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redgreenbluesforloco · 6 years

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Daisuke, Takahiko & Nobunari (3BK) Interview on QuadAxel Pt.1/2

This interview didn’t feel long when I read it, but it sure as hell does now that I’m trying to translate and format it, so I’ll split it in half :P

Some notes: I’ve honestly no idea how Takahiko came to call Nobunari “Naru-kun” but it’s adorable and I refuse to alter it, so Naru-kun = Nobunari. I had to let myself use lol and ahahaha for laughter (it’s what the magazine editors did!). Haven’t had anyone proofread it for me yet so there might be some minor edits later. Part 2 here

The Vancouver Team: An everlasting bond

Daisuke Takahashi, Nobunari Oda and Takahiko Kozuka, eternal friends and rivals who helped popularize the sport, discuss the first time they met, their memories of the Vancouver Olympics, future plans for their skating careers. [summarized intro]

Thank you for granting us this precious opportunity today. Is this the first sit-down with all 3 of you since the 2009 program (Figure Skating Opening of the Season Special by TV Asahi)?

Dai: Oh, is it?

Nobu: Yeah, we haven’t had one since then, right?

Dai: I guess not.

Taka: Right. Do you remember on that program there was a question about what Doraemon items you wanted? And when I answered, “The Dictator Switch” [“Dokusai Switch” a switch to erase the existence of bothersome people], you both went, “Wow, how scary!” lol.

Dai: I don’t remember.

Nobu: I don’t remember.

Takahiko: I remember very well.

Dai/Nobu: Ahahaha LOL

Anyway, I would like to start by asking you about when you first met. Between the 3 of you, were Takahashi-san and Oda-san the first to meet?

Dai: Wasn’t the first time we met at that competition in Kyoto?

Nobu: Yeah, the Western Japan Elementary and Middle School Championships.

Dai: Yeah! That was the first time I saw Nobu.

Nobu: Yeah, that’s right. My impression back then was, ‘Wow, there are some talented guys coming from Okayama.”

Dai: And then I started to commute to the Takatsuki rink, and we started talking in the 1st or 2nd year of Middle School.

Nobu: Yeah, it was around that time we started getting closer [talking more intimately].

What did you call each other back then?

Nobu: Everyone was already calling him Dai-chan back then.

Dai: What did I call Nobu back then?

Nobu: Didn’t you call me “Nobunari-kun”? Yeah, it was “Nobunari-kun” lol. Back then, Dai-chan already had the status of a junior champion. When his music came on during practice, everyone would scramble to get closer to the walls, like “I’ll get in trouble if I get in his way.” So I already had the image of him, like, “Wow, what an amazing person.” But even so, I still called him Dai-chan lol.

Dai: Everyone called me Dai-chan.

Nobu: Yeah. And then I think I first saw Takahiko at the Novice Japanese National Championships (1998). He’s two years younger than me, so he was in the Novice B championships. That was the first time I caught a glimpse of him.

Taka: Yeah.

Nobu: I had been hearing people talk like, “Kozuka-san’s son is so talented,” so I thought, “Ah, so this is Kozuka-san’s kid.”

Taka: When I first met Naru-kun it was at the Osaka Junior Nats (1999). You were there, right?

Nobu: Yeah, I was! I was eliminated from the preliminary rounds after the short program. My first Junior competition, I ended up 27th lol.

Dai: Ahahaha lol

Nobu: That was when I performed at a Junior event by invitation for the first time coming from Novice, and I was so excited to compete in Osaka, I ended up putting too much energy into everything and screwed up all the jumps lol.

Taka (looking straight at Nobu): You kinda always did that, you put too much energy into it lol.

Nobu: Yeah, yeah! That’s why I’m skating better now lol. Way back then it was like I’d get too tense.

At that time, were you at a point where you’d share lodgings and meet at competitions and stuff?

Nobu: I went to a competition in Belgium with Takahiko. That was my first international event.

Taka: Oh, that’s right.

Nobu: Takahiko had already gone to many international events and knew how to get by overseas, so he taught me all sorts of things. I was just about to start high school and I was studying for the entrance exam. While we were abroad, he’d always sit next to me and tutor me.

Dai: LOL

Nobu: I’d be like, “I really don’t get math!!” lol.

Dai: Really?

Nobu: He was always in my room, solving my math problems for me. He’d teach me math the entire time.

Dai: LOOL

Taka: I’d get lonely on my own, so we’d just stay together the whole time lol

Nobu: Takahiko’s mother (Coach Kozuka Sachiko) and my mother (Coach Oda Noriko) were really close, so we’d often have meals together, too.

Taka: We had waffles too, right?

Nobu: We did, we did!

Taka: They wouldn’t let us give any to the girls. We were told that it was only for the guys.

Nobu: Yeah, that’s right! We were with Aki Sawada and Nana Takeda and the others.

Dai: Ah, that’s nostalgic.

Nobu: Yeah.

Taka: And everyone’s gotten married already. It’s been a long time. And then, the first time I met Dai-chan at a competition, it was in Croatia, right?

Dai: Right. With Hirokazu Kobayashi and others.

Taka: Hirokazu was a senpai from my rink, so I became friends with Dai-chan through him.

Dai: Right, starting from there.

And when did you first start to become aware of each other as rivals?

Nobu: It was the season after I won the Junior World Championships (2005). Even if I wasn’t really aware [of a rivalry], people around me started comparing me to Dai-chan.

Dai: There was also the fact that it was the Torino Olympic (2006) season.

Nobu: And that spring I got into the same university (Kansai University), so that drew even more attention.

Dai: Right, yeah.

Nobu: And, when I was asked, “Who is your rival?” I’d answer, “It’s Dai-chan.” Because I knew that was the answer they were looking for lol.

Dai: And that was when we started appearing in competitions together more often.

Nobu: Right, yeah.

Dai: There wasn’t a lot of overlap during Juniors right? Because I went to Seniors early.

Nobu: We didn’t overlap at all.

Taka: At what age did you rise to Seniors, Dai-chan?

Dai: I think I was 16?

Nobu: At the Kyoto NHK Cup (2002) when Dai was competing, I was really excited to go and root for him. I was yelling, “Go, Dai-chan!” with everyone else from the rink.

Dai: Hahahaha.

Nobu: Now that I think about it, I didn’t run into Takahiko much at Junior competitions, right?

Taka: There was some overlap, but I messed up a bunch of things, so it was very scattered. I played soccer too much, I did too much warming-up…

Nobu: And you forgot your costume…

Taka: That was at Nats, actually!

Nobu: At Nats, huh!

Taka: Yeah, the Nagoya one (in 2006). That was so bad, man.

Dai: Ahahaha LOL.

As Takahashi-san and Oda-san were being called “rivals,” Kozuka-san joined in, and the three you of you went on to fight fiercely against one another for a long period of time. Looking back, what are your thoughts now?

Nobu: We were always told that we were “in a fierce battle against each other” but that’s not how it felt to us, right?

Dai: Right, yeah.

Taka: Yeah.

Nobu: Dai-chan was always great at the interpretation and steps, Takahiko had amazing skating skills, so what I felt the most was that I wanted to absorb their skills.

Dai: We were at the same rink so we had a lot of opportunities to watch each other train. When you notice the other person is working hard, it makes you work hard, too. So it was good to receive that kind of stimulation. The thing is, when it’s time to compete, you can only think about your own performance.

Nobu: Right.

Taka: Yeah, that’s right. When we were together in competitions, we weren’t that aware of each other, it was more when we were in different competitions and I heard someone got good results that I’d think, “I better do my best, too!” That was often good motivation for me.

Nobu: When I found out that people from other sports, both men and women, don’t speak to their rivals that much, I was surprised. After I retired, I realized that in figure skating the atmosphere doesn’t get tense like that.

Dai: That’s true.

Nobu: People are so surprised, like, “Wow, you get along really well.” And for us that was just normal.

Taka: Yeah, that’s normal.

Nobu: That’s why when people asked me about rivals, I think my true feeling was that it didn’t quite make sense.

Was that because you’ve been seeing each other often since you were little?

Dai: And I think it’s also because our sport isn’t 1 vs 1 [there is no direct confrontation].

Taka: Because it’s an individual competition, yeah.

Dai: You get your results from what you do on your own.

Taka: Since it’s a competition where judges decide the scores, it makes it easier.

Dai: Right, since other people are giving you the scores.

Nobu: Yeah, that’s right.

Dai: And it’s whether you yourself were able to get good results or not.

Taka: Sometimes you get results, sometimes you don’t. When you do, you’re happy, when you don’t, you’re sad…

Nobu: It’s all your responsibility. It felt more like fighting against yourself.

Out of the many competitions in which you were all together, which one left the biggest impression?

Dai: For me it was probably the NHK Cup in Nagano, when the three of us got 1st (Takahashi-san), 2nd (Oda-san) and 3rd (Kozuka-san) places.

Taka: In 2006, right?

Nobu: Right, all 3 of us skated the FS clean! I went after Takahiko, and I saw that he did so well and I thought, “Aaaah, I better work hard!”

