls, with a little bit of milk, no sugar, consumed at Jeffrey's Grocery. We have Stumptown coffee, so it's just drip coffee. No latte, no macchiato. I was fired up. I was going to get an early start on doing inventories and stuff, and that happened. Skipping lunch happened, as well.

I was jazzed by dinner time. I started off by going to the lineup for Fedora. We had a couple of additions that night that I sampled my way through. There was a raw tuna appetizer that was done with bagel crumbs. There was a roasted hake, and I consumed my fair share of that. There was also stuffed squid with homemade sausage.

After that, I went to Jeffrey's, and I met with a gentleman that we're talking to about joining our team. We talked over a couple glasses of Côte de Gascogne white wine. From there, I was waiting for our dear friend Virgil to join me back at Fedora for dinner. He's a friend who travels a lot, and he hasn't been in New York for a few months. Since I only had a bite of the roasted hake during lineup, I decided I needed to have a full portion of that. So I ordered the roasted hake, which is served with creamy polenta and shiitake-mushroom caps. For appetizers, to try to keep things on the lighter side, we had a bowl of lettuces, and we had a new dish, raw arctic char with tobiko and crunchy rice, rolled inside of a pancake. It's sort of like a play on a spring roll or a sushi roll, but it's its own thing. That was a late dinner, and that took me to about midnight.

Tuesday, May 3
Tuesday was another glass of Stumptown coffee, but I was not going to skip breakfast this time, so I had a homemade buttermilk biscuit at Jeffrey's, with cream cheese and housemade jam. I polished that thing off with great pleasure, along with my Stumptown coffee, and I did all that while reviewing the notes from Jeffrey's and Joseph Leonard's Monday night. I knew what happened at Fedora on Monday night because I sat at the bar observing it.

Lunch was on the run because I was basically trying to hustle to get in all of our wine, beer, and alcohol orders before the three o'clock cutoff time that most of these companies have in order to get everything delivered that day. So I went to Corrado café, which is right next door to Jeffrey's, and I grabbed their turkey-and-brie wrap. I took that back to the office and worked that down while I was sitting with Andrew Newman again, because Tuesday is a big financial day.

At night, I ended up just going right through. I went to Joseph Leonard and did evening lineup, but I avoided eating because I was planning on having dinner at a reasonable hour that night, but it did not happen until an unreasonable hour. I realized at about 10:30 p.m. that I had not yet eaten dinner, so I went over to Jeffrey's Grocery, checked in on service over there, and ordered our brisket sandwich to go. Took that home, met up with Gina on the sofa, and I ate my brisket sandwich while she watched.

Wednesday, May 4
Wednesday started very similar to previous days with — shocker! — Stumptown coffee at Jeffrey's. I met this gentleman who has been reaching out to me for the first time, a guy named Jeff Taylor, who is a film producer, editor, all of the above, who found me through a couple of guys that he's been working with.

Later we had Lenny's delivery in the office. I reviewed some new cocktails that we're coming up with for Jeffrey's, and some new café menu items for Jeffrey's. We have a new dish for English peas at Jeffrey's; we have another new dish with farm lettuces at Joseph Leonard; and we've got a new dish with sepia at Jeffrey's. I had the tuna and avocado to satiate me while I was editing all the InDesign files for the menus.

Read more posts by Jillian Goodman

Filed Under: the grub street diet, corrado, fedora, gabriel stulman, gina stulman, hudson clearwater, ido sushi, jeffrey's grocery, joseph leonard, l'artusi, lenny's, lifethyme, stumptown coffee, the dutch, the new york diet

The new unemployment report released by the Labor Department this morning finds that 244,000 jobs were added last month, the third straight solid month of job growth. But, the unemployment rate ticked up to 9 percent. Jobs gains for February and March were also revised upwards.

The Associated Press reports that CEO pay at the nation’s largest companies actually now exceeds that of pre-recession levels. The “typical pay package for the head of a company in the Standard & Poor’s 500 was $9 million in 2010.”

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said that the GOP Medicare privatization proposal might make seniors “die sooner” because many more who can’t afford it would likely go without needed health care. Seniors “will run out of money very quickly,” she told a Congressional hearing yesterday.

According to a set of handwritten notes picked up by the Navy SEALs, Al Qaeda planned to attack the U.S. train network “possibly on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.” A Department of Homeland Security bulletin yesterday said it isn’t clear if there’s been further planning since early 2010 as the notes offered “vague” and “aspirational” rather than concrete information.

After suspending them in March, Fox News officially terminated its contracts with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Sen. Rick Santorum this week as the two Republicans weigh presidential bids. The termination “ratchets up pressure” on Fox host and former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-AR) to announce his decision, but Fox News is denying reports that it’s given him a deadline of the end of May to decide.

Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) and fifteen other Republican senators introduced a resolution that would merge the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency into one government agency. Burr’s office claims the merger would net “$3 billion in savings in 2012 alone.”

On Thursday, 44 Republican senators stood together to oppose a strong Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and vowed to block any presidential nominee to the new agency unless their demands are met. Republicans were careful not to attack the popular mission of the CFPB, instead focusing their attacks on its “unfettered authority.”

Yesterday’s first debt limit meeting between Vice President Biden and Republican and Democratic House leaders produced many pledges of good will, but no specifics. Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) and Assistant Leader James Clyburn (D-SC) both expressed optimism about the prospects for striking a deal, but did not identify any possible areas of compromise.

Last night during the GOP presidential debate in South Carolina, Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) said that states should have the right to legalize gay marriage. “I think the government should just be out of it,” he said, adding, “if we want to have something to say about marriage it should be at the state level and not at the federal government.”

And finally: Perhaps in a bid to outdo Newark, NJ mayor Cory Booker in hands-on constituent services, a German mayor rescued a man trapped in a women’s prison. The man “became trapped” in the prison “after mistaking it for a shortcut to a nearby park.” Hildesheim Mayor Henning Blum heard the man’s cries for help while passing and notified his police.

For breaking news and updates throughout the day, follow ThinkProgress on Facebook and Twitter.

Thomson Reuters/New York, NY


Title: Business Development Associate- Pangea3
ID: SAL00005633

Description

Business Development Associate

The Business Development Associate (BDA) has responsibility for sales opportunity generation and qualification in support of the sales force. The BDA will conduct front-end sales activities including researching and identifying the best potential prospects among corporate legal departments and law firms for Pangea3's outsourced services, initiating prospect relationships, creating prospect interest, initial opportunity qualification, and driving value driven conversations with company's field sales team.

Ideal candidates will have experience prospecting or selling to general counsels, managing attorneys, or C-Level, VP Level and/or Director Level contacts at mid-tier companies, large companies, and Fortune 500 companies. This requires the ability to deliver a strong eloquent value proposition, understand and qualify a client's needs, and assess business issues/pain point in order to produce qualified opportunities that lead to high quality sales.

Job Responsibilities:

* Achieve individual lead generation and sales goals using multiple sales approaches
* Prospect, develop, and produce qualified opportunities / leads the result in sales
* Follow up and qualify targeted leads resulting from Marketing Campaigns, email, web, phone, trade shows, and other lead generation activities
* Profile and research targeted companies to uncover business stake holders as a component of cold calling lead generation and qualification activities
* Penetrate prospect accounts to identify and initiate discussions with key decision makers
* Work with sales representatives and internal subject matter experts to develop a customer call list and calling campaigns
* Present and effectively communicate knowledge and value proposition of legal process outsourcing litigation

At Thomson Reuters, we deliver intelligent information quickly and efficiently, so professionals have knowledge to act. We combine industry expertise with innovative technology to deliver critical information to leading decision makers in the financial, legal, tax and accounting, scientific, healthcare, and media markets, powered by the world's most trusted news organization.

Qualifications

Qualifications:

* Undergraduate degree required
* Minimum of 3-5 years of inside or direct sales experience or appointment setting and/or lead qualifying experience
* Demonstrated ability to develop qualified appointments or leads
* Excellent telephone and communication, time management skills
* Experience with web research tools and navigation of large organizations to uncover executive level contacts
* Reliable, strong work ethic and ability to work independently
* Experience with Salesforce.com preferred
* Must be available to work in company's office in New York City daily during normal business hours

At Thomson Reuters, we believe what we do matters. We are passionate about our work, inspired by the impact it has on our business and our customers. As a team, we believe in winning as one - collaborating to reach shared goals, and developing through challenging and meaningful experiences. With over 55,000 colleagues in more than 100 countries, we work flexibly across boundaries and realize innovations that help shape industries around the world. Making this happen is a dynamic, evolving process, and we count on each employee to be a catalyst in driving our performance - and their own.

As a global business, we rely on diversity of culture and thought to deliver on our goals. To ensure we can do that, we seek talented, qualified employees in all our operations around the world regardless of race, gender, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability, age, or any other protected classification under country or local law. Thomson Reuters is an Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.

Intrigued by a challenge as large and fascinating as the world itself? Come join us.

To learn more about what we offer, please visit careers.thomsonreuters.com.

