List Price : $199.99Price : $315.90 as of 2012-11-05 12:17 PM
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A literary legend became a TV phenomenon when DAVID SUCHET took on the role of Hercule Poirot, Agatha Christie’s most famous sleuth. Suchet’s Poirot became the most-watched detective in the history of the PBS Mystery! series and a hit all over again on A&E. Now, all 36 one-hour episodes from the series are available in this 12-disc Classic Collection. Using his "little grey cells" and aided by the affable Captain Hastings (Hugh Fraser), Poirot unravels the thorniest cases without mussing a hair of his famously sculpted mustache. Lush art deco period details and scripts infused with delicious Christie wit make these mysteries irresistible.
Phone Detective is the answer to all reverse phone lookup service questions.When the mobile phone industry debuted in the communication market, it created many effects, both positive and negative.Communicating and connecting with loved ones is easier and more efficient than ever before.Security, on the other hand, has been sabotaged; kidnappers, con artists, and stalkers have increased in numbers and are using the mobile phone to threaten and cause harm.A solution was needed so Phone Detective was created to be the answer that people have been searching for.Any call can be traced to determine the source, the location of the caller, his or her identity and residence (both previous and current), as well as background history.Tracing of unknown phone numbers with Phone Detective.When calls are made to and from our phones, it is necessary that the identity of that contact is known to us.These days, there are ways of tracing such calls before a decision is made to call a number back.Having such a feature not only helps trace unknown calls, but also helps delete irrelevant calls from our phone books.Reverse Phone Detective can be used to identify people who threaten others lives, as well as to help keep the contents of our phone books relevant to the cell phone owner.Connecting with old buddies and family members.High school and college life is forgotten quite easily; however, years later, the desire to reconnect with people from our pasts inevitably appears.While social networking sites are helpful, their results are often less than desirable.There is no telling when a colleague will join one of these popular sites, and even if he or she does join, it does not mean that they are easy to find.With reverse phone lookup, it is quite possible to find any of your old colleagues.Phone Detective offers this advantage, and when you become a premium member, you have access to millions of people's contact information, including previous and current addresses, background history, and phone numbers.Reuniting with friends and family members has been made possible by reverse phone lookup options.How safe are your children? Use reverse Phone Detective lookup service to keep them safe.The popularity of social networking sites and the debut of the mobile phone pose challenges to young people's security; many people are taking advantage of this in order to lure people to danger.There have been kidnappers, con artists, and criminals who have been caught multiple times with evil intentions.Knowing your children's whereabouts at all times may help curb this menace.Reverse phone lookup helps uncover the real identity of people connected to your children, including their criminal histories, even before meeting them in person.There is a lot that Phone Detective can do for the common man, other than bringing two distant people together, it can also help solve criminal cases, monitor communication on people we barely trust with those we care about, among others.
Gone are the days when you have to cough up top dollar to a private detective just to find out who is behind an unlisted phone number or cell number.The internet has really made the world a very small place and you can trace any phone number back to the owner in minutes using reverse cell phone lookup.We all have unknown numbers we wish we could put a name or face to.This could be for different reasons, which may range from catching cheating partners in the act to protecting our loved ones from the wrong kind of company, to uncovering the identity of mystery callers.Whatever your reasons may be reverse phone lookup helps you to uncover the identity of phone callers easily without any problem whatsoever.The available options for conducting a reverse lookup include the free and the paid option.Free reverse phone lookup is possible if the phone number is available in public directories like phone books but if what you are after is information on an unlisted number or mobile phone then it is advisable you go for a paid phone reverse lookup as free reverse cell phone lookup is not feasible.Tracing a cell phone number to get the details of the owner is no longer a hard task with the paid lookup sites that are available all over the internet.Just make sure you sign up with a reliable and reputable one.Paid lookup services conduct cell phone searches easily because they charge a fee for their services.Mobile phone numbers are on a private directory and the information on these directories is made available for a fee, this is why it is not possible to conduct a free mobile phone lookup.Paid directories do charge a fee, but with the quality of services they provide, it is worth every penny.With a reliable lookup service, you can be your own private detective and find out who is behind that cell phone number or unlisted number and keep your family safe.
List Price : $17.95Price :
as of 2012-09-27 12:05 AM
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Morse was beset by a nagging feeling. Most of his fanciful notions about the Taylor girl had evaporated and he had begun to suspect that further investigation into Valerie's disappearance would involve little more than sober and tedious routine ...The statements before Inspector Morse appeared to confirm the bald, simple truth. After leaving home to return to school, teenager Valerie Taylor had completely vanished, and the trail had gone cold. Until two years, three months and two days after Valerie's disappearance, somebody decides to supply some surprising new evidence for the case ...
The route to discovering if a wine is made by a custom crush client which is an individual or business that has qualified as a wholesaler but does not own their own physical winery or whether it was made by an actual winery can be dug up via a web search using the TTB's public COLA site.Start by doing a web search for "colas online public".This will lead you to a link to the TTB's "Search for COLAs" page.Once there the only box you need to enter any data into is the Product Name box.You will fill it in with what is the brand name on any bottle of wine you may have.The brand name on a bottle of wine is generally a prominent item, so easy to spot.Once you have filled this in just click "Search" and the public cola registry will be on its way doing the next step in your detective research.The screen that will come up next will be all the results for the brand name you entered.If this list turns out to be a dauntingly long one with many results that don't readily resemble the wine you are looking for just go back to the search page and enter a narrow date range for starters, considering that the wine you are trying to research was probably bottled in the last year or two.Once you have found the right wine in your search list, you will be clicking on its TTB ID # which will then take you to its unique COLA detail screen.If you scroll a bit down the page you will come to the section with details about plant registry and basic permit information.Here is your where your confirming details live to answer the question "are they a custom crush client?".If they are a custom crush client you will see another winery name and address listed there.You can also further verify this by clicking on "printable version" and viewing the information in box number 8 where if you see a statement there with the brand name you are researching along with "(used on label)" after it this is also an indicator of a custom crush client.Accessing the public COLA registry like this is a tool I use regularly when first beginning interactions with potential new clients.It provides me with their "portfolio" of sorts.I can see what wines they bottle, and what COLAs they already have on file.Then I have some background on them for further discussion in how I may assist them.If you are interested in doing your own wine detective work here is a link to the TTB's site. https.//www.Ttbonline.Gov/colasonline/publicSearchColasBasic.Do.