Taka: That was when I came in 4th in the SP. Chengjiang Li was 3rd.

Dai: Chengjiang Li! Ah, that takes me back!

Nobu: I wonder how he’s doing these days.

Taka: Back then, during the press conference, somebody asked, “Are the rumors that you’re practicing a Quad-Quad true?” And he said, “Yes, I am.”

Dai: Seriously?!

Taka: Really!

Nobu: That time in Nagano, Takahiko and I went to the bathhouse every night, didn’t we?

Taka: Oh yeah! We did lol. We asked Dai-chan, “Won’t you come?” and he said, “My body feels sluggish, I’m not going.” Lol

Nobu: Oh yeah, yeah, we got rejected, didn’t we! We got rejected and went by ourselves lol.

Dai: LOL. Oh, but there was also Vancouver (Olympics 2010), of course.

Taka: Vancouver was so much fun.

Nobu: I have some hilarious memories from after the competition was over lol

Dai & Taka: LOL

Nobu: We kept using skype nonstop lol.

Dai: Even though we were right next to each other lol.

Taka: I was using Skype, and Dai-chan was like "What's that?" So I set it up, and it was like, "let's try it out, let's all try it." "There is also a chat function." "Let's try that, let's!"

Nobu: Even though the distance was like this [measures with his hands].

Dai: LOOL We were right next to each other!

Taka: Yeah.

Nobu: And we kept using the chat but somehow we were silent. No one would say anything.

Taka: We would just talk through the text chat instead.

Dai: Yeah, we were just quiet the whole time!

Nobu: That will always be funny lol

Taka: It was so funny, right? lol

Nobu: And then we went to the Olympic village to stuff ourselves with McDonald’s lol.

Dai: It was like, "Do we go?!"

Nobu: What time was that? It was quite late wasn't it. I feel like it was the middle of the night.

Dai: It was.

Taka: It was like 3 or 4AM.

Nobu: Yeah, yeah!

Taka: The McDonald’s was open 24/7, so we went to grab a bite.

Nobu: It was so much fun.

Dai: So much fun.

Taka: And then when we were going to support the girls at the ladies' event, we put on face-paint lol.

Nobu: We did, we did lol.

Taka: Dai was going to write Japan on his cheek, but he wrote it backwards lol.

Dai: LOOL Because I was writing it while looking in the mirror so I got it wrong!

Nobu: And we were like, "No, Dai-chan, no! It's wrong!" lol

Taka: Yeah, like, “That clearly just says ‘today’!” lol

Dai: “Today” LOL

(T/N: 日本 (Japan) backwards becomes 本日 which means “today”)

Was there a service in the Olympic village where you could get your face painted?

Nobu: Well, we decided we all wanted to paint our faces, so we bought art supplies and did it ourselves in the men's bathroom of the Pacific Colosseum (Sports Arena).

Dai: Wasn't it Takahiko who went to buy the art supplies?

Taka: Yeah!

Dai: That was a lot of fun. And at the closing ceremony there was a ball flying around for some reason lol.

Nobu, Taka: Ahahahaha yeah!!

Nobu: Before I knew it, we were chasing after it LOL. It was so cold that day, right?

Taka: Yeah, at the closing ceremony it was freezing cold.

You three chasing the ball in the closing ceremony became a hot topic among fans.

Dai: Really?

Nobu: I didn't think they would film that!

Dai: We didn't know, yeah.

Nobu: Chasing after a giant ball...

Taka: Like it was Sports Day or something.

Dai: We were running after it with all our might lol

Taka: We were so hyped up.

Nobu: Now that I think about it, we were so innocent when we did that, right? Even though we were all over 20.

Dai: Ahahaha I was well over twenty lol.

You were able to make such good memories because the three of you were able to go together, isn't that so?

Dai: Yeah, that's right.

Nobu: I don’t think we could even imagine not going together, all three of us.

Dai: Yeah, and not doing all this weird stuff lol.

Taka: Yeah, we wanted to go together.

The season before that (2008-09) was when Takahashi-san sustained an injury. What kind of effect did that end up having on Oda-san and Kozuka-san?

Nobu: That year there was the Worlds in Los Angeles (2009, when the number of spots for the Vancouver Olympics would be decided). Back then, I went thinking that we had to get the 3 spots also for Dai-chan’s sake. But then I just crashed and burned; I jumped too many times, and it was like, “Oh, crap, this is bad!”

Dai & Taka: LOL

Nobu: And then Takahiko really put in the work for us. Somehow we were able to save the 3 spots by the skin of our teeth, because our combined placements were exactly 13.

Taka: We were 7th (Oda) and 6th (Kozuka). That was really nerve-wrecking.

Nobu: If either of us dropped a spot, it’d be hopeless.

Taka: I was in the last group at the time, and Naru-kun was the last of the 3rd group.

Nobu: Yeah, yeah! And I thought I’d skated clean!

Taka: You even did a fist bump and everything.

Nobu: I jumped too much...

Taka: I can never forget the look on the coach’s face when you came back.

Dai: LOL

Nobu: And then I just watched the last group kind of like in prayer. It was such a feeling of relief when we just barely secured the 3 spots.

Taka: The Worlds from the year before (2008) was in Sweden and that was my first appearance at Worlds. And the year before (2007), it was just Dai-chan and Naru-kun, right?

Dai: Yeah, it was in Tokyo.

Nobu: Ah, I remember!

Taka: I was in the audience rooting really hard for you guys. And then Naru-kun found me and was like, “We got the 3 spots for you, kiddo, so do your best!”

Nobu: I wasn’t really in a position to say something so arrogant lol.

Taka: But I was thankful you worked so hard.

Dai: He worked hard.

Part 2/2 posted here: Their thoughts on the popularity of men’s figure skating, what they admire about each other, their views on their careers after retirement, plans for the future, how to contribute to the development of the sport, Quad revolution, Pyeongchang Olympics, what kind of ice show they would create if given the chance.

#fstranslation #Forever3BK #3bk #Takahiko Kozuka #daisuke takahashi #nobunari oda #vancouver olympics #2010 Olympics #Quadruple Axel

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brothersapart · 7 years

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FAQ

(the mobile-friendly version)

Background information:

Brothers Apart was started by @nightmares06 October 24th, 2014 and has been going strong ever since! During the last two years two other writers have been added to the team along with a very helpful assistant!

The main storyline, Brothers Apart, has since sparked a collection of AUs. Each storyline is individual in and of itself, but all tie into the main arc in their own way. Visit Links to find your way to the stories.

Why don’t you just post Brothers Apart and not all these other stories?

Since Brothers Apart is (mostly) written by myself, there isn’t enough story built up to have a backlog. Due to a falling out with a former beta reader, writing for Brothers Apart was frozen for a year. During that time we conceived a number of other storylines, and we invite you to enjoy them along with us.

When/where do the stories post?

Sunday, 9pm EST Wednesday, 9pm EST

Any changes to this schedule will be announced on the tumblr as soon as we know about them.

There are three different sites the stories post on:

Archive of Our Own || Fanfiction || Deviantart

Any prompts received will be posted to the tumblr blog before appearing on any other sites, otherwise stories are on the three sites listed above.

Order of creation of the various AUs:

Brothers Apart– “But what if I never fixed Sam?”

Brothers Found– “But what about JACOB?”

Brothers Adopted– “Okay but Jacob’s too cute, let’s make him small”

Brothers Divided– “… bad, Dean”

Brothers Together– “OSCAR”

Brothers Lost– “Okay we should make BOTH brothers small”

Brothers Asunder– “Wee Sammers and Bowman as brothers!”

Brothers Unexpected– “Because Sam/Jacob and Dean/Oscar are too cute to contain”

Brothers Consulted– “I wonder how Sherlock and Dean would react to each other…”

**Various unannounced ideas**

Brothers Saved– “Big Sam and his tiny big brother strutting around”

I love the artwork! Why don’t you have more of (insert character)?

We love the art too! But since we’re writers, and our skill at actual drawing is lacking, all of the artwork you see posted here (with a few incredibly rare exceptions), are either commissioned with our own money or submitted by fans (you lovely, lovely people). We love supporting our favorite artists, so we won’t stop commissioning anytime soon, but it’s dependent on if we have money at the time we get the idea.

If you want to help us out, please Buy Me a Coffee and let us know what character or AU you want commissioned! Once we have enough money for that AU, we’ll get it done.

When does (insert story) start posting?

We’re not sure when each story goes up, we only have a timeline for the days stuff will post. To prevent any stories from gaining favoritism over others, we started running a poll. During the last week or two of a story, there will be a poll with (2) to (6) options offered, and the winner will be the story that starts next!

Keep in mind that the stories that appear in the poll will be fully written/edited and beta’d by our wonderful beta readers, any stories that are incomplete in any fashion will not be included.

The poll is run through SurveyMonkey, and each person gets only (1) vote! Duplicate votes WILL BE REMOVED.

Can you go back to posting stories about only Sam and Dean?

No.

Seriously, we’re going to keep writing together because we do it for fun. You’ll see classic Brothers Apart stories come around when I finish them, but you’ll also get a lot of the collabs we do. We write for ourselves and to get rid of stress. Since we’re not paid to do this (in fact, we spend a decent amount of money on story things), we’ll continue to write what we like.