More information about Thomson Reuters can be found on thomsonreuters.com.

According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the H-1B visa cap has been met for the 2011 fiscal year (October 1, 2010-September 30, 2011).

Job Sales

Primary Location US-NY-New York

Organization Legal Pangea3

Schedule Full-time

Education Level Bachelor's Degree (±16 years)

Job Type Standard

Shift Day Job

Travel Yes, 10% of the time

Nearest Major Market: Manhattan

Nearest Secondary Market: New York City


Apply To Job

Thomson Reuters/New York, NY


Title: Business Development Associate- Pangea3
ID: SAL00005633

Description

Business Development Associate

The Business Development Associate (BDA) has responsibility for sales opportunity generation and qualification in support of the sales force. The BDA will conduct front-end sales activities including researching and identifying the best potential prospects among corporate legal departments and law firms for Pangea3's outsourced services, initiating prospect relationships, creating prospect interest, initial opportunity qualification, and driving value driven conversations with company's field sales team.

Ideal candidates will have experience prospecting or selling to general counsels, managing attorneys, or C-Level, VP Level and/or Director Level contacts at mid-tier companies, large companies, and Fortune 500 companies. This requires the ability to deliver a strong eloquent value proposition, understand and qualify a client's needs, and assess business issues/pain point in order to produce qualified opportunities that lead to high quality sales.

Job Responsibilities:

* Achieve individual lead generation and sales goals using multiple sales approaches
* Prospect, develop, and produce qualified opportunities / leads the result in sales
* Follow up and qualify targeted leads resulting from Marketing Campaigns, email, web, phone, trade shows, and other lead generation activities
* Profile and research targeted companies to uncover business stake holders as a component of cold calling lead generation and qualification activities
* Penetrate prospect accounts to identify and initiate discussions with key decision makers
* Work with sales representatives and internal subject matter experts to develop a customer call list and calling campaigns
* Present and effectively communicate knowledge and value proposition of legal process outsourcing litigation

At Thomson Reuters, we deliver intelligent information quickly and efficiently, so professionals have knowledge to act. We combine industry expertise with innovative technology to deliver critical information to leading decision makers in the financial, legal, tax and accounting, scientific, healthcare, and media markets, powered by the world's most trusted news organization.

Qualifications

Qualifications:

* Undergraduate degree required
* Minimum of 3-5 years of inside or direct sales experience or appointment setting and/or lead qualifying experience
* Demonstrated ability to develop qualified appointments or leads
* Excellent telephone and communication, time management skills
* Experience with web research tools and navigation of large organizations to uncover executive level contacts
* Reliable, strong work ethic and ability to work independently
* Experience with Salesforce.com preferred
* Must be available to work in company's office in New York City daily during normal business hours

At Thomson Reuters, we believe what we do matters. We are passionate about our work, inspired by the impact it has on our business and our customers. As a team, we believe in winning as one - collaborating to reach shared goals, and developing through challenging and meaningful experiences. With over 55,000 colleagues in more than 100 countries, we work flexibly across boundaries and realize innovations that help shape industries around the world. Making this happen is a dynamic, evolving process, and we count on each employee to be a catalyst in driving our performance - and their own.

As a global business, we rely on diversity of culture and thought to deliver on our goals. To ensure we can do that, we seek talented, qualified employees in all our operations around the world regardless of race, gender, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability, age, or any other protected classification under country or local law. Thomson Reuters is an Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.

Intrigued by a challenge as large and fascinating as the world itself? Come join us.

To learn more about what we offer, please visit careers.thomsonreuters.com.

More information about Thomson Reuters can be found on thomsonreuters.com.

According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the H-1B visa cap has been met for the 2011 fiscal year (October 1, 2010-September 30, 2011).

Job Sales

Primary Location US-NY-New York

Organization Legal Pangea3

Schedule Full-time

Education Level Bachelor's Degree (±16 years)

Job Type Standard

Shift Day Job

Travel Yes, 10% of the time

Nearest Major Market: Manhattan

Nearest Secondary Market: New York City


Apply To Job

Let me first day, your prayers in the wee hours of your morning were were very much needed today, and very much felt!

Today we drove from Belgrade, Serbia to Kostajnica, Republika Srpska. You can see Beograd (Belgrade) to the right side of the picture, and Kostanjnica (which is not shown because it's TINY) is marked with the pin.


It was a beautiful day for the drive! Of course, I have to take pictures of some "stuff" along the way!

Like the memorial to the Jasenovac Concentration camp in Croatia. Between the day it opened in 1941, and it's evacuation in 1945, between 45,000-52,000 resident Serbs, between 12,000-20,000 Jews, 15,000-20,000 Roma (gypsies) and between 5,000-10,000 ethnic Croats and Muslims were murdered. Additionally, the Croation authorities murdered between 320,000-340,000 ethnic Serb residents of Croatia and Bosnia. This memorial, sitting on the site of Jasenovac,  represents those lives lost.

We crossed where the Una an Slava rivers come together. It's a beautiful area.

And stork nests. These are huge! For those watching the Decorah, Iowa eagles, this is about the same size.

When we arrived in Kostajnica, we met up with some of Mary's extended family. This is her 1st cousin Gloria. Mary, (left) is Eastern European coordinator of COCI, and is who I've spent the last week with.

While walking to Gloria's apartment, Mary took me

This is Mary's aunt. Isn't she lovely? She lives on the 5th floor of her apartment building, and can no longer leave. There is no elevator, and while she can go down all the flights of stairs, she can't get back up them. The laws have recently changed here, and they are now required to install an elevator in any building more than three floors. Hopefully this will allow Mary's aunt considerably more freedom.

This is her aunt's sister. She couldn't get over the fact I didn't understand Serbian, and kept asking me things, then laughing when I didn't answer. LOL


This is the NADA school in Kostajnica. The original school was bombed out during the Bosnian war. COCI offered to rebuild the school, but only if they would give space to a special needs classroom. NADA (which means Hope) was started by parents of children with special needs to give them a place to learn. It is called Some of the children do not attend school, others attend but are never accepted by their peers. NADA...Hope School... is where the children love to come and are accepted.

 The grounds in font of the school are all torn up because the city has just installed new drainage systems. In the foreground you see pavers, these will be placed to make a beautiful playground for the children.

When I was here in December, COCI donated this car to the school. This allows staff to drive children who's families would not otherwise be able to get them to and from the school.

The workshops meet in the evening from 5:00-7:00. This allows those who attend school to come to the NADA school afterward. Today they were working hard making luminaries. All of the children in this program have mild-moderate cognitive delays.



This little girl is actually a sibling to one of the NADA students. Just an adorable little thing!


This young man WANTED my camera in the worst way! He did get a little carried away while posing with his scissors and just about cut his hair. LOL



All of the children wanted to make SURE I took a picture of their tree! This was a fine motor activity and is made of rolled up papers.




 Mary Borojevic (left) Dr. Zoran Popovic (with the sachel) and NADA staff.
We left Kostajnica about 6:30 and started the four hour drive home. COCI is doing amazing things here, all over the Balkan region.

Although the clinic did not take place, COCI has a staff member, Dr. Zoran Popovic, who is a dentist and today (Friday) he will start seeing some of the children COCI serves who live in and around Belgrade. He is donating his time and talents to start getting the dental needs of the children with special needs met. Most of these children are shut-ins, and without help from COCI would never make it to a doctor, dentist, or school. So, the toothbrushes you donated were going to instead be used for this program. They're a great training tools since they have a built-in timer in them. Instead they're sitting in a customs office at the airport, and who knows what will happen to them from there?

More great stuff happening today!

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi were among the thousands of people who paid their last respects today to late Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu, who was killed in a helicopter crash on Saturday with four others.

Dr Singh and Ms Gandhi touched down at the helipad in the Raj Bhawan campus here at about 1030 hours, accompanied by Union Home Minister P Chidambaram.

They drove down to the chief minister's official residence and paid their last respects to the departed leader.

The Central leaders also met the family of late Khandu and extended their condolences to them before flying back.

Khandu's body is now being flown to Tawang by an Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopter, where his last rites will be performed at his native village as per Buddhist rituals. A state funeral will be accorded to the late chief minister.

The state government has announced a three-day mourning, starting yesterday, during which the tricolour will be flown half-mast and no government entertainment programme will be organised.

All Central government offices in Arunachal Pradesh remained closed today. The national flag was flown at half-mast yesterday and today in the the capitals of all States and Union Territories.

Hundreds of admirers of Khandu have paid their last respects to their beloved leader here since yesterday. The people lined up the route from the CM's residence to the helipad in Raj Bhawan as the mortal remains of Khandu were transferred in a flower-decked vehicle.

A Pawan Hans chopper, coming from Tawang to Itanagar with Mr Khandu on board, had gone missing minutes after take-off at 0950 hours on Saturday.

Besides Khandu, on board were two pilots J S Babbar and T S Mammik, the chief minister’s security officer Yashi Chadook and Yeshi Lhamu, sister of Tawang MLA Tsewang Dhondup.

