#their turnover must be way more intense than i realized

[coldflasher]

i just got back from picking out another cat at the shelter, she should be coming home tomorrow so everyone send good vibes!! (considering i got the call about gwyn literally like 3 hours before i was due to collect him i am feeling very nervous about the whole thing)

i don’t have any pics of her rn, i couldn’t take any bc she sat on my lap the whole time and refused to move. this seems like a positive sign

[astrowithkaro]

hi, hope everything is going well especially from the new moon. could I request a language of birthdays post for march 5th?

thank you so much!!

Language Of Birthdays: March 5 - Pisces

[You can find the rest of the series here; or check out my masterlist]

The Day Of Heaven And Hell

Those born on March 5 usually have two distinct sides to their personality. To the world they may appear debonair and charming, sophisticated, as well as kind and considerate, while inside they are grappling with their personal demons. Extremely secretive, they can be quite different people in private and are often prone to expressing dark feelings and emotions.

Productive and creative individuals born on this day are usually able to express both sides of their nature in their work without contradiction or fear of censure. Problems can arise for them in their personal lives which are often not only stormy but sometimes destructive as well. Deep individuals, March 5 people are in touch with the whole spectrum of human emotions which they themselves express at one time or another. They also have a way of bringing out both the best and the worst in others; through piercing insight, those born on this day can expose the weaknesses, deficiencies and insecurities of others with great impact. This is largely because March 5 mental and emotional sensitivities are equally developed.

Not surprisingly, those born on this day seem to live life more intensely than others. They also remain open to a wider variety of experiences than most people can handle. It is as if the colors on their palette are a little brighter, the highlights and shadows on their canvas more contrasted. At times March 5 people can be logical and emotionally objective, at others passionate, per- haps irrational, overwhelming people with their intensity—and all this can happen in the short space of a few minutes or seconds! Others may wonder how one person can be so mutable, and adaptable to circumstances.

Because they often have a high turnover rate in interpersonal relationships, March 5 people can come to feel somewhat alone in the world. They may even begin to wonder if they will ever find the right person for them. Those that come to realize that it is their own difficult nature that is the source of their dissatisfaction stand a good chance of making needed changes. Such March 5 people can find great joy in simplifying their emotional life. Keeping on a more even keel, and integrating the diverse aspects of their personality is a daunting but greatly rewarding task for March 5 people. It may be true that the friction generated by their internal struggle fires their creative engine. Therefore, some born on this day may fear that by becoming more regular or normal they will dull their cutting edge. Perhaps it is a question of what value they place on happiness.

Developing a highly attuned awareness of their effect on others is essential for March 5 people. Cultivating the more unselfish side of their ego and perhaps submitting to some high- er spiritual power, focusing on simple acts of kindness in everyday life, makes life easier for themselves and those around them.

Strengths:

Expressive

Polished

Incisive

Weaknesses:

Temperamental

Suffering

Difficult

Advice

Many born on March 5 are subject to dramatic mood swings and emotional fluctuations. They must grapple with negative feelings in particular and learn not to inflict them on those they love. In cultivating personal willpower and self-control they will invariably aid their physical health as well. Usually very opinionated about matters of medical interest or health subjects, those born on this day tend to be hard to advise or convince. Therefore, it is of the greatest importance that they have a physician whom they respect and trust to guide them. March 5 people are no strangers to the pleasures of the table and bed. which though a healthy indication of vitality, must be moderated not only for their sake but for their partners also Severely restricting or eliminating alcohol, nicotine, sugar or other stimulants may be necessary. It is crucial that March 5 people realize that they may in fact have less to fear from the world than from their own defences. The true danger for them- the one that needs tending to is often internal.

Regulate your energy—don't be driven by it

You wag the tail, not the other way around

Keep your priorities straight and be a bit nicer to yourself

[nightmareonfilmstreet]

Just When You Thought It Was Safe, JAWS 2 Celebrates 40 Years Today

Steven Spielberg’s Original Jaws is considered a cinematic masterpiece for its many achievements. Namely, the film’s terrifying plot, special effects, cinematography and most notably, its musical score by John Williams. The pattern of ominous bass notes became a theme of oncoming terror and impending doom; William’s main Jaws theme would become one of the most distinguishable cinematic movie compositions of all time. So what would be the most logical conclusion to this unforgettable movie experience that invigorated an intense fear of the ocean?

The answer came three years later in 1978 with Jeannot Szwarc’s massively successful follow up with Jaws 2. On this day 40 years ago, June 16th, 1978, Jaws 2 was released to a wide audience and was a massive financial success as it was the highest grossing opening weekend; a feat short-lived until 1979.

  “Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the water…”

  Originally penned with the intention of being darker and more subtle on violence than its predecessor, the shift in tone from the original Jaws was focused on the economic disaster of Amity Island as a result of the events of the first film; there were even discussions of mafia involvement. Yet producers were keen on retaining elements that made Jaws so successful, which therefore led to a series of rewrites as well as crew turnover for Jaws 2. According to The Making of Jaws 2 documentary, producer Richard D. Zanuck discusses the studios concerns with revisiting themes of the original film. He states, “We realized that what audiences would really wanna see was Chief Brody and his family. And we should go back to the island. So, that’s what we did.”

    The sequel’s initial director, John D. Hancock (Let’s Scare Jessica To Death), was the focus of controversy during the pre-production as well as the early stages of filming. Along with his wife, Lorraine Gary (portrays Ellen Brody in Jaws and Jaws 2), Hancock wrote a script sans the action elements in order to expand and emphasize on character development; a complete departure from Spielberg’s original classic. Yet as Hollywood bureaucracy always has the final word, Hancock’s vision for Jaws 2 was seen as unmarketable as producers sought to bring the action elements back into the film. In June of 1977, Hancock was fired by studio executives and weeks later was replaced by French-American filmmaker, Jeannot Szwarc.

Weeks following the production stalemate for Jaws 2, Szwarc came on board as director to continue filming. Since studio executives had enlisted American screenwriter, Carl Gottlieb, to rewrite the script as Szwarc’s joined the crew, the change in director seats could avoid further delay, making the transition seamless. Equipped with a script rewrite and a director who shared a similar vision as studio executives, producers were now confident that Szwarc’s version of Jaws 2 would employ the elements that made the first film so successful. Yet according to Szwarc in an interview for the Making of Jaws 2, he states “And then they [producers] asked me about the script. And I told them what I thought which was that the action sequences I felt were very good, but I thought some of the character development was weak and some of the dialogue was not very strong.” As Szwarc’s input was taken into consideration, producers were willing to place their trust in the director.

    A prime example of Szwarc’s drastic shift from the initial vision was stripping the constant desire from executives to withhold the shark until the end of the film; a tactic used in the original by Spielberg in order to build tension and ultimately, shock audiences at the scene revealing the shark. According to Szwarc, he explains “I kept saying from the beginning ‘we must show the shark a lot’, because that image of the shark coming out of the water for the first time, it’s already happened in the first one [Jaws]. That is never gonna happen again. And it was interesting to me because all I kept hearing a lot was ‘Don’t show the shark.”

Central cast members, as well as crew, from the original Jaws film returned to reprise their roles in the sequel, including Roy Scheider (Martin Brody), Lorraine Gary (Ellen Brody) and Murray Hamilton (Mayor Larry Vaughn). Yet working with a new director brought on new challenges, especially for Roy Scheider, whom initially resisted the idea of reprising his role. The director/actor collaboration presented creative differences, resulting in heated meetings, physical fights, and open letter apologies between the two. Ultimately, differences were settled and production continued for the sake of the film’s completion. Film score composer, John Williams, also returned to Jaws 2 with newly written compositions, along with retaining the original motifs of the first film. The musical score for Jaws 2 received favorable praise by critics.

    Jaws 2 opened to a successful opening gross of $9.8 million against a budget of $30 million dollars; which was an extremely high amount even for a studio like Universal. Ultimately, the film would earn a domestic gross of $81.7 million dollars, and a $106.1 million including foreign markets. With the success of the original Jaws, Jaws 2 would take advantage of merchandising and marketing, releasing a variety of memorabilia while receiving support from additional sponsors. The success of Jaws 2 gave way to further sequels in the coming years releasing Jaws 3D and Jaws: The Revenge.

American screenwriter, Carl Gottlieb, credits the success of Jaws 2 to Jeannot Szwarc’s work and vision for the film. He states, “One of the reasons Jaws 2 is a successful sequel is Jeannot Szwarc, the director, did some fantastic visuals to go along with the story. You know, putting cameras on fish and special effects and all that to get those spectacular POV’s. That was Jeannot’s work.”

Spend this weekend revisiting the memorable sequel and witness for yourself the technical and visual achievements of Szwarc’s work, which made Jaws 2 a marvel to watch. Let us know your favorite Jaws film in the franchise on Facebook and/or Twitter. Of all the sharks in the franchise, which is more terrifying? Don’t forget to also check out the Nightmare on Film Street Podcast. Stay ghoulish, friends!

  The post Just When You Thought It Was Safe, JAWS 2 Celebrates 40 Years Today appeared first on Nightmare on Film Street - Horror Movie Podcast, News and Reviews.

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[elliemarchetti]

A Private Dance part 6

This is the epilogue, a conclusion of the first story I’ve ever finished. Hope you like it. 

Words: 2113

Liam arranged the phone so that it was better set between his cheek and his shoulder while cooking.

"Wait just a moment, Mom." he said, before putting it on speakerphone. He knew she loathed it, but he needed both hands free.

"Liam, honey, I miss you, when are you coming home?" the woman asked, and the boy raised rolled his eyes. He did not live so far from Beacon Hills, and he was proud of what he had built in recent years. First, he had trained Alec. It had been the best beta he could ask for, and it turned out to be a fantastic Alpha, once Liam decided to leave; unfortunately, he had not had the chance to become a True Alpha, having killed the head of another pack, but in the eyes of Liam he had not changed at all. In addition, he had helped James control his transformations, convinced Lydia to leave that infernal place and enroll in university and even attended the graduation of Mason and Corey: it was the sweetest and most moving scene that he could remember. Even Theo had done his best, finally recruiting Jordan in the pack and reminding him that he should not deny his supernatural nature to continue to lead a normal life.

"You will not think of doing like last year and only come back for Christmas!" his mother threatened him, and Liam, relieved by his thoughts, let out a chuckle.

"I miss you too, Mom, but by now I'm twenty-one, it's normal that I do not run home every five days." he reminded her, adding the chicken slices to the pan.

"Liam, remember that if you were to be homesick ..." his mother began, but Liam stopped her before she could go on. Beacon Hills did not miss him, and he would return only if Alec needed his help.

"I'm fine mother." he answered, and then someone knocked on the door. It must have been Theo. "Now I have to go, I'll talk to you tomorrow." he cut short, and hung up even before the woman could greet him. Every night, when Theo returned from the local where he worked, Liam was amazed by his life; after a year and a half of cohabitation, he still could not get used to the idea that things had changed so much, that it was all true.

"What a nice smell." Theo commented, entering the house.

"Chicken stir-fried with vegetables." Liam revealed, as if it were needed. Theo had practically launched himself onto the pan.

At the end of dinner, they nestled on the tremendous sofa they had managed to find at the secondhand shop: they did not live in luxury, but at least they had a place all for themselves.

"My sweatshirt looks good on you." Theo commented, playing with the laces of the hood.

"Do you want it back?" Liam asked, in a playful tone. Theo had stopped working as a prostitute, according to him for the sake of the relationship, even if, in the long run, Liam was not so annoyed, but continued to work in a night; probably he had finally found something he liked to do that doesn’t involves murder and torture.

“Maybe.” he replied, starting to unzip it.

“But I don’t want to give it back.” said Liam, moving away. Theo went to join him, but the boyfriend stopped him: "You're the one who should undress for me."

A grin appeared on Theo’s face, and he took off his shirt with a single fluid movement. His expression softened, at the sight of Liam's pupils widening observing his sculpted abdomen. They had been together for so long, yet he always seemed amazed by every little thing.

He slipped on him and took his face in his hands, but did not kiss him. Once, he would not have done it. At one time, one would not even be allowed to think of such behavior with him. But now things were different, and when Liam reached out to place it in the curve of his back, he withdrew.

"You can look but do not touch." he said, with a mischievous smile. "At least for now."

 Liam woke up late in the morning, disturbed by the sunlight. He slipped away from Theo's grasp and kissed him on the forehead before getting ready for the day; he had a part-time job in a diner, and they had assigned him the lightest shift, the one in the afternoon. That place, as he understood a week after he started working here, never closed, thanks to the continuous turnover of room staff and cooks.

He had just pulled on a clean shirt when Theo grabbed the fabric and began to gently kiss his neck. Liam smiled, but continued brushing his teeth. When he had finished, Theo turned him around, and kissed him savoring his lips that smelled of mint and held him in a thigh hug. It had been a kiss so full of despair that Liam understood quickly that he must have just had one of his nightmares.

"Do I have to stay home?" he asked, but Theo shook his head and allowed him to continue preparing, despite, in his mouth, he felt a bitter taste, like someone who just said a goodbye.

For this reason, he decided to amaze Liam in mid-shift: the diner was empty, so they had a chance to chat and even exchange a few kisses, perhaps too passionate. Theo knew that Liam was good at his job, but when a family arrived to order a disproportionate amount of milkshakes, he also realized how much he liked to be in contact with people.

The family had just left when Theo grabbed Liam before he could get back behind the counter and squeezed his ass with one hand: "I cannot wait for you to come home..." he let slip, with a certain hunger in the eyes. Liam bit his lower lip but said nothing. When Theo looked at him like that, he would let him do whatever he wanted. Then that terrible sexual tension left as fast as it had arrived, and Theo jumped off the stool he had occupied for more than an hour. "I'm going grocery shopping and I'm going back to get you." he said, but he never got out.

The door of the diner opened and a black woman crossed the entrance with a gun in her hand, her arm outstretched, ready to strike. Anyone would have thought it was a quick one, and that those bullets would not have seriously hurt the two werewolves, but to a careful eye, the crazy look in the woman's eyes would have made it clear that her intentions were different. Liam was the first to recognize Monroe: he would never forget the face of the woman who had orchestrated the death of Brett and Lori, of the one who had tried to exterminate his race. Then Theo recognized her too and immediately went between the projectile’s trajectory and Liam.

"Drop the gun on the ground and I will not kill you." he threatened her, as careless as ever.

She was a small woman, but she had always had an air of great sufficiency, like the one she showed when she smiled, showing a row of teeth yellowed by carelessness: it was true, therefore, that the grudge corrupted people from within.

"Do you remember the last words you told me, Liam Dunbar?" asked the woman, with a crazy tone. Liam nodded. He could never have forgotten them. At that moment, the cook came out of the kitchen.

"Oh, fuck!" he exclaimed, before returning to hide exactly where he had come from. Perhaps he would even call the police, and neither Theo nor Liam would have to get their hands bloodied again. At least that was what Liam thought before the woman fired and Theo winced, immediately bringing a hand to the right side of his abdomen. Maybe Liam cried out his name, maybe he just imagined it, but Theo kept talking as if nothing had happened. Being a werewolf had somehow placated Liam's IED, once he had learned how to placate his animal part, but, someway, had also made it terribly more violent: once he had unleashed his anger, there was no way to stop it. And that's how he attacked, and how Theo took his gesture as an invitation to do the same. Monroe fell to her knees for the impact and fired without restraint. Most of the shots failed, confiding in the plasterboard walls. Perhaps it was adrenaline, but neither of them realized that, before the woman fell on her side, finally defeated, she had hit them both: a masterstroke, probably taught her by Argent, who had pierced the abdomen of Theo, piercing him from side to side, and had gone to stick under Liam’s ribcage.

"How bad is it?" asked the younger of the two, raising the boyfriend's shirt. The blood came out of the wound, thick and black, with every heartbeat of Theo. They were poisoned bullets, obviously.

Liam cursed as Theo grunted and used his shirt to stop the bleeding; it was not the best of ideas, as the poison would remain inside his body, but he did not even want to bleed to death.

"We have to call Melissa." Liam said, looking for his phone in the front pocket of his jeans.

"She will never arrive in time." Theo answered, his voice hoarse with pain.