We still love feedback and getting new ideas from all you readers out there, so keep sending us prompts and suggestions! Just don’t be upset if we don’t do yours– we might not be feeling it.

There’s a book? Where can I get a copy!?

There used to be a book, but it has been discontinued and no longer offered as an option in the contest. Thanks for your interest!

Will Castiel be in the story?

Go read all the stories.

Why didn’t my ask get answered yet?

Generally only one ask is answered a day, please be patient with us.

Popular Tags:

#commissioned art– all the artwork commissioned by the writers of the BA for the stories/ideas we have.

#fanart– artwork done by the fans.

#contest entry 2016– entries submitted for the 2016 BA contest

#bac 2017 tumblr– entries submitted for the 2017 BA contest on the tumblr side (for DA entries, go here).

#daily update– all the story excerpts posted since the beginning.

#prompt– finished prompts (or unfinished prompts, multiple things get filed here).

#submission– wonderful submissions from you readers!

Commissions are open!

What characters belong to who?

@nightmares06–

Supernatural characters– Sam and Dean Winchester, Bobby Singer, John Winchester (though I’ll warn that any prompts for John Win are the least likely to be fulfilled because he usually gives me writer’s block), Castiel, Gabriel, Rufus and Rumsfeld. Various other Supernatural characters.

Original characters– Nixie, Ilyana, Celeste (problematic fave), Walt Watch, Mallory Watch, Briella Watch, Moira Wainscot, Krissy Vent, Sean, Kara Bolt, Christian Bolt, Mikael Foyer, Noonia and Elenia.

@neonthewrite–

Original Characters– Bowman, Jacob Andris, Oscar, Rischa, Cerul, Scar, Vel, (any of the wood sprites, basically), Colfax and Adrian (better prompted at @alittleblogoftrust ), Asp the shadow sprite, Indigo Seraf.

Only original characters, as canon characters tend to come very slowly for me.

@borrowedtimeandspace--

Sherlock Characters– Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, Greg Lestrade, Mrs. Hudson, Molly Hooper and Mycroft Holmes.

Doctor Who Characters– Mostly Tenth Doctor, will do Nine, Eleven, and Twelve (I’m working through Classic Who at a snail’s pace xD) Willing to write for companions from New Who as well.

Original Chracters– Zepheera is my main OC, Stan Baker, Simon Baker, Nathan Sullivan and a bunch of borrower bbys: Kernel, Orrick Shelf, Boston Mantel, Baycliff, Klerida, Marcue Overmantle; basically, if you’ve read my stories, any of the OCs are up for grabs.

Story excerpts

Each day on brothersapart.tumblr.com, we will be posting a new excerpt from a story we are working on at the time. This happens at 10a.m. est, and it’s a tiny blurb from the story.

A bit on the tags for our story excerpts:

#trnt here is the abbreviation of the story the excerpt came from– later revealed to be “The Road Not Taken”

Abbreviations we’ve used and their names if announced:

#trnt– The Road Not Taken (posted)

#twf– The Water’s Fine (posted)

#tnplh– There’s No Place Like Home

#atth– A Time to Heal

#iatwaa– It’s a Tall World After All

#sow– Sam of Wellwood (posted)

#don– Dean of Nowhere (posting)

#bofa– Bobby of Far Away

#dow– Dean of Wellwood

#awos– A World of Secrets

#eotm– Epidemic of the Mannequins

#ws– Wayward Sons

#bah– Bigfoot's a Hoax

#coth– Clash of the Hunters

#auv– An Unexpected Visitor

#sotw– Shadows on the Wall

#gacs– Garlic and Cold Spots (posted)

#tsotf– The Study of the Four (posted)

#tttb– The Ties that Bind (posted)

#ababs– A Burglary at Baker Street

#teome– The Enemy of my Enemy

#jiw– Jacob in Wonderland (posted)

#rt– Road Trip

#a:asocs– Aftermath: A Series of Consulted Shorts

#bp– Bittersweet Parting (posted)

#ffh– Far From Home

#fs– For Science

#adod– A Day of Duality

#bftp– Blast from the Past

#apias– Any Port in a Storm

#thoaw– The Heart of a Wolf

#san– Sam and Nicholas

#apfo– A Place for Oz

#sb– Something Borrowed

#ttol– The Trials of Logan

#lald– Live and Let Die

#aol– Avenue of Life

#malc– M&Ms and Lucky Charms

#afin– A Friend in Need

#boan– Birth of a Nightmare (posted)

#rj– Regarding Jacob

The last kind of tag you’ll see is the queue tag:

All this means is it is a reblogged excerpt from 2016, you can go to the original post to find out its tags.

This has been a dissertation on tags!

If you see any questions we left out, be sure to send in an ask!

#faq #brothers apart faq #masterpost #tags #frequently asked questions

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frasier-crane-style · 7 years

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Wonder Woman (2017)

Overall, I'd say it's a B, but a B from a student who was getting all Fs before whose parents love him and want to see him do well, while Marvel is a straight-A student who occasionally slips and gets a B. Not that we have to compare them, but that's the comparison. I'm guessing a lot of this is going to look bad in hindsight when the hyperbole dies down and only the fundamentally solid stuff is left.

Bad

Once more, we get a ‘Greek mythology’ movie that is just Christian cosplay, like one of those Buzzfeed pieces about Disney princesses as bacteria. Zeus is God, Ares is Lucifer, and Diana is Jesus. Boring, lazy, stupid. By the end of the movie, all of the gods are dead, making you wonder what the point of bringing in Greek mythology even was. What’s Greek myth without Hermes, or Hera, or Mount Olympus at all? This is a Wonder Woman who can’t even say Great Hera, because if she worshiped anyone, it’d be Zeus. They don’t even have any mythological beasts show up.

Good

Gal Gadot is actually quite good at this after being largely unremarkable in Batman Vs. Superman, but I feel like the “she’s Christopher Reeve as Superman all over again!” people are either fooling themselves or grading on one hell of a curve. She’s still pretty scrawny—the producers talking about how they hired female commandos and bikers and pro wrestlers and such to play the Amazons is hilarious when you consider they all disappear from the movie thirty minutes in and it’s all a skinny little supermodel with perfect cheekbones from there—and that keeps her from being 100%. I think a Christopher Reeve Superman situation is one where you can’t picture anyone else in the part, and I think someone like Lynn Collins or Bridget Regan could’ve done as good if not better. But, why quibble?

Bad

They wait way too long to reveal Ares and spend way too long on a guy who’s only a red herring, complete with his Bane drugs that just allow him to put up a fight with Wondy for two minutes. Then she kills him, again, in two minutes, and gets into a much bigger fight with the real Ares a second later. Wouldn’t it have worked just as well if she threw a punch and just smeared General Cat Scare against the wall? Anyway, by the end, Ares has like five minutes to stump ‘humans suck, you’re the Godkiller, I’m your brother, let’s work together, oh hey your boyfriend died, he was weak and pathetic, or, I mean, he abandoned you, I mean, aren’t you mad at this woman who was sorta responsible for killing him? Kill her and join me, because I want to marry you or rule at your side or something. I know you just killed like fifty Germans, but dropping a tank on this one non-teenager will decide your fate! Also, she’s so comically evil that she gets turned on talking about death, but she’s also, you know, a person too!”

Good

The No Man’s Land sequence.

Bad

Typical Amazon pacifism in this. “We must never raise our hands in anger. Oh, shit, who are those people? KILL THEM ALL! KILL THAT GUY WHO MIGHT BE ONE OF THEM! IS HE NOT ONE OF THEM? KILL HIM ANYWAY!”

Good

Even if the actual backstory was balls, I liked the Bottulucci painting vibe they give the Amazons’ origin. It seems that’s de rigeur for every one of these epic summer blockbusters now, but it was done well here.

Bad

“Hey, we’re the Amazons. When bad guys attack and we have the high ground and are armed with ranged weapons, we love to rappel down and run up to them with our bows and arrows so that we can shoot them really close. No way that could backfire on us! Warrior race, baby!”

(I’m surprised that when she got to the WW1 trenches, Diana didn’t need to have the concept of ‘cover’ explained to her.)

Good

The chemistry between Diana and Steve is great, even if they literally write him as standing naked in front of her bragging about his junk one moment, then refusing to sleep next to her because they’re not married the next.

Bad

I get fish out of water, but Diana doesn’t understand the concept of the chain of command? Amazon society has a queen, senators, and an army, but no one gives orders? There aren’t discussions that members of the public aren’t privy to? There isn’t even the idea of lowering your voice in a public place so you can have a private conversation about a sensitive subject?

I get what they’re going for, but the whole “FEMINISM!” thing falls flat when it’s not like any ol’ GUY off the street can be let into a top-level war council either, right? With no security clearance? If he can, man, were those German spies who went after Steve wasting their time. You could’ve just walked into Allied High Command and started shooting, or found out what they were planning. And no one would have a problem with it because you’re not a woman.