The Finder by Colin Harrison was an enjoyable read.Harrison is a compelling story teller who drives a relentless pace with quirky, slightly over the top characters and just as slightly over the top scenes.Like most of his thrillers, the novel is set in New York City which lends itself well to the "slightly over the top" parts.Harrison has been called "The Noir Poet" of New York, and though his work has a lot in common with the noir/hard-boiled genre I would define them more as an "Urban Thriller"; an age old genre I just now made up.The two main characters of the story are Jin Li a beautiful, sexy Chinese girl who runs a boring company called CorpServe that provides cleaning services for a number of New York High-Rise corporations.They also provide "secure" paper shredding services.CorpServe is owned by Jin Li's chauvinistic Chinese brother in China who behind the faade of his boring businesses is stealing said paper from certain American Financial movers and shakers.He uses this "forgotten paper" in a world of computers to gather inside information for his dirty rotten Chinese henchmen-business partners to make billions on the stock markets of America and Asia.Jin Li has recently broken off a relationship with her American lover, Ray Grant.Ray is a bit mysterious but Harrison seems to loose interest or his way in maintaining this sham of mystery.Ray is a NYFD fireman who was trapped under the twin towers on 9/11.He is left physically scarred and mentally wrecked so he runs off to exotic countries and drinks beer on warm beaches until he meets up with a Humanitarian Group that chases natural disasters and digs out the survivors.Ray has called recess on his 'haunted journey to rescue people' to come back to NY to be with his father who is a retired NY detective and battling the last stages of cancer.Throw in some bad guy "Masters of the Universe" wall street types and their dirty rotten billionaires, want to be billionaires, their corporate minions, and their corporations.Mix with some detestable semi mob connected and wanna be mob connected characters, a gone to pot-and Drambuie, obese check cashing queen who never leaves her bed and one small time lawyer who's only purpose seems to be to setup two unimportant sentences-one at the start and one at the end of the story-and provide a fifteen minute quicky with Ray so he has a place to park his pickup truck so the bad guys can find him and pick him up.Yeah, he lost me there, too.I tend not to like 'throw away' characters and subscribe to the Eric Jerome Dickey school of "Every Character Has Their Purpose-No Extras".The story opens at the end of an office cleaning shift for CorpServe and Jin Li at one of the corporations.Good Pharma, a bio tech that is about to release an IPO behind the strength of two or three major (read marketable) drugs and products.Problem is that someone in Asia has found out that the product pushing the price into the stratosphere has some problems in testing.Jin Li and her crew of illegal Mexican laborers have been selectively sending their trash to Shanghai where her brothers communist turned uber capitalist partners have started selling and selling cheap, endangering the IPO and the mega bucks the investors stand to make.Jin Li, being the international industrial spy master who is so careful maintaining her cover that she breaks it off with Ray because she is so in love with him and pillow talk being what it is, doesn't want to risk her secret getting out.So what does she do? She goes for an after work, early in the wee hours of the morning, car ride with her cliched Mexican workers with their cliched accents, in there "rattling, uninsured fifteen year old car with expired Georgia plates".They drive to the beach in Brooklyn to smoke a little dope and drink a little cheap wine.And get murdered in a particularly gross and over the top way.While "MeezaJin" is out taking a pee in the weeds a couple of guys show up in a sewage truck, lock the two Mexican girls in the car as salsa music blares from a cassette deck, break the sun roof and pump raw sewage into the car, drowning the girls.Not a particularly good way to end a shift of dusting the desks of Wall Streets movers and shakers.Jin Li, of course escapes thanks to her small Asian bladder and the cheap wine.Of course, she knows immediately that the "shitty" treatment was meant for her.So, she goes into hiding.Her inside trading, superior-to-all-things-American-or-female brother comes to America to see what happened to his sister, and of course his front/company.Although through the entire book he shows nothing like concern or respect or sibling love for his sister, he inexplicably will go to the ends of the earth to find her.Enter Ray Grant.Who is kidnapped from the throw away lawyers house after a pleasant fifteen minute roll in the sheets, and before she can cook his breakfast.And the race is on.Like I said, the characters are cliched, over the top and a lot of the scenes are a bit sensational and off beat so much as to challenge believability.But Harrison makes it work through an engaging story and pace.The story is told in a narrative style, almost tongue-in cheek way, that reminded me of "The Prince of Thieves" by Chuck Hogan without the gravity.Its voice is very cynical with heavy use of irony in the introduction phase and then switches to the third person as we meet the characters.He gets a bit wordy at times, spending pages exploring 'why' a character is the way he is and what the characters motivations are.He does this until you almost, but not quite, want to start looking for quotation marks so you can get back to the great dialog.But, this kind of annoyed me in this style in places.At one point towards the climax of the story, he spends about three or four pages describing a tree nursery, what it means to the billionaire who is meeting a shady wall Street fixer there, to manipulate a a few stock markets so as to drive up the price of Good Pharmas stock, so he can sell it and get his hundred million back.He waxes poetic about the variety of trees, what walking in this place meant to him as a child.How it is a secret from all his ex wives, how he likes to watch the gardeners care for the trees and so on until you want to go get a chain saw and cut the damn trees down so he'll continue the story.Then he gets on with it by instituting the plot to manipulate "the lift" on the stock.He throws out terms and financial strategies, techno jargon that only Wall Street types could possibly understand and you need a PhD in economics to appreciate.He spent about a paragraph and a half on this, potentially interesting and involving subject which is really the heart of the whole plot, after spending three pages on trees and a nursery that no one has ever heard of? And back them up against each other.Nevertheless, he makes it work through the pace and compelling plot as a whole.I had read two other Colin Harrison novels,The Havana Room and After Burn which, in my opinion were much better done even if they did employ some elements of the over the top situations and plot elements.This seems to be Colin Harrisons stock in trade, and there are far wore stocks to have.I'll read more of his work.