"Everything will be fine." Liam reassured him, typing Scott's mother's number.

"Yes, damn it." Theo answered in a tight voice. "In the end I won you over, a bullet will not be enough to ruin my plans."

The voicemail clicked. Liam's eyes filled with tears, but he said nothing. He would take him to the hospital; maybe they could not do much, but certainly they’ll give him enough time to be able to contact Melissa or Deaton.

Theo fell on his knees, and Liam cursed again, seeing the beloved's eyes mist up, his color becoming more and ashier.

"Maybe it's right." Theo said, and if the tears did not deceive him, even his eyes would begin to get wet. "Maybe that was how it was supposed to end four years ago."

"Do not even say it as a joke!" Liam shrieked as Theo's blood spilled onto the floor. Theo murmured something, but Liam did not have time to ask him what he had tried to tell him; an intense pain in his chest shook him. He too had been wounded and probably a small part of the aconite used to wrap the bullets had penetrated his circulatory system. Liam pressed a hand to his wound, determined not to die there. The cook, shaking, peeked out of the kitchen with something in his hands and told him to move. Theo was now lying on the ground, his head resting on Liam's leg.

"What are you?" the younger of the two asked him, stunned. The cook looked up, but did not answer, freeing Theo from the bandage. Liam watched his rapid but studied, almost mechanical movements. He was a druid.

 By the end of the year, they had earned a small pack and even had a werecoyote that had fled from Beacon Hills at the first hints of sheer madness of Monroe. It was nice to have someone who shared their memories, even if it was barely of age and could not even go where Theo worked.

The scars, once healed, had come in handy: a lot of men and women appreciated his hard air and the bullet holes did nothing but feed their fantasies.

Mason and Corey had also joined the pack. They missed their Alpha too much, and they had not found any better in Los Angeles, where they moved to study.

At the end of the year, the two couples also started to share that hole of apartment and Theo and Liam could finally afford a double bed, which they shared with some satisfaction.

Of course, that was not the best life Liam could have chosen to have, but it was his and he was managing it as he liked; he had found that love which was worth risking, he had suffered but he had also gained so much from that suffering. He smiled at an old picture of Devenford Prep. Brett would also be proud of what he had become. He turned to look at Theo, who slept blissfully beside him, and leaned on the hollow of his shoulder: it was his favorite place, and the only one he had wanted to stay for the rest of his days.

[techspotguruji]

The Pitfall of Colin Kaepernick Plans to Audition for NFL Teams on Saturday

Only one would likely create the roster. Teams have to prepare for that,'' Carr explained. After the team resumes practices, however, it may need to deal with very soggy field conditions. Meanwhile, they will have to spend the field on Sunday. A fresh start needs to be genuinely new. At precisely the same time, we've learned a lot. Rather than looking backwards, we would like to look forward. Ask if they're crazy enough. And that isn't necessarily practical. But it must be carried out anyway. And it's for an excellent cause.

Colin Kaepernick Plans to Audition for NFL Teams on Saturday - Dead or Alive?

Charles will most likely be part of a running back rotation as soon as the season begins. However, Harbaugh has mentioned his need to acquire in better shape multiple occasions and Eluemunor failed the conditioning test at the onset of training camp, resulting in rookie Ben Powers taking the majority of the first-team reps over the very first week. Stay that way, because what nonbelievers fail to realize is that calling a dream crazy isn't an insult; it is a compliment. Darrelle Revis is still on the lookout for a house. Mayfield called out the refs after Sunday's game, which might grant you the desire to re-roll and see whether you're able to find a one. Cavaliers-Nets and Wizards-Knicks, meanwhile, ought to be offence-centric and might also feature a healthy dose of turnovers. There's been quite a bit of noise about it, obviously, said an AFC executive.

What to Do About Colin Kaepernick Plans to Audition for NFL Teams on Saturday Before It Is Too Late

Luck's long-term health is much more important than making it up on the field for the season-opener, but it might be time for you to learn somewhat more about backup Scott Tolzien. If Joe Flacco's back injury keeps him out for an elongated period, Kaepernick will be a better choice. So, teams in the centre of the season he'd need to learn a new offence. He isn't a pocket passer. Up to now, Derek Jeter has succeeded in only about everything he's done related to baseball. As stated, Wilson has injury concerns nowadays. As soon as Josh Freeman shows he's ready to begin, the Vikings will audition him through the remaining part of the season to decide whether to attempt to extend his one-year contract or concentrate on the draft. Colts quarterback Andrew Luck is still a mystery. I thought they were quite classy. I, however, will say one thing I've noticed. Here's a fast summary of all of the luminaries who were involved in the bidding approach. The White House visit needs to be something which is celebrated, Myers stated. This list doesn't incorporate any veteran starters who might be held out on account of the coaching staff's preference. Should they agree to a trade, McFadden would need to pass a physical to create a deal go through. The commercial's universal theme is all about athletes pushing for more massive dreams. The stiff competition signals that the Jets have better depth than in prior years. You may be the judge of that. As a result of O'Grady's last name, individuals assume that she'll look like the standard Irish woman. We know exactly what we're likely to receive from the guy. Locking himself up for a couple of years or more is not a great notion, financially. That's only the truth of it. It isn't entirely from the question. Therefore the issue he's dealing with is that which we're all dealing. Everything was very professional on either side. This works out for either side. It's a tiny window in conditions of the variety of teams, and it is a little calendar window. Rawls practices with a distinctive intensity, and it has said he doesn't require preseason touches to find prepared for the opener. Rediscovering that magic won't be easy, and Kaepernick's key issue has ever been winning from in the pocket. He'd need to deal with all the circus which goes along with it. The Ravens think they have a playoff group, and they desire a quarterback to make sure they can allow it to be there. Kaepernick would be well worth the adjustment. Signing Kaepernick would be, obviously, a lot more than a football decision for virtually any franchise. Kaepernick now resembles a natural alternative if they are prepared to give him an opportunity. Colin Kaepernick would like to play in the NFL, even if he's got to compete to become on the area. Here is what Deadspin was saying at the moment. Up to now, 39 backups are signed ahead of him. He should be in a particular system. For about five months, you couldn't be anti-Kaepernick on the world wide web. You've got to buzz at the specific second the buzzer goes live because if you sound too early, you become locked out for a couple of seconds. No matter a franchise's stance on his protest, that's an expected locker room distraction that lots of teams would rather avoid. Read the full article

[payprosalaska]

7 Ways to Set Up a New Hire for Success

​

Editor’s Note: SHRM has partnered with Harvard Business Review to bring you relevant articles on key HR topics and strategies.

No one has a bigger impact on new employees’ success than the managers who hired them. Why? Because more than anyone else the hiring manager understands what his or her people need to accomplish and what it will take—skills, resources, connections—for them to become fully effective.

Managers also have the biggest stake in onboarding their new hires effectively. Research has shown that being systematic in onboarding brings new employees up to speed 50 percent faster, which means they’re more quickly and efficiently able to contribute to achieving desired goals. Effective onboarding also dramatically reduces failure rates and increases employee engagement and retention.

The earlier bosses start supporting their new hires, the better. The time between when someone accepts an offer and comes to work is a precious resource that can be used to jump-start the process. But even if new employees already are on the job, there are many ways to get them up to speed faster.

Of course, the starting point is to take care of the “onboarding basics”—such as documentation, compliance training, space, support and technology. Fortunately, most companies do a reasonably good job with those elements.

It’s the deeper work of integrating new hires where the real work of bosses begins. Here are seven key ways to accomplish it.

Understand Their Challenges 

Onboarding is among the toughest types of job transitions. Why? Because new hires, even if they are experienced professionals, are unfamiliar with the business, don’t understand how things really work, lack established relationships and have to adapt to a new culture. Research has shown that challenges in the latter two categories are the biggest reasons for quick turnover. New employees have to learn a lot and may be feeling quite vulnerable, even when they seem outwardly confident. That’s even more likely to be the case when people have relocated for their jobs, so also face change in their personal lives, or if they’re moving up a seniority level, so must adjust to a new managerial role.

Some might respond by playing it safe and sticking too much to what they already know; others may overcompensate, behaving like they have “the answer,” rather than asking questions and figuring out how to add value.

So it’s important for bosses to reassure recent hires that learning is more important than doing in the early days.

Accelerate Their Learning

The faster a new hire learns about the organization and their role, the more they will be able to accomplish in the critical first months. To accelerate the learning process, managers must first focus on what they need to learn in three areas. Technical learning is insight into the fundamentals of the business, such as products, customers, technologies and systems. Cultural learning is about the attitudes, behavioral norms and values that contribute to the unique character of the organization. Political learning focuses on understanding how decisions are made, how power and influence work and figuring out whose support they will need most.

Bosses should also think about how they can help new employees. This means not only personally providing, as early as possible, the best available information, but also thinking about who else is best placed to impart those important lessons.

Make Them Part of the Team

While it’s possible that new hires will work independently, it’s more likely they will be part of a team (or teams). The sooner they build effective working relationships with their peers, the better, and there’s a lot a hiring manager can do to make this happen.

The starting point is to make sure the team understands why the person has been hired and what role(s) they will play. It’s also important that bosses formally introduce new employees—to everyone—as soon as possible after their arrival and make it clear that teams are expected to help their new colleagues acclimate and move up the learning curve. A small initial investment of time and effort in connecting the new hire with the team will pay long-term productivity and performance dividends.

Connect Them with Key Stakeholders

Outside of the new hire’s immediate team, there are likely to be many other stakeholders who will be critical to not only their learning but also their success on the job. And it may not be obvious who those people are, why they’re important, or how best to connect with them.

One simple way bosses can facilitate these connections is to make a list of names, including brief notes on each, and then make introductions, explaining why it’s important that they connect. Then schedule a date, perhaps in 30 to 45 days, to check in with the stakeholders to make sure that the new hire’s network is taking shape.

Give Them Direction

Employees can’t—or shouldn’t—get to work before bosses set clear expectations. The right guidance helps them answer three key questions:

What do I need to do? This means defining their goals and the timeframes for accomplishing them, as well as the measures that will be used to evaluate their progress.

How should I go about doing it? This means being specific about what strategies they should use to accomplish the goals, including what activities they should and should not prioritize.

Why should I feel motivated to accomplish it? This means communicating a vision for what the organization is striving to accomplish and helping new hires see the part they play in realizing it.

Even if expectations were discussed during the recruiting process, you need more in-depth conversation as soon as new hires start to make sure they’re not coming in with any misconceptions about what they need to do to be successful.

Help Them Get Early Wins

Early wins are a powerful way for incoming employees to build confidence and credibility. People new to a job and organization often want to prove they can do it all and fall into the trap of trying to take on too much, too soon, thereby spreading themselves too thin.

The manager’s job is to instead keep new hires focused on the essential work they should  prioritize and by pointing them to ways they’ll make rapid progress on these goals. Part of this is teaching them how to “score” wins in ways that are consistent with the organization’s culture. You want employees to get their early wins in the right way.

Coach Them for Success

Finally, bosses who are serious about onboarding don’t just provide intensive early support then leave new hires to “sink or swim.” It takes time for new employees to become fully integrated and able to operate 100 percent autonomously and productively, so it’s important for hiring managers to continue to connect with and coach their people. This can be as simple as scheduling regular “how are things going?” check-ins, perhaps every couple of weeks, until there is nothing left to talk about.

Also, when managers see new hires struggling, they should intervene. It’s a common mistake to treat new hires too gently, thinking it’s best to give them time to adjust and that early issues with, say, peer relationships and cultural fit, will resolve themselves. But this can easily create vicious cycles in which employees unknowingly dig themselves into holes from which they can’t climb out. The longer a negative dynamic persists, the more difficult it is to reverse.

As bosses apply these guidelines, they should keep in mind that “effective onboarding” is not just about helping external hires. Employees making internal moves can face challenges that are as tough or tougher. This is especially the case when they are coming from different units, have been shaped by different cultures, or are moving from different geographies. Managers should can the same approach to accelerate everyone joining their teams.

Michael D. Watkins is a professor at IMD, a cofounder of Genesis Advisers, and the author of The First 90 Days and Master Your Next Move (Harvard Business Review Press).

This article is reprinted from Harvard Business Review with permission. ©2019. All rights reserved.

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[whimsicallyenchantedrose]

Under the Apple Tree--Chapter 2

Ship:  Outlaw Queen

Rating: T

Synopsis: After being hit by the Olympian Crystal, Robin was transported to Seattle, unable to return to Storybrooke or any magical. When it was clear he had no way to return to his family, Robin finally decided to bury his broken heart in work–founding a landscaping business, Sherwood Forestry.  Fifteen years later, Robin receives an order from the last person he ever thought he’d see again, making him realize that hope never truly dies.

Previous: Chapter 1

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Rayna Miller stepped into her heels and then gave herself one last look in her vanity mirror. Makeup carefully applied, chin-length near-black hair neatly coifed, power suit both professional and distinctly feminine.  Rayna nodded at her reflection, pleased with the effect.  She looked every inch the confident and capable business woman.

Good thing, too.  This morning she had, quite possibly, the most important business meeting of her life.  Not that she’d had all that many business meetings in her life.  The daughter of an extremely successful real estate mogul, Rayna had never needed to work a day in her life.

But Rayna wanted to work; wanted to support herself; wanted to make a name for herself.  She didn’t just want to be known as the daughter of the late Henry Miller.  She wanted to be known for her own accomplishments.

From a young age, Rayna had loved baking, loved the way various and sundry raw ingredients could be brought together to form something new, something delectable.  Desserts involving apples were her particular favorite. She made an apple turnover that was without parallel.

In fact it was that very apple turnover that had started Rayna on her current career path.  She’d made the sweet, flaky dessert for one of her father’s business associates when he’d dined with the Millers, and the man had raved over it.

“Young lady,” he’d said, “you could create your own catering business with dishes such as this!”

And so she had.

Not long after Henry Miller passed of a sudden heart attack, Regina had used a portion of her inheritance money to open “Apple of My Eye Catering Service.”  She could make a mean lasagna when the situation required it, but she far preferred the jobs that required her to simply provide dessert for her customers.

Which was why this business meeting was so very, very important.

One evening, after a full day spent in the kitchen, she’d collapsed onto the sofa and sighed deeply. “I am so sick of having to make full meals for everyone,” she’d groused. “I got into this business to make dessert.”

Her brother James looked up from the book he’d been perusing in his arm chair in the corner and shrugged. “So make dessert.”

Rayna rolled her eyes. “Make dessert?  Like it’s just that easy?  Yes, I’m sure my clients would be thrilled if I simply refused to make them entrees for their catered special occasions.”

James sighed, that familiar tragic look coming into his blue eyes once again.    “Rayna,” he’d said, “life is far too short to waste on a job you genuinely don’t enjoy.  If it’s baking that fulfills you, find a business venture that allows you to focus on that.”

James had been right. Oh, the two of them tended to roll their eyes and snark at each other more than anything else, but Rayna knew her brother cared about her.  His suggestion that she find a job that allowed her to focus on her passion simply would not leave her.

And so, when Grandma’s Kitchen had opened not more than three blocks from her spacious home, the solution had come to Rayna with startling clarity.  If she could talk “Grandma”—Rayna still didn’t know the woman’s first name—into partnering with her, she could sell her own brand of apple-based desserts at the restaurant.  It really would be a win-win for both women.  Rayna could focus on the delicacies she preferred and Grandma would have a premiere line of desserts that could make a name for her café. Grandma had been skeptical when Rayna first proposed the idea, concerned a wealthy heiress couldn’t be counted on, but Rayna had finally worn her down.

This morning at 9:00 sharp, she was to meet Grandma to make her pitch.  It was quite possibly the most important meeting of her life.  It felt as though her entire future rode on this meeting.

Satisfied that her appearance exuded precisely the mix of confidence and down-to-earth-ness that Rayna was looking for, she stepped from her bedroom and into her spacious kitchen. The large basket full of crisp Granny Smiths on the counter beckoned to her, and Rayna pulled on an apron and set to work to begin peeling.  She had a rehearsal dinner to cater this evening, and she needed to spend every free moment she had making the necessary preparations if she was to be ready in time.

She’d just started in on the second apple when the doorbell rang.