Good/Bad

The costume is colorful enough, faithful, and aesthetically pleasing, but damn is that skirt short. I mean, it’s not even a miniskirt. I know, I know, I’m a sexist pig, but it’s a bit hard to take Diana’s angst over war crimes seriously when she’s wearing something with the coverage of a WWE championship belt. At least Supergirl’s skirt is within a day’s walk of her knees. Diana’s just a walking upskirt shot.

Bad

C’mon, they changed the whole setting to WW1 to avoid Captain America comparisons, then they do away with the male lead in the exact same way? That’s just lazy. And as I pointed out, the ‘it’s on a timer!’ thing was stupid.

Good/Bad

They give Diana and Steve a colorful band of multiethnic sidekicks (who are… soldiers? Smugglers? Spies? Unclear. Steve has to bribe them, but they also take orders for him, or… something? Anyway, they’re some of those mercenary types who are only mercenaries to be won over by the hero and do the right thing). That made sense in Captain America, since Cap is just an Olympic athlete, but with Wondy supposed to be Superman-level powerful, it comes off a little yeah, okay. Like when they make themselves useful by giving her a ‘boast’ to get a sniper in a clock tower. Yeah, she can jump 100 feet into the air, but not 106 feet. Gotcha.

At least they keep it down to the reasonable number of three people and give all of them an introduction and a bit of personality instead of “This is Katana! Her sword steals souls!” If you’re told me that one of the Howling Commandoes in First Avenger was, say, Kevin Sorbo, I’d buy it. He could’ve been in there, who knows?

Bad

Diana’s catchphrase here is “It's not about deserve. It's about what you believe,” which is basically her saying “humanity doesn’t deserve my help, because I’m so awesome, but I’m going to help them anyway.” Which, again, basically her being Jesus, only she’s actually a woman in a very short skirt who’s good at punching. If it’s weird to make Superman into the Christ, it’s even weirder to do it with Diana. And a bit of a snobbish thing to say. Can you imagine Batman going “these Gothamites don’t deserve my help, but I’m a really cool guy, so…”?

Bad

“Where I’m from, generals fight alongside their troops!” Really? And how’d that work out? Seems like Themyscira would've been kinda screwed if they needed to come up with a battle plan and their top woman had just bled out on a beach. Obviously, you can criticize the callousness of WW1 military leadership, but not by comparing it to a made-up fantasy culture. Yeah, and did you know that in Ponyland, Princess Sparkles doesn’t ever drop bombs on people?

Bad

The movie has Diana sorta slowly working out her abilities throughout the first act instead of just knowing them by the time she reaches present-day. Well, I guess she’s in her twenties or so, so it’s going to take her a little while yet to figure out how to jump long distances and climb up walls—what? She’s actually the daughter of Zeus and thousands of years old? Talk about your slow learners.

Bad

Diana: I see now! The true superpower is… LOVE.

Diana: *blows the shit out of Ares… but lovingly, I guess*

Yeah, it’s kinda crazy that this film’s multimillion dollar treatment of Diana defeating Ares isn’t as clever or thoughtful as what George Perez came up with some forty years ago, with Diana forcing Ares to see that if he keeps pushing humanity into wars, it’ll end with a nuclear holocaust that’ll leave nothing for him to rule over.

Here, though, Ares isn’t empowered by worship, so why should he care? And/but he’s pushing for an armistice to keep the war at a slow boil already (until WW2), only he’s also helping the General start the war up again full blast. It really shows what a house of cards the plot is and how Ares’s characterization, plan, and motivation don’t actually make sense. Just tell me this… if Diana had never showed up, how would his plan have played out? He gets the WW2 armistice, but also the Germans conquering everything through the super-mustard gas? Which is it? What does he even want?

Baddest

This is absolutely a movie in 2017 where someone sees someone else about to be shot and dives in front of them while screaming NOOOOOO! And then the other person sees them get hit and screams NOOOOOOOOOO!

#wonder woman #wonder woman spoilers #ww spoilers

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lindyhunt · 6 years

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How to Create Infographics in Under an Hour [15 Free Infographic Templates]

Wouldn't it be great if creating infographics was as simple as writing regular old text-based blog posts? Unfortunately, making visual content like this usually takes a lot more time, effort, and let's face it -- skill -- than the written word. Usually.

But considering the popularity and effectiveness of visual content in marketing today, you can't just afford to throw in the towel.

That's why we decided to take all the pain and suffering out of infographic creation. Seriously -- don't give up just yet. You, too, can create infographics that are professional-looking, high-quality, and completed in under an hour. I'm going to prove it. First things first:

Download our 15 free infographic templates here.

Then, all you have to do is provide the content to use inside them. Easy as that. In fact, I'm going to show you just how easy it is to make your own infographic by demonstrating with one of our 15 infographic templates in PowerPoint (pictured above). Then, I'll explain exactly what I did so you get a sense of how easy it really is.

Want to watch and listen to the instructions as you read the steps below? Check out the video below:

youtube

How to Make an Infographic

Identify the audience for your infographic.

Collect your content and relevant data.

Choose your desired infographic template.

Download your template to PowerPoint.

Customize your infographic.

Include a footer with your sources and logo.

Add an embed code and Pinterest button, and publish it.

1. Identify the audience for your infographic.

Infographics don't sell themselves on design alone. You need to deliver "info" that's just as compelling as the "graphic," and to do that, you need to know the audience your infographic intends to reach.

According to Harvard Business Review, there are five possible audiences that can change how you choose and visualize your data: novice, generalist, managerial, expert, and executive. Start by comparing your infographic's ideal reader with one of these five audiences -- which one applies to your reader?

When thinking about the data you want to visualize, let the five audiences above dictate how advanced your data will be. A "novice" audience, for example, might need data whose meaning is more obvious at first blush. An "expert" might be more interested in getting into the weeds of your numbers and posing theories around them. An "executive" has more in common with a novice audience in that they only have time for the simplest or most critical information, and the affect it'll have on the business.

2. Collect your content and relevant data

Using the audience you've chosen above, your next step is to organize all the content and data you'll use in the infographic. You can either collect third-party data or use your own original data. If you use third-party data, just be sure you properly cite your sources -- just like in any other good piece of content.

Organizing Your Data

When collecting your data, make sure you know what story you want to tell through this information. Data for the sake of data won't add value to your infographic at all.

Compelling data needs to be "comprehensive" enough to give your readers proper context around the data you're presenting. For example, a spike in website traffic from one month to the next doesn't mean much -- until, say, you reveal that traffic was on a steady decline over the previous three months. Suddenly you have a story of how you were able to reverse a downward trend.

Citing Your Sources

To keep your infographic uncluttered by a ton of different source URLs, a great way to cite your sources is to include a simple URL at the bottom of your infographic that links to a page on your site. You can also list the individual stats used in your infographic, and their sources -- such as the landing page to the full offer on which you're basing this free infographic. I'll show you what this citation looks like in a minute.

That way, your infographic looks clean and professional, yet people will still be able to access the sources no matter where the infographic gets shared or embedded. It may also even drive visitors back to your site.

3. Choose your desired infographic template.

Your next step is to choose an infographic template appropriate for representing that data. The important thing is to choose a template that specifically works for the type of data set/content you want to present. As you saw pictured above, you can download our 15 infographic templates in PowerPoint and choose whichever template you'd like.

Some of your template options in the offer linked above include a timeline, flowchart, side-by-side comparison, and a data-driven infographic. Here are some basic ideas for choosing an infographic template that suits the story you want your data to tell:

Side-by-side comparison infographic: This infographic design can help prove the advantage of one concept over another, or simply explain the differences between two competing entities.

Flowchart infographic: This design is perfect for presenting a new workflow for your organization, or how a linear or cyclical process works across your industry.

Timeline infographic: This design can tell a chronological story, or history, of a business, industry, product, or concept.

Graph-based infographic: This design is suitable for content creators publishing a high volume of data and statistical information, making it a good fit for expert-level audiences, too.

Image-heavy infographic: This design caters to content creators who are trying to reveal trends and information from shapes, designs, or photography -- rather than just numbers and figures.

4. Download your template to PowerPoint.

For the sake of time (remember, our mission is to create an infographic in under an hour), I'm going to create an infographic based on a compilation of steps and best practices we've put together in our new guide, How to Run an Inbound Marketing Campaign in 2018. For this, I've picked the "World's Greatest Timeline" infographic template from our collection of infographic templates, which is helpful for my data set since it outlines each step of the campaign creation process in order.

The timeline infographic template is pictured below, and full of opportunities to make it your own:

5. Customize your infographic

Obviously, this is the most time-consuming part -- but it's also the most fun. Simply come up with a catchy title, plug in your data/content, and adjust your font sizes and formatting. Feel free to switch up the graphics and colors, too, so they're relevant to your brand and the data you're providing. For other templates, you can use the simple graphs and charts provided by PowerPoint to create things like the bar graph or the pie chart. (Note: Download our free infographic templates for a cheat sheet for using PowerPoint's various features and tools.)

To customize the look of the infographic even more, you might add or change up the colors or font styles.