List Price : $99.99Price : $78.00 as of 2012-09-26 12:03 PM
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This high quality art poster is framed by our professional framers, and arrives fully assembled and ready to hang. The durable black wood frame measures approximately 20 x 30 inches. A clear plexiglass facing protects your poster and adds a lusterous shine. Posters are printed on heavy-stock, semi-matte paper producing the best possible combination of color vibrancy and durability. All posters from ClassicPix are produced and framed on demand one-at-a-time, just for you - not mass-produced. Our personal hands-on processing assures the highest quality. To see all of our prints and posters, click on ClassicPix above.
Image Title: Sherlock Holmes: His Last Bow (book cover)
When your doctor diagnosed you as having diabetes, did he issue you your detective's badge right then, on the spot, or did it arrive in the mail a few days later? Oh, it doesn't make much difference either way as long as you start wearing it soon after you get it.By the way, do you think people with diabetes should wear their badge all the time or only for two to three minutes immediately after eating? My thinking is that it should be left up to the person to see what works best for them.In case you are new at this and don't know what I am talking about, let me explain.This is certainly something you will need to know about if nobody has told you already.Let me test your current level of knowledge and then let's say we build on that.Have you ever watched any of the police or crime shows on TV? Of course you have, probably hundreds of them.It seems to me that they all begin about the same.The scene opens like this.A cell phone rings, a shirtless man or scantily clad woman awakens from sleep and reaches over to the bedside table, switches on the lamp, and picks up the phone.All you hear is a one-sided conversation."Sanders".Pause."When?".Another pause."Any witnesses?"."Be there in 20 minutes.".The next scene. The sound of an approaching siren, lights flashing and an unmarked car screeching to a halt.(Of course it's dark out, it's three in the morning.) A partial view of a crowd standing around something, usually a dead person, also commonly referred to as the victim.You hear a slamming car door and see footsteps entering the picture.The camera pans upward.You see Sanders, now in some sort of a long coat, holding a steaming Styrofoam cup in his left hand.A uniformed officer comes up.Sanders speaks."Hey Johnson, what do we got?".The uniformed cop reads notes off his very, very, small note pad."White male, approximately thirty - forty years old, found dead, laying face down in the street about 1.15 a.M.This morning, by this lady, Joan Doe, while she was out walking her doberman."."Anything else?" Sanders asks."Well, some witnesses say the dog was walking her," Johnson states matter of factly.Sanders turns his attention to the small woman, "How did you know the man was dead?"."There was a chalk line around his body," she replies.So you ask, what does any of this have to do with diabetes?Does any of this sound familiar? I believe just about every police show ever written starts off with a murder being committed.Then what? A detective appears on the scene, asks lots of people lots of questions, looks for clues, evidence, anything that would help the detective solve the crime, and then, just before the end of the show, with about 6 or 7 minutes left, the detective has enough information to solve the murder.So again, what does this have to do with you, a detective's badge and diabetes?Every time you test your blood sugar and it's not what it's "supposed to be," either too high or too low, then a crime has been committed.What's the crime? A blood sugar that's out of range?Whether it's too high or too low, it's dangerous.Lows are dangerous now and highs will cause serious problems in the future.In either case, the cause of the highs and lows needs to be identified.I have told patients and emphasized to them many times, that if you check your blood sugar, find it to be too high, and respond by saying, "Whoa, that's a high blood sugar," put your meter away, and then go on about your business, then there is little point in testing your blood sugar levels.Conversely, if every time you get a reading that is too high or too low you, figuratively, pin your detectives badge on your shirt and begin looking for clues as to what caused the high or low, then that is worthwhile, something that can lead to better management of your diabetes.I tell patients that the day they develop diabetes, they need to accept the role of detective.Let's say you test your blood sugar 2 hours after breakfast on a Monday morning; you have just gotten settled at work, 227mg/dl.Hmm, not so good.You turn your work ID around to its back side, the side that's got the picture of the detectives badge glued to it.That's right, for the next several minutes you are not Jim the software engineer, you are Detective Jim.Let's get started.You begin by asking yourself some very straightforward questions using the best Rod Serling voice you can muster, albeit in a hushed tone.You don't want the people in the next office to hear you."So Jim, why is your blood sugar level so high two hours after breakfast? What could have caused it?" There is a pause in the questioning as you think for a moment.You answer yourself, honestly, as if you are under oath."I don't really know," you say."Is it possible you ate too much for breakfast?" Detective Jim asks."No, I counted my carbs, only had about 50 grams, 60 at the most, which is on my meal plan."."Well tell me," continues Detective Jim, "did you happen to check your blood sugar before breakfast, and if so what was it?"."As a matter of fact, I did, and it was 180mg/dl."."So, actually, what you're telling me is that your blood sugar was high when you sat down to eat."."Yes, sir."."Don't call me sir unless you want me to call you sir."."Ok, that is correct, my blood sugar was high before breakfast.".(Imagine how Rod Serling's voice would sound when he has just figured out something and apply here, well, the next sentence.)."So if it was high before breakfast, isn't it likely that it would be high after breakfast, even if you ate the right food?"."Well, yeah."."So, now we know why you were high after breakfast, because you were already high before breakfast.Now the direction of the investigation needs to turn to look at why the blood sugar level was elevated before breakfast."."Let's go back about two hours from when you woke up.What were you doing?"."Sleeping."."Ok, how about two hours before that."."Still sleeping."."And finally, two hours before that."."I had just gone to bed."."What you are saying then is that you were sleeping for six hours just prior to waking up.Is there anyone that can verify that you were sleeping for six hours before you woke up?"."Yes, my wife.".(If you are going to be a good detective, you can't be afraid of asking the tough questions.)."The reason I asked that is because if you were to get up and go to the bathroom sometime during the night and on the way back to bed you stopped by the kitchen for a glass of milk, or an Oreo, or two, or sometimes even three, then you can expect to have a high morning blood sugar."."No, I never eat anything in the middle of the night unless my blood sugar goes down too low."."Ok, is it possible you forgot to take your diabetes medication last night?"."Let's see, I'll tell you what happened.I took one of my diabetes medications but not the other one because I ran out."."What is the name of the medication you did not take and how much are you supposed to take?"."Metformin, and I take 1000mg's with dinner."."We may have just solved the crime! Missing that evening dose of medication may be the cause of your high blood sugar before breakfast.Missing one dose of a medication is sometimes all it takes to allow your blood sugar levels to become elevated.Just to be thorough, let me ask just a few more questions.Did you have a snack just before you went to bed?"."No, not last night."."Did you eat later than usual, or did you eat more than usual?"."Well, both, I ate about 2 hours later than I usually do, and I ate more than I usually eat.Some friends of ours were in town that we had not seen in about 15 years since we moved from Seattle to Tampa, so we could be near my daughter, Madeline, who is almost 27 now and is married with 4 lovely children, ranging in age from 2-7.They are the cutest things and I tend to spoil them.We went out to dinner with them and I think we ate too much."."First of all, just the facts sir, save the gushy stuff for your friends.Please don't go off like that again."."Sorry."."I'm going to close your case now.My report will indicate that your elevated blood sugar after breakfast was primarily caused by your elevated blood sugar before breakfast that is likely the result of two to three factors..-missing your evening dose of metformin.-eating later than usual, and.-eating more food than usual."I feel terrible, so guilty," you whine."Don't, just learn from this investigation and do better next time."."Ok, it's a deal, thanks for not being too hard on me, Jim."."You are quite welcome.It's been a pleasure investigating your case.See you next time your blood sugar is too high.Bye now.".You flip your badge over, back to being Jim the Software Engineer.I am going to speculate that well over half of the time, probably three quarters of the times that a patient has elevated blood sugar levels above what they should be or below what they should be, if that patient plays detective for a couple of minutes, looking for clues that may have caused the high or low, they will be able to figure it out.Once this is done, the patient may be able to say something like, "After playing detective with my blood sugar readings for about a month, I noticed that about 80 percent of my high blood sugars were the result of apparently eating too much dinner.Once I started eating less at dinner, my blood sugar levels and HbA1C improved dramatically.In summary, the motivated patient can then initiate steps to prevent the same problem from occurring in the future.