Strange.  She wasn’t expecting company.  Who could be bothering her at this time of the morning?  

Rayna shrugged, rinsed off her sticky hands, pulled her apron over her head, and made her way to the entrance foyer.  Opening the door, she found herself face to face with a man dressed simply in jeans, a tee shirt and sturdy work boots.

“Regina?”

For a moment, Rayna simply stared, her heart racing for a reason she couldn’t understand.  There was something so very, very familiar about this man.  With his warm blue eyes, his sandy-colored hair, touched with gray at the temples, his scruff, there was just something about him…

“Regina?” the man said again taking a step forward.  “Is something the matter?”

Rayna shook her head and put her hand out, stopping the man in his tracks.  “There is no one by that name at this residence.  You must have the wrong address.”

She saw a brief flash of confusion and intense pain pass over the man’s handsome face before he took a deferential step backwards.  “Apologies, my lady,” he said.  “I…I…it’s just that you remind me of someone I once knew quite well.”

She peered at him for a moment, the feeling of déjà vu coming over her stronger than ever.  “No harm done,” she said beginning to close the door. “I hope you find this woman you’re looking for.”

The man stepped a foot into the door way, effectively blocking her attempt to shut him out.  “Pardon,” he said, “but I’ve made quite a mess of this. Allow me to begin again.  I’m Robin Locksley of Sherwood Forestry.”

He looked at her intently, as though hoping his name and title might mean something to her.  “Nice to meet you,” she said crisply.  “I don’t mean to be rude, but why are you still on my doorstep Robin Locksley of Sherwood Forestry?”

The man furrowed his brow. “Did you not order an apple tree from my nursery?”

Rayna’s eyes narrowed. “Yes.  I ordered an apple tree,” she said in her most regal and imperial tone, “but it was not to arrive until tomorrow.”

“I assure you,” Robin said, “your order was to be delivered this morning.  My secretary is quite diligent in her job.  Now, if you would kindly show me where your tree is to be planted?”

“I’ll be happy to,” Rayna said, eyes narrowing, “Tomorrow morning at 8:00 am sharp, just as I ordered.”

“I’m afraid that’s quite impossible, Miss…” he looked down at his work order, “Miller.  The tree has been uprooted and must be planted today lest the roots dry out.”

This couldn’t be happening! Not today, not on the day of her meeting with Grandma!  Not when her entire future hung on this meeting!

“You don’t understand!” she said, a hint of desperation in her voice.  “I cannot deal with this today. If I miss my meeting….This is my one opportunity…She already believes I’m just a useless heiress.  If I cancel…Please.  I can’t fail! Not again.”

Robin’s eyes softened and his hand came up to cup her cheek.  To Rayna’s intense confusion, she found the gesture comforting, familiar.  “No one believes you will fail,” he said, a gravelly note in his warm voice.  “You can do anything you put your mind to, and I will do anything in my power to assist you.”

Rayna’s eyes widened at the tender, supportive words.  She was quite sure she’d never met this man in her life, but something about him pulled at her, made her heart race, stilled her self-doubts.

“Do we…” she said breathlessly, “do we know each other?”

Robin glanced aside for a moment and then looked back at her with a sad smile.  “I assure you.  There’s no way I’d forget knowing you Reg…er…Rayna Miller.”

Something crackled between them, something deep and true and lasting.  Something that spoke of forever.  Rayna held his gaze for a moment before she blinked and took a step away.  She couldn’t deal with this…weird connection with the literal stranger on her doorstep.

Instead, she focused on the problem at hand, desperate to make something make sense again. “Look, I don’t know where, but somehow along the way there was a miscommunication.  I have a vitally important business meeting in half an hour, and if I cancel, if I’m late, the perfect career opportunity will slip through my fingers.  I simply cannot have my tree delivered this morning.  I can’t be here with you.”

“It’s no problem really,” Robin said.  “Simply show me where the tree is to be planted.  I’ve no need for your presence.”

“I will be gone most of the morning,” Rayna said.  “I will not be here to pay you when the job is done.”

Robin shrugged.  “All the better.  It’ll give me an excuse to call on you again.  Perhaps we might discuss the matter of payment tomorrow at the time you believed the delivery was to take place?  Perhaps we might even have cause to celebrate the successful completion of your business meeting today.”

Rayna eyed the man skeptically for another moment.  Something inside told her she could trust this Robin Locksley, could trust him with her life, let alone the planting of her apple tree.  “Very well,” she said.  “Return tomorrow at 8:00 am sharp, and I’ll have a check ready for you.  Maybe…maybe if you’re not too busy, you could stay for a fresh apple turnover and we can get to the bottom of this mix up.”

Robin bowed slightly, tender smile on his face.  “I shall look forward to it.”

Notes:

--So, I’ve decided to set an update schedule for myself.  This story will be somewhere around 8-10 chapters long, and I’ll update every Tuesday.  I seem to work best under a deadline, so this ought to motivate me to keep this story going.

--Back to the story!  Clearly something odd is going on here!  Regina not only doesn’t remember Robin, she doesn’t even remember her own identity.  Just what’s happened over the last decade and a half, and why it is that Regina believes she’s Rayna Miller, the caterer, rather than Regina Mills, the mayor, will be revealed in due course.

--In fact, we’ll start to get those answers in next week’s update! We’ll not only follow Robin to his breakfast meeting with “Rayna” the next day, but Robin will also meet his rather reclusive neighbor, someone who can be very, very useful in helping Robin “wake up” his soul mate.

--Also…curious about Rayna’s brother, James?  Don’t worry; we’ll learn more about him as well!

Tagging a few who I talk to frequently and might be interested: @flslp87 @hellomommanerd @linda8084  @snowbellewells @kmomof4.

[jedi-princess-rey-blog]

Questions Time Traders Should Ask Before Investing Initial

It is easy to find people's opinion on how to invest in the currency markets as everyone includes a different angle on what to expect in the stock market at every point in time, but most of the time people's opinion may be very confusing. The most common problem that new investors do have is how exactly to determine great investments from the bad types, what to invest on, what time to invest among others. Some of the questions you need to answer so as to make a good decision when you want to get are highlighted below. Is This a Good Time to Invest in Stocks? On the off chance that a gander has been taken by you at money markets amid a lofty decrease, you may think it is a terrible time to begin investing. On the off chance a gander is being taken by you at it when stocks are reviving, you might think it is a decent time.

Neither one of the times is certainly fundamentally great or terrible in the event that you are trading for the long haul (10 years or more). No one can anticipate with any level of assurance which way the share trading program will move at any moment; yet over the long haul, stock markets has constantly moved higher. Each bear advertises is definitely trailed by a buyer market (when stock costs rise). Verifiably, trending markets have endured any longer than bear markets positively, and the additions of customer markets have more than counterbalance the misfortunes in bear markets How Much Risk MUST I Take? A standout among the most essential fundamentals of investing is the cozy relationship amongst risk and returns. Without risk, there can be no profits. You ought to will to accept even more risk on the off opportunity you are looking for more noteworthy returns. For the reason that regard, risk could be something to be thankful for, yet just in the event that you take into consideration sufficient time to let the inescapable market cycles happen. By and large, if you have a more slow venture time skyline, you ought to will to expect a more noteworthy way of measuring risk, on the lands that you will see more opportunity for the market to work through the here and there cycles. Generally, understanding financial experts have been compensated with positive long haul returns. New investors are regularly encouraged to put fundamentally in common money, that may give moment enhancement, giving the most ideal approach to lessen risk. By putting resources into a couple of various shared assets speaking to various resource classes, (for example, expansive development stocks, global bonds or stocks, you can lessen unpredictability significantly promote without yielding long haul returns. On the off chance that you are beginning an investment system by investing incremental procedures of cash on a month to month basis, you will profit by dollar cost averaging. When you invest an modified measure of cash on a month to month premise, you get some share costs at an increased cost and some at a lower cost because of market changes. At the idea when the market decreases, your settled dollar sum will purchase more shares. After some time, the normal cost of your shares should be lower than today's market cost. By utilizing dollar cost averaging, your drawback risk will end up being alleviated after some time. What Is My Investment Goal? The most essential question to consider before making any invest is, "WHAT'S My Investment Goal?" Your ventures will contrast boundlessly if, for instance, you are attempting to spare cash for pension as opposed to wanting to spare money for an up front installment on the house. Factors being what they are, consider, "Is this venture prone to help me meet my objective?" What Is My Risk Tolerance? If your investment objective is to income as would be prudent and you could endure any hazard, you then ought to invest in the National Lottery. Putting resources into lotteries, become that as it may, practically promises you won't achieve your venture objective. There are speculations for each level of risk resilience. But if you are not really a high-risk taker, investing in long-term investment is the key. What Happens if This Investment Would go to Zero? Among the 12 stocks in 1896 stock list, only General Electric is in procedure still, the other eleven firms in the first record have either gone bankrupt or have been gobbled up. There is a legitimate plausibility that any investment you make could go to zero when you claim it. Ask yourself, "Will I end up being monetarily crushed if this speculation would go to zero?" If the reply is yes, don't make that venture. What Is My Investment TIMEFRAME? As a rule, the more extended your investment time allotment, the even more risk you may take in your investment portfolio since you have more chance to recuperate from a mix-up. Likewise, in the event you're putting something aside for pension, and you're decades from resigning, putting assets into something illiquid (like an investment home) may bode well. "Will this venture bode well from a planning perspective?" When and just why Will This Investment is sold by me? If you know why you are putting resources into something, you ought to have an entirely smart thought of when to sell it. On the off chance that you bought a stock since you were expecting 20 percent income advancement for each year, you must anticipate offering the share if income development doesn't surpass your desires. On the off chance that you purchased a stock since the dividend was loved by you yield, provide stock if the income yield falls. Who Am I Trading With? It is extremely hard to judge the character and capacity of anybody in light of a two-passage portrayal accessible in an organization's yearly survey or a common shop outline. However, you ought to at any rate understand with whom you are entrusting your cash. What's their past record? Things to hope for are long fruitful track records and good dividend and turnover. Do I Have Special Knowledge? A celebrated investment expert feels that normal individuals have a tremendous favorable position over investment specialists in fields where they function in light of the fact that no expense professional will ever know more around an industry than someone who works in it. Consider, "Am I putting assets into something I understand something about, or am I putting resources into a thing that some specialist know something about?" I couldn't care less how great something noises. When I don't totally see how it functions, I will not put resources into it. When an investment can't be clarified obviously, it implies 1 of 2 things: The individual clarifying it doesn't realize it either, or there's something about the investment that the individual is wanting to stow away. On top of that, one of the biggest keys to investing admirably is sticking with your arrangement through the good and bad times. That is difficult. Indeed, even the very best investment methodologies have tremendous down periods that produce you reconsider. Sticking with your arrangement in those intense times takes a practically religious-like conviction that factors will pivot. Furthermore, the ultimate way to have that sort of conviction is to grasp why you're investing the way you are and what just of your arrangement is accomplishing for you personally. Without a solid comprehension, you'll much more likely than not really safeguard at the main indication of inconvenience. Why Do I Very own That Investment Still? It is a smart thought to intermittently look over your investment portfolio to ensure regardless you should claim your stock. Offering an purchase for a misfortune or offering a major champ is remarkably troublesome. Be that as it might, the greatest distinction among beginner and professional traders is that professional traders don't have passionate ensnarement with their expenditure and will strip themselves of their purchase without kicking themselves if the purchase keeps on picking up esteem. Should I Be Managing MY VERY OWN Investments? It is extremely difficult for beginner investor to perform well than a professional investment expert. Unless you have enough energy or slant to deal with your investment, you ought to think about paying an expert to perform it for you personally. Every investor really wants to make profit, therefore there is no harm in trusting your expense in good hand. Looking for more help? then visit here to know more about 401K

[andersboulanger-blog1]

Questions FIRST-TIME Investors Should Ask Before Investing

It is simple to find people's opinion about how to invest in the stock market as everyone includes a different angle on what things to expect in the stock market at every point in time, but most of the time people's opinion is quite confusing. The most common problem that new investors do have is how exactly to determine great investments from the bad types, what things to invest on, what period to invest among others. Some of the questions that you should answer in order to make a good decision when you need to get are highlighted below. Is This a Good Time to Invest in Stocks? On the off chance that a gander has been taken by you at cash markets amid a lofty decrease, you may think it is a terrible time to begin investing. On the off chance a gander is being used by you at it when stocks are reviving, you might think it really is a decent time.

Neither one of the times is certainly fundamentally great or terrible if you are investing for the long haul (10 years or even more). No one can anticipate with any level of assurance which way the share trading program will move at any given time; yet over the long haul, stock marketplaces has moved higher. Each bear advertises is normally trailed by a purchaser market (when stock costs rise). Verifiably, trending markets have endured any longer than bear markets positively, and the additions of purchaser markets have more than counterbalance the misfortunes in bear markets How Much Risk Should I Take? A standout amongst the most essential fundamentals of investing is the cozy relationship amongst risk and returns. Without risk, there may be no profits. You must will to accept even more risk on the off possibility you are looking for more noteworthy returns. For the reason that regard, risk could be something to become thankful for, yet just in the event that you take into consideration adequate time to let the inescapable market cycles happen. By and large, if you have a more drawn out venture time skyline, you must will to expect a far more noteworthy way of measuring risk, on the grounds that you will have more opportunity for the marketplace to work through the occasionally cycles. Generally, understanding financial experts have been compensated with positive long term returns. New investors are regularly encouraged to put fundamentally in common money, that may give moment enhancement, giving the most ideal approach to lessen risk. By putting assets into a handful of various shared assets speaking to various resource classes, (for example, expansive development stocks, global stocks or bonds), you can lessen unpredictability promote without yielding long haul returns significantly. On the off opportunity that you are beginning an investment system by investing incremental methods of cash on a month to month basis, you will profit by dollar cost averaging. When you invest an altered measure of cash on a full every month premise, you get some share costs at an increased cost and some better value because of market changes. At the true point when the market decreases, your settled dollar sum will buy more shares. After some time, the standard cost of your shares should be lower than today's market cost. By utilizing dollar cost averaging, your drawback risk will be alleviated after some right period. WHAT'S My Investment Goal? The most vital question to consider before making any invest is, "What Is My Investment Goal?" Your ventures will contrast boundlessly if, for instance, you are trying to spare cash for pension as opposed to attempting to spare money for an up front installment on the house. Items being what they are, consider, "Is this venture prone to help me meet my objective?" WHAT'S My Risk Tolerance? If your investment objective is to income as would be prudent and you can endure any hazard, then you ought to spend money on the National Lottery. Putting resources into lotteries, be that as it may, practically promises you won't reach your venture objective. There are speculations for each known level of risk resilience. But if you are not a high-risk taker, investing in long-term investment is the key. WHAT GOES ON if This Investment Goes to Zero? Among the 12 stocks in 1896 stock list, only General Electric is in procedure still, the other eleven companies in the first record have either gone bankrupt or have been gobbled up. There is a legitimate plausibility that any expense you make could head to zero when you claim it. Ask yourself, "AM I GOING TO end up being monetarily crushed if this speculation goes to zero?" If the solution yes is, don't make that venture. What Is My Investment Time Frame? As a rule, the more extended your investment time allotment, the more risk you can take in your investment portfolio since you have more chance to recuperate from a mix-up. Likewise, in the event you're putting something apart for retirement, and you're decades from resigning, putting assets into something illiquid (like an investment residence) may bode well. "Will this venture bode well from a preparing perspective?" When and just why Will This Investment is sold by me? If you know why you are getting resources into something, you ought to have an completely smart thought of when to sell it. On the off opportunity that you purchased a stock since you were expecting 20 percent income development for each year, you ought to anticipate offering the share if income development doesn't surpass your desires. On the off chance that you bought a stock since you appreciated the dividend yield, provide stock if the revenue yield falls. Who Am I Investing With? It is extremely hard to guage the character and capability of anybody in light of a two-passage portrayal available in an organization's yearly record or a common shop outline. However, you must at any rate understand with whom you are entrusting your money. What's their past record? Things to expect are long fruitful track information and great dividend and turnover. Do I Have Special Knowledge? A celebrated investment professional feels that normal people have a significant favorable position over investment specialists in fields where they function in light of the fact that no expense professional will ever know more around an industry than a person who works in it. Consider, "Am I putting resources into something I understand something about, or am I placing resources into a thing that some professional know something about?" I couldn't care less how great something noises. When I don't totally observe how it functions, I will not put resources into it. When an investment can't be clarified obviously, it implies one of two things: The individual clarifying it generally does not realize it either, or there's something about the investment that the average person is wanting to stow away. On top of that, one of the biggest keys to investing admirably is sticking with your arrangement through the good and bad times. That is difficult. Indeed, even the best investment methodologies have tremendous down periods that make you reconsider. Sticking with your arrangement in those intense times requires a practically religious-like conviction that items will pivot. Furthermore, the simplest way to have that type of conviction is to grasp why you're investing how you are and what just of your arrangement is accomplishing for you. Without a solid comprehension, you'll more likely than not really safeguard at the main indication of inconvenience. Why Do I Still Own That Investment? It is a smart thought to intermittently look over your investment portfolio to make sure regardless you need to claim your stock. Supplying an expenditure for a misfortune or offering a major champ is exceptionally troublesome. Be that as it might, the greatest distinction among beginner and professional investors is that professional traders don't possess passionate ensnarement with their investment and may strip themselves of their expenditure without kicking themselves if the expenditure keeps on picking up esteem. Should I Be Managing MY VERY OWN Investments? It is extremely difficult for beginner investor to execute well than a professional investment expert. Unless you have enough energy or slant to handle your investment, you must think about paying an expert to perform it for you. Every investor wants to make profit, so there is absolutely no harm in trusting your purchase in good hand. Looking for more help? then visit here to know more about COMMODITIES

[buzcutt-blog]

Questions Time Investors Should Ask Before Investing First

It is easy to find people's opinion on how to invest in the stock market as everyone has a different angle on what things to expect in the stock market at every point in time, but most of the time people's opinion is quite confusing. The most common problem that new investors do have is how to determine good investments from the bad types, what to invest on, what time to invest among others. Some of the questions that you should answer so as to make an excellent decision when you need to get are highlighted below. Is This a Good Time to Invest in Stocks? On the off chance you are taking a gander at money markets amid a lofty decrease, you may think it is a terrible time to start investing. On the off chance that you are going for a gander at it when stocks are reviving, you may think it is a decent time.