6. Include a footer with your sources and logo.

Finally, I included a link to my source (which can be found here), as well as the HubSpot logo so people know who created the infographic if it gets shared in social media or embedded on other websites -- which is definitely something you want, since one of the main benefits of creating infographics is their shareability.

That's it! This whole thing took me under an hour to put together -- much shorter than it would've taken me if I'd started from scratch (not to mention more professional looking ... and less expensive than hiring a designer). Here it is:

Share This Image On Your Site

Please include attribution to blog.hubspot.com with this graphic. <a href='https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/create-infographics-with-free-powerpoint-templates'><img src='https://blog.hubspot.com/hs-fs/hubfs/free_infographic_template_custom-1.png?t=1519094621186&width=1138&height=3412&name=free_infographic_template_custom-1.png' alt='free_infographic_template_custom-1' width='660px' border='0' /></a>

7. Add embed code and a Pinterest button, and publish it.

The only thing left to do is to publish and promote your awesome new infographic. As I mentioned earlier, we recommend using your blog to publish it (including your list of sources), including a Pinterest button for visitors to easily "pin" your infographic on Pinterest, and create and add an embed code for visitors to share it on their own websites and blogs, as we did above.

Want more? Read How to Create Top-Notch Visual Content in PowerPoint [Tutorial].

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rebeccahpedersen · 6 years

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More MLS Musings!

TorontoRealtyBlog

I’m giddy right now.

Actually giddy.

Smiling like a fool, probably blushing, and giggling like a child.

The long-time readers know that one of my absolute favourite themes in MLS Musings is agents or photographers capturing themselves in photos.

There’s just nothing worse, is there?

Wait, don’t answer that. Especially not in the context of MLS Musings, because then we open the door to agents taking actual photos of their computer screen, and using that JPG in the listing, or worse.

But no matter what’s the most egregious MLS-related sin an agent can make, taking photos with themselves in them is my fave. We all have a fave, don’t we?

This week’s edition of MLS Musings is going to highlight some of the best I’ve seen in a while, and as we go through the pics, it almost turns into a game; one that I actually played with my daughter Maya, who is a little more than 2-years-old. She loves sitting on my lap in my office and trying to press buttons on the laptop or click the mouse, and rather than let her muck around and risk her deleting something, I try to keep her busy.

So the other day, as I was going through these photos, I told her, “Maya, can you see the man in the photo?” And we went through them. Some of them are really, really tough.

We’ll start with this one:

My favourite part about this one is that the guy leans his body out of the frame because he knows he might capture his own reflection, but then he doesn’t do anything about it when he realizes that his efforts went to waste.

He’s also holding a large bag, which he could have put down for two seconds, if he wasn’t busy rushing out of this condo as fast as possible because he’s a lazy bum Realtor who provides awful service.

Here he is again, and it looks like he found a place for that bag…

Look at him lean back to try and get the entire room in the frame of his…………..iPhone…

–

Here’s another agent for which zero F’s were given:

The camera looks orange too.

Is it possible that’s a disposable camera? Maybe he had an extra under-water camera from his last trip down south, and decided to use it to shoot photos of somebody’s largest investment?

–

This agent tried a little harder:

Maya found that one.

“Daddy – his hand! Maya see his hand!”

Oh yeah, so Maya doesn’t say “I” or “me” or “mine.” She talks about herself in the third person narrative.

–

Here’s an agent that made the effort to capture the bathroom at the right angle, but then failed at editing:

Actually, there’s a decent lens on that camera. Maybe this is a “professional” photographer who’s as bad at his job as many agents are at theirs?

FYI – Maya got this one. It took her a while.

–

Maya did not get this one, however.

And through a decade of MLS Musings, and probably hundreds of examples of agents/photographers capturing themselves in images, I think this is among the least obvious:

Did you see it?

It’s tough, I know. I just showed this to two people on my team, and they didn’t get it either.

I’m not going to tell you. You have to look harder.

I’ll give you a hint, there’s slightly less of the agent/photographer in that photo, than there is of me in this recent wedding photo:

Okay, if you didn’t see it, then click on the photo and it’ll open up a new window with the photo in full size.

Seriously, it’s almost creepy.

It reminds me of that scene in Sixteen Candles when Anthony Michael Hall is under the table:

–

Even luxury homes are akin to photographer errors, as shown below…

–

This photo contains two of my favourite themes on MLS Musings: Realtors in the photo, and brutal pillar-placement:

I know, it’s only an elbow showing on the right side of the mirror, but it still shows a professional didn’t take the picture.

Seriously though – that pillar!! Who buys these places?

–

What do you notice about this photo array?

Well, the photos suck. Six in total, three of empty rooms, and two of the same damn toilet.

But that’s not it.

There’s more.

For this, you need to see a close-up of the first photo:

Amazing.

There’s two things this could be:

1) A photo taken through the window of a car, by somebody that didn’t do the window down. You can see the roof of the car at the top – the black line. 2) A photo of somebody’s computer screen, offering another explanation for the mesh-like, pixel effect.

Just, unreal.

–

And last but certainly not least, I don’t even know what to say about this one:

I mean………………………..great living room, right?

Surprisingly, I did not go into the bedroom.

I’m not sure why.

It just didn’t feel all that inviting.

The post More MLS Musings! appeared first on Toronto Realty Blog.

Originated from https://ift.tt/2ttSKSj

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smalldickpantywearingsissy-blog · 7 years

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DROBO PRO

Data Robotics today launched their sixth product, the business-oriented DroboPro FS file server. Combining the 8-drive chassis from the direct-attached DroboPro with the Linux-based file server engine fro the Drobo FS, the DroboPro FS (or “Pro FS” for short) gives small businesses and remote offices a simple networked location for their shared files. Although it is a bit more expensive than some of the competition, the Pro FS promises to be as easy to set up, use, and grow as previous devices from Data Robotics.

The Drobo I Know

The Drobo line of storage devices from Data Robotics is well-known to readers of my blog. I selected the second-generation Drobo (a 4-drive USB- or FireWire-attached device) as my own home storage solution, and have been very satisfied with it. I continue to recommend the Drobo for its simplicity, reliability, and ease of use. It was simple to set up and has grown with my storage requirements.

One of the coolest features of the entire Drobo line is the “bring your own drive” ethos: It appears as a single large drive (8 TB in my case) and drives can be added and swapped as needed without data loss, migration, or downtime. My own Drobo has grown from two to three to four drives without a hiccup, and has kept my data secure through two hard disk drive failures. I certainly would have lost some of my data by now if I hadn’t invested a few hundred dollars in a Drobo.

The New Drobo Family

No one was surprised when Data Robotics introduced an 8-drive model, the Drobo Pro, alongside the 4-drive desktop unit they became famous for. But their use of iSCSI was forward-thinking. Although it is only usable by a single connected computer, iSCSI gives the DroboPro more flexibility for rack- or even data-center placement as well as greater performance than the old USB or FireWire ports.

Data Robotics’ product line includes both direct- and network-attached storage with varying levels of capacity and performance

Data Robotics really enhanced their product line in late 2009 with the introduction of two more-capable models, the DroboElite and Drobo S. The Drobo S added a fifth drive slot, dual-drive reliability, and two to three times the performance of the old Drobo when connected with eSATA. I’m seriously considering an upgrade! The DroboElite took the Pro upscale with a second gigabit Ethernet port and multi-server iSCSI support. In fact, the Elite is certified VMware Ready for small-scale datacenter use!