"It took more than one man to change my name to Shanghai Lily," purrs Marlene Dietrich in Josef von Sternberg's film 1932 adaptation of Harry Hervey's book Shanghai Express.She certainly has her well-manicured talons sunk into more men than she can count in this exotic far-Eastern, chiaroscuro-cinematographic adventure.Among her fellow passengers on the Shanghai Express are her disenchanted former fiance', unshakable British medical officer Clive Brook; over-zealous missionary Lawrence Grant; dope smuggler Gustav von Seyffertitz; and enigmatic Eurasian businessman Warner Oland.Coincidently, Oland made frequent appearances in other China-themed movies, most notably as Charlie Chan, the benevolent and heroic Chinese detective based in Honolulu as well as a future movie character for this article.As the train chugs through the more treacherous passages of war-torn China, Oland reveals himself as the leader of a rebel group, who plans to hold the passengers hostage to secure the release of his imprisoned constituents.In Boule de Suif fashion, Dietrich, who portrays a notorious "Chinese coaster" has remained sexually remote throughout the trip, gives herself to Oland to save the life of Brook, the man she truly loves.Directed by Josef von Sternberg at his most orgiastic (check out the long, lingering dissolves!), Shanghai Express is 80% style and 20% substance.Tickets, please.This article is about China's 3 largest and most visible geriatric care developments to date.I warn you in advance, this article is painfully long but the information conveyed is important for those interested in senior living in China.Each of these projects has been in the market for at least 2 years and in one case nearly 5 years.I call them CCRC's (continuing care retirement communities) because, well, that is what they set out to be and in some part that is what the developers have accomplished.Or, better yet, are clearly struggling to accomplish.One of these developments had the benefit of limited foreign assistance, the others did not.The one that did clearly benefited and consequently has the best aged-care program in China today.All are chugging along with common weaknesses and each has their strengths.In sum, it is a mixed bag and to the inexperienced eye (read. China senior living experience, not western senior living experience; I say this as nearly all western geriatric care practitioners who see their first China project immediately conclude that all China senior care is a train wreck) it might seem as if the idea of senior living in China is just on the wrong track.But it is early and the train hasn't left the station, at least not just yet.Those who seek to conduct the senior care business in China are well advised to remember a few important rules of the China elder care experience. first, China senior living is where Western geriatric care was in 1950 but gathering steam quickly; second, never judge a project out of context, meaning. comparing a project in Chongqing to a project in Santa Barbara is meaningless as the buyers of the Chongqing project don't have that choice much less that perspective; third, the higher one stays in the acuity chain, the more leverage one has.Which translates into success; and finally, stay in the 1st class coach, period.Before this train departs, I would like to make one last observation.My thoughts below are a mildly critical analysis bordering on subjective evaluation and at times, some literary lampooning.Lest I be detained by the People's Senior Living Police at Beijing Nan Zhan (FYI. an enormous train station), I beg merciful consideration that these contemplations be seen not as cruel condemnation, malicious denigration, negative commentary or, heaven forbid, Confucian blasphemy of any CCRC discussed here or China's senior living potential in general.Quite the contrary, I am no apostate; I see a bright future and if these three communities are indications of what the Chinese can accomplish right out of the box, then the next decade will be outstanding for professionals in the China geriatric care business.And finally, as the whistle blows, for those readers not entirely familiar with a CCRC, they are usually defined as a campus style residential complex assembling a mix of independent living residences for active but senior adults, assisted living units for older adults needing some support with their daily activities and skilled nursing care for frail or infirm adults requiring frequent assistance or acute medical care.Additionally, there are often a variety of cultural amenities, exercise facilities and commercial support services which offer basic necessities and provisions, such as hair salon, laundry/dry cleaners and variety store.First stop, General's Garden.General's Garden!When I first visited General's Garden nearly two years ago, I thought, "This is it.Modern senior living has indeed arrived in China".But after my fourth trip and some pretty rigorous investigation and analysis, I began to see the cracks in both hardware and software, in a sense, the General's Garden's locomotive was running out of steam.General's Garden was opened to the public around 2009.It is located in the northeast quadrant of Beijing (off 4th ring road), not far from Beijing Capital International airport and the Museum of Film.The land was Ministry of Transport land and the property's perimeter remains a testing track for China's high-speed railway (true).I refer to General's Garden as a CCRC as it loosely embodies a simple definition of a CCRC, as outlined above.Indeed, General's Garden offers 51 villas or large townhouse style residences with private gardens, 160 independent/assisted living apartments and 280 skilled nursing units all within a gated compound.This facility also offers a 3-hole golf course (plus driving range), an unusual, man-made forested park, an unfeasibly large and as of yet unfinished 17,000m2 hot-spring clubhouse, an 160 room inn for visitors and a clinic specializing in traditional Chinese medicine.So what happened? Well, as of January 2012, only 14 of the Villas had sold and less than 10 residents purchased golf course memberships (which by the way, through October of last year, boasted an expensive, resident Australian PGA Pro to give lessons to all those resident members) since the opening 2 years ago.I would get into detail about the amenity membership program but it is way too complicated (ex.Golf course membership is priced on ball usage).The villas ranging in size from 700-800 square meters, carry a price tag of between RMB 45 million and RMB 55 million for unfinished space and the IL/AL units go for RMB 1.5 million plus services on an as needed, menu basis.And while the IL/AL living apartments and the skilled nursing units are fairly well occupied (75%-80%), there are likely a number of reasons for the stalled performance of the villas.As an aside, I have to note that the best thing about General's Garden is the aged-care program; it was set up by an Australian group and they did a superlative job.Until recently, an Australian also continued to manage this section of the facility; he has a great deal of experience and insight into how Chinese seniors need/want geriatric care.Kudos to this master of the China senior care experience! Our access to General's Garden's business plan has allowed us to