Neither among the times is definitely fundamentally great or terrible if you are trading for the long haul (10 years or more). Nobody can anticipate with any degree of assurance which method the share trading system will move at any given time; yet over the long term, stock markets has continuously moved higher. Each bear advertises is definitely trailed by a buyer market (when stock costs rise). Verifiably, trending markets have endured any longer than bear markets positively, and the additions of customer markets have significantly more than counterbalance the misfortunes in bear markets How Much Risk Should I Take? A standout amongst the most essential fundamentals of investing is the cozy relationship among returns and risk. Without risk, there can be no profits. You ought to will to accept even more risk on the off possibility that you are looking for even more noteworthy returns. In that regard, risk can be something to become thankful for, yet just if you take into consideration sufficient time to let the inescapable market cycles happen. By and large, if you have a more drawn out venture time skyline, you must will to expect a far more noteworthy way of measuring risk, on the grounds that there will be more opportunity for the market to work through the here and there cycles. Generally, understanding financial professionals have already been compensated with positive long haul returns. New investors are regularly encouraged to place fundamentally in common money, that may give moment enhancement, offering the most ideal approach to lessen risk. By putting resources into a couple of various shared assets talking with various resource classes, (for example, expansive development stocks, global stocks or bonds), you can lessen unpredictability considerably promote without yielding long haul returns. On the off possibility that you are beginning an investment system by investing incremental methods of cash on per month to month basis, you shall profit by dollar cost averaging. When you invest an modified measure of cash on a full every month premise, you get some good share costs at a higher cost and some at a lower cost because of market changes. At the real point when the market decreases, your settled dollar sum will purchase more shares. After some time, the standard cost of your shares should be lower than the present market cost. Through the use of dollar cost averaging, your drawback risk will be alleviated after some time. What Is My Investment Goal? The most vital question to consider before making any invest is, "WHAT'S My Investment Goal?" Your ventures will contrast boundlessly if, for instance, you are attempting to spare cash for pension as opposed to wanting to spare cash for an in advance installment on the house. Stuff being what they are, ask yourself, "Is this venture susceptible to help me fulfill my objective?" What Is My Risk Tolerance? If your investment objective is to income as would be prudent and you can endure any hazard, then you ought to spend money on the National Lottery. Putting resources into lotteries, be that as it might, practically promises you won't reach your venture objective. There are speculations for each known level of risk resilience. But if you are not a high-risk taker, buying long-term investment is the key. WHAT GOES ON if This Investment Would go to Zero? Among the 12 stocks in 1896 stock list, only General Electric is still in operation, the other eleven firms in the first record have either gone have or bankrupt been gobbled up. There is a genuine plausibility that any kind of investment you make could head to zero although it is claimed by you. Ask yourself, "Will I be monetarily crushed if this speculation goes to zero?" If the solution yes is, don't make that venture. What Is My Investment TIMEFRAME? As a rule, the more extended your investment period allotment, the more risk you may take in your investment portfolio because you have more opportunity to recuperate from a mix-up. Likewise, in case you're putting something apart for pension, and you're decades from resigning, putting resources into something illiquid (like an investment residence) may bode well. "Will this venture bode well from a preparing perspective?" When and just why Will This Investment comes by me? If you know why you are getting resources into something, you ought to have an entirely smart thought of when to sell it. On the off possibility that you purchased a stock since you had been expecting 20 percent income development for each year, you must anticipate offering the stock if income development doesn't surpass your desires. On the off chance that you purchased a stock since you loved the dividend yield, provide stock if the income yield falls. Who Am I Trading With? It is extremely hard to judge the character and capacity of anybody in light of a two-passage portrayal accessible in an organization's yearly report or a common shop outline. However, you must at any rate understand with whom you are entrusting your cash. What's their past record? What to hope for are long fruitful track records and good turnover and dividend. Do I Have Special Knowledge? A celebrated investment professional feels that normal people have a tremendous favorable position over investment experts in fields where they work in light to the fact that no purchase professional will ever learn around an industry than somebody who works in it. Ask yourself, "Am I putting resources into something I understand something about, or am I putting resources into something that some expert know something about?" I couldn't treatment less how great something noises. When I don't totally observe how it functions, I won't put resources into it. In the event that an investment can't be clarified obviously, it implies 1 of 2 things: The individual clarifying it doesn't realize it either, or there's something about the investment that the average person is attempting to stow away. On top of that, one of the biggest keys to trading admirably is adhering to your arrangement through the bad and good times. That is difficult. Indeed, even the best investment methodologies have tremendous down periods that produce you reconsider. Adhering to your arrangement in those intense times requires a practically religious-like conviction that points will pivot. Furthermore, the ultimate way to have that sort of conviction is to grasp why you're investing the way you are and what every bit of your arrangement is accomplishing for you. With out a solid comprehension, you'll much more likely than not really safeguard at the primary indication of inconvenience. Why Do I Still Own That Investment? It is a smart thought to intermittently look through your investment portfolio to ensure regardless you should claim your stock. Giving an purchase for a misfortune or offering a major champ is remarkably troublesome. Be that as it might, the greatest distinction among beginner and professional traders is that professional traders don't possess passionate ensnarement with their expenditure and can strip themselves of their investment without kicking themselves if the expenditure keeps on picking up esteem. Should I Be Managing MY VERY OWN Investments? It is extremely difficult for beginner investor to execute well than a professional investment expert. If you don't have adequate energy or slant to deal with your investment, you must think about paying a specialist to perform it for you personally. Every investor wants to make profit, so there is no harm in trusting your investment in good hand. Looking for more help? then visit here to know more about Self Directed IRA

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Questions FIRST-TIME Investors Should Ask Before Trading

It is easy to find people's opinion about how to invest in the currency markets as everyone includes a different angle on what things to expect in the currency markets at every time, but most of enough time people's opinion may be very confusing. The most typical problem that new investors do have is how exactly to determine great investments from the bad ones, what things to invest on, what time to invest among others. Some of the questions that you need to answer so as to make an excellent decision when you need to invest are highlighted below. Is This a Good Time to Invest in Stocks? On the off chance that a gander is being taken by you at cash marketplaces amid a lofty decrease, you may think it is a terrible time to start investing. On the off chance you are taking a gander at it when shares are reviving, you may think it is a decent time.

Neither among the times is certainly fundamentally great or terrible in the event that you are trading for the long haul (10 years or even more). Nobody can anticipate with any degree of assurance which way the share trading system will move at any moment; yet over the long haul, stock marketplaces has moved higher. Each bear advertises is usually trailed by a buyer market (when share costs rise). Verifiably, trending markets have endured any more than bear markets positively, and the additions of customer markets have more than counterbalance the misfortunes in bear markets How Much Risk MUST I Take? A standout among the most essential fundamentals of investing is the cozy relationship amongst risk and returns. Without risk, there may be no profits. You must will to accept more risk on the off possibility that you will be looking for even more noteworthy returns. For the reason that regard, risk could be something to become thankful for, yet just if you take into consideration sufficient time to let the inescapable market cycles happen. By and large, if you have a more drawn out venture time skyline, you must will to expect a more noteworthy measure of risk, on the lands that you will have more opportunity for the market to work through the occasionally cycles. Generally, understanding financial experts have been compensated with positive long term returns. New investors are encouraged to put fundamentally in keeping money regularly, which can give moment enhancement, giving the most ideal approach to lessen risk. By putting assets into a handful of various shared assets talking with various resource classes, (for example, expansive development stocks, global bonds or stocks, you can lessen unpredictability significantly promote without yielding long haul returns. On the off chance that you are beginning an investment system by investing incremental steps of cash on per month to month basis, you will gain dollar cost averaging. When you invest an altered measure of cash on a full month to month premise, you get some share costs at a higher cost and some better value because of market changes. At the true point when the market decreases, your settled dollar sum will purchase more shares. After some right time, the normal cost of your shares ought to be lower than today's market cost. Through the use of dollar cost averaging, your drawback risk will be alleviated after some right time. WHAT'S My Investment Goal? The most essential question to consider before making any invest is, "What Is My Investment Goal?" Your ventures will contrast if boundlessly, for instance, you are trying to spare cash for pension as opposed to wanting to spare money for an up front installment on the house. Issues being what they are, consider, "Is this venture susceptible to help me fulfill my objective?" WHAT'S My Risk Tolerance? If your investment objective is to profit as would be prudent and you could endure any hazard, then you ought to invest in the National Lottery. Putting resources into lotteries, end up being that as it may, practically promises you won't reach your venture objective. There are speculations for every known level of risk resilience. But if you are not really a high-risk taker, buying long-term investment is the key. What Happens if This Investment Would go to Zero? Among the 12 stocks in 1896 stock list, only General Electric is still in operation, the other eleven firms in the first record have either gone have or bankrupt been gobbled up. There exists a genuine plausibility that any investment you make could go to zero although it is claimed by you. Ask yourself, "Will I end up being monetarily crushed if this speculation goes to zero?" If the reply yes is, don't make that venture. What Is My Investment TIMEFRAME? As a rule, the more extended your investment period allotment, the even more risk you may take in your investment portfolio since you have more opportunity to recuperate from a mix-up. Likewise, in the event you're putting something apart for pension, and you're decades from resigning, putting assets into something illiquid (like an investment property or home) may bode well. "Does this venture bode well from a preparing perspective?" When and Why AM I GOING TO Sell This Investment? If you know why you are putting resources into something, you ought to have an completely smart thought of when to sell it. On the off chance that you purchased a stock since you were expecting 20 percent income development for each year, you ought to anticipate offering the stock if income development doesn't live up to your desires. On the off chance that you bought a stock since you enjoyed the dividend yield, offer the stock if the revenue yield falls. Who Am I Investing With? It is extremely hard to guage the character and capacity of anybody in light of a two-passage portrayal accessible in an organization's yearly statement or a common shop outline. However, you ought to at any rate know with whom you are entrusting your money. What's their past record? Things to expect are long fruitful track information and great dividend and turnover. Do I Have Special Knowledge? A celebrated investment professional feels that normal individuals have a tremendous favorable position over investment professionals in fields where they work in light to the fact that no purchase professional will ever know more around an industry than somebody who works in it. Consider, "Am I putting assets into something I know something about, or am I putting resources into something that some expert know something about?" I couldn't treatment less how great something noises. When I don't totally observe how it functions, I won't put resources into it. In the event that an investment can't be clarified obviously, it implies 1 of 2 things: The individual clarifying it doesn't realize it either, or there's something about the investment that the individual is attempting to stow away. On top of that, one of the biggest keys to investing admirably is sticking with your arrangement through the good and bad times. That is difficult. Indeed, even the very best investment methodologies have tremendous down periods that make you reconsider. Sticking with your arrangement in those intense times requires a practically religious-like conviction that points will pivot. Furthermore, the ultimate way to have that sort of conviction is to grasp why you're investing the way you are and what every bit of your arrangement is accomplishing for you. With out a solid comprehension, you'll more likely than not safeguard at the primary indication of inconvenience. Why Do We Still Own That Investment? It is a smart considered to intermittently look over your investment portfolio to make sure regardless you have to claim your stock. Supplying an expenditure for a misfortune or offering a major champ is remarkably troublesome. Be that as it may, the greatest distinction among beginner and professional investors is that professional traders don't have passionate ensnarement with their expense and can strip themselves of their purchase without kicking themselves if the expense keeps on picking up esteem. Should I Be Managing My Own Investments? It is extremely problematic for beginner investor to perform well when compared to a professional investment expert. If you don't have adequate energy or slant to deal with your investment, you ought to think about paying a specialist to do it for you. Every investor wants to make profit, therefore there is absolutely no harm in trusting your purchase in good hand. Looking for more help? then visit here to know more about COMMODITIES

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What I Learned about Russian Men

by Elizabeth Eagan

Coronet Magazine, June 1947, pp. 173-196

Before going to Moscow, I had a double-image idea of what Russian men looked like — the same idea, I imagine, that a lot of other American girls still cherish.

My Russian man was a brawny, muscled, six-foot Adonis of iron, with arm forever stretched challengingly before him, clutching a sickle (or was it a hammer?). Yet at the same time, muffled somehow in the background, was the vision of a tall, handsome, dark-haired Czarist prince, with booted legs, military jacket and lots of gold braid.

Today, my double-image dreams have vanished. I have seen plenty of Russian men. I have talked with them, learned to know them, gone to parties with them, even had “romances” with them. And for the benefit of other American girls, I would like to report that the romantic vision of Soviet supermen is plain bunk.

I have seen plenty of Russian men, but few of them measured six feet — or even close to that. Of those in overalls, few looked very exalted, and the only sickles I saw were in the hands of women. Most of the men were in uniform when I arrived, but only fat generals' jacket fitted snugly. And even if I had run across a “tall and handsome prince,” his charm could not have been for me, since Russian men live in a controlled State where romances with foreigners are snuffed out by rules and regulations.

For instance, I recall a Monday morning when I was coming into Moscow from my cottage in the country. I had ridden a commuters' train to the city's outskirts, then switched to the subway. The Metro cars were packed, so instead of finding a seat I hung onto a strap. Now aside from the merit of spotlessness, the Metro has on virtue that you don't find in crowded American transportation systems. There are no mashers in Moscow. The pretties girl in the entire city can ride the subway, and no matter how much she is shoved and mauled, she knows it was impersonal shove, an accidental maul, caused only by the incredible 24-hour crush.

On this Monday Morning, I suddenly become aware that someone was staring at me with greater intensity than the normal staring-at-foreigners. This man was actually flirting! I was more surprised than flattered when a second glance revealed that he was a passably handsome, black-eyed Red Army major.

I was surprised, first, because there aren't many passably handsome males to be found in the Soviet Union. Second, because Red Army majors should know their political catechism, which damns all foreigners. In today's Russia, no man, woman or child who fears the midnight knock of the secret police dares have much to do with a foreigner.