The release earlier this year of the Drobo FS answered pundits (including me) who kept asking for NAS file server capability beyond the underwhelming DroboShare device. Boasting built-in support for Windows (SMB) and Apple (AFP) networks, the Drobo FS shares the 5-drive form factor of the Drobo S, making it a reasonable choice for small offices and home networks. It must have been a hit, too, since the Drobo FS has been in short supply, frequently backordered throughout 2010. It wasn’t rocket science for Data Robotics to mix together the DroboPro’s 8-drive form factor with the Drobo FS’ NAS software, and that’s just what they did to produce the DroboPro FS. It brings a bit more computing horsepower to handle filesystem and network protocol access along with a second gigabit Ethernet port for reliability, but the Pro FS sticks to the “keep it simple” ethos.Simplicity is the heart of the Drobo message. Although built on open-source software (Linux, Samba, and Netatalk), the DroboPro FS software is simple to configure, just like the rest of the product line. This contrasts with the “mess-of-menus” interface used to administer so many competing products! While these other devices try to speak more languages than the United Nations, Data Robotics keeps it simple with SMB and AFP.The DroboPro FS retains all of the core Drobo features: Dual-drive reliability is an option I recommend for any device using more than four drives. The company’s BeyondRAID software allows drives to be added and swapped with no data migration time, and also lets the Pro FS use whatever make, model, or size of SATA drive is available when you need it. Under the hood, the Drobo software optimizes the layout and checks the consistency of data without operator intervention. In short, like all Drobos, the Pro FS just works.DroboSync: Synchronize DroboPro FS UnitsA major new feature in the DroboPro FS product is DroboSync, software which will synchronize all content on one DroboPro FS to a second Pro FS over LAN or WAN. Similar capability has been available using the rsync DroboApp for quite some time, but Data Robotics promises that DroboSync will be integrated, supported, and simple enough to become a core feature. This is a great addition, and worth a place on the defiantly-short list of DroboPro FS features.Dubious About DroboAppsThe Drobo FS and DroboPro FS, being Linux-based, can run other workloads than the SMB and AFP servers bundled from the factory. The DroboApps page at Drobo.com includes 11 others, from NFS to Apache, rsync to Perl. And the FS models can run other packages developed and supported entirely unofficially.Although I remain positively enthusiastic about the Drobo products, and recommend them for small offices and professional users, I am less excited about these apps. Even those “blessed” by Data Robotics lack the level of simplicity and reliability implied by the Drobo name. Trying them out brought back nightmares from my old Linksys NSLU2 NAS, and creating a stable environment would probably require the same level of hacking and time.In the past year, Apple has broken two of the open source packages that run on the Drobo FS, and the result is illuminating. Apple’s changes to Snow Leopard caused issues when using the Drobo FS as a Time Machine target. Since the AFP protocol is a core part of the Drobo FS, the company actively investigated the issue and worked to develop a fix to the underlying open source Netatalk package. Contrast this with the Firefly iTunes server offered in the DroboApps store. When iTunes 10 broke Firefly, it also stopped supporting the Drobo FS. Although Data Robotics is reportedly looking into the matter (login required), a fix has not yet been posted.Since only the core AFP and SMB functionality is really supported by Data Robotics, it begs the question of the suitability of the other DroboApps packages. Indeed, I would have a hard time recommending reliance on any of these packages for production use. And I suggest that Data Robotics should reconsider whether to officially offer DroboApps at all! They should leave the option for individuals to run these apps on their own, but I do not feel they are of a high enough standard to get a “DroboName” and be listed as product features.Stephen’s StanceDroboPro FS is a solid addition to the Drobo family, and ought to be on the short list of any small business looking for an integrated NAS solution. The ease of use and simple livability inherent in the Drobo line remains a strong differentiator from the competition. I would like to see NFS promoted to a core DroboPro FS feature, however.At just under US$2,000 for an empty chassis, the Pro FS is not cheap. Like all of Data Robotics’ products, stepping up to this premium product requires opening up the wallet. Although the Drobo ownership experience is a happy one, it must be difficult for many to justify this premium pricing relative to competing products from Iomega, Thecus, Synology, and others.A look at the product matrix begs another question: Where will Data Robotics go from here? I imagine a higher-end 8-drive DroboElite FS might be in the works, but I would much rather see a 12-drive rackmount Drobo for larger businesses. Add in some serious CPU power (and maybe some flash cache) and we could have a real challenger in the “M” segment of the SMB market!

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donnking · 7 years

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Open Letter to Jeremy

Dear Jeremy:

Your (I suspect) tongue-in-cheek response to a Facebook posting has led me to a lot of introspection and thought. When a colleague posted a very frustrating example of inept prose from a student (if I recall correctly, someone in the last weeks of the second semester of English comp, who should have known better before even beginning that semester), you responded with, “Yeah, I’m not teaching college students… thank you for helping me make that decision. ;)”

It’s always hard to tell if someone is joking in social media, and I realize you probably were—but at that moment, you seemed serious to me, and I was saddened. I can’t depend on my memory anymore, but I’m pretty sure you planned to become a professor, and I fear our water cooler banter may have seriously influenced you.

In any case, you prompted some introspection on my part that I would like to share with you, and with others who might be considering similar professional goals—even if you were just joking. (And I apologize for sucking the comedy from it if that was the intent.)

It’s true that I have a hard time recommending to anyone that they pursue an academic career. Tenure-track positions are hard to come by, and people often spend a decade pursuing advanced degrees only to discover they can only work as “contingent faculty” at wages effectively less than working in fast food.

I will admit to discouragement, which probably colored my perception. This term I’ve had more students who seem both less prepared for college and less interested in it, who were apparently in college because it was free, their parents expected it, or they thought it would buy them a few more months at “home” without having to pay rent.

As I write this, I am a little over a week past turning in final grades. I had more “earned” Fs from my classes this semester than ever before. When I say “earned,” I mean 1) some people attended the whole term but didn’t turn in all the work, leaving points on the table they didn’t even attempt to gather, and 2) some people quit attending in the last two weeks of the semester, missing the last three or four assignments that together accounted for 30 to 40 percent of their grade (once again leaving lots of unattempted points).

Plus, I had more Ds and Cs this time than ever before. Most of those resulted from people consistently blowing off lesser assignments, such as quizzes, or consistently failing to bother to read the directions on larger assignments.

No one complained about their low grades, either. Don’t get me wrong–I do not relish complaints. But in past terms when an underperforming student received the grade s/he deserved, I often heard how unjust it was because “I tried so hard!” When I don’t even hear that, I tend to think the student simply didn’t care.

Although faculty members will vent because we do care, I also heard glimmers of hope from even the most cynical amongst us, and I wanted to share with you the thing that keeps me going term after term after term.

Light bulbs.

It takes just a few light bulbs every term. And even during this, the most dismal term I’ve seen in years, I saw some light bulbs flicker on.

There was the nontraditional student who has faced her demons of drugs and incarceration, who has turned her life around and is completing college so she can help others. She took the speech class because it was required, but quickly found she had an ability in it, and she grabbed hold of the skills and principles like a long-lost family pet, not only learning “how to speak effectively” but also some life lessons she will use and pass on. Through her, no doubt, I will touch lives for years to come.

There was the single mom who scared me at first because she looked so much like my first wife exactly 40 years ago. The first couple of weeks she was just going through the motions and expressed extreme dread of the required speeches. But as we talked in class about effective speaking I could see the light of possibility start to almost literally shine in her eyes. She perked up, she engaged, she grew and took pride in her growth, she relished the accomplishment. By the end of the term, you would have thought she had been speaking for years, and her obvious pleasure in it warmed my heart.

There was the young man who changed majors from whatever it had been to communication studies as a result of this single class.

There was the highly-talented underperforming class clown. I recognize myself in people like him–uncertain of ability, not giving much effort as a sort of ego protection (“if I fail, well, I didn’t care that much in the first place, so what?”) He still didn’t earn a high grade because he didn’t turn in a lot of the assignments. But when I confirmed to him his ability as a speaker, and that he could really achieve if he decided to do so, I again saw a spark, preceded by surprise–perhaps even relief that someone saw through the protective layer of BS (which, if you didn’t know, stands for “blowing smoke”). He said, with no trace of sarcasm, “I’m glad to know that. Maybe I’ll turn the GPA around.”

That’s the thing about darkness. When it’s really dark, the light bulbs shine even more obviously.

There are many ways you can serve humanity, Jeremy, and I know that you want to serve. Here’s a chance.

So many of these students have come through a system that commoditizes them and treats them like cogs in a machine, leaving No Child Left Untested. (For the most part, I don’t blame their teachers, who were simply asked to perform an impossible task within the confines of an impossible system.) Humans naturally love learning, and yet the vast majority of our students come to us having had the love of learning desiccated out of them. As Pablo Picasso once said, “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.”

For too many, college will simply be a continuation of hoop-jumping and ticket-punching on the way to the grave. I sense within you the ability and the desire to change that pattern. For many (if not most) of these students, our classrooms are the last chance to reawaken the love of learning, and if it is within your heart to do so, I want to fan that spark, not squelch it.

Let’s mix metaphors. When I am most discouraged, I remember an old saying: “Anyone can count the seeds in an apple, but only God can count the apples in a seed.” I’m in the seed-planting business, and sometimes it takes awhile for a crop to come up. But there is no better feeling in the world than seeing those roots take hold. Even if I never see the “trees” that result, even if later they can’t remember my name, even if those whose lives they affect never know I existed, my efforts mean something.

I know you well enough to know that you will have that kind of positive influence whatever you do, and if you choose to wield it through a college classroom, I believe your satisfaction will far outweigh the frustrations of cultivation. May your incredible energy and good cheer light up the world wherever you go!

from Open Letter to Jeremy

#Open Letter to Jeremy #King's Corner #SpeakWriteNow

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ronaldmrashid · 7 years

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A Severance Negotiation Success Story: An Inside Look At How One Man Negotiated His Freedom

The following is a guest post by Steve, a reader and a consulting client who is currently traveling the world with his family after a 20 year career in mass media. So many times we’re just too paralyzed to make a change because we just can’t see a path forward. It’s these stories that keep me so motivated!

As I write this, I’m sitting on a balcony sheltered by lush tropical leaves. I close my eyes to savor a gentle breeze that has just kicked up, caressing the trees and taking the sting out of another cloudless 95-degree day. I flick over to the Times to check out the latest on a monster winter storm that is shutting down the East Coast. Hmmm, maybe I should extend my time in Costa Rica to a third month.

Just a few months ago, I was one of those East Coast worker bees bracing for another winter of long commutes and office frustrations. But then something wonderful happened — I lost my job. Not in a careless or unfortunate way, but as the result of a deliberate, carefully considered strategy that took months to bear fruit in the shape of a six-figure redundancy package.