tabulate much of their rental and sales data which we share with clients.Unlike the Little Engine That Could, ("I think I can, I think I can.") the General's Garden villas have never made it up the hill.I believe this is because..1) the land on which the facility is built is known as "collective land" which does not convey fee title to the buyer, only a long term lease (approximately 50 years for either a villa or an IL/AL unit).Consequently, potential purchasers are faced with an unappealing opportunity to buy an enormously expensive, depreciating asset which under Chinese law cannot be hypothecated,.2) General's Garden never seemed to have a comprehensive marketing plan and buyer outreach program other than pursuing the ownership's network of political contacts for unit sales, and.3) perhaps the least understood aspect of the facility, its capitalization and financial game-plan which seemed, at best, ad-hoc.Beginning early last fall the warning signals were as subtle as a diesel engine's piercing whistle at 4am. contractors stopped receiving payments and construction stopped on the remaining units and clubhouse, there was a sharp increase in deferred maintenance, a hostile takeover occurred and subsequently, most senior management ceased receiving paychecks.On the other hand the IL/AL units are comparatively speaking a success.And while ownership, meaning title conveyed, of such a unit is no different than that with a villa, they are much less expensive (in fact they are well priced at an average of RMB12,000m2).It is interesting to note that there has been a trend of older adults buying these units for their children to live in.However odd.Despite its raison d'etre as a CCRC, no writ of Chinese law prevents young people from living there.I guess this is an indication of the facility's pricing as much as its attractiveness, or more likely, the parents intend to move in at some future date.In late January 2012, new management at General's Garden, reeling from the enormity of their poorly analyzed, hostile acquisition, fired 12 persons many of whom were experienced senior managers.The terminal analysis is likely that General's Garden neglected to fully understand their market, didn't identify a target buyer and never adequately projected unit absorption against capital requirements to identify a breakeven point; a lethal mistake.I will say though, in all fairness, this review of General's Garden must contain praise for the original management whose fundamental concept of this CCRC is a sound, well integrated facility; it is just the execution and some software that jumped the track.I have met the previous General Manager and those in his inner circle and believe he/they are talented people capable of positively impacting the senior living industry in China.His early efforts at the facility are proof of this and had it not been for the hostile take-over, General's Garden would continue to benefit from his leadership and likely turn the train around.However, without him General's Garden lacks vision and perspective; it faces a number of critical switches in the track ahead.A fellow writer recently wrote a piece on this facility using a favorite song of mine to illuminate the bridge over troubled waters that General's Garden presently crosses and more importantly, its choppy history.I find his story on target and I salute his perspective; he has taken a measured approach to this facility's analysis.De-accelerating and moving forward less hurried is always a good thing in China.At this point, I will step away from rock 'n roll metaphors and, given the time of year, select a more solemn reference as a testament to this facility's narrative.With its fall from grace, perhaps we can call General's Garden and its story, "The Prodigal CCRC", a parable of squandered opportunity; now lost, can and better yet will, General's Garden atone for its marketing and financial sins and find its way again?Yanda.Next stop.Yanda!Now this is a facility to behold.While its full name is a mouthful, Yanda Golden Age Health Nursing Center, the facility is frequently referred to as Yanda.One arrives at Yanda entering under an enormous, ceremonial gate and into a Tiananmen Square-like plaza large enough to park 500 tractor trailers.After parking your car, walking around Yanda is, frankly, a little creepy and reminds me of the cities created in the narcotic-induced dreams of Dom Cobb in Christopher Nolan's Inception,.Beautiful, large, vacant and crumbling.Yanda's first impediment is its location, situated a hard hour's drive from Chaoyang district, Beijing in adjacent Hebei province, it is tough to get too.Second, Yanda simply is overbuilt.So much of what has transpired at this facility is unclear, even the basic facts such as room count and beds are, in typical Chinese fashion, opaque.We are told there are 1,200 units at Yanda, but it feels like more.There is a 3,000 bed hospital and a 200 bed geriatric nursing facility which, management professes is quite busy but there aren't a lot of cars in the parking lot and not a single ambulance arrived during my 3 hour tour (I arrived at lunch time).But hey, I won't let my lying eyes fool me, I saw not a single patient in the nursing care center.Wait.There is more. a 250+ room hotel and four places of worship (seriously). Buddhist, Muslim, Christian and Jesuit/Catholic all sited next to a bank (presumably for those whose faith favors Mammon).And if that isn't enough, ownership built a 30 story building that serves as living quarters for the healthcare workers who will, hopefully, arrive someday soon.Whew! What a budget!Truly statuesque, in the lifeless sense of the word, this project should be renamed the "Colossus of Hebei" as colossal is the only term that adequately defines Yanda (well, maybe "stalled" has relevance here as well but lacks a certain visual "onomatopoeia").Now, when confronted with the enigmatic and incomprehensible my imagination always runs wild.In fact, Yanda inspired in me a rewrite of those last few dreadful lines from the famous Shelley poem Ozymandias..".My name is Yanda, King of CCRC's. Look on my campus, ye mighty, and despair! Few residents remain.Round the decay of that colossal wreck, budget-less and bare, the congested Chinese conurbation stretches far away".In all seriousness, here is the punch line. Yanda is only 20 percent occupied and it could well be less.I take this fact on face value from what we are told by the tour guide.But having been there at lunch, my favorite time to visit a facility as it reveals a lot, there certainly wasn't too much activity.This is what we do know about Yanda. unlike General's Garden, Yanda is a pure rental scheme.Most occupants lease units on a year basis, but management also quotes 2 and 3 year options.Independent and assisted living units (1 and 2 bedrooms) rent for RMB 5,600 to RMB 9,600 per month plus services which can be selected from a menu.The nursing facility offers beds/units beginning at RMB 13,600 to RMB 16,800 per month, also depending on size and acuity.There is also another quirk to the pricing; the sponsor offers a kind of sinking fund whereby if you deposit sufficient monies with them, they will pay a 6% return on your money that is equal to your monthly rent (the number of takers for this generous offer is unknown).The young lady who showed