I forced my way through the crowed car to the handrail and got a good grip on it, along with a dozen other impersonal hands. In a moment my hand was “accidentally” covered by the major's. His glances might have been meaningless: this certainly wasn't. I moved my hand. So did he. I glanced sideways. He was looking at me almost with a smile.

I guessed that he took me for a Russian hussy. It was raw fall weather, and I was wearing a Russian scarf and an old raincoat. He couldn't see my shoes, standard office wear for Americans but a dead giveaway because Russian women's wartime footwear was in sad condition.

Anyway, it was fun flirting with a strange man in a strange city under strange rules — anonymously, with not even my nationality showing.

When I got off at my station, the major followed me up the stairs, through the crowd and across the square to the little street where I lived in the Finnish Legation, which was then rented to the Americans and constantly guarded by two State policemen.

As I neared my house, the major at my elbow, I turned to him with a smile and an unlit cigarette. “May I take a light?” I said in Russian. He broke into a self-satisfied grin, lit my cigarette, took my elbow and tried to lead his conquest down the street.

But I crossed the street, said good-morning to the staring guards, and tossed a farewell to the Russian major. I have yet to see a more shocked and startled face than his as he realized he had almost been caught flatfooted — guilty without question of being friendly with a foreigner! And especially, with a foreigner from that never-never land — America!

Now, that I am back in New York, I keep recalling that inconsequential adventure. I keep reminding myself that, as a citizen of the capitalistic United States, I can do pretty much as I please, when and where I please, and talk with whom I choose. Those are freedoms that life in the Soviet Union taught me to appreciate more than I had ever appreciated them before.

I arrived in Moscow on D-Day — June 6, 1944 — with a strong, positive faith in our ally, a classless nation of vigorous and diverse peoples who were fighting their way back across the devastated Ukraine. I came home in December, 1946, with a simmering disapproval of the caste system, the police spying, and the hatred of foreigners in the Soviet State.

In those two-and-a-half years, I made many friends in Russia. I learned things about Russians that may have escaped newspaper correspondents. I got to know much about Moscow women that even Americans married to them do not seem to know. And no man could properly be expected to match the data I accumulated about Moscow's males.

I am not anti-Russian. I am anti-misinformation, because I believe that our lives depends on getting along with the Soviet government, And when I say ”our lives,” I include the Russians. I am also convinced that “getting along” can best be furthered by learning more about each other.

As Moscow editor of Amerika, the OIC-State Department magazine published in Russian, I did my official best to tell the Russians about the United States. As the first American woman sent to work in the Moscow Embassy, I had unique unofficial opportunities to demonstrate what Americans are like and how we live.

Now, and also quite unofficially, I want to put down in detail some of the interesting, exiting, exasperating facts about Russia that one does not find emphasized in the newspapers.

I left New York for Russia in April, 1944, by ATC plane, bucket-seat by day and ridged metal floor at night. I am a moderately friendly soul, not a helpless female, but I have seldom felt more friendless or helpless than on my three-stop flight from Tehran to Moscow.

Accustomed to the easy comradeship of the ATC boys, I smiled and spoke to my Russian pilot as we disembarked at Baku for breakfast. Ge looked right past me, never so much as flicking an eyelash. I was, to be British about it, somehow taken aback.

At Astrakhan, our second stop, a husky Red Army girl traffic cop flagged us in from the landing strip. Ignoring the unresponsive male fliers, I approached her with what I hoped was a cheery greeting. I might gave spoken to a flaxen-haired automation. She literally didn't see me, though I stood an arm's length off. I wasn't abashed this time — I was crushed.

Moscow was not unlike what I had imagined except that it sprawled so widely over the plain on either banks of the Moscow River. Its outskirts were simply clots of villages, close-packed, weathered log cabins, each clot separated from the next by open fields. Within this circle of villages lay the city proper, a wide smear of low brick buildings which give the city a distinctive dark-red color from the air.

I was met at the Moscow airport by two American male friends. Because the knew the Russians would be shocked by my slacks, they spirited me off to the Embassy where they made me change into a wrinkled, unpressed suit before they would take me to my hotel. So, before actually settling down in Moscow, I had had two lessons in how to live with the Russians.

The first, of course, was that foreigners, even Allies, weren't accepted as friends. The second, was that ladies — in the Russian caste sense — do not wear pants. I had yet to learn just how rigid the class rules in Russia are, and how very difficult it is to make friends.

But I began to learn — and learn quickly. Perhaps my illusions about Russian men were naïve. For one thing, I had expected them to be tall. When I arrived in Moscow, almost all the men in the street were in uniform — Red Army, Navy and Air Force. But they were all short — far too short for me, with my five-feet-eight. Yet, I must confess, I found them quite exciting.

As I walked through the streets I stared at them with interest And they stared back but without a glimmer, not event a gleam of flirtatiousness on their grim visages. Any American girl knows how to look at a man on the street so that it is understood at once just what attitude she wishes to convey; and she knows, too, what the looks given in return mean. American men look hard at American girls — right into their faces and eyes — with often a half-smile, friendly or flirty. It's flattering and fun.

But I missed all that in Moscow. After a few attempts I gave up expecting Russian men to notice me and talk with their eyes, and soon I was glowering right back into their square, dark, dour faces.

My OWI job made me it possible for me to observe at rather close quarters the public behavior of Russian women, as well as the men. Generally speaking, there are three classes — Soviet classes — of women in Moscow. They can be distinguished at a glance by their clothes. Silver fox is the badge of the high official's or general's wife, or the successful actress. The secretaries and students, the white-collar women, favor mannish suits and silk prints. The working girls, unskilled and semi-skilled laborers at the bottom of the income scale (at best, about 500 rubles a month), wear square-cut, peasanty linen or cotton dresses with a turnover collar and cross-stitch embroidery.

Except for the ballerinas and some of the film and stage stars, few Russian women gave what we call good figures. The average Muskvitcha is BIG. Really big but not tall. Heavy-boned, broad, with thick, shapely legs.

In wartime, during the winter, the white-collar girls usually wore dark fabric coats with narrow fur collars and small fur muffs. Beneath the coats they commonly wore wool dresses or suits and a couple of sweaters and, under the dress, cotton flannel bloomers over heavy wool underwear.

The shawled women, the factory workers, the street cleaners, the hod-carriers, the snow shovelers, gave a second distinctive winter garment — a padded, quilted jacket which reaches just below their hips. This gives them a boxy look — ungainly and sexless — like walking pincushions. And to a woman, Muskvitchas wear valenki, mostly heavy gray felt boots that reach to the knee and double the size of their great calves.

Few Moscow women wear lipstick, except for dress-up occasions. All I saw was orange — or foreign loot. Orange is the only cosmetic color manufactured in the Soviet Union. Exceedingly few wore nail polish, also orange but light in tone, Their perfumes, again unless foreign, are heavy and sweet, almost barber-shop tonic scents, bearing such political names as Red Moscow and October Revolution.

About May 1, the ladies begin to peel for the summer. My first May Day was warm and sunny and I had gone for a walk around the Kremlin. Suddenly I was conscious of seeing again the normal outlines of the female figure. The girls had probably been shedding under layers for weeks before sloughing the outer padding of jackets and coats. But to me it was a startling and pleasant sight to see legs bare of valenki and bare arms swinging as the big girls came jostling and giggling four abreast down the sidewalk.

Despite all one hears about “free love and promiscuity” in Russia, I never knew a Russian who took marriage or divorce lightly. Quite the contrary, and for a very simple reason. We in America think we have a housing problem. But we can't hold a candle to the Muskovites, whose housing shortage has had a discouraging effect on marriage. There is no such ting as an empty apartment in Moscow. Every square foot of space is assigned to someone, though it is possible to “buy” a room illegally — and pay through the nose for it.

Suppose a women has a two-room flat — living room and bedroom. Her husband has been transferred to Kiev for two years. She cannot leave her job to join him, and she wants to buy a piano. So she decides to sell the bedroom and move into the living room. She sets the price at 20,000 rubles — a very stiff figure — because the “sale” is for life. The purchaser will be registered as her cousin, nephew or niece and will thereafter be the legal resident of that room. The seller is gambling that her husband will qualify for better apartment by virtue of his two-year hitch in Kiev. If he doesn't, they will be stuck with a one-room home.

News of the room for sale spreads discreetly by word of mouth. The woman is besieged by buyers. She likes best the young couple who want to get married. But they cannot meet her asking price. So she settles for 15,000 rubles, 10,000 down and the rest on terms. After that the room is theirs, and they are luckier than the most young couples.

Marriage almost always means doubling up in the home of whichever partner is less crowded. Often newlyweds move into a single room with parents, a brother or sister, or even another young couple. Whole families groan in unison when the bride announces she is going to have a baby. But the baby, on arrival, is not only adored, but absorbed — somehow.

One might think that such crowded conditions would not only discourage marriage, but make for divorce. They don't. One can divorce a man — though the process in expensive and long-dawn-out — but one can't get him out of the house.

For instance, Tatiana goes home from the courthouse, released at least from the brute, but there he sits in his regular chair, reading the Evening Moscow.

“Hey, we're divorced!” she cries.

“Yeah? So what? Where do you think I'm going to live? Under a tree in the Park of Culture and Rest?”

Of course, if Tatiana marries again, she can bring her new husband in to protect her against the insults of her ex-spouse. And if he remarries, he can bring his bride home, too. So... as an apparent result, marriages are pretty well stabilized in Moscow.

Before the war, of course, one could get a divorce for a post card. And one could have an abortion simply by applying for it and agreeing to pay 10 per cent of one month's salary. Today a divorce costs 2,000 rubles, and an abortion — an illicit abortion — costs up to 10,000. Naturally, at those prices, there are few abortions and the birth rate is rising.

Of course, more births make for ever more-crowded quarters, but then, only really crowded rooms were livably warm in the wartime winter. No matter how tightly squeezed they are, most Russians shun the outdoors in cold weather. In summer, however, they flock to the park, the river beaches, the outlying villages. Only men and wives with husbands can, with propriety, go to restaurants, but everybody can go picnicking and swimming, and go together. In the “all-together,” too, with qualifications.

Americans seem to have an almost insatiable curiosity about nude bathing in the Soviet Union. Here's what I saw of it.

I lived one summer with some other Americans on the banks of the Kliasma River, in which we — with other foreigners, the members of a Russian summer colony, scores of Red Army convalescents from a near-by hospital and about 100 neighborly cows — all took a daily dip. Except for the children under 10 or 12 and a group of young men who swam in the raw a hundred yards or so from the rest, there was no nude bathing. However, there were very few bathing suits — unless what I took to be bloomers, rayon undershirts and bras are a new style in bathing costumes.

One day when I had gone walking along the river unprepared for a swim, a group of young people asked me to join them. I merely peeled my cotton dress over my head and dived in, in panties and bra. There was no comments other than that my panties were much briefer than theirs. I was as covered up as I would have been in almost any suit in America, but I couldn't have appeared that way back home.

The only really nude swimming I saw was after the war, at Batumi, a Black Sea resort. The beach was devided into three sections — Ladies, Ladies and Gents and Gents. Elma Ferguson, one of the editors of British Ally, a Russian-language weekly magazine published in Moscow, joined me on the Ladies Only beach the first day.

We changed into our suits in little cabanas and afterward paraded out among the sprawling multitude of bronzed, naked Russian women. Our suits were more than cute — they were downright fetching. But after an hour of being stared at, we slunk back into the cabanas, stripped, and sauntered out again, feeling foolish but far less conspicuous.

A limp strand of barbed wire separated ours from the mixed beach. There, families sat around in odd bits of costume, eating pickles and buns and going for an occasional dip in the cold Black Sea. Up beyond them, another 50 or 75 yards, was the beginning of the men's beach where nude bachelors by the dozen were sunning themselves in absolute un-selfconsciousness.

Twice during our ten days there, newly arrived Red Army groups blundered — I'm sure by accident — onto our beach, clumping along in heavy boots. A shower of stones and a chorus of indignant feminine imprecations — “Louts! Lecherous ones!” — sent them running, with tunics flying, all holding their caps over the near side of their faces.

If it was difficult to meet Russian men at the beaches, it was quite the opposite in a Moscow night club. My first visit to one was withing few hours of my arrival. D-Day — the actual opening of the long-awaited second front — obviously called for celebration. I was invited to a restaurant for dinned and dancing by a group of young men — American sergeants in the military mission, boys who worked in the Embassy, a couple of engineers from the wilds of Siberia and a French sergeant.

We went about 10 o'clock. Earlier the place would have been empty. Just off Gorki Street we entered the Astoria, pushing by two Red Army men standing in the entryway with mounted bayonets. I got used to seeing these M.P.'s in all restaurant lobbies, and learned they were there to squelch fights that inevitably broke out among the hearty guests, most of them soldiers on leave.

They boys checked their caps with two bearded old men behind a coat counter, and we went up six steps into a brilliantly lit hall. I caught my breath, both at the gayety and the decor. The room was large and long, its ceiling held up by great columns ornamented with voluptuous stone beauties.

Along the right side of the room stretched a row of little cubicles made private by dark red draperies — and at the rear a mixed male and female orchestra was playing very bad jazz.

Almost none of us could speak more than a few words of Russian, but we managed to get served with enormous quantities of food and drink, simply by leaving the matter up to the waiters, who brought what the same number of Russians could put away. And that's a lot.

First we were supplied with two plates, one on top of the other, an array of silver and a myriad of glasses — vodka glasses, champagne glasses, wine glasses for red and white, and liqueur glasses. We started out with zakuski, which consisted of several huge plates of lettuce, lamb, chicken and potato salad, onions and cucumbers, all arranged in towering pyramids. Plus a big bowl of caviar, a little dish of chopped onions and great piles of white bread with little squares of butter.

With the zakuski came carafés half-filled with vodka. This — unlike the Russian who tend to dash it back against their tonsils — we sipped while we nibbled at the salad.

Such behavior! Every Russian eye in the room was on us. I could see that surrounding parties had stopped eating to watch us. Someone walked casually by our table. Other, bolder, simply walked over and stood near us, getting a good eyeful of the inostranki (foreigners).

After our zakuski the waiters brought steaming cabbage soup. Then big, thick, juicy steaks — each with a fried egg on top. On the side, fried potatoes, fried carrots and dry, red Russian wine. For dessert there was ice cream with canned fruit on it, with which we drank Soviet champagne in tall Russian champagne glasses. We finished, three hours after we began eating, with demitasse of thick, black ersatz coffee. Even in a commercial restaurant like the Astoria, you couldn't get real coffee. But that was about all you couldn't get.

During all this time, between courses, and even between bites, I had been dancing with the Americans. Whenever we danced, the Russians withdrew to the side lines to watch and applaud after each number. Word spread that it was, without question, a nastoyashaya Amerikanka — a real American girl — who was dancing. Tgat brought more onlookers and finally, probably as a result of a bet, a Red Army lieutenant came smiling to our table and inquired of my escorts if they had any objections to asking the Amerikanka for a dance.

The boys all agreed that he might ask me, and I was enchanted. So we danced. He got a firm grip around my middle, stretched toward the far end of the dance floor, his shiny black leather boots sometimes coming down hard — and there's nothing harder — on my feet. But he loved it and so did I.

When the music ended, my beau gallantly took my right hand in both of his and tenderly kissed it, looking me straight in the eye. Then he guided me back to my table, kissed my hand again, thanked the whole table for the pleasure, and disappeared.

That started it. My friends quickly made a rule that I might dance only every other dance with the Red Army stag line which swarmed about our table. Each Russian cavorted as ebulliently as the first, and each kissed my hand at the end of the performance.

Red Army officers far outnumbered civilians that night at the Astoria — and generally in Moscow night clubs, I was to learn. Many had their wives with them, bulging, drably dressed women, who were as energetic in the dance as their husbands. Some had their girl friends, and some had tramps — who looked just about like tramps anywhere, except that these had more than their share of shiny gold teeth and stiff-braced bosoms. They wore more of the orange lipstick than nice girls would — and, anyhow, nice girls did not go to restaurants unchaperoned.