The wreckage and bodies were recovered by locals near Luguthang in Tawang district four days later on Wednesday after a massive search operation in which more than 3500 personnel of the Army, Air Force and para-military forces as well as the State police were involved.

Meanwhile, 50-year-old Congress leader Jarbom Gamlin was last night sworn in as the new chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh.

Mr Gamlin, the Power Minister in Khandu's Cabinet, was administered the oath of office by the Governor , General (Retd) J J Singh, in Raj Bhawan after a majority of Congress Legislature Party (CLP) members backed his candidature for the post.

NNN

President Barack Obama will on Friday meet members of the secretive team of elite commandos that carried out the covert operation inside Pakistan that killed Osama bin Laden, a US official said. Obama also met Admiral William McRaven, chairman of Joint Special Operations Command in the Oval Office on Wednesday to thank him for the successful assault on bin Laden's lair in Abbottabad, the official said on condition of anonymity.

Port Adelaide v Hawthorn

Port Adelaide lost to North Melbourne by 60 points last week. Hawthorn had a bye last round following a tough but tight loss to Geelong the week before.

Port Adelaide are not the full dollar at the moment with an embarrassing loss to new boys Gold Coast and an insipid performance against North last round.

Hawthorn should be well rested after the bye and will be looking to consolidate with a win against Port after a bit of a stumble against Geelong in their last game.

Key Hawks, Cyril Rioli and Cameron Bruce will be missing due to injury but other than that the Hawks should make light work of it.

Hawthorn by 42 points

Western Bulldogs v Sydney

Western Bulldogs have two losses in a row after faltering against Collingwood and Fremantle the week before last round. Sydney had a close defeat to Carlton to go with their defeat by Geelong on the other side of their bye.

Both teams will be smarting over their recent losses as there were opportunities for both teams to have reversed the results.

The Bulldogs and Sydney have the similarity at the moment of playing their football in patches, literally in one match they seem to be playing two different games. It’s not through lack of trying but both teams need to play an even four quarters against the better sides instead of fading in and out of the contest.

With the game at Manuka it might just suit the Bulldogs hard running style. For the Dogs it is interesting to see Brian Lake dropped for this clash, and for Sydney the loss of key midfielder Kieren Jack will be again evident this weekend.

Western Bulldogs by 17 points

Geelong v North Melbourne

Geelong had a bye after a tough fought 19 point win over the challenging Hawks the round before. North Melbourne showed a lot of guts and determination in their spirited 60 point thrashing of Port Adelaide.

Although their coaches may look the same that is where the similarities end for the two clubs with Geelong’s so called ‘rebuilding’ phase looking a lot different from the Kangas ‘from the ground up’ approach.

Geelong survived the early challenge by the Hawks on Easter Tuesday and were just relentless with their attack of the ball. Joel Selwood , Paul Chapman and Jimmy Bartel all look in their peak form for the season as the Cats almost look completely flawless.

Around the ground looking at the match ups it’s going to be a tough day at the office for the tireless Roos.

Geelong by 56 points

Richmond v Fremantle

Richmond had a 26 point win over Brisbane last round. Fremantle had a bye after a run of 3 wins in as many rounds.

A danger game for Fremantle coming off a bye and Richmond coming over a confident boosting victory over Brisbane, plus the fact that last time these two teams met the Tiges won with the match also in Melbourne.

A few teams have been caught out by the bye in the early rounds but the Dockers are not looking like the yo-yo team they once were with some consistency starting to show in their football. The Tigers need to translate their wins over bottom teams into challenging the better teams and with young players like Dustin Martin they could definitely have their moments.

Fremantle by 23 points

Gold Coast v Brisbane

Gold Coast were brought back down to earth with a crash suffering a crushing 139 point defeat by the unforgiving Bombers. Brisbane were persistent but eventually went down by 26 points to Richmond.

This is the ultimate grudge match with some choice words being exchanged between both clubs. Brisbane feel hard done by with the five star treatment the AFL has laid out for the new Gold Coast team, but although the comparisons are there it’s hard to compare their starts in two different eras.

The Lions do have a point ,that it is already a flooded sports market up in QLD and the years spent tireless working to build a supporters base could have been undone.

I don’t blame Jared Brennan and Michael Rischitelli for wanting to leave for the Suns after being offered as trade bait and the way the Lions treated Daniel Bradshaw just to get Fevola was at the most very average.

It won’t be a close match but both teams won’t mind getting down and dirty.

Brisbane by 72 points

Essendon v West Coast

Essendon made it look like a training drill with a percentage boosting 139 point win over Gold Coast. West Coast smashed Melbourne by 52 points as they continue to improve and impress.

Last time these two teams met in Melbourne, somehow the Eagles pulled a miracle from the kitbag and came away with a win but a lot has changed since then. A new coach and a new outlook for the Dons has seen them tighten the screws down back and play a more structured brand of football.

West Coast came into this season with a lot of doubts and speculation hanging over the head of their coach John Worsfold, but they have shown faith in their recruiting and it might be starting to pay off as evident with Jack Darling‘s Rising Star performance.

If this match was in W.A West Coast would be looking more than an even chance but with a young team and a lacklustre on the road record, the Bombers should win.

Essendon by 32 points

Melbourne v Adelaide

Melbourne endured an embarrassing defeat in primetime at the hands of the Eagles by 52 points. Adelaide turned their fortunes around with hard fought 19 point win over St Kilda at home.

Who wants this win more? Both teams seem to be lacking some desperation at the football with the demons playing like they were on a holiday. Adelaide had the game in the bag last week but nearly coughed it up until they remembered they were at the ground to play some football.

This is a game Melbourne need to win or they can kiss their season goodbye and being at the MCG is the only difference between tipping the Crows to win or lose.

Melbourne by 21 points

St Kilda v Carlton

The Saints are sinking faster than a lead balloon after their 19 point loss to Adelaide last week. Carlton toughed it out against Sydney to record a 16 point victory in trying conditions.

St Kilda’s season is officially a write off with only 1 win from 5 games I can’t see them salvaging enough from the rest of the season to even really challenge for finals. It’s a big call but while other teams have kept developing and evolving, the Saints look like they have been content to ride out a game-plan that has serious deficiencies.

The Blues have the speed in the midfield to burn off any Saint’s resistance but what I like about last week’s win was they are now showing the hardness needed to win that contested football.

Carlton by 39 points

Collingwood Bye

Your Tips and Opinions

While we do have an official Tipping Competition this year but feel free to add your tips in the comments section instead or as well. You can see our tipping leader board on the right which sees me equal first.

What do you think of Kick2Kick’s tips for the seventh round of the 2011 AFL season? Have we missed anything? Got a tip wrong? Please write your thoughts in the comments section and join in on the banter.

Share with Someone:

Within 24 hours I made two pretty big leaps: one metaphorical, one quite literal.

On Friday I made the commitment to leave my full-time job to focus all of my energy on StartSomeGood. The next morning, I was 11,000 feet in the air jumping out of a plane, my first time ever skydiving.

On Friday, the door closed on my previous position — as a project manager for non-profits — at an absolutely wonderful organization, PICnet. On Saturday, the door of the plane flung open, and I made my way to the edge.

On Friday, I received well-wishes from my co-workers as I made the transition from working two jobs to one. On Saturday, I gave the thumbs up to the pilot, indicating I was ready to make my jump from the plane.

On Friday, I turned away, leaving my previous office, knowing that from here forward all of my energy, attention and focus would be channeled towards StartSomeGood. On Saturday, I hurled my body through the air, my cheeks flapping in the wind, doing a free-fall for a good number of seconds before the parachute was pulled and we gently glided down to the Earth below.

Making the jump out of the airplane was nothing if not a leap of faith: it meant trusting my life to the combination of a man whom I had just met 15 minutes ago, and a big piece of cloth. Making the jump to full-time work on StartSomeGood is also, in many ways, a leap of faith. But I do so bolstered by a ridiculously talented and passionate team around me, and the belief that we can help social impact initiatives do good in the world.

While the direction for skydiving was readily apparent — straight down until we hit the ground — the path for starting a social enterprise is far less delineated. We will no doubt take a route that has unexpected turns and lots of ups and downs, but the goal is clear as can be: to build a platform to empower people to become social innovators.

The decision to focus on StartSomeGood full-time was one that built throughout the two months that our site has now been live, and was a wonderful feedback loop oscillating among necessity, inspiration and motivation.

It’s become increasingly clear that to really make a difference with StartSomeGood, it is impossible to do so with both of the co-founders balancing other full-time jobs. Both of us are dreamers with no shortage of big ideas generated, but to actually implement them takes time and focus which is nearly impossible while spending 50 hours per week on another gig.

It’s not just necessity though. Back in February I had the honor of attending the StartingBloc social innovation summit in Los Angeles, where I met 90 other people dedicating their lives to improving the world. There, one the speakers, Rafe Furst, gave a passionate talk about “jumping off the ledge” and going 100% into whatever it was we wanted to do in order to make a difference. I like to think that I took Rafe’s advice to heart (and hopefully I get some extra credit for the fact that my ledge was over 2 miles up in the sky)!