me and my staff around, gave us the above 'rack rate" pricing (and a sheet with greater detail on it) but was eager to mention that we are very lucky customers and our visit today was auspicious; management has instructed her to offer high status individuals, such as ourselves, a one-time only, VIP discount of 40% on a full year lease for IL/AL units and a whopping 60% discount for nursing units.Days later, subsequent phones calls to verify information were met with the same offer.Ok.No surprise here.Yanda opened up in 2010 and blew its steam before getting out of the station.The ROI has to be hurting by now and somebody is likely to take a loss going forward.It isn't an ugly project, in fact I found the basic design "ok" by China CCRC standards; but somebody has to take control of the marketing here, drive absorption aggressively and simplify the rental scheme before the buildings fall apart resolving the problem forever.This is the only prospect here. try and compete on price and program in an attempt to overcome Yanda's real weakness. location.Believe it or not, there is land allocated for a phase II.Someday.Cherish Yearn, last stop.Everybody off!This facility's operations are as curious as its name.Located in a distant corner of Pudong, on a former duck farm, Cherish Yearn came to market about five years ago.It was an early arrival to the China senior living space and its organization, facility design and ambience all reflect its vintage.I first visited Cherish Yearn in late 2010 and quite honestly, I thought it was a disaster.From the desert like landscaping to the mold-stained stucco on the buildings it had little ambience, few residents and zero energy.Cherish Yearn was completed in 2006 and the first residents occupied in 2007.For years it struggled with occupancy and when I returned for a second visit in early 2012, I was pleasantly surprised.Apparently, over the past two years, a new marketing program was implemented and brought census up from a low of 20% to what is reported now as nearly 80%; and after my tour I believe the true figure is not far from this level.Activity rooms are busy with geriatric calligraphers, libraries are full of bespectacled Mandarins gazing over the Central Committee daily and even the computer rooms are full of elderly Chinese pecking away on keyboards.Indeed there is so much activity at Cherish Yearn its resurrection earns it a new name. the "Lazarus of Pudong".So there is indeed hope for The Prodigal CCRC and the Colossus of Hebei.Like its sister facilities, Cherish Yearn is large.It offers nearly 800+ units in 15 different mid-rise buildings.Independent living accounts for at least 600 units and there is a 300 bed nursing facility.The independent units have a reported 80% occupancy but it is entirely unclear how many residents are in the nursing facility.Access to the upper floors is prohibited but the first floor, which does indeed have patient rooms, reveals no activity whatsoever and is largely dark.Cherish Yearn's business model is founded on a membership scheme with an upfront fee and annual rental payments plus usage charges for the clubhouse and other amenities such as the dining hall.There are 2 basic plans. Plan A essentially confers title to the occupant for an entry fee of RMB 890,000.Once admitted, the resident may choose from 3 basic size units. large units (108m2 or 1150ft2), medium units (70m2 or 740ft2) and small units (58m2 or 625ft2) each of which charges an annual fee according to size.A resident who has purchased a unit under Plan A may sell the unit himself at some future date or offer to the sponsor who will re-purchase it for 90% of the entry fee or market price, whichever is less.Plan B confers a 15 year right of use for an entry fee beginning at RMB 880,000 for a large unit, the smaller units have lower entry fees; there is also a static annual fee of RMB 29,800 across all unit types.Plan B's entry fee is refundable on a straight declining basis (calculated monthly) over the 15 year lease period.Plan A seems to be most popular with children who wish to purchase a unit for their parents and Plan B seems to be the choice for elderly who buy for themselves.There are substantially more Plan B buyers than those who avail themselves of Plan A.We have completed a full tabular analysis of Cherish Yearn's fee structure which, again, is available to clients.It is fair to mention that in the past, Cherish Yearn experienced some controversy over both its fundamental ability to offer sub-acute care services as well as its adherence to the original land grant use rights.The issues here may have been cleared up but there has been at least one published article in the media discussing the facility's "land rights" issue the details of which was supported by a credible, well connected source who has since spoken to me directly.In some quiet corners, rumors persist regarding the facility's legality, but in the end, I can see how this may just be envious chatter over Cherish Yearn's unprecedented success.Let's not forget, the truth in China has many layers.So, in submissive genuflection, I offer faithful congratulations to the Lazarus of Pudong.Despite all, I believe it to be the most successful CCRC project today in China and its program is unique. truly a Chinese sui generis model.The Terminus.Shanghai Lilly's assertion regarding the time and effort it took to secure her reputation whistles true and sharp about many endeavors in China; virtues such as patience and fortitude are essential.Likewise, it will take more than just a few attempts at CCRC development to perfect the model in China.CCRC's are complex undertakings and even in the West, developers with all their access to data and experience often misstep and build mistakes.So it is no surprise that the Chinese incarnation of a CCRC is a wobbly work in waiting.While I see near term success for the smaller, sub-acute facilities currently being built along the east coast of China by both foreign experts and local developers, nothing will dissuade, much less disabuse, the Chinese entrepreneur from pulling the heavy freight of a senior living mega-project.These immense CCRC's may be the track the industry ultimately takes, but for now were I an investor or owner/operator; my concentration would remain focused on the light at the end of a tunnel. more manageable, higher acuity and, say, narrow-gauge projects; let's call them the "Shanghai geriatric express".In closing, I have taken this article's theme, meaning Chinese films or films with a China theme, quite far.In fact I have extended it further than I ever thought.And this posting was indeed the longest of all postings to date; I did pile it on you, the reader, with endless literary metaphor on top of a mildly amusing allegory, and for this I have not a single pang of guilt.And while I often wonder about Jiang and her whereabouts, I needed to get back to the mechanics of senior living in China; thus the nuts and bolts of this post.No worries, we will revisit the human side of this business again soon and some! I have two more postings of this ilk remaining which I will publish before the summer.After a break, I will return in September with something new and refreshing, but if you have an idea or are curious about an aspect of this business; as always, I am only too happy to listen.