Two months on — as I spend my days here doing little more than reading, learning to surf, and exploring rock pools with my four-year-old daughter — I still have to pinch myself every time I see that another full paycheck has thumped into my bank account. And it horrifies me to think that I was on the verge of simply quitting.

My achievement owes a lot to Sam through his book How To Engineer Your Layoff and a subsequent phone session of one-on-one coaching. He suggested I write an account of how I did it – not to plug his services, but as a reminder to all you financially astute FS readers that you should NEVER, EVER quit a job and always try to negotiate a redundancy package, no matter how far-fetched it may seem to you.

My Why

It certainly seemed unlikely to me. Before I get into the nitty-gritty of how I did it, here’s a little background on my circumstances. I had been with my employer for close to 20 years, and overall it had been a very happy relationship. The job was high-profile, frequently stimulating and rewarding, and in a field of work that I loved and respected. It took me around the world, and the benefits were pretty good – by the end I had five weeks’ paid vacation a year, a salary north of $150,000, and was established as a senior employee whose work was highly valued.

But, increasingly, I couldn’t escape the reality that it just wasn’t capturing my imagination or making me as happy as it did in my 20s and 30s. In recent years I started to resent being tied to a desk in stuffy offices, ever more conscious that my time on this planet was finite and thus increasingly valuable — a feeling that was magnified by the birth of my daughter. Sam’s post on freedom vs. wealth sums up this tension that I and many others feel as we look to the second half of our lives.

I was harboring ambitions to take back control of my time and go freelance, even though I knew that – at least initially – I would probably only make about half my current salary and would lose valuable benefits like healthcare and 401k contributions. I seriously considered quitting but that seemed wasteful after putting in two decades of work, not to mention risky.

I knew that my employer – a big, multinational company – did periodically give out redundancy packages. Every 5-10 years there would be a big purge of employees when the company was going through a tough time or a restructuring. But in normal times, they were usually only offered to “underperformers” – a category that I was not in, despite my waning enthusiam for the work.

What I needed was the confidence to broach the subject with my managers and the know-how to make the most of any opportunity for a lay-off that emerged. Enter Sam. After devouring his book and having an hour-long follow-up with him, I finally had the confidence and a clear strategy.

Here’s How It Played Out

– First, I reached out to a few former colleagues who I knew had got redundancy deals to get a feel for how the process had worked for them. This gave me some insights into what was possible. A conversation I had with a former manager who himself had overseen many redundancies was particularly valuable, as he gave me the tip that there was usually some money left over at the end of the year to pay for packages.

– I had an initial conversation with a manager – not my immediate boss but someone who I knew was a bridge between HR and upper management and with whom I was on friendly terms. I immediately played my main card — that I wanted to have time off to spend time with a close relative who was in failing health. I asked this in an open, curious way, seeking to draw out what my options could be from the company’s point of view. A months-long leave of absence or working remotely were the main options we discussed. But since the conversation was going well, I decided to bring up redundancy at the end as an outcome that I could be “open to.” I put forth one idea for how that could benefit the company, by allowing them to move my headcount to a higher-priority business area. We agreed to talk again after she had discussed it with the higher ups.

– When we reconvened a week or so later, she laid out the options: the company was open to giving me a leave of absence of up to three months or to allow me to work remotely, but redundancy was off the table as that was usually reserved for underperformers and they “didn’t want to lose me.” I hid my disappointment and said I’d consider the other options.

– A month later, I’d heard nothing more and was becoming resigned to the failure of my plot. How stupid of me to have thought anyone would hand me a small fortune to walk away! Then, out of the blue, my contact called me into a conference room. “Would you still be interested in that third option we discussed?” she asked. “Umm, yeah I think so,” I replied, struggling to hide my excitement.

– The rest was pretty easy. I talked through the package with the head of HR – it was a standard, but relatively generous deal that gave me nearly a year’s salary plus continued healthcare for the whole period. Before I knew it I was heading for my farewell drinks, feeling very bitter-sweet about leaving great colleagues and an employer that I still felt a lot of loyalty toward.

Keys To Swinging A Severance Package

Based on my experience, here are some of the keys to swinging a redundancy package. Sam goes into these points – and many more – in much greater detail in his book.

Confidence. The first step is to really believe it’s possible. I really struggled to believe my company would do this for me and had long worried that it might adversely affect my standing with management if I tried and failed. But the truth is that in most cases you really have nothing to lose, and the chances of getting a deal are probably higher than you think once you start planting seeds of doubt in management’s mind about your commitment to the job.

It’s not personal. Again, this was a blockage for me. I’d been with my company for such a long time and generally been treated so well that it felt almost like an act of betrayal to angle for a “golden parachute” while I was still in my prime working years. Despite that emotional attachment, the cold truth is that my company – like all others – is overwhelmingly concerned with the bottom line and its reputation. It wouldn’t have hesitated to kick me to the curb in an instant if either of those were under threat. Also bear in mind that companies, especially larger ones, have a keen interest in making sure that employees leave on good terms and don’t start griping about its problems on social media or in the press. In the end, my departure was a win-win for my employer and me because it helped the company meet a budget and personnel goal without having to force redundancy on someone else.

Leverage the law, but don’t push it. By international standards, the U.S. is a very employer-friendly place when it comes to workers’ rights. But there are still some effective legal buttons that the canny redundancy seeker can push. In my negotiations, I steered clear of raising my right to family-related unpaid leave to avoid coming across as antagonistic. Just hinting that I knew my rights and being inquisitive about a leave of absence was enough. Few employers really like letting a worker take a prolonged leave as it tends to throw their plans into uncertainty.

Have a solid post-redundancy plan in place. Leaving a long-term job can be disorientating, even if it’s done on your own initiative. Taking a big vacation is, quite rightly, the first thing on many people’s mind. There are few things better – as I can now attest – than being paid to play on a gorgeous beach for weeks on end. But my experience is that after a while vacations can start to feel like work, especially when caring for a 4-year old is part of the package. And it isn’t long before some anxiety starts to creep in about the income cliff you are facing at the end of the redundancy period.

That’s why it’s important to have thought past your well-deserved break to your next move from a professional and financial perspective. In my case, I had amassed a solid amount of savings and established a passive income stream of over $35,000 a year (nearly half of my annual expenses), which gave me confidence that even in a worst-case scenario my family and I wouldn’t end up on the streets.

I’d also sounded out several contacts about freelance work, giving me confidence that I could at least get paid enough on a part-time basis to pay the bills. Between Costa Rica and Europe, I’m taking a three-month vacation — about a third of my total redundancy period — before returning home to seek new work prospects.

It’s early days and there are certainly some lingering fears I have about giving up a chunky salary and trying to reinvent myself. What if the stock market crashes and damages my nest egg? What if my family healthcare costs shoot up? What if my skills are not as marketable as I hope? But I firmly believe that our fears about financial failure tend to be overblown. Hell, if it comes to it I can always drive an Uber — or just move to Costa Rica!

We plan to work on trimming our expenses over the next year and investing more in real estate platforms to further narrow the income gap. If I can make just half my previous income and gain the flexibility to spend more time with family and friends by working remotely, I will consider the redundancy move a roaring success.

– Steve

from http://www.financialsamurai.com/a-severance-negotiation-success-story/

#Financial Samurai

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jenngrover · 8 years

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Camping at Monument Valley

I was fortunate enough to be able to spend about three and a half months in my T@b last summer. I spent my time, primarily in Colorado, although I did spend a little over three weeks on vacation in Colorado, Utah, and Arizona. Before vacation, I worked during the week, and spent evenings and weekends hiking and exploring the high Rockies. I learned a lot of things and I thought it might be worthwhile to share them. Some are things I sort of knew, but my experience confirmed and some were things that made me go, “Hmmm.” I hope you benefit from my experience! Originally, I had one massive long post, but I realized, nobody likes everything crammed into one post, I know I don’t.

This first post will deal with the role of planning in my trip. I am, arguably, a little over the top when it comes to planning. Yet, I never regret the planning I have done, once I embark. This summer was no different. You will find my planning permeated throughout the other posts, but this posts deals with how I went about my planning and what I learned from it.

Location

Where can I go that is scenic, that I can boondock, that is accessible for my T@b, that has good Verizon 4G.

What will my back-up plan be if my planned site is unavailable?

What happens if the cellular network goes down? What do I do in an emergency?

Where are the local NWS offices? What counties and which ranger districts will I visit?

Where can I seek medical help, if necessary?

Where are the closest Walmarts and Targets?

What are the fire conditions? I don’t burn a fire, but others do and many fires are started by lightning. which could put me and Rocky at risk if a wildfire breaks out.

As a result of my research, I had some beautiful campsites this summer. Better than you can get in most campgrounds, and for free! There are numerous websites out there that will show you how to find free campsites (I like Campendium), but in general, look at the websites for your local ranger districts and determine if “dispersed camping” is available. These are established sites that generally have a driveway (dirt) and often a fire ring (where someone else has stacked rocks in a ring.) If you stop a the ranger stations, many rangers will give you some advice, too. Most FS districts require you camp at an established campsite. Don’t build another fire ring – use the established one.