Similarly, the motivation to keep pushing and building StartSomeGood comes to me daily as new ventures find success in starting their own good on our site. I remember speaking with Jack McDermott of Balbus Speech back when StartSomeGood was little more than an idea and a few lines of code, and thinking that he is exactly the type of person I want to empower with the site. So to fast-forward 7 weeks and find that he leveraged our platform to successfully raise the capital he needs to launch his social enterprise is wonderfully motivating —especially knowing that there are many more Jacks out there with brilliant ideas waiting to come to life. At the same time, I’ve been equally inspired by the community that is building around StartSomeGood. From our mobilizers who support us from various corners of the world, to the people that have written such supportive blog posts and notes of encouragement, to our team who has forgone a good amount of sleep to make this happen. StartSomeGood is without a doubt one of the most exciting things I’ve ever been a part of in my life, and I’m so thankful to everyone for their role in bringing us to where we are today.

24 hours. Two leaps of faith. Only one of these huge jumps comes with a parachute, but I’m even more excited about the metaphorical jump than the literal one. Both are scary. Both are exhilarating. And I can’t wait for what’s next.

By Amber Goodhand
Radar Staff Reporter

Get him to the beach!

PHOTOS: Russell Brand Hits The Waves

Russell Brand enjoyed a day of sun and wave running with buddies in Miami, Florida on Thursday and RadarOnline.com has the photos.

Katy Perry and Russell Brand together on Honeymoon

While his wife Katy Perry is busy touring in Australia, Brand opted to stay on American soil.

PHOTOS: Katy Perry On Set Of How I Met Your Mother

Sporting little blue shorts and pasty white legs, do you think Brand is a Teenage Dream or more of an E.T.?

 

RELATED STORIES:

Red Carpet Raunchy -- Russell Brand Cops A Feel Of Katy Perry

Katy Perry Adds 8 Dates To California Dreams World Tour

Russell Brand Vs. Russell Brand: 'Hop' Leaps Over 'Arthur' At The Box Office

$55.00
'Hello Gorgeous'

Who wouldn't want to be met with those words first thing on a Monday morning, last thing at night or just when you're passing on your way for a pee?


The colours of this print dont ring true in the picture , for some reason I cant get that this is a handpulled screenprint, pink and blue print on golden yellow 220gsm acid free paper card.
20" x 25" paper size
It resonates colour and absurd cheerfulness.
Limited edition of 25, signed and dated.


sign up to my mailing list at www.alistairkatemilan.blogspot.com and receive discount codes and be entered into the draw to win silkscreened lovelieness.
All posters are rolled in newsprint and shipped in lovely sturdy cardboard tubes.

I usually ship out twice a week, but often sooner, depending on what cakes are at the bakers next to the Post Office.

Contact me for questions answering or just a chat about how to avoid house cleaning duties..... I'm very good at that.

Up, and all the morning at the office. At noon home to dinner and Creed with me, and after dinner he and I to the Duke of York's playhouse; and there coming late, he and I up to the balcony-box, where we find my Lady Castlemayne and several great ladies; and there we sat with them, and I saw "The Impertinents" once more, now three times, and the three only days it hath been acted. And to see the folly how the house do this day cry up the play more than yesterday! and I for that reason like it, I find, the better, too; by Sir Positive At-all, I understand, is meant Sir Robert Howard. My Lady [Castlemaine] pretty well pleased with it; but here I sat close to her fine woman, Willson, who indeed is very handsome, but, they say, with child by the King. I asked, and she told me this was the first time her Lady had seen it, I having a mind to say something to her. One thing of familiarity I observed in my Lady Castlemayne: she called to one of her women, another that sat by this, for a little patch off her face, and put it into her mouth and wetted it, and so clapped it upon her own by the side of her mouth, I suppose she feeling a pimple rising there. Thence with Creed to Westminster Hall, and there met with cozen Roger, who tells me of the great conference this day between the Lords and Commons, about the business of the East India Company, as being one of the weightiest conferences that hath been, and managed as weightily. I am heartily sorry I was not there, it being upon a mighty point of the privileges of the subjects of England, in regard to the authority of the House of Lords, and their being condemned by them as the Supreme Court, which, we say, ought not to be, but by appeal from other Courts. And he tells me that the Commons had much the better of them, in reason and history there quoted, and believes the Lords will let it fall. Thence to walk in the Hall, and there hear that Mrs. Martin's child, my god-daughter, is dead, and so by water to the Old Swan, and thence home, and there a little at Sir W. Pen's, and so to bed.

After getting knocked out of the Champions League by Manchester United, Raul returns for one final update on his experience with Schalke and how he still isn't thinking about Real Madrid. 

Hello again. I do not like to write. But I have written. I have written to dispel rumors. Some say I dislike Germany. Others say I want to return to Real Madrid. I must write one last time. I love Schalke City. I like the booneyliga. The other claims are false. Nothing could be further from the truth.

My first season at Schalke City has been a success. Once the ice water melted, my team reached the semi-finals of the Champions League. We beat Inter, the reigning champions. Of course, I scored goals. Crucial goals. And I started. Yes, we have not met our ambitions in the booneyliga. But this summer I will recruit good players to join me at Schalke City. I hear Luis Figo is available.

Yes, it was bitter to lose to Manchester United. Yes, I remember my old club's famous victory at Old Trafford. But time passes. Real Madrid can no longer count on my goals to lift them over Barcelona. They must adapt. I heard from a friend's uncle about the Copa del Rey. Felicidades. I still remember my first Copa del Rey. I was at home, in the living room, when I turned on the television. I thought Real Castilla was playing, but then I saw my coach, Jorge Valdano, standing on the sidelines. Odd, I thought. Then I changed the channel. I am happy Madrid won this prestigious trophy. They deserved it.

Does Madrid's success tempt me? Would I return? No. I am too happy at Schalke City. True, I hear that the ice water may fall again in September. But I am ready. I have heated a glass of water in my microwave to toss on my car's frozen windows, just in case. I also have toured the dark Gothic buildings of the lovely Schalke City. Well, I got lost on my way to the post office. But I saw lots of buildings. They were dark. And Gothic.

Thus, a return to Real is out of the question. It is impossible. Are my family and I returning to live in our spacious mansion in Madrid for the summer? Yes. But I cannot stay beyond August. The realtor is already looking for tenants to sublet. I will respect my contract with my realtor. And I will respect my contract with Schalke City. I want to thank all the Real Madrid fans - I know you will never stop loving a legend. And neither will I. Me.

Elliott blogs about soccer at Futfanatico.com

Photo: Getty Images

Right. So it’s a girl.

!

I admit it: I’m a little excited. I am also a little terrified, but never mind that part. I was a little excited and a little terrified with Mini, too, so this makes things even.

We found out yesterday at the 18 week ultrasound/horrible genetic disorder consultation meeting with the perinatologist. The doctor said, “This is not intuitive at all, but do you see these things? These are labia.”

I said, “I KNEW it. I KNEW it.”

Mr. Right-Click left the office by shouting, “I AM HAVING A DAUGHTER!!!” triumphantly at the front office reception nurses.

Initially, Mini declined to comment publicly on this news, but this morning he told me he thought he might like having a “girl baby,” citing as evidence for this claim a list of the names of all females he has met in his life thusfar who have been deemed acceptable to him. I told him that his uncle was a boy who had a sister, and his daddy is a boy who had two sisters, and besides, I bet the baby will like stuff like Thomas the Tank Engine and robots and stuff like that.

Then he asked if maybe he could show the baby about stuff like “the video store” someday, and I said yes. So I think he’s coming around.

++++++++++++++++++++

My OBGYN’s office had lost my blood sample for the second time so far this pregnancy (does not inspire confidence in care, I will assure you, though my OBGYN himself is awesome), so we still have not decided whether or not I will have an amnio. Right now signs are pointing to no amnio, but I won’t decide for sure until I hear back about the blood results. The nurse at the perinatologist’s office was absolutely certain to make me feel like an old hag, though, when discussing genetic counseling — I explained that I had had genetic counseling the first time around, when I was 34, and that I didn’t see the point of doing it again unless there was going to be something radically different about it, specifically to do with my test results. So then she said, “Oh, but you were only 34 then. Now you are 37,” as if the bell was tolling, right then, for me and this hypothetical baby, because ADVANCED MATERNAL AGE! Alert! Alert!

I asked her if there was going to be anything new that I couldn’t get from googling about the statistical differences between having a baby at 34 versus having a baby at 37. No? Then suck it, lady. (The “suck it” was implied, rather than articulated.) I have to wonder what it’s like in locales where they aren’t as used to seeing pregnant women over 35, if this is what I get in Los Angeles.

I don’t want to veer too closely to ripping off Ryan‘s maternity series, but now that I’m almost at the point where people can discern that I’m pregnant, rather than just fat, I thought I’d share.