There is a highly scientific reason why car chases are so popular in films - because they are awesome! However, narrowing down the top five car chases in movie history isn't such an easy decision.The following car chases are all exciting to watch and whilst the films themselves may not always be that great, the chase scenes are more than worth the two hours or so that the films last.The Blues Brothers.The Blues Brothers (the original) is one of the best films to hit the cinemas.Ever! The story follows Elwood and Jake Blues as they are headed home to Chicago, just over 100 miles away.What follows is one of the craziest car chases to ever have been recorded on film as not only do the Illinois State Police join the boys trail but so do the Chicago State Police and some Good Ol' Boys.In its prime this movie held the record for the highest number of police cars to be destroyed in a film; the record was only broken by the remake in 2000.Gone In 60 Seconds.Now we all know that Gone in 60 Seconds is one of the worst movies ever made but if you ever happen to catch a scene from it, make sure (if you can) that it's the last chase scene.The first hour or so of the film is pretty confusing, and boring, yet the car chase in this film lasts for a whopping 34 minutes.But then what would you expect from a film that was written, directed and starred in by stunt man H B Halicki.The Italian Job.Released in 1969, this British film was all about the perfect heist and the three cars in the film were as much stars as lead man Michael Caine.Create the biggest traffic jam you could imagine in Turin, steal a gold bullion consignment and escape in cars that were just small enough to manoeuvre through the traffic.This car chase consisted of them driving through sewer pipes, down stairs, through shopping centres and over roofs - pure class!The French Connection.If you like trains almost as much as cars, you will love the car chase in the French Connection.In this film detective Popeye Doyle is trying to chase an assassin only to watch him jump onto a speeding train.Well I'm sure you can guess what happens but it involves Doyle breaking almost every traffic code known to man in order to keep up with the train - definitely worth watching!The Bourne Identity.This may not be to everyone's taste but as soon as we see Jason Bourne asking Marie how the tyres on her car are and whether she takes care of it you know that there is going to be some serious driving to follow.Viewers won't be disappointed as Bourne then darts through alleys, through the traffic of Paris and down stairways before getting away yet again.
There are fictional detectives and there is the Sherlock Holmes.What is it about this characters that has driven people around the world crazy about him.It is difficult to explain in words why he is so fancied by people across the globe but the first thing that comes to my mind is his quick wit and impeccable deduction skills that makes Sherlock so irresistible.Here is my top 3 list of what I love about the Sherlock Holmes Short Stories and Novels.The Setting. I have been smitten by the quaint English countryside.The fact that this is set in 18-19 th century London, adds a very historic feel to the stories.Every story takes you on a trip to the old England countryside, the cabs, the attire and the entire setting of each story is a walk back into history.Also the fact that you may have read many stories during your childhood also makes you look back with nostalgia every time you pick your Sherlock Holmes Collection.The Narrative Style. Most of us identify with Dr.Watson and the fact the stories are told through the eyes of Dr Watson makes it so much more enjoyable as you tend to see the great detective through the eyes of the commoner.When Sherlock communicates with Dr.Watson, it feels as if he is communicating with the reader and that enhances the overall feel of reading these great stories.The Science of Deduction. Above all, what enthralls Sherlock holmes fans the most are his seemingly matter of fact but painstakingly logical deductions from totally mundane scenarios.From the crease on a shirt, he could deduct the profession of a person, from the stains on a hand, he could tell the entire day's chores that a person had handled.This usually formed the most exciting part of any story - to follow how Sherlock made his deductions.As a confirmed Sherlock Holmes fan, I can tell you that each of his 56 short stories and 4 novels are masterpieces in their own right.The author - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has created a fictional character who went on to become a legend in his own right.He became so popular that people actually started sending letters addressed to 221B Baker Street (his address in the stories).No other fictional detective has received such a massive fan following as Sherlock Holmes has.A collection of Sherlock Holmes stories has be a family heirloom that must be passed on from one generation to the other.I have my own collection.What about you?
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Product Description
Britain’s bumbling and beloved detective
Detective Constable "Dangerous" Davies always gets the cases no one else wants--and no one notices when he eventually succeeds. But his old-fashioned decency and dogged determination have won him legions of loyal fans. Collected here are all 17 episodes from the hit British mystery series starring Peter Davison (Doctor Who, All Creatures Great and Small), who plays the beleaguered Davies "with a pitch-perfect mix of self-effacement and irritation at the endless slights from crooks and fellow cops alike" (The Baltimore Sun).
Mocked by colleagues at his small London police station and estranged from his wife, he actually listens to advice from his kooky chum Mod (Sean Hughes, The Commitments). Still, Dangerous manages to make connections that the slicker cops miss and shows that underdogs do have their day.
BONUS PROGRAM: Dangerous Davies: The Last Detective, the 1981 movie starring Bernard Cribbins that tells the same story as series pilot.
DVD SPECIAL FEATURES INCLUDE: an interview with Peter Davison, Leslie Thomas bio and booklist, photo galleries, and cast filmographies.