One ugly reality that I encountered is the growing number of people who are intentionally transient and the manner in which they abuse dispersed camping. Please leave your campsite better than you found it! Many places are ceasing dispersed camping because of the trash left behind by inconsiderate campers. A wildfire near Boulder, CO was attributed to this type of situation early last summer.

Many places allow you to stay for up to 14 days, but it can vary, so please be sure to find out before you go, how long you can stay and follow those rules.

Location planning also helps you know what your options are if your plans fall through. While on vacation with my sister-in-law, we learned a wildfire had sprung up at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Instead of boondocking, we opted for a Forest Service CG, just outside of the park. I knew that is was an option from my research. We pulled up and had our choice from a few open spots, which was pretty good considering it was late on a Sunday in July. I knew that it would be cool enough to be able to leave Rocky behind at this campsite and we are far enough from the fire to not suffer from poor air quality.

Connectivity

As I mentioned earlier, connectivity is a must for me. I need both phone and data and rely on 4G. My set up worked fairly well. I learned that many places would have strong connectivity in the morning but that it would fluctuate throughout the day and that by afternoon, I needed to connect to my booster. I was using my window mount, this summer. I like it because it is easy to use when the weather is bad or when I am trying to be discreet while overnight parking at Walmart. I received this antenna for Christmas and can’t wait to try it. It’s a Omni-directional antenna. I will plan on using that at spots where I get pretty good signal but want to take it up a notch or when I am making a quick stop. I will also likely pick up this directional antenna.

A directional antenna is a little more work to dial in – you have to know where to point it, but there are apps for that and from what I have read, I think it will be worth it.

Solar/Battery

Keep all of my gear and gadgets juiced up is a big deal. I also like to be able to run the fan without worry and watch a little TV at night. That meant I had to know how much I could do with the battery that I had. I found that I planned well, in this area. We had a stretch of about three days where it was cloudy. My battery and the little solar I did get through the clouds kept me humming! If you want to learn more about my solar set up and battery set-up, here are a few links:

Solar for Long Term Boondocking

Big Data for a Tiny Trailer: Installing the Victron 700-BMV

Guilty as Charged: Battery Use & Management Part 1

Guilty as Charged: Battery Use & Management Part 2

Beating the Heat and the Crowds

While on vacation, we face extreme heat and the record-setting crowds that celebrated the National Park Service’s Centennial. While at Zion, we headed up to the Kolob Terrace road. This took us to higher elevations and very few tourists. There are some amazing sights to see. We learned that the T@b a/c can’t keep up with the 100+ degree temps, very well, so Rocky was able to join us while we drove the road. When we were at Bryce Canyon, we took advantage of the opportunity to visit the amazing landscape of the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument and toured Cottonwood Canyon Road and the old Pariah town site. When we were in Moab, we drove up to the Sand Flats recreation area and observed the stunning views from the Porcupine Rim, that overlook Castle Valley and the edge of Arches National Park. In Canyonlands, we took an early morning hike to False Kiva, a site that you won’t find in a NPS brochure, because it is a Class II archeological site. all of these areas lead to fewer crowds an in many cases, cooler temperatures. Planning gave us a lot of relief this summer.

It’s not just preference, it’s safety

Some people like to “fly by the seat of their pants.” I am not one of them. But, I don’t just view preparation as a preference, I view it as a responsibility because of the safety implications. When you put yourself at risk, you inherently put others, like emergency personnel at risk, when they need to help you. I take my planning seriously and I hope you will, too. When I first started planning my trips west, I knew little about the nature and danger of flash flooding in the west. I am now keenly aware. We don’t have many wildfires in my part of the country, but I make sure I am aware when I travel. In some part of the country you might have tornados, or other hazards. Be aware both for your safety, but also so that you can enjoy a trip when things don’t go as planned.

Here are some photos from ,y summer adventures:

The sun breaks the crest of the horizon over thhe Grand Staircase, illuminating the Bryce ampitheater in Bryce Canyon National Park.

A tiny opening created a window of time for the sunrise to sneak through the thick blanket of cloud cover and create a brillinat sunrise with bold colors behind the La Sal Mountains in the distance. The color creeped across the sky bringing alittle pink and purple to the skies above Mesa Arch for just a moment, before the light was swallowed up by the clouds, again.

Stormy, spring skies create dramatic lighting over Cottonwood Pass

The sun rises behind the iconic Mittens of Monument Valley.

The skies were filled with color above Crystal Lake, for a moment before sunrise before the clouds won the battle.

I was busy looking ont he ground for an interesting shot, when by chance, I gazed up to check the weather and became enthralled with the circle of trees above my head.

Historic Twin Lakes, CO sits in the shadows of Rinker Peak and Mt. Elbert, the highest peak in the Rocky Mountains in North America.

The sun starts to warm the peaks along the Contiental Divide above Lost Lake.

The June full moon rises above the Collegiate Peaks as viewed from Independnece Pass.

The morning fog lifts as the first light hits Crested Butte

Stumps, found along the Clinton Gulch Reservoir

Looking east from atop Cottonwood Pass.

The last light of day bathes Jones Mountain North.

Clinton Peak and Wheeler Mountain frame this lovely reservoir, high in the Rocky Mountains.

Perfectly still waters reflect the towering mountains on Emerald Lake.

Clouds and color highlight the first light over the peaks that tower above Twin Lakes.

The peaks of the Dallas Divide feel like old friends to me and I always feel as though I am in good company after spending time with them.

The sun slips below the range in the distance as the sky turns a delightful shade of cotton candy pink on a cool summer evening,.

Sunset, looking west from atop Cottonwood Pass

Wildfire smoke creates a hazey sunset at Zion National Park’s Watchman.

The last light of the day strikes the iconic Mittens of Monument Valley.

When the clouds stole the golden hour light, I decided to make a monochrome image with the perfect reflection and dramatic clouds.

Lessons Learned: Why Planning matters I was fortunate enough to be able to spend about three and a half months in my T@b last summer.

#Boondocking #cmaping #NuCamp RV #Pleasant Valley #summer #T@b #Tab #trailer #travel #USA

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rebeccahpedersen · 6 years

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More MLS Musings!

TorontoRealtyBlog

I’m giddy right now.

Actually giddy.

Smiling like a fool, probably blushing, and giggling like a child.

The long-time readers know that one of my absolute favourite themes in MLS Musings is agents or photographers capturing themselves in photos.

There’s just nothing worse, is there?

But no matter what’s the most egregious MLS-related sin an agent can make, taking photos with themselves in them is my fave. We all have a fave, don’t we?

So the other day, as I was going through these photos, I told her, “Maya, can you see the man in the photo?” And we went through them. Some of them are really, really tough.

We’ll start with this one:

Here he is again, and it looks like he found a place for that bag…

Look at him lean back to try and get the entire room in the frame of his…………..iPhone…

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Here’s another agent for which zero F’s were given:

The camera looks orange too.

Is it possible that’s a disposable camera? Maybe he had an extra under-water camera from his last trip down south, and decided to use it to shoot photos of somebody’s largest investment?

–

This agent tried a little harder:

Maya found that one.

“Daddy – his hand! Maya see his hand!”

Oh yeah, so Maya doesn’t say “I” or “me” or “mine.” She talks about herself in the third person narrative.

–

Here’s an agent that made the effort to capture the bathroom at the right angle, but then failed at editing:

Actually, there’s a decent lens on that camera. Maybe this is a “professional” photographer who’s as bad at his job as many agents are at theirs?

FYI – Maya got this one. It took her a while.

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Maya did not get this one, however.

And through a decade of MLS Musings, and probably hundreds of examples of agents/photographers capturing themselves in images, I think this is among the least obvious:

Did you see it?

It’s tough, I know. I just showed this to two people on my team, and they didn’t get it either.

I’m not going to tell you. You have to look harder.

I’ll give you a hint, there’s slightly less of the agent/photographer in that photo, than there is of me in this recent wedding photo:

Okay, if you didn’t see it, then click on the photo and it’ll open up a new window with the photo in full size.

Seriously, it’s almost creepy.

It reminds me of that scene in Sixteen Candles when Anthony Michael Hall is under the table:

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Even luxury homes are akin to photographer errors, as shown below…

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This photo contains two of my favourite themes on MLS Musings: Realtors in the photo, and brutal pillar-placement:

I know, it’s only an elbow showing on the right side of the mirror, but it still shows a professional didn’t take the picture.

Seriously though – that pillar!! Who buys these places?

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What do you notice about this photo array?

Well, the photos suck. Six in total, three of empty rooms, and two of the same damn toilet.

But that’s not it.

There’s more.

For this, you need to see a close-up of the first photo:

Amazing.

There’s two things this could be:

Just, unreal.

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And last but certainly not least, I don’t even know what to say about this one:

I mean………………………..great living room, right?

Surprisingly, I did not go into the bedroom.

I’m not sure why.

It just didn’t feel all that inviting.

The post More MLS Musings! appeared first on Toronto Realty Blog.

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