As you can see, I don’t quite have the basketball yet, and I still have that cursèd dent in the middle of the stomach, but I’m getting there.

And now, so many baby blue things to purge, so much pink to buy.

G2 Builders is currently looking for a new intern!

The firm primarily works on commercial projects although on rare occasion, an existing client may request us to build their home. 80% of our work is for repeat cllents in the retail, office, medical arena. Our goal for growth is to continue strengthening our relationships with our existing clients while seeking out blue chip clients. We currently have three (3) ground up buildings under construction along with 6-8 interior renovation projects. We have experienced significant growth every quarter and we are going to continue the growth in a controlled manner.

G2 is an open shop firm meaning that we base our working relationships with subcontractors in a merit basis. We do both union and nonunion work, however the majority of our work is nonunion.

In this position you will be reporting directly to Mr. Paul Maurer and Mr. Jimmy Garcia. The responsibilities will include contract administration, assisting the superintendent, soliciting and scoping subcontractor bids, pushing schedule, managing submittals, etc. In addition to this we are looking for interns who are willing to get there hands dirty cleaning job sites, performing demolition, work along side sub-contractors and basically doing anything it takes to get a job done. The goal for us over the 90 days is to gauge your heart, and drive as those are the paramount qualities for associates we want at G2. We want to know that you problem solve, be a great teammate, serve our clients, and constantly learn and get better.

The goal of this program is to hire full-time after the 90 days. The way the interview process for this job will work is that you will forward your resumes to our 1st intern. He will then select those applicants and screen them through a phone interview. After that intital screening he will ask of you to come in and meet him. Once he has met enough candidates he will then select 4 to 5 that he thinks stand out to interview with the owners/superintendents of the company.

We at G2 look forward to seeing your resume!

• Location: Hanover Park/Chicagoland Area
• This is an internship job
• Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
• Please, no phone calls about this job!
• Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.

Short on backcourt experience for next season as a result of the dismissal of Korie Lucious and the graduation of Kalin Lucas and Durrell Summers, Michigan State appears to be on the verge of finding an unlikely short-term solution.

Brandon Wood, a first-team all-Horizon League guard and Valparaiso's leading scorer this past season, reportedly met with Tom Izzo on campus Monday and is weighing a transfer to Michigan State, Purdue or Tennessee. If Wood opts to leave Valparaiso, he'd be eligible immediately at his new school because he's on pace to graduate this month.

Wood said it was Izzo who initiated contact with him and not the other way around.

"This was his idea in the first place," Wood told the Post-Tribune. "When they got word I was considering that option, he got a hold of his compliance office as soon as he heard it and asked if I'd be eligible to come there and play."

The potential addition of Wood would be an ideal fit for a Michigan State team that  would otherwise start next season disconcertingly young at wing. Wood would fill a void on the roster and likely contend for a starting job, yet he would not impact the Spartans' pursuit of top recruits in the 2012 class.

Whether Wood joins Michigan State, remains at Valparaiso or heads elsewhere probably won't be determined for a few days. First he must formally withdraw his name from the NBA draft by Sunday's deadline, probably a mere formality since he's not projected to be selected.

Wood averaged 16.7 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.1 assists last year at Valparaiso, actually a slight drop off from what he produced the previous year. Even if he merely approaches those numbers at Michigan State, the Spartans would be thrilled to have him.

The Met Office has teamed up with Rapanui, an eco fashion company, to create a range of weather related T-shirts just in time for summer.

With energy bills soaring and the poor economy,  the costs of solar energy systems may be beyond the reach of many businesses and municipalities.  As George Harrison sang in his song, “Got My Mind Set on You,”  it’s going to take a whole lot of money.  He obviously was singing about his wish for solar.  No fear, George.  Companies such as Sunlight General Capital, have stepped in to create a bridge to provide the benefits of solar without business owners incurring the cost of the system.  The financing model that the Company uses is called a solar purchase power agreement.

The Company recently completed two municipal solar projects in Bergen County, New Jersey at a cost of $3.5 million dollars.  The two projects will generate 850,000 kilowatts a year and save the county anywhere from $250,00o to $1 million dollars depending the escalation of future electrical costs. (See their solar purchase power agreement projects, here.)

But the best part?  Taxpayers reap the benefit without paying a dime for the systems.

Solar Without the Cost

Stacey Hughes, partner of Sunlight, walked me through how business owners and municipalities could benefit by partnering with her company.  I urge you to listen to the below podcast or video as she explains the financing aspect of  a solar purchase power agreement.

As Hughes explained, her company is a developer and financier of solar system primarily in the northeast.  Most companies don’t have the cash up front and a company like Sunlight finance the solar system based upon the electricity the system generates and the state and federal incentive derived for installing the system.  Sunlight retains ownership of the system during that 15 year term.

In turn, the Company sells back the electricity to the owner.  According to Hughes, the price is lower than what a business is paying now.

However, this model is not for everyone.  If an owner’s roof is too old or in bad condition, this may preclude this type of model.  Generally,  a roof needs to be about five years old or in good condition.  Hughes stated that they can roll in the roof repairs into the electricial price paid but this is a case by case situation.  It all comes downs to the numbers.

 

Fixed Fee or Escalated Price?

Generally, the lock-in electrical price has a 2% increase each year for 15 years.  According to Hughes, the benefit of this model is the power prices are locked-in to make budgeting easier.   Companies can have a zero escalation price but this will affect the price paid per year.

What makes Sunlight different?

Sunlight personally invests in the project.  Currently, they only enter into agreements in the  Northeast so they are within driving distance to their projects.  Their minimum system that they will invest in at the moment is about 50KW system.  The Bergen County Prosecutor Office system pictured above is 116KW.

Seek an Installer or Financier first?

When Hughes was talking about financing, I wondered why not just find an installer and then seek financing.  Hughes explains that if you know up front that you can’t afford to purchase a system outright, they should seek a purchase power financier like Sunlight.  They in turn bring their construction partners to the table based upon the needs of the client.  In addition, Sunlight offers a hybrid situation where a client can paid for part of the system and finance the balance.

Why not simply finance the system through a bank?  Hughes explains banks lend based upon the revenues of your business.  In a purchase power agreement is solely based on the solar project.

Is My Roof Big Enough?

The roof is not the only part of a building that is considered.  In the case of a South Jersey manufacturer, Sunlight will be installing car ports in their parking lots, on the manufacturer’s various buildings’ rooftops, and in its fields. So Hughes indicated they look at the entire property, not just the roofs.

How Much Does Solar Decrease the Electric Bill?

Hughes found that they are saving their clients about 30% on their electrical bill. In the case of the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, their agreement was Bergen County would pay initially 9.7 cents per kilowatt to the Company.

But I wondered did Bergen County negotiate the best price per kilowatt?  Could they have obtained a better result with an electrical aggregator such as Constellation Energy?  (Think Costco for electricity.  Buying in bulk and passing the savings to the consumer.)  Hughes explains that the 9.7 cent quote does not include additional taxes or surcharges or demand charges of electrical energy supplier.  The aggregator is only buying the power in bulk not supplying the power. In addition, the aggregator can not give you a long term hedge.

I’m Sold.   But Sunlight is only in the North.

Although, Sunlight General Capital is currently only in the Northeast, Stacey offered her assistance in locating a reputable solar purchase power provider for your commercial buildings.  She indicated that it is really important to find a solar financier that has done projects in your state.  You don’t want to be a guinea pig since ever state has its own financial incentives.  She further recommends a financier who is within driving distance so that you have a personal relationship with them.  Remember, it is a 15 year partnership.

Join the Conversation:

• Would you consider a PPA for your commercial buildings?
• Are you really getting the best bang for the buck with a PPA?
• Is Solar PPA the way to go or are there other renewable PPA which generate better results?
• Have you entered into a PPA and has it met your expectations?

Similar Posts:

• One Block Off the Grid Offers Bargaining Power for Group Solar Discounts
• Home Depot BP Solar Partnership. No Installation Deals here.
• Competence: The Next Phase of Solar.
• 1BOG Brings Discounted Solar to New Jersey. Your Area Could be Next.
• Cheap Solar–Is this For Real?

I met him when we were working at the same company in Corvallis, Oregon. I was tethered by a phone to a front office desk, where I made surreptitious cow eyes at him when he’d stride by once a day to the mailroom. We moved to Las Vegas in 1999, and on New Year’s Eve [...]

All & Sundry

via Dan Lewis of Now I Know.

Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roche Gilbert du Motier, better known as the Marquis de Lafayette, was a French nobleman who famously served as a major general for the Continental Army in the American Revolution. Lafayette was integral to France's support of American troops in the war as well.

These contributions did not go unacknowledged; roughly two dozen states have towns named after him amongst a host of other honors. But the most impressive acknowledgement came on December 28, 1784 -- roughly a year after the American Revolution officially ended under the Treaty of Paris. On that date, the state of Maryland passed a resolution, making Lafayette a "natural born citizen" of the state. The resolution also did the same for all of Lafayette's male heirs, extending to and beyond the present day.