Being the only American girl free to go where I wished, I had numerous opportunities to learn about Moscow's night life. There were scarcely more than three restaurants open when I arrived. The Moskva was the hot spot during the war and afterward. It was the largest restaurant — with the largest dance floor and the biggest, noisiest crowds. It was rowdy and expensive and promised a skandal (fight or furious argument) at any moment.

During the war there was a 1 A.M. curfew. And strict. It meant that the Metro, all street traffic, everything but military movements stopped at that hour. The result was that the night clubs stayed roaring full all night long. The orchestras quit at 3, but the waiters kept on bringing drinks, and the celebrants guzzled themselves sleepy, quarrelsome or amorous until the curfew lifted at 5 A.M., when those who still could, made their way home.

Foreigners could get away after 1, often just by showing their identification cards, very impressive with big red seals. We Americans could argue that we lived just across the square. Once outside, we generally were able to talk the bayonet teams into passing us.

Though D-Day night was a special exception, I seldom went to a night club where Russian fighting men did not dance with me. Always, and punctiliously, they asked me my escort's permission first, and generally they left me afterward. But on a few occasions, vodka-emboldened warriors heavy with medals braved the foreigner taboo and remained at our table to talk, and sometimes hopefully offered to take me home.

One cold blustery night, an American who lived next to me in the Hotel National knocked on the wall. He had some extra rubles, no desire to sleep and a craving for a midnight steak. Would I go to the Moskva with him?

We took a table rear, far from the crowded dance floor, and attacked our beef. But in the middle of it, a stocky, black-haired Red Air Force pilot came over to our table and asked for a light. Then he sat down and helped us finish our bottle of wine.

By the time the NKVD* (secret service) spotters caught up with him — all waiters were required to shoo Russians away from foreigners — we had decided to hell with it! We were a threesome and so we would remain.

For some reason, perhaps because the little pilot had about 20 medals jingling on his chest, we got away with it. He ordered a steak and vodka, scorning our wine, and talked about his friends in the French Normandie Squadron fighting in the north, and his dream of flying an American four-motored plane.

At 2 A.M., after we had eaten and danced till we were tired — the Russian pilot insisting that only he and American tovarisch should dance with me — he said he had a friend we should call on. We left the restaurant, persuading him that it would be unwise to wake up a friend at that hour, particularly with two foreigners. He agreed, but insisted it was much too early to go to bed. Besides, his bed was about 13 miles outside Moscow at an Air Force barracks and his only chance getting there now was to hitch-hike. Couldn't he please come home with us?

So we let him. When we reached the hotel we again tried to send our pilot on his way, but he was just tight enough to be tearful, and he painted such a grim picture of icy roads and unfriendly patrols that finally my escort said: “Okay, tell him to come up and sleep on my couch. But it's on his head if he gets into trouble.”

I translated and the weepy pilot swore that nothing could be worse than going home. “Besides,” he added ingenuously, “if they get tough with me, I'll just tell them I was drunk and don't remember anything.”

We walked past the policeman at the door as if we didn't know each other and the pilot followed us upstairs, all of us tiptoeing past the little old man on night duty whose inquisitive, terrier-like face was buried in his arms; he was asleep.

Fingers on lips, constantly shushing our talkative guest, we made t unchallenged up the four flights to our floor, where we hid the Russian pilot around a corner while we awoke the old woman who served as floor clerk to get our keys. Barely waking, she handed over the keys and resumed snoring. I went into my escort's room, where I helped him fix covers and a pillow for the hard little couch. As I left, the pilot was already out of his boots and stripping off his blouse. We never leaned just how he manged to get out of the hotel undetected next morning, but he made it. Two weeks late I met him again at the Moskva. He was still on furlough and having fine time. He danced once with me, but he didn't ask again if he could see me home.

_

* In 1946, the NKVD was succeeded by the MVD, the Ministry of Home Affairs

Because Moscow's young lades cannot be seen in night clubs without loss of reputation, home parties are a big social item. But they are likely to be crowded. Even a small guest list packs a two-room apartment. At that, it's safer for an American new to Moscow attend a party where guests sprawl on the floor than a more formal sit-down party, for Russians take an unholy delight in ganging up on strangers at such affairs — just as Stalin's aides are reported to do at the big shindigs in the Kremlin.

My friends, Alexander and Olga (nicknames Sasha and Olia) once staged a party for six Americans and six Russians. We Americans parked a block away and arrived in pairs so as not to attract attention. The main room, about 12 by 16 feet, was crowded with furniture and guests. A dozen chairs and stools were drawn up around a big table and a small phonograph was squeaking out Russian jazz from a warped record. There were plates full of appetizers and black bread and, at every third place, a bottle of vodka and one of wine.

As soon as the last guest arrived, we were seated. Apparently the was no formal seating plan, but it happened that every American found a Russian on either side.

Then the toasts — and the fun — began. I knew what to expect. I saved my concern for an American major opposite me, a man who had just arrived in Moscow and obviously had not been told the facts of Moscow night life. He was flaked by two cute, chubby, ex-Red Army girl officers who saw their duty — and did it.

For once I was first with a toast — to Olia's mother. That started things. I had the woman's prerogative of toasting in wine and refused to be drawn into a vodka drinking bout with blond Sasha on my left or Misha, a dark, gay, big-eyed Red Army tank man, on my right. Instead, I kept my eye on the major.

First one of his pretty companions tapped him on the wrist and proposed a toast: “To the American Army and the Red Army.” The major, being a man, had to drink the toast in vodka. Moreover, being a member of one of the organizations toasted, he had to drink it do dna — to the bottom.

Meantime, the girl who had wisely ignored the first toast had been stowing away zakuski, including a stable drinking-base of black bread. Three minutes after the first toast, she proposed a toast to Victory over the Fascists. The major drank another one — do dna.

He turned now to the pickled fish on his heaping plate. Meanwhile the first girl had practically polished off her first full plate of everything. Now, she returned to the contest and, engaging the major in casual conversation, discovered he was the father of four children.

“Ah,” she exclaimed, “in all the world there is no better toast that one to children. I drink to your children and to all children.”

The beaming major agreed, and downed his third straight vodka in less than 15 minutes. He had scarcely touched his food, but his two companions were already at work on their second helpings. Now the other girl tried him out again.

“TO DROOOOZHBA!” she cried with a flourish, holing out her small glass of wine. “To friendship between our two great peoples!“

By now the major was cocky. He winked at me. “Say — this is the way to drink. I could go on like this for a long time.”

He did. The girls kept thinking up toasts that no gentleman could ignore — to Stalin and Roosevelt, to peace, even ti health. The major was quite a man, but. . . .

The rest of us, knowing what our partners were up to, managed to drink in wine or not to drink do dna. The Russians were a little piqued, but when the party broke up at 2 A.M., the major was our only casualty. We got him out, with a helper under each arm and a silk scarf stuffed into his mouth to muffle the wailing baritone in which he begged the world to “bury me not on the lo-oone prairie-eeee!“

I was able to give a number of parties myself when I was at last assigned to an apartment outside the Embassy. My three-room apartment in a Russian apartment house — with no police guard at the door — was a magnet for the curious.

All my simple furnishing were American. Being used to quarters stiff settees, monstrous tables and hip-high beds, my guests were fascinated by the ”emptiness” of my home. Best of all, there was room to dance. Other attractions were American jazz records and home movies.

My practice was to invite one Russian whom I knew and have him or her invite the rest of the party. That way there was no danger of Russians bumping into others they didn't know or couldn't trust. On one typical occasion, the entire party of five Russian men and four girls arrived half and hour early, just as I had smeared my face with cream after preparing the drinks — grapefruit juice and bourbon — which had less authority but more zing than Soviet Koktail of straight vodka which orange peel has soaked for 24 hours.

I shooed the men into the living room and the girls all flocked into my bedroom while I finished dressing. In five minutes they had tried on my hats and shoes, tested the bed by bouncing on it, gone through my jewelry box and experimented with my makeup, then rubbed it off and replaced it with their own orange glow. They giggled over everything, especially my quaint practice of wearing my slip outside my pink snuggies. I giggled too when they flipped up their skirts to show me how they tucked their white cotton slips inside knee-length gray boomers.

I finally got them away from the dressing table and into the living room, only to discover that the five men were crowded into my tiny kitchen. One had pulled the refrigerator away from the wall and was examining the motor on top; another had the door open and was extracting an ice tray. Two others had discovered the pop-up toaster, and the fifth sat on the window still taking it all in.

I held the ice tray under the tap, put the cubes in a bowl and refilled the tray with water. (Later I noticed that a first-time guest named Sergei went several times to the kitchen, pulled out the tray and tested the process of freezing with his finger. Thereafter, at my parties, Sergei was official iceman and no one else could remove the cubes.) For the toaster addicts I demonstrated with a slice of bread. They goggled with gadget worship and insisted that I take the marvel into the living room to show it to the girls.

Eating was always a problem at my parties because uncorrupted Russians eat and drink simultaneously and copiously. But I served only koktails before the movie with a plate of hors d'oeuvres, usually dainty round bits of white bread with a smear of cheese or a slice of Spam. Strange Russians would be aghast at this queer cup of tea. Drinks but no food except these piddling tidbits? But one of the regulars would usually take them aside and spell it out for them.

After the movie, I would serve an American buffet supper. This, too, stumped the uninitiated. The food would be put on the table — meat pie, biscuits, pumpkin pie, apple pie — and the chairs placed around the walls. One of my older friends would explain that, since Lisa had such a small table and so few chairs, each was to help himself, then sit down where he could. The consternation never lasted long. Russians are good picnickers and mostly ended up cross-legged on the floor. The more sophisticated of my guests liked to smoke my cigarettes — one of them always requested a “Looky Strooky” — but incautious first attempts to handle our cigarettes ended in confusion. The Russian cigarettes are called papirosi, and are mostly paper. Each has a two-inch cardboard mundstuck, an individual holder, attached to an inch-and-a-half of cigarette. Russians, consequently are “wet” smokers. When they smoke our cigarettes for the first time, they wind up with their teeth full of paper and soggy tobacco shreds.

Most of the Russians I got to know in Moscow didn't go to work until 10:30 or 11, and this always constituted another party problem. They never wanted to go home. At about 1 A.M., therefore, I would give the high sign to one of my friends and word would spread that Lizotchka had to get up at the ungodly hour of 8 and be at work the unheard hour of 9, so it was time to go home.

They would finally go, noisily shushing each other, down the stairs and out into the blackout. Some would return at the next invitation. Others never came back. Still others would risk three or four parties before, their curious satisfied, they would decide they had better swear off foreigners before they got into trouble with the NKVD.

As I made friends among the Russians, I came to be invited to nice, small, spontaneous evenings out. Someone I knew would call up and say that a friend was in unexpectedly, from Odessa or Leningrad or Omsk, and wanted to meet a real live American girl.

And often I'd be asked not to wear “that drab brown dress” — which I valued because it made me relatively inconspicuous among my shabby Russian friends. “Come looking like an American,” they would say. “Put your hair on top of your head, put on a lot of makeup and wear your red suit with the pale blue blouse.”

So I would dress as directed and go. Feeling a trifle silly, like something from the zoo, I would meet the visitor from Omsk and eye him as covertly as he did me. But usually, the problems of language broke down our embarrassment and we were able to accept each other as friends of a friend. We would talk of rationing, of German atrocities, of differences between our two great countries. But we never got much beyond that.

For a young Amerikanka traveling about Moscow, a car is a luxury, so I welcomed the use of office machine. But I never drove more than 80 miles outside Moscow. Russian roads do not arouse the tourist urge, even if you have permission to travel. Plane and train are the only conveyances for long distances and, until the summer of 1946, even these were restricted to priority travelers.

A year after the war, however, a formal announcement from the Kremlin lifted travel restrictions, so Elma Ferguson and I decided on a Black Sea vacation and set off by train. All went well at first. All would have continued to go well, no doubt, if we had not decided to test the amount of actual freedom given a foreigner by leaving the Intourist route. Moreover, we decided to see how far we could get without using our foreign diplomatic-identity cards.

In Tiflis, where we had given ourselves 24 hours for sight-seeing, we men a pleasant young Georgian woman who suggested we take a picnic lunch next day to Gori, a three-hour train ride, and visit the birthplace of Stalin. We did. We saw the works, including the humble cabin where Joseph Vissarionovitch Djugashvili was born and which is now enclosed in a fancy Greek temple.

We walked, viewed and picnicked our fill and, with a couple of hours to kill before our 6 o'clock return train to Tiflis (which would give us just ten minutes to make our connection to Batumi), we were back in the station. Our guide had gone off to see about tickets.

When a big, double-chinned, oily-skinned man in uniform entered, we paid no attention until he addressed us jovially in Russian and invited us to go out with him to “see something interesting.” The day was hot and the man's uniform was not trig. I recalled afterward that his hat was pushed well to the back of his head. He led us through a trim lawn-garden and through a charming rustic stone doorway to a near-by building which I thought was perhaps a museum.

We entered a rectangular room containing a long table and an official-looking desk. The big man gave us chairs, sat at the desk and, taking off his cap, tossed it top downward on the table. I stiffened. It was red and blue. An NKVD cap! Our jovial guide was really a lieutenant in the secret service.

I looked up at the window. It was barred. The door was shut. I nudged Elma. “Do you see what I see? We're in jail!”

The boorish lieutenant didn't approve of our speaking English. He growled: “You both speak Russian?” I answered that I did, but my friend only a little.

He smiled. He had thick lips and his smile wasn't friendly. “Very well, talk. Who are you? What are you doing here?”

II told him my name was Elizaveta Eagan, that I was an American from Moscow on my way for a vacation at Batumi; that my companion was Elma Ferguson, British, also from Moscow and going to Batumi. We had been routed by Intourist by way of Tiflis, where we had decided to make a side trip to the birthplace of Marshal Stalin. We had now seen the sights and were waiting for our train which would make a connection at Tiflis for the Black Sea.

“Now,” I said, “I see you are NKVD. Will you please tell me why we are being held here and how er are going to make our train?”

“Train?” He grinned. “You have no need to worry about trains.”

He tossed a chuckling comment to a swarthy little man who had entered the room as the questioning began and was sitting silently. I took it that he was the local Communist Party secretary, just observing.

I began again pointing out that we were legal travelers with Intourist tickets, that Moscow had lifted wartime restrictions on travel, and that he had no right to restrain us.

“Now, Tovarisch Elizaveta — ” the lieutenant interrupted.

I interrupted right back: ”I'm not your tovarisch and, to you, I am not Elizaveta. You will please address me properly.”

That stung him. After a few flustered words in Georgian to the party man, he returned to the attack.

He asked for our passports. I told hum he should know that Intourist had taken them away as soon as we registered at the Tiflis hotel, and we wouldn't get them back until we checked out.

By now it was nearing time for our local train to Tiflis. I said as much to the lieutenant and demanded that a decision be made. I insisted that, if we were to miss our train I must at once be allowed to call Intourist in Tiflis and friends in Moscow. That stumped him. He said he would have to submit the matter to his kapitan.

“Bring on your kapitan,” I said. “I'd like to discuss this phony arrest with him. You were going to show us ‘something interesting.’ Show us your kapitan.”

Soon he came back with a tallish, spare-haired captain. The lieutenant was talking volubly. The captain was looking worried. They stopped in the corner and held a conference in mumbled Georgian with the party man, then the captain came to the table and addressed me. He asked all the questions the lieutenant had asked, and got the same answers. Then he asked the one his fat aide had not: “Did Intourist route you to Gori?”

I admitted it had not. He shrugged. “See?”

”I do not see,” I snapped. ”Is it forbidden to go on a picnic without a special pass? We have ridden an interurban train up here from Tiflis to have a picnic and see the great Stalin's birthplace. What is so illegal in that?”

The outburst got us nowhere. Mumbling a few words, the captain left the room. At 15 minutes of train time, I insisted that the lieutenant go get Kapitan. He left. The party man left. The train came and left. Elma and I could hear it through the barred window.

I was concerned then. How could Intourist, or our Embassies, trace us? Had we got ourselves in a jam we couldn't get out of? I confess we were worried and scared.