In 1919, the New York Times (pdf of article here) concluded that this designation is likely unconstitutional under our present framework -- as the power to define "natural born citizen" resides with Congress, per Article I Section 8 Clause 4 of the U.S. Constitution. But, as the Times notes, Maryland's grant of citizenship to Lafayette and his heirs predates the Constitution, and comes from a time when states were empowered to define who was a citizen.

Why is Lafayette's designation as a "natural born citizen" notable? Because Article II Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution states, in part "[n]o person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President[.]"

Lafayette's male heirs -- whomever and wherever they may be -- have met the first prong required to be eligible to be President of the United States, in a manner unique to them.

Mid-Cities Financial CU met with the California State Treasurer's Office to discuss its new role as a California Capital Access Program (CalCAP) financial institution. The CalCAP program offers Mid-Cities Financial excess capital for loans to small businesses outside the credit union's normal approval criteria.

More science? More on emissions or energy or economics? Tell us where we should we take the FAQs next

• FAQ homepage
• Read about the project

Five months ago, we launched The ultimate climate change FAQ with an aim to build up an archive of answers to lessen the confusion surrounding global warming. Unlike most of the other background guides out there, we wanted the answers to be both accurate and lay-friendly, and to cover not just science but the whole topic, including impacts, economics, emissions sources, energy technologies and international negotiations.

More than 750 of you have already submitted the questions that you'd like to see answered and although we've got a very long way to go, we have now dealt with many of the most frequently requested topics. The resulting collection of Q&As; is, I hope, starting to grow into a genuinely useful resource.

The answers so far have covered subjects ranging from big-picture background (What exactly is the climate?, Are humans definitely causing global warming?) and scientific context (What is the carbon cycle?, How do volcanoes affect the climate?) through to possible impacts (Will rising seas put cities such as New York and London under water?, Will climate change cause wars?), societal responses (What is the economic cost of climate change?, What is the Kyoto protocol and has it made any difference?) and proposed solutions (What is carbon capture and storage?, What is geo-engineering?). You can see a full list of questions and answers, arranged by topic, here.

We feel the project is going well – and plenty of you are reading and sharing each article – but we'd love to get your feedback. And we want to know where you think we should be putting our energy going forward. More science? More impacts? More on emissions or energy or economics? Give us your thoughts in the comments thread below or – if you have a specific question that you'd like to see answered – submit it using the form under this post.

The FAQ was designed to be a collaborative project, not just between Guardian readers and journalists, but also partners such as the Met Office (whose experts have been fact-checking our science questions) and the members of the Guardian Environment Network, who have been providing some of the content. We've also partnered with Rough Guides to reproduce some content from Bob Henson's Rough Guide to Climate Change. If you think there's a brilliant potential partner that we should be hooking up with – or indeed a way that the growing body of content could be more widely distributed – then let us know about that, too. We hope in the end that this resource will be useful far beyond the Guardian's own site.

I am so pleased to announce a new content partnership between Better Health and Diario Médico (DM), Spain’s leading news outlet for physicians. We will now be featuring regular content from the DM bloggers, translated for our readers from Spanish to English. The medical blogging community is a global family, and we proudly embrace our Spanish innovators overseas.

I first met the DM team two years ago on Twitter. Their lead social media guru, Alain Ochoa-Torres (@alainochoa), was the first to reach out to me – eager to learn about social media trends in the United States. We arranged to do a live “Twitterview” to talk about how U.S. physicians are engaging in social media, especially blogging. That Twitterview (screen shot shown to the left) was translated into Spanish and became the beginning of an exciting international collaboration.

In the future, Better Health hopes to find ways to make Spanish health content available to our readers… and with DM’s help I’m sure that we will expand our understanding of global health, while making friends with our new Spanish blogging colleagues!

Please join me in welcoming our new blog contributors:

Sergio Minué, MD.

General Practitioner (GP). Management professor at Andalusian School of Public Health (Escuela Andaluza de Salud Pública, EASP) since July, 2000.

In the last eleven years Dr. Minué has been involved in several projects related to education, investigation and consulting both at national and international level. He has worked in projects for Dominican Republic, Uruguay, Chile, Argentina, Morocco and El Salvador, and collaborated with Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) in other actions.

At the present he is Director of the Expertise in Healthcare Management program at University of Granada and coordinates healthcare management module in European Master 'Erasmus Mundus' Europubhealth.

Served as Director of Medical Care Management Department at EASP from February 2009 to May 2010.

Worked as Teaching and Investigation Director at EASP from 2003 to 2007.

From 1993 to 2000 held different management positions at Insalud (now-defunct Spanish national healthcare authority): Medical Director of Primary Care Team at Barajas (1991-1993), Assistant Medical Director of Primary Care of Madrid's Area 4 (1993-1994), Medical Director of the same regional area (1994-1996) and finally Medical Director of Primary Care for Madrid's Area 2 (1996-2000).

Quality Pilot in European Master 'Erasmus Mundus' Europubhealth (2006-2010). During that time he coordinated Quality Committee of Virtual Campus of Public Health in Latin America organized by PAHO.

Member of Patient Safety groups at Cochrane and Spanish Primary Care Association (Semfyc). At Semfyc he is also member of the Knowledge Management group and coordinates Project ARA, focused on MD re-certification.

Member of Internet and Healthcare investigation group at EASP, he is currently working in several investigation projects on how doctors can use new technologies, social media and Web 2.0. He is also involved in projects related to best practices in teaching, safety, clinical decision-making and Primary Care. He is the leading author of an ongoing investigation on decision-making and mistakes in diagnosis. Reviewer for 'Gaceta Sanitaria' magazine. Participates in expert groups in Spain, Europe and the Americas.

He authored articles published in scientific journals both in Spain and abroad, and is a frequent lecturer and speaker in scientific congresses all over the world and is still actively writing and publishing in his field of expertise. He writes in two personal blogs ('El Gerente de Mediado' and 'La Cara Ve') and is a regular contributor to other healthcare blogs and Diario Médico.

Miguel Ángel Máñez, Economist.

Miguel Ángel Máñez is an economist and currently holds the position of Finance and Human Resources Assistant Manager of the Health Department of Alicante-Sant Joan d’Alacant in Alicante, Spain. He is also the Coordinator of the '2.0 Office' for Valencia’s regional health authority, responsible for the implementation of Web 2.0 tools aimed at patients and healthcare professionals. He is the author of a well-known blog in Spain about healthcare management called 'Salud con Cosas'. He has taken an active part in courses and seminars about Internet and healthcare, marketing, and strategies of healthcare management. He is the author of several articles on healthcare and Web 2.0.

Vicente Baos, MD.

General Practitioner (GP) in Collado Villalba Pueblo (near Madrid), writes 'El supositorio' ('The Suppository') since 2007, one of Spain's most influential healthcare blogs.

Graduated in 1982 at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, completed his training at Puerta de Hierro Hospital (Madrid) in 1987. Member of Editorial Board at 'Therapeutiction in Spanish Healthcare System' ('Información Terapéutica del Sistema Nacional de Salud'), a journal published by Spain's Ministry of Health since 1994.

Dr. Baos also coordinates Prescription Drug Use group at Spanish Primary Care Association (Semfyc) since its creation in 2003. He is a consultant at Spain's Drug Agency ('Agencia Española de Medicamentos y Productos Sanitarios'). Author of several books on prescription drug use (some of them for MD's and others targeted at general public) and a long list of scientific articles.

His main areas of interest are Primary Care and the analysis and evaluation of pharmacological therapies.

Frederic Llordachs, MD.

MD with MBA, specialized in Healthcare Management and Marketing. Direct experience with healthcare insurance, and healthcare management, and interested in venture capital. Also involved in early-stage start-ups, like Doctoralia (http://www.doctoralia.com), the global platform for healthcare search, and also other pre-seed projects like Lexpertia (http://www.lexpertia.com), the search engine for lawyers in Spain.

Julio Mayol, MD, PhD.
Julio M. Mayol MD, PhD, graduated with honor from Universidad Complutense de Madrid Medical School in 1988. He received his training in General Surgery at Hospital Clinico San Carlos and Beth Israel Hospital, taking further postgraduate training as research fellow in Surgery at Harvard Medical School. Currently, he he has an appointment as Professor of Surgery at Universidad Complutense de Madrid Medical School. He serves as Chief Innovation Officer and Chief of the Division of Colorectal Surgery at Hospital Clinico San Carlos. He is a member of the Spanish Royal Academy of Medicine and European Expert on Cell Therapy at European Medicines Agency.

About Diario Medico:

Since 1992, Diario Médico has been Spain's leading news outlet for physicians. Part of one of Spain's most important publishing groups ( ), Diario Médico is both a website and a free newspaper distributed Monday to Friday in all hospitals and general practitioner offices across Spain.

The publication covers a wide range of subjects, from breaking scientific news to health policy, in-depth interviews, scientific meetings, clinical practice, legal issues, management, and health IT.
Diario Médico reaches 2.4 million paper readers and 450 thousand website visitors (more than 500 thousand pageviews/month).