Finally Kapitan and the lieutenant returned. They had questioned our guide. Her story agreed with ours, but they were taking no chances. We were not to be turned loose . . . yet. At this point, I knew it was time to play our trump card — and hope for the best. I pulled myself up, took a deep breath and let my words rip:

“Listen, Mr. Captain, I am a diplomatic attaché from the American Embassy and the editor of the magazine Amerika, published by the Bureau of Information and Cultural Affairs in Moscow. My friend is a diplomatic attaché of the British Embassy and an editor of British Ally, published in Moscow. Now, are you satisfied?”

Kapitan studied us and his lean cheek twitched. Then he turned on the lieutenant with old fury. Even in Georgian, I knew what he was saying. ”Great grunting son of a pig! Look what you have got us into with your clever spy catching. Diplomats! Immune diplomats! No one can arrest them. We shall be lucky if this does not cost us both our heads.”

I broke in on the captain by asking if we could go now. “But certainly, certainly, a great mistake . . . You understand, of course, you have not been arrested . . .”

Not arrested? Then how explain the missed train, the missed connection in Tiflis? If he had released us in time to catch our train, we should not have considered ourselves arrested. As it was . . .

Kapitan bellowed for the station master. In a moment the little man appeared. “The express to Tiflis — when is it due? Stop it!”

The little man answered calmly: “Impossible, Tovarisch Kapitan. The express cannot be stopped.”

What look the Kapitan turned on him then I do not know, but I saw the little man's face blanch. “Yes — yes, Tovarisch Kapitan. I shall stop the express.”

Ten minutes later Elma and I were installed in a luxurious compartment, having been handed up the steps by the bowing, scraping captain. Behind him stood the lieutenant, timidly smiling and bearing Elma's coat. The captain tried to make his last smile friendly.

“And please bear in mind, Citizens,” he said, “that you have not been under arrest. One so humble as I, a mere kapitan, could not presume, you know, so much as to question diplomats.”

I did not sleep well that night. I kept wondering what might have happened if we had not been immune diplomats.

No Russian has immunity from arrest, and the fatalism with which they undertook friendships with Americans often astounded me. They risked their jobs, ration books, even apartment leases by befriending me. I felt imepped, in turn, to protect them. There is no one I am more concerned with protecting than the man who bought my Christmas tree decorations.

It was my second Christmas in Moscow. When I heard that the Mostorg (Moscow's Macy's) had the ornaments, I couldn't stay away. Aroun the counter where the baubles were on sale, the crowd was five deep.

I had pushed well to the front when it dawned on me that I did not know the Russian names for these things. I looked around for help. On my right was a short, shoving, Red Army pilot. On my left, a studious-looking, pleasant, dark young man in civilian clothes. Perhaps because he was at least five foot ten, I turned to him.

“Bute-lubezni . . .” I began — which means something like “Have the goodness . . .”

He smiled a really warm, attractive smile and said, “Pazhaluste — Your pleasure, Citizeness . . .”

I told him, first, that I was an American and, second, that I wanted to get some of the ornaments but didn't know their names.

“Merely point out what you wish,” he said smilingly. “I shall do the rest with pleasure.”

I did, and he did, and I thanked him. Then we prated — as simply as that.

About a month later I was in the between-acts promenade in the Bolshoi Theater. He was standing on the steps. Our eyes met. I smiled and his eyes lit up. He nodded, ever so slightly. Here was a cautious one, I thought; he'll have no dealing with an inostranka. And I decided to forget him.

Later, after we had taken our seats, I swept the theater with my rented glasses and saw him. He was looking at me. I lowered the glasses and smiled. So did he. And that was all there was to that.

The next time I saw him, perhaps two weeks later, was when I was enjoying a manicure and he was having a haircut in the hotel barber shop. We paid our rubles at the same time and he followed me out. Instead of turning toward the Embassy and its vigilant guards, I turned in the opposite direction and started walking purposefully — nowhere. Within a block I heard his quick step crunching on the snow-covered sidewalk and, glancing sideways, met his shy grin.

“The Russian lessons?” he asked in English. “How do they go?”

As I fumbled for an answer, he went on in halting but correct American. He apologized for “accosting me,” and when I brushed that off by asking where he had learned English and why he hadn't used it at the Mostorg, he explained, now in Russian:

“I speak English, though not well, partly because I am a metallurgist and must read it, partly because for several years I worked as an interpreter for an American mining engineer in the Urals. Also, partly because my mother's first husband was an Englishman.”

He stopped speaking, but his eyes twinkled. Then he added: “But you are the only American I have ever spoken since nine years ago when the mining engineer was ordered home.”

“You know, of course,” he added, “that we Russians are discouraged from having contacts with foreigners — that I should not be walking with you. Do not think I disapprove of such regulations. I approve. I believe it is a good thing to discourage Russians meeting foreigners.”

I took issue with that. In a world grown small by virtue of radio and aircraft, I argued, all the world's people needed to know about all the others so as to create peace and brotherhood.

“No,” he said. “Our country is young. Our political and economic system is the most advanced in the world, but it is still not strong. We do not yet have physical comforts. Our people are not yet wise. Many might become overcritical if they knew how great is the difference between the way we must live and the way the big capitalistic countries do.”

He went on to say that he felt no qualms about talking to a foreigner because he was quite satisfied with his life and his future. He could withstand the “temptation.”

“But I'm no fool,” he added. “I know I am breaking the unwritten law in walking and talking with you. Anyway, may I go walking with you again some day soon? Sunday at 5 P.M., say, on Gogolovski Boulevard?”

I said yes, and that I understood the situation, but wasn't he risking a lot just to practice his English?

He flushed, then grinned shyly and looked me straight in the eye. “It is not the English. I would like to know you. So — shall we walk on Sunday?”

I said what any girl would. Yes. It was only after we parted that I realized we had not even introduced ourselves.

It is dark in Moscow in winter-time at 4:30, but we had no trouble finding each other for our date. We struck across the little park above Pushkin Square and out the boulevard. This time I took the initiative. Perhaps he already knew my name, but I said: “My name is Elizabeth. What is yours?”

He told me — Alexei — and asked me my father's first name. I answered William, and he told me his father's name was Mikhail. That put us on a very formal footing and we remained Elizaveta Vasilevna and Alexei Mikhailovich for the next several meetings. For we made other dates and walked miles through the bitter Russian nights.

It was at the third meeting that Alexei brought me a bundle of press clippings — stories about Russian women scientists, doctors, writers, politicians, soldiers. I explained 6hat we got all these stories at the office, and he rather lamely excused himself by saying that he wanted to be sure I saw what marvelous opportunities the Soviet Union granted its women.

Suddenly I realized that I was being wooed. Alexei Mikhailovitch had a motive in trying to sell me on a future in the Soviet Union.

We walked all winter — once or twice a week. When spring came we were still walking thought we had got to the Lisa and Alyosha stage. But Alexei never came to my apartment and I never met him anywhere but on the street.

One day in May we took a train to the country. We got off at a little village station on the edge of a birch forest and walked through the sodden leaves to a hillock just beginning to green. We ate our picnic lunch. Afterward we strolled through the sunlight into the helter-skelter cluster of log cabins that was the village-proper.

Alyosha stopped a sweet, wrinkled old Babushka and asked her if there was a place in the village where we could buy a glass of tea. She insisted we come into her house. As we entered the old lady's cottage, I whispered to Alexei that he must explain I was an Amerikanka.

So he did, and she did not seem to fear me. Instead she beamed all over and, turning again to Alyosha, asked: “And you, boy, you are the husband of the young Amerikanka?”

Alyosha turned to me. “What shall I sat? May I tell her, Lisa, that I soon shall be?” Then, in a swift outpouring of persuasive Russian: “Let me say it, Dorogaya moya — my dear. Will you stay in Russia with me — be my wife — join me and my people? . . .”

I had known it was coming. But this was — literally — too sudden. I lost the words of Alyosha's impassioned plea, but the gist was that he was offering me the greatest gift in his power to bestow: that I should, by marrying him and becoming a Soviet citizen, fulfill the destiny of modern woman by renouncing the false idols and ideas of imperialistic capitalism for world-wide communistic brotherhood.

I don't know, really, how I should have reacted to such a proposal — by moonlight, say, on the banks of the Moscow River, or even if it had been offered in a peasant cottage without political orchestration. But I could not help looking beyond Alyosha to Babushka. I saw her eyes darting from his lean, strong figure in his dowdy, almost-threadbare civilian “uniform” of shiny blue-serge coat and worn brown trousers to my old, but still firm and well-cut, mustard-colored tweed suit.

I realized, which Alexei had not, that he was speaking Russian and that Babushka had anticipated my answer with her eyes.

“Alyosha,” I said, and I spoke in English but my answer was American. “Alyosha, you are kind, considerate and most patriotic. But I cannot marry you. Not for the reasons I see in the eyes of our hostess — not for any reason that would occur to you, because it has nothing to do with clothes or food or housing — not for the reasons you defend as justified in keeping Russians and foreigners apart.

“Believe me, Alyosha, I cannot marry you—” and here my voice almost broke, because he had never before looked so admirable, so almost-heroic, so dedicated — “because you do not really love me. You love Russia. You would love to make a convert. You want a disciple, not a wife.”

I had got a grip on myself now. I was filled with a rush of recollections of Red Army men and women — fliers, foot soldiers, policemen, housewives, students — all of them living in daily dread of a visiting from the secret police.

“I am an American woman, Alyosha,” I concluded, “and I have bred in my bones the conviction that a man — or woman — is not born to serve the State but that the State is born to serve the man or woman.”

[andrewuttaro]

New Look Sabres: GM 4 - MTL - Battleships

Montreal doesn’t get any hype in this introduction. You handed the Leafs their first loss of the season on Hockey Night in Canada over the weekend… *golf clap* … good for you. I got no love for you french speaking mother fuckers. Max Domi was a great acquisition last season, really shored up the shitty culture brand y’all are known for. Even with the must-have French name Jonathan Drouin isn’t safe from being chased out of town. Y’all can piss right off. Yeah, this postgame is going to be marked explicit if you didn’t gather that. These two teams have met 7 times in the Stanley Cup playoffs and the first time is where we find our Greatest Game Against brought to you by the Sabres 50th Anniversary season. April 10th, 1973 is the day Buffalo won their first overtime game and defeated the hated Habs 3-2 in Game 5 of the first round series off a Rene Robert goal. If you think I’m going a little too far back for the greatest game between these two teams then please, I invited you to grill me in the comments. What was a more significant game between these two franchises? There are plenty to choose from with the Habs. You’ll get more of them in the next games against the rivals from Montreal. Greatest Game Against will be a reoccurring segment this season as we celebrate 50 Years of our favorite NHL team. This game was bound to be a special teams battle. Both clubs are bottom right quadrant of the special teams graph. Sean Tierney calls that quadrant the fun one. That means both clubs get a lot of quality chances on the powerplay while giving up a lot of quality chances on the penalty kill. That kind of matchup means every time that whistle blows a penalty the game is about to see the most important stat change: the score. Either way this game was to be an early season test against a rival Buffalo is going to have to get ahead of this season to get a wildcard playoff spot come April. The test was as advertise and just like last year: a contentious battle to the very end.

The Buffalo Sabres came out swinging. Right away we got to see the game of special teams battleship unfold. Tomas Tatar got penalized for interference on Jake McCabe and off to the powerplay the home team was. The powerplay was hardly halfway over when Jeff Skinner kept the puck in the zone and passed it to Rasmus Dahlin who sauced it to Jack Eichel who got rid of it immediately across ice to Victor Olofsson who went top shelf to get his fourth goal in four games so far this season. He had some space too and you have to imagine as the other teams in these leagues realize he’s here those easy chances are going to start to disappear. Even after that goal the Sabres continued to exert their will. However now Montreal started stripping the puck more efficiently and pushing back. A tripping call went against Vladimir Sobotka and Buffalo went to another powerplay. This time however it was former Sabre Joel Armia who received the puck from Nate Thompson after a yucky neutral zone turnover. Similar to how Olofsson had scored somehow Armia had the space one-on-one with Hutton and put it in for the shorthanded tally. It was tied at one until Rasmus Dahlin got called for interference later on in the period and Montreal made him pay on their first powerplay. It was credited to Joel Armia again and so this first game of Conor Sheary’s absence feels like his spirit came to inhabit a former Sabre to get more players to score two goals against their former teams. In the first intermission though it didn’t feel like they were trailing as much as it felt like they weren’t leading. I suppose that’s an unimportant difference.

The second period showed just how narrow the difference between these two teams is at the moment. And once again it was special teams doing what we thought might happen. Tomas Tatar returned to the sin bin for slashing and Jack Eichel scored a nasty little dinger on the ensuing powerplay. That Montreal lead felt like it never existed, just the way we like it. It was a bounce back period and Buffalo managed to kill off a Habs powerplay through the midway of the game while guys like Vesey and Ristolainen, who looked a little rough in the first period, picked up their coverage. Then Montreal started to know they were getting pushed and began to fall back from the line on zone entries. Jeff Skinner and Rasmus Dahlin both took advantage of this situation and used it to test Keith Kincaid a lot. One of Dahlin’s shot dinged off a post and out. One of Jeff Skinner’s shots practically went in minus actually going into the net. The visitors were on the backfoot and so Captain Jack retook the lead for his team. He goes unassisted into the zone and shoots it through two and a half defenseman past Kincaid to go up 3-2 and get his second of the period and second of the game. The Sabres got the better of each of the meaningful statistical categories in that middle frame but what mattered would be the full 60 minutes in this important game. Let’s show em we’re a real team this season! Now it was time to see if the third period would be the prospering of or the doom of the New Sabres game-plan.

If the first forty minutes of this game was two battleships slugging it out, the third period was a whole ass, air and naval battle. My father-in-law is a big World War 2 buff. He’d call this the Battle of Midway. There are giant battleships getting blown up and aircraft dogfighting overhead; it’s at a point in the war when nobody knows whose necessarily better or who will win so it’s just brutal combat. This third period was chippy and bloody. It was the beautiful kind of hockey of tight plays and two ends of the ice. It was a track meet in the neutral zone and anyone who couldn’t transition *Cough* Dahlin *Cough* reversed the mad dash back into the other end. But it was less than a minute into the third frame when Jeff Skinner scored a very Jeff Skinner goal. Marcus Johansson strips the puck from the Habs on the blueline and gets it to the streaking Skinner who just does Kincaid dirty. He does a head-fake, he does a deke, he makes you hard cider spill, HE SCORES! Three goals in the first four games, a three-game scoring streak and who needs to be on the top line? Not Jeff Skinner! With that 4-2 goal coming a mere 47 seconds into the third period there was plenty of time left. Montreal didn’t lay down and die. Expect them to stand up and fight at every turn for the rest of the season. The wildcard race in this division is going to be an absolute slobber-knocker. The Habs had some zone time well the intercom was still announcing the Skinner goal and Joel Armia skated behind the net with the puck. He sees Jesperi Kotkaniemi somehow in the open looking at the stubble on Carter Hutton’s face. He gets it and sinks it, 4-3 Sabres still in the lead. Do note Kotkaniemi was picked after NHL Top 5 defenseman Rasmus Dahlin. Nonetheless the frantic pace of third period carried on. Armia almost capped off a hat trick with a couple sneaky plays. Kyle Okposo was knocking at the door! Sabres killed a penalty, Habs keep fighting. Max Domi rides two Sabres into the zone like a rude MAGA Santa Claus and almost scores a goal. Philip Danault tries a deke. Victor Mete got a nasty look on the powerplay. The Sabres ended up out-chancing and outshooting the Habs 39-27 but at no point was the game leaning heavily either way. It was downright pandemonium and it didn’t take a powerplay for Ben Chiarot to record his first goal as a Canadien shooting through the woods at 12:54 of the third. Brutal, we’re tied 4-4 and for nine more minutes the chaos continued. Then Danault gets called for slashing Sam Reinhart with 35 seconds left in regulation. Don’t worry, it went to OT.