The brand strives to be a cutting-edge reference tool for all healthcare professionals in Spain, and its website is constantly innovating. Diario Médico provides online courses as well as speciality-specific newsletters, video reports and Web 2.0 content such as Twitterrviews and a medical blogging platform (Médica Blogs).

Something downright amazing and awe-inspiring happened today, and I really needed to share this with you. If you ever doubt in there being "something else" out there, something divine, whatever religion or spiritual beliefs you may or may not hold, please read this with an open mind, and heart. I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

This story begins Sunday - the day I left for Chicago. I was delayed because of weather hammering down on Dallas, delaying flights in and out of Texas, bringing a cold front with it, staying behind.

A cold front that pushed through Texas and into Louisiana on Monday, and stagnated there, in the 50's at first, but crawling up the 60's yesterday and today.

A cold front that brought sun and nice, temperate weather. Weather that caused us to enjoy going outside and frolic longer than normal today. We had already been outside for over two hours when my husband left to pick up our older kids from school. My toddlers and I continued to play outside, in the backyard, on the trampoline, when my husband dropped my first-grader off, on his way to get the older ones.

A first-grader who asked to keep his school uniform on today, instead of change (like he normally would), because he really wanted to jump right then and there. As soon as he began jumping, the school buses came.

The buses that came and dropped off neighborhood elementary school children, including two down-the-street neighbor children, ages four and six. Two neighbor children who weren't greeted by anyone as they stepped off the bus, who walked down the street, alone, to their house. A house that met them with a locked door and no vehicle in their driveway.

Two neighbor children whom I heard calling for their mother; the four-year-old screaming as loud as his little lungs would let him. At first, I thought it was a temper-tantrum; surely, he was with his mother. But as the calls for her grew louder, his tears more desperate, that's when I quickly hung up with my husband, ran and turned the corner from my backyard to find him on the sidewalk, wandering, backpack slung on his back, helpless.

I called to him, asking if he was alone. He sobbed a pitiful "Yes!" back to me, sniffling, with salty tears streaming down his face, his sister stayed solidly in place by her house. I saw his school bus tag hung with string around his neck. Thank goodness he's four! I thought to myself. I know, such a strange thing to wish, but because at this age (four), in their school they are forced to wear a bus-tag with all their info - first and last name, address, home phone number - every day of the year.

I took that bus-tag and quickly called our housing office with my phone. With that tag, I was accurately able to convey who these kids were and where they lived. Housing has all of everyone's alternate contact information, including duty phone number, commanders number, unit info, etc. Surely with all that they could track down this family somewhere, somehow.

I invited these scared children into my backyard. "Look, see? We're playing on the trampoline. We only live right here. We're close to your house, we'll find your parents. See? See my son? He goes to your school, too! Do you know him? His name is..."

And I showed them my son, the son they immediately saw and recognized as someone just like them, wearing a uniform like them; a uniform he doesn't normally wear when playing outside. And it all hit me, the irony, the timing of it all. Especially when the father came some moments later.

"Look, our dad is here!" The son called out, dutifully.

I knew he was watching the street constantly for his parents. They scooped up their belongings as quickly as they could, and ran faster than I was able, to hug their father's shaking legs. He look like he'd been hit by a truck. Twice.

Shaking like a leaf, he asked me one word, "How..." and I explained it all. He couldn't speak, only saying "Thank God!" and "Thank you!" and hugging these kids while he shivered like he was in the frozen tundra with no coat.

He drove away in their minivan, with car seats, and it was then I came to realize that perhaps they shared a car, and he had it - perhaps she was somewhere waiting on him, and not home? Perhaps?

A little later, she knocked at my door, in her uniform from the local diner, together with all three children (to include her youngest, who had been with her during this time), to thank me herself. "Thank you so much for being there, he had the car and was supposed to get them today! Thank you so much! My name is..."

And it hit me like a ton of bricks.

Of all the days for it to be cool. Of all the days for us to be outside for a prolonged amount of time. Of all the days for my son to keep his uniform on outside. Of all the days, it was the day this family needed me to be there for their children. 

Even if you don't normally believe in a higher power, you've got to admit, there was definitely something cosmic at work here. And the goosebumps you now have prove it.

Never miss a thing! Subscribe today for all kinds of crazy parenting fun!

I'm now home, to Spring and dogs. Had a wonderful time with Ben Folds, Damian Kulash from OKGo and Amanda Palmer making the #8in8 project, which as of 3 days ago has raised over $21,000 for Berklee City Music, bringing access to music to inner city kids in Boston. Given that the minimum donation is $1, I think we've got a lot of people downloading the 8in8 music, and it is doing good things, and for that I thank you all.

(He was referring to the events of this - http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2010/05/political-football-in-teacup.html. Read it first.)




...



I display my neck, pencilly or not, to the world in this picture.

It's from Allan Amato's ILLUMINATE PARKINSON'S Kickstarter. He's raising money for a travelling photographic show and book that will then go on to raise money and awareness for Parkinson's Disease. I signed up to support it, as well as having my photo taken. You should check it out.

National Institute for Economic and Social Research says UK performance has deteriorated since last autumn

George Osborne will miss his ambitious targets for slashing Britain's budget deficit as weak growth and a five-year squeeze on consumer spending hit tax revenues, an economic thinktank warns.

In a report that prompted fresh Labour attacks on the government's strategy, the National Institute for Economic and Social Research said the performance of the UK had "deteriorated markedly" since the autumn. It said the bounce back in output since the turn of the year after December's snow masked "the underlying weakness" of the economy.

NIESR said consumers faced a second successive year of falling real personal disposable incomes – the worst squeeze on spending power since 1972– and that house prices adjusted for inflation were likely to fall for the next five years as rising interest rates made borrowing more expensive.

The thinktank said economic output would grow by just 1.4% and that it would take until 2013 for activity to return to the peak of 2008.

In its quarterly review, NIESR concluded that the weak recovery would feed through to lower tax revenues. That meant that even if the spending plans are met over the next four years, public sector net borrowing will fall only to 3.6% of GDP in 2015-16, rather than the 1.5% projected.

Angela Eagle, Labour's shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, said: "NIESR is right to warn, as Labour has, that slower growth will mean lower tax revenues and so make it harder to get the deficit down.

"Cutting too deep and too fast, as this government is doing, is a vicious circle. George Osborne is already expected to borrow £46bn more than he was planning a few months ago because of the slower growth, higher unemployment and higher inflation his policies have delivered."

She added: "In contrast, a year ago, Labour's plans to support the recovery saw the economy start to grow strongly, unemployment fall and borrowing come in over £21bn lower than forecast. George Osborne needs to think again and finally realise that we need strong growth and more people in work, paying taxes rather than claiming benefits, to get the deficit down in a sustainable way."

A Treasury spokesman said: "Both the Office for Budget Responsibility's budget forecast and the independent average for 2011 is for growth of 1.7%. In the week that Portugal has confirmed it will receive a bailout of nearly €80bn, there can be no question of the need to deal with the deficit and rebalance the economy, both of which are vital preconditions delivering a new model of growth."

Today's NIESR report comes as the Bank of England announces its latest decision on interest rates. Threadneedle Street's monetary policy committee is expected to keep borrowing costs at their emergency level of 0.5% amid evidence that the economy continues to struggle.

With consumers hit by a combination of sluggish wage growth, rising inflation and higher taxes, the thinktank said last year's fall in real personal disposable income would be followed by a further decline in 2011. NIESR said the 0.8% drop in 2010 was the first since the deep slump of 1981 and the biggest per head of population since 1972.

"Real personal disposable incomes are expected to decline sharply, by 1.3% this year, in part due to the impact of tax increases that have come into effect in the first half of this year."

Real house prices will fall by 4.5% in 2011 and by an average of 1.5% per annum in the subsequent four years as borrowing costs rise, NIESR said.

Entry by Casey Talon

Entry

Smart Buildings could be the killer app that secures widespread adoption of the Smart Grid for three reasons: (1) advanced analytics will generate buy-in (2) advanced integration will provide flexibility for adoption across industries, and (3) Smart Buildings will provide two-way communication of Smart Grid goals and benefits between customers and utilities.

 

More

Yesterday I listened to The Energy Collective's web forum: "Smart Grid, Better Demand Response."  The panel introduced their predictions for the Smart Grid killer app, and I would argue all of the contenders: electric vehicles, auto-DR, on-site generation, and smart appliances could roll into the real "killer app" - the Smart Building.

1. Advanced Analytics: Last month we published a global Smart Buildings (SB) spending forecast and a perspective on market opportunities and challenges. Far and away the cost of SB investments is the biggest hurdle selling the value of Smart Building solutions.  The number one reason a Smart Building can be the killer app of the Smart Grid is also the point of leverage for selling the individual solutions.  Advanced analytics will show the numbers that matter.  Dashboards, smart phone apps, and other signals will illustrate the impacts of automated controls on lights, HVAC, and plug load devices and demonstrate progress toward a variety of goals.  As the panel discussed on the Energy Collective call, customer buy-in is crucial to success of smart grid devices and buy-in will come when it is clear goals can be met.

2. Advanced Integration: The complete integration of the building automation system, on-site generation, sensors, controllers, and networking will allow a building manager to hone facility operations to meet the specific financial or sustainability goals of the building's ultimate decision-makers. The take-away here is that advanced integration will provide a new level of flexibility for optimizing building management to meet the changing goals and priorities of businesses from healthcare to manufacturing to commercial office leasing.

3. Two-way Communication: From the early days of manual participation in demand response programs to the next era of automated demand response, it is increasingly evident communication between buildings and the grid can generate benefits for both building owners and grid operators.

Smart Buildings will act as dynamic collaborators with the grid by creating a mechanism for two-way communication between customers and utilities.  The Smart Building will communicate customer priorities with finely calibrated signals of energy demand and capacity to shed load to the grid, and utilities will be able to communicate grid needs in real time with increasingly sophisticated demand response and other price signal programs.

In the end a Smart Building could be the killer app because it will effectively demonstrate the value of the smart grid to decision-makers, and help electric utilities to validate demands for Smart Grid investments.

Keywords

Smart Buildings, Auto-DR

4 May, 2011 : - - The Met Office has teamed up with Rapanui, an eco-fashion company, to create a range of weather related T-shirts just in time for summer. The Met Office eco clothing collection is made from organic cotton in an ethical, wind powered factory and features a range of weather related designs inspired by the imagery, science and history of the Met Office.

Earlier, we have shown “how to change product key of Microsoft Office 2010 and Visio 2010.” But this method is specific to Office 2010 only, what about other editions of Microsoft Office productivity suite: Office XP, Office 2003 or Office 2007? Microsoft keeps the license information hidden from end-users view. This makes the process of changing product key of Office hard and involves messing the registry key. In some situations like virus attacks, corrupt data or when counterfeit software has been installed (without your knowledge), removing the product key of Microsoft Office productivity suite is helpful. Most users follow the routine uninstalling and then reinstalling of Microsoft Office suite, if they met such a situation. But this is no longer necessary as Office Key Remover helps you out by removing Office licensing information from the system so that a new Office product key can than be entered and activated. Office Key Remover is a small [...]

Via The Guardian - The unusually dry, settled conditions are set to end at the weekend, but temperatures will remain high for the time of year There will be rain this weekend across the UK but i...

Stepping out to promote his latest romantic comedy, John Krasinski joined alongside co-stars Kate Hudson and Ginnifer Goodwin at the Hollywood premiere of "Something Borrowed" on Tuesday evening (May 3).

The 31-year-old "Office" star, who took to the event in a sleek gray suit, recently opened up to Ellen DeGeneres about his real-life made for the big screen romance with wife Emily Blunt.

John says it really was love at first sight for the married couple, revealing, "It was one of those things where I wasn't really looking for a relationship and I was thinking I'm going to take my time in L.A.," adding "Then I met her and I was so nervous. I was like, 'Oh god, I think I'm going to fall in love with her.' As I shook her hand I went, 'I like you.' "

Krasinski also joked about his push to pop the question, telling, "I was like, I'm going to propose to her real fast before she wakes and was like, 'What am I doing? I can have anybody.' I was like, just put [on] this the ring. Shhh..."

Earlier this month we closed our transaction with Coca-Cola. I can't say that I expected any of this to happen and so occasionally I felt as if I were watching things transpire, then I would realize that they were actually happening to me. It's been an exciting, intense and occasionally surreal time—and that's not even including my son's participation in the Maryland State Wrestling Tournament, which was a source of additional stimulating moments. Here are some of the interesting experiences I had post-transaction:

The Media Announcement. We held a press conference at our office to announce the transaction. I was joined by my co-founder, Barry Nalebuff, Mike Ohmstede from Coke's Venturing & Emerging Brands unit, and Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett. We also invited representatives from our community partners, such as Bethesda Green, Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, the Boys & Girls Club of Montgomery County, and City Year, Washington, D.C.

I noted that while the event was an important day for our shareholders, who are getting a nice return on their investment, it was also an important day for our stakeholders—community and national nonprofit partners, who we will continue to invest in through our continued presence in the community. It was also exciting to unveil the design for our new PET bottle, which will feature the words "Est. Bethesda, MD 1998" on the bottom.

At the conclusion of the press conference, we unveiled a big, red, environmentally-efficient, co-branded vending machine half-filled with Coke drinks and half-filled with Honest Tea products. Despite the fact that we've been working with Coke since 2008, when I pushed the buttons to order a drink, it was the first time I'd seen an Honest Tea bottle come out of a Coke machine. As the bottle emerged from the machine with that characteristic thud, I recalled all of thousands of Coke machines I've spotted around the world, and at that moment the scale—of what we are doing, and what we can achieve—really hit home.

My Final Investor Call. Immediately after the press conference, we convened a teleconference for shareholders. We announced the transaction to them, explained the timing, shared calculations for the return on their investment, and then opened up the floor for comments and questions. After some questions around logistics of the transaction, we heard from shareholders who not only shared their thanks, but reminisced about the early days with Honest Tea, and how proud they were to be part of the experience. We've been holding annual calls with our investors ever since we started, so it was bittersweet to realize that this was the last official conversation we would have with them. We thanked them for their confidence and their capital, and I was proud (and relieved) to have been able to deliver a return on both. One of our longest-standing investors noted that he invested a portion of his kids' college money in Honest Tea eleven years ago, and his kids are all now in college, so the timing was perfect for him.

The Celebration. That night we had a celebration at Redwood, a restaurant down the street from our office. We welcomed investors, employees and several folks from Coke who helped close the deal. At the party we gave toasts, thanked the employees and investors who made it happen, and showed a video that captured many of the highlights and of course some of the low points of the past thirteen years. Barry noted that at a time when there are contentious changes of leadership going on around the world, he was stepping down as chairman without protest because he was confident that Honest Tea is in good hands.

I was delighted that my parents could join the rest of my family at the celebration. Along with Barry's parents and my sister, they have been some of the company's most reliable investors, so it was very meaningful for me to be able to celebrate the moment with them. Three years ago when I had talked with my Dad about taking on an investment which might eventually mean losing control of the company, he was concerned because he said, "I see how happy and fulfilled you are building this thing and I'd hate for you to lose that." So it was especially nice for him to know that I am still excited about leading the enterprise.

The Corporate Visit. The next morning we got up early to fly to Atlanta to introduce Honest Tea to all of the employees at Coke headquarters. When I walked out of the airport I was met by Patrick and Matt, our two field marketing geniuses, who had arrived in Atlanta the night before. I was surprised to see them driving an Honest Tea vehicle, since they had left the closing celebration in Bethesda the night before, heading for the airport. It turns out they had stayed a bit too long at the party, were likely to miss their plane, so they drove overnight (8 hours) to Atlanta! Though I was concerned for their safety, or at least their sanity, it was good to know that their passion and commitment to the brand was just as strong the day after the transaction.

The front entrance to Coke's headquarters feels a bit like one of Washington, D.C.'s national monuments—a big marble atrium, with flags around the perimeter. It was surreal to walk in and see Honest Tea's flag displayed front and center. Shortly after I walked in, I was escorted into a meeting with the senior management of Coca-Cola North America. Sandy Douglas, the president welcomed me, "Here's our TeaEO" and I received a very warm ovation.

Our team conducted a sampling event for Coke employees—we gave out 7,000 bottles of our Half Tea and Half Lemonade, hosted a tea-brewing session, and I gave some brief remarks. I highlighted our entrepreneurial roots, our organic ingredients, the passion of our employees and the growth opportunity that we are excited to share with Coke as we spread organic and low-sugar drinks across the country. We closed the brief ceremony by ringing a gong to officially finalize the transaction.

TV Interviews and a Trade Show. The next week was highlighted by a media tour in New York and the Natural Product Expo in Anaheim. I did an interview with Pimm Fox on Bloomberg TV, and got to meet (the real) Erin Brockovich, who was scheduled to be interviewed just after me. I talked with her about the importance of organics, and her new book.

Our booth at Anaheim was as busy as ever, or perhaps even busier, as we introduced the first brewed cocoa drink of its kind, Honest CocoaNova. It was gratifying to see the excitement from our team about the new product line and to see the overall high level of energy and dynamism at the show, which is my single-best way to assess the health of the natural foods industry.

So now we're back to work in Bethesda. In terms of economic structure, our enterprise has changed, but on a day-to-day basis, it doesn't feel any different. Although I didn't realize it until a few days after the deal closed, for the first time in at least nine years, the company didn't hold any loans that were personally guaranteed by me. When we first took out those loans, which were in excess of my net worth, I used to lose sleep over the risk I was exposing my family to. But over time I stopped worrying, not because the risk had gone away but because I had so many other things to worry about.

I'm not sleeping any better than I was before the transaction but, then again, I've always felt that sleep is overrated.