As much as I wanted to not give up a point to a divisional rival you’ll be fighting for months to come, it felt inevitable even before the last equalizer. That four on three powerplay edge was helpful in the brief overtime period. The Eichel-Reinhart-Johansson-Miller unit was the only one that saw time in the extra frame, and they didn’t really leave their offensive zone at any point. However the powerplay ended before Eichel takes a shot, it bounces off Kincaid and goes to Colin Miller who bounces it right across to Marcus Johansson who is already winding up by the time the puck reaches him. Kincaid wasn’t moving when the puck passed him. Goal. Overtime winner! Sabres win 5-4. The sweaty soldiers can now return home from war. This was not a flawless win. Dahlin was too cute in the neutral zone against a super aggressive Habs side and Vladimir Sobotka was back to his black hole self. But this win is an early season statement that the Buffalo Sabres are a competitive team this season. We’re not going to sit back and fade into the bottom ten again this season… well we hope. This is a message to the middle of this stacked Atlantic Division: we’re not going to be an easy win, especially not at Key Bank Center.

The growth of this team is accelerating. It’s still going to be a process, but you can see the meshing happening. They’re accentuating their positives and downplaying their negatives. That’s maturity slow but surely. Speaking of maturity, this New Look Sabres blog is your place to come and be immature… within reason, don’t be an ass clown. Like this blog, share it with your friend and leave a pugnacious comment. I love a good faith chat about the team I love. If you’re a Habs fan and read this far I think you really should comment. I want to hear your story, especially if you were one of the dozens of Canadiens jerseys in the arena tonight. This was fun, I hope Friday night we have this much fun again. Either way I hope you read again. And hell, if you want to come see my ugly face in person I recommend you come on down to Buffalo Riverworks downtown this Saturday from 5:30-10. It’s Buffalo Pod-a-thon III and if you can’t handle my whole thing, I’m not nearly as intense in person, then there are dozens of other Western New York Sports personalities there. Dinner is included with the price of admission so I think it will be a fun Saturday night! Until then Let’s Go Buffalo! Undefeated in regulation!

Thanks for Reading.

P.S. Lindy Ruff had a wonderful little feature for the 50th anniversary in the second intermission. It made me a little emotional. That guy is a Top Ten Sabre top to bottom no matter what you tell me. He deserved at least one of the three Cups he almost got the Sabres to.

[watsonrodriquezie]

Dear Mark: Power Yoga, Pelvic Floor, Keto Reset and Osteoporosis

For today’s edition of Dear Mark, I’m answering three questions. First, is power yoga—a more “intense” version of yoga that includes strength exercises—a suitable alternative to strength training for aging women? Probably not, but that doesn’t make it bad or wrong to do. Second, what’s the deal with pelvic floor dysfunction after menopause? What’s the best way to improve that situation? And third, is the Keto Reset right for older women with osteoporosis?

Let’s find out:

Shannon asked:

Would you consider power yoga “lifting heavy things”? I do power yoga 2-3 times a week and it involves a lot of standing strength and arm/hand stands? Thanks and I love everything on Marks Daily Apple!

Not quite. Nothing can really compete with strength training and high-intensity work for building bone resilience and strength. Your bones need impact and intensity, and yoga generally doesn’t supply enough of it.

That’s why hopping in place can help strengthen hip and thigh bones in older folks. The jarring impact of landing—even from a modest height of six or eight inches—triggers bone resorption and remodeling in the legs.

That’s why lifting heavy things makes bones strong. The bone acts (along with the muscle) as a lever during the lift, which places a lot of stress on the bone. To recover from the activity and be ready for the next time it has to fulfill lever duty, the bone remodels itself, gaining density and getting stronger and more durable.

Power yoga is closely related to ashtanga yoga, long considered a more “intense” form of yoga. Yet an 8-month study found that Ashtanga yoga yielded only mild benefits to bone health. As for strength, another 8-month Ashtanga study by the same group found that it improved leg press strength but little else. It’s better than nothing, but it’s probably not enough to stave off the worst effects aging has on muscle and bone.

Still, if yoga is something you love, continue doing it. Yoga will improve your balance, coordination, flexibility, and even strength under certain contexts. Throwing in a single day or two of dedicated strength training on top of the yoga is a great way to have it all. One day a week is “enough,” two days a week is better (a recent study found that while older women training one day a week maintained strength, training twice a week was necessary to gain ever-critical lean muscle mass).

Power yoga varies a lot from place to place, so it really depends on how your instructor chooses to implement it. I just wouldn’t bank on it providing enough stimulus for your muscles and bones.

Michelle Reese wrote:

I’d like to know a little about how to strengthen and support the pelvic floor, which really gets compromised after menopause, making it hard to do the squats. I’ve really noticed the decline in function after menopause, even though I’ve been working out consistently my entire life. Thanks for doing the research and sharing today’s wisdom!

My pleasure. Thanks for reading!

Realize that the pelvic floor is a system of muscles, and muscles need to be used and loaded, lest they degenerate—which only speeds up as we age. The same thing applies to the rest of your muscle. It’s just that actively using the pelvic floor muscles is harder and less intuitive than actively engaging your biceps or hamstrings. They’re also hidden, so it’s easy to forget they even exist and need our attention.

For pelvic floor stuff, go with Katy Bowman. Check out her articles and books on the subject. Her expertise is unmatched.

Vicki M asked:

No doubt this has been discussed before…..however, for a 60 year old post menopause woman with osteoporosis (but still active, going to gym, walking etc), is Keto reset a good option?

The bad news is that this particular diet has never been studied in this particular population.

The good news is that, as a human, your species has been well-represented in the ketogenic diet literature.

In a long-term 5 year study of human adults, ketogenic dieting failed to produce any negative effects on bone health.

In a shorter study, a low-carb, high-fat diet (no word if it was “ketogenic” or not) failed to worsen bone turnover markers.

Some critics claim that ketogenic diets (and pretty much any diet that includes “evil” animal protein) “dissolve” bones by throwing off the acid/base balance, such that the body must break down bone to ameliorate the acid load. It’s not true, but if it were? In a recent study, elite female race-walkers on a ketogenic diet saw no change in their acid/base balance.

There are more wrinkles to the keto/bone health story, which I’ll explore in the near future. Stay tuned for that.

But long story short, keto reset is fine, provided you don’t just go keto and do nothing else. You still have to train (including strength training), get plenty of sleep, get vitamin D, and focus on the micronutrient content (including the bone-relevant potassium, calcium, magnesium) of your diet and not just the macronutrients.

That’s it for today, folks. Thanks for reading, writing, and commenting. Include any further questions or input you have down below and have an incredible day!

[fishermariawo]

Dear Mark: Power Yoga, Pelvic Floor, Keto Reset and Osteoporosis

For today’s edition of Dear Mark, I’m answering three questions. First, is power yoga—a more “intense” version of yoga that includes strength exercises—a suitable alternative to strength training for aging women? Probably not, but that doesn’t make it bad or wrong to do. Second, what’s the deal with pelvic floor dysfunction after menopause? What’s the best way to improve that situation? And third, is the Keto Reset right for older women with osteoporosis?

Let’s find out:

Shannon asked:

Would you consider power yoga “lifting heavy things”? I do power yoga 2-3 times a week and it involves a lot of standing strength and arm/hand stands? Thanks and I love everything on Marks Daily Apple!

Not quite. Nothing can really compete with strength training and high-intensity work for building bone resilience and strength. Your bones need impact and intensity, and yoga generally doesn’t supply enough of it.

That’s why hopping in place can help strengthen hip and thigh bones in older folks. The jarring impact of landing—even from a modest height of six or eight inches—triggers bone resorption and remodeling in the legs.

That’s why lifting heavy things makes bones strong. The bone acts (along with the muscle) as a lever during the lift, which places a lot of stress on the bone. To recover from the activity and be ready for the next time it has to fulfill lever duty, the bone remodels itself, gaining density and getting stronger and more durable.

Power yoga is closely related to ashtanga yoga, long considered a more “intense” form of yoga. Yet an 8-month study found that Ashtanga yoga yielded only mild benefits to bone health. As for strength, another 8-month Ashtanga study by the same group found that it improved leg press strength but little else. It’s better than nothing, but it’s probably not enough to stave off the worst effects aging has on muscle and bone.

Still, if yoga is something you love, continue doing it. Yoga will improve your balance, coordination, flexibility, and even strength under certain contexts. Throwing in a single day or two of dedicated strength training on top of the yoga is a great way to have it all. One day a week is “enough,” two days a week is better (a recent study found that while older women training one day a week maintained strength, training twice a week was necessary to gain ever-critical lean muscle mass).

Power yoga varies a lot from place to place, so it really depends on how your instructor chooses to implement it. I just wouldn’t bank on it providing enough stimulus for your muscles and bones.

Michelle Reese wrote:

I’d like to know a little about how to strengthen and support the pelvic floor, which really gets compromised after menopause, making it hard to do the squats. I’ve really noticed the decline in function after menopause, even though I’ve been working out consistently my entire life. Thanks for doing the research and sharing today’s wisdom!

My pleasure. Thanks for reading!

Realize that the pelvic floor is a system of muscles, and muscles need to be used and loaded, lest they degenerate—which only speeds up as we age. The same thing applies to the rest of your muscle. It’s just that actively using the pelvic floor muscles is harder and less intuitive than actively engaging your biceps or hamstrings. They’re also hidden, so it’s easy to forget they even exist and need our attention.

For pelvic floor stuff, go with Katy Bowman. Check out her articles and books on the subject. Her expertise is unmatched.

Vicki M asked:

No doubt this has been discussed before…..however, for a 60 year old post menopause woman with osteoporosis (but still active, going to gym, walking etc), is Keto reset a good option?

The bad news is that this particular diet has never been studied in this particular population.

The good news is that, as a human, your species has been well-represented in the ketogenic diet literature.

In a long-term 5 year study of human adults, ketogenic dieting failed to produce any negative effects on bone health.

In a shorter study, a low-carb, high-fat diet (no word if it was “ketogenic” or not) failed to worsen bone turnover markers.

Some critics claim that ketogenic diets (and pretty much any diet that includes “evil” animal protein) “dissolve” bones by throwing off the acid/base balance, such that the body must break down bone to ameliorate the acid load. It’s not true, but if it were? In a recent study, elite female race-walkers on a ketogenic diet saw no change in their acid/base balance.

There are more wrinkles to the keto/bone health story, which I’ll explore in the near future. Stay tuned for that.

But long story short, keto reset is fine, provided you don’t just go keto and do nothing else. You still have to train (including strength training), get plenty of sleep, get vitamin D, and focus on the micronutrient content (including the bone-relevant potassium, calcium, magnesium) of your diet and not just the macronutrients.

That’s it for today, folks. Thanks for reading, writing, and commenting. Include any further questions or input you have down below and have an incredible day!

[loreneweiner]

Commercial Real Estate Lawyer

Commercial real estate transactions are often complicated and can involve many moving parts, which makes commission disputes a challenge. Even when a listing agreement is written out in detail, legal disputes can arise during or after the sale of a property. This is why it is always a good idea to have a commercial real estate lawyer in your back pocket when issues arise. The confusion around procuring cause is a common source of disputes in real estate sales, and commercial brokers can easily find themselves embroiled in contentious litigation as a result.

Commercial Real Estate Matters

Procuring cause is a party that is responsible for successfully securing the sale. This concept is often at the heart of real estate disputes involving brokers and property owners.

The Utah Supreme Court has explained that to earn a commission as the procuring cause of a transaction, a broker must perform two essential tasks:

The broker must initiate negotiations by doing some affirmative act to bring buyer and seller together.

The broker must remain involved in the continuing negotiations between the seller and the buyer, unless the seller and buyer intentionally exclude the broker from the negotiations.

Unless the broker has failed to uphold their end of the deal, a property owner who refuses to pay commissions upon the sale of the property is usually found to be in the wrong. Even so, property owners or buyers may use the issue of procuring cause to claim that the broker is not owed any commissions.

Real Estate Commission Disputes Involving Oral Agreements

Though most real estate contacts involve written listing agreements, verbal agreements are still utilized in some circumstances, often in conjunction with a written contract.

Whether oral real estate commission agreements can be upheld in court or arbitration depends in part on the laws of each state; in Utah, these types of contracts are considered legal and binding.

It can be difficult, however, to prove the terms of an oral contract.

Having witnesses other than the two contracted parties can be helpful in demonstrating the validity of these agreements. Any informal correspondence such as emails, faxes, and letters can also prove critical in supporting a broker’s claims to unpaid commissions.

Don’t Wait to Hire a Real Estate Lawyer

Whether your contract was in writing or simply a hand shake agreement, it’s important to have qualified legal representation before entering the litigation or arbitration process.

First and foremost, you’ll want to ensure that you have the necessary legal protections in place so that you and your attorney can figure out the best way to approach your case.

For many clients, that involves initiating a broker’s lien. This is a process whereby the commercial broker can place a lien on the proceeds of the sale, and sometimes the property itself, until any owed commissions are paid. It is possible to file liens for the full value of those commissions.

Acting quickly to find representation will give you the best opportunity to recover what you’re owed under your listing agreement.

If you are involved in a commission dispute, you should contact an attorney with experience in commercial real estate litigation who will make sure that all pertinent documents and witnesses are leveraged to support your case.

Credit Suisse Fined $135M for Forex Misconduct

The Utah Department of Financial Services (DFS) fined Credit Suisse AG $135 million for unlawful conduct that disadvantaged customers.

According to the DFS’s investigation, for nearly a decade Credit Suisse foreign exchange traders secretly shared confidential customer information, coordinated trading activity, and attempted to manipulate currency prices. Through this cooperative effort, these traders sought to diminish competition between banks, allowing them to reap much higher profits at the expense of their customers.

The DFS investigation also uncovered that front-running—which is trading before the trader gets a client’s orders—was encouraged by Credit Suisse executives. From 2010 to 2013, Credit Suisse used an algorithm designed to front-run their client’s limit and stop-loss orders. During this time period, Credit Suisse executed approximately 31,000 limit orders and 41,000 stop-loss orders while employing this front-running tactic.

Internal documents show that Credit Suisse traders were fully cognizant of the potential for harm to customers, but continued to front run trades so long as they could make a profit. On one occasion, a trader wrote to the head of the electronic foreign exchange trading desk that: “we made some money by front running the orders at 25 in euro but probably will show as a loss on the client side.”

EXCESSIVE TRADING/CHURNING

“Churning” is excessive investment trading activity by a broker in a client’s account done to generate commissions for the broker.

Account churning is unethical and illegal. A victim of churning can pursue a claim for recovery of any lost money.

THE PROBLEM WITH CHURNING

Financial advisers’ duties include making suitable investments and placing the interests of their clients above their own.

However, because advisers are sometimes paid commissions when they make trades, some advisers engage in unnecessary and excessive buying and selling. They “churn” a client’s account to generate additional profits for themselves.

The transaction fees, potential tax liabilities, and poorly performing investments that commonly result from churning are not in the client’s interest.

Account churning, whether done in isolation or in combination with unsuitable investments or other unethical practices, violates Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) principles, such as the principle of “quantitative suitability,” as well as various state laws.

ELEMENTS OF A CHURNING CLAIM

An investor wishing to bring a churning claim against a financial adviser/brokerage firm must establish excessive activity and proof of control.

Proof of control means the broker/firm had effective control of the investment account. No single test defines excessive activity, but the following factors may provide evidence:

Turnover ratio: Turnover ratio is the total value of annual purchases made in the account divided by the account’s average monthly balance. An annualized turnover rate of 4 to 6 or higher typically indicates churning, but churning does occur at lower rates.

Cost-equity ratio: The cost-equity ratio (or “break even percentage”) measures how expensive the account’s trading strategy was. To calculate the cost-equity ratio, divide the total annual costs (including commissions and margin interests) by the account’s average balance. Trading that requires an account to earn annual returns of 15-20% or more indicates possible churning.

In-and-out trading: Buying and selling the same investment repeatedly is known as in-and-out trading, or “wash” transactions.

Clients who successfully demonstrate that their account was churned can typically recover damages for excessive commissions or expenses and any portfolio losses caused by the churning (including market gains that should have been realized had the account been properly managed).

Free Initial Consultation with a Commercial Real Estate Attorney

When you need a commercial real property lawyer in Utah, call Ascent Law for your free consultation (801) 676-5506. We want to help you.

Ascent Law LLC8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite CWest Jordan, Utah 84088 United StatesTelephone: (801) 676-5506

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Source: http://www.ascentlawfirm.com/commercial-real-estate-lawyer/