"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." - Psalms 23.4.Death in and of itself is altogether a rather natural incident.However, it was the circumstances surrounding the death of the old man that make it not only all the more intriguing, yet also necessitate inspection by other people who may solve its mystery - and the curse laid upon that very house in which it happened.Yes, there has been a curse upon this house and family estate in the back parts of Charleston, South Carolina for many years.Even though many of the finer details of how this curse was put upon this place have been largely forgotten and the rest of them subtly changed from generation to generation by word-of-mouth, the very motive was brought about by slaves in the Civil War era who retaliated against their evil owners by way of ancient rites.Those who were then slaves were very spiritual and were very forthright about not being violent; an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.They called upon the spirits to bring the wrath of justice upon those who oppressed them.What the curse entailed upon the family of slave-owners and their estate is that not only the entire family but also all succeeding generations would each die a dark and painful death, and their property would curse anyone else who tried to alleviate the mystery of the spirits bound to it.Even recently, in June of 1997, the last surviving member of the fourth generation since the Civil War era has succumbed to the house's animated plague of death.Over time while living out his days in the house, he slowly began to accept the fate that was prescribed to him because of evils long gone, evils that he did not personally indulge in.Finally, on that fateful evening, the storm was unusually strong and the night let on layers of darkness that seemed devoid of any natural light.He felt a premonition of death, which was like unto the heightened awareness that one may have when in moments of danger or the vicinity of death itself.Silently he yet sat in that old, dusty chair in the study, with his legs crossed, while peering out of the large window, stroking his long gray beard, contemplating what he knew would come in due time that very night.Finally, he reached for the lighter in his pocket and lit the candle on the table next to him.He had decided to leave behind not just the estate, but also his last words.He began to write a letter for whomever would come upon the property and find an old man lying quietly and peacefully in his chair, fated to never speak another word except in the realm of spirits.Yes, he took pen and paper and wrote his last letter.The paper, like the rest of the house, and even the man himself, was old and worn down and decrepit, from great age and neglect.Also, the language used in the letter was somewhat archaic and difficult to read, yet was rich and descriptive, and drifted off into the dark wonder and mystique of the spiritual curse upon the house and its last, ill-fated inhabitant.Even as he finished his letter and placed the pen back on the table, a fierce backdraft of tormenting wind wooshed the window open.The wind also instantaneously snuffed the candle's flame, as if to foreshadow the snuffing out of the old man by way of inherited curse.The gray old man was startled, and quickly fixed his glare out the window, even though the wind had just as quickly settled down to a smooth, flowing whisper, that peacefully played at the acquiescent curtains.The pitter-patter of dancing rain continued its frolicking out in the yard, as if in righteous indignation.A false alarm, perhaps? A moment later, an arm of lightning lashed out and struck the ground about 100 feet away from the house.In the ensuing flash and the seemingly immediate crack of thunder, a dark figure that roughly resembled the shape of a man, standing upright, could be seen standing within ten feet of the window.So dark was this figure, silhouetted against the bright flash, that only the outline could be made out.The distinguishing feature, however, was the pair of cold, crimson eyes that shone brightly and gazed down into the soul of the fearless old man staring back.Indeed, Death's Head had appeared in an instant, and disappeared along with the lightning.In yet another instant, lightning cracked again, this time striking the ancient, gnarled tree about 50 feet away from the house.In the ensuing flash, the old man could be seen sitting perfectly still.With blood slowly creeping from a deep, yet perfectly measured slit across his neck.The rain also continued to pour, as the light continued to fade, as even the large, 250-year old oak continued to burn down.Whether by happenstance or strange twist of fate, the old man's longtime friend came to visit the next day, only to find him sitting coldly, yet peacefully in his chair.Out of momentary shock, nary a thought came to the mind of this now-troubled friend.In the next moment, with tears in his eyes, he whispered silent prayers, that his dead friend's soul could find respite, for it had been released from the mortal body tied to the cursed estate.After his solitary mourning, the old friend glanced over to the table upon which his late companion had written many letters.There he noticed the old man's final letter, which he immediately walked to and read.The old man's companionship and good will shall not go in vain, thought the old friend.Indeed, could the curse now be lifted, now that the final family member was gone?The old friend left everything as he found it and took his story to the police station.Even as he was telling them of the estate's supernatural curse, the police were becoming suspicious of his credibility.They quickly dismissed him as an old-fashioned, superstitious old man.Having no luck with the police, he visited the local private detective nearby.For the second time, the old friend told his story and described the nature of the supernatural curse, while hoping that this time he would be believed.The detective promised the old friend that he would give the scene a look-over and determine if it was simply a petty thief who burglarized the house and murdered the old man.He also assured the old friend that the curse, if it even existed, would not take anyone else.The old friend certainly hoped so.He and the detective shook hands and went their separate ways.The old friend suffered a fatal heart attack that evening.Two glowing eyes could be seen outside his window at the very moment of the heart attack.As for the detective, he had decided from the very start that the old friend's story had been far too outlandish and superstitious to believe.It was thusly that he did not even bother to waste the effort of calling the coroner and the police squad to escort him to the house to investigate.He figured that he would simply give the place a look-over, as he had promised, and decide later if the scene was worth taking the time to even write up the report for.That same night, on his own time, the detective approached the house, with flashlight in hand.He was hoping to "re-create the crime scene", and determine the order of events that had transpired the night before.Even as he approached the house, a thunderstorm was coming in and growing in strength quite rapidly, which also made the scene rather similar to the way it was the previous night.The detective let himself in.He came upon the "murder scene" almost immediately.From the window peering out into the yard, he observed the burned-down oak, and the angry storm, with its sharp, stinging rain, tempestuous winds, and an occasional flash of lightning off in the distance.As he turned towards the interior of the room, he received the startling sight of the old man lying peacefully in his chair.What further puzzled his usually cold, calculating, factual mind was the fact that there were no marks of struggle anywhere.For such a deep slit in a man's throat to be so perfectly measured, the murderer would have to have been immensely strong, well trained, and fast.It almost seemed that the murderer could not have been human, the detective thought, or the agonizing pain of receiving such a cut would cause even the most peaceful of men to fight back.To add even more fuel to the fire of his curiosity, he noticed the letter that the old friend had mentioned.The detective took slow steps over to the table and pointed the flashlight towards the letter.He read it word for word, over and over.The letter had actually only helped to confound him even more.The detective then decided that he was becoming overly superstitious.Settling back into the calm resignation that is typical of a detective, he proceeded to carefully study the window.He began to consider that window as a possible entry route for a burglar on such a dark and stormy summer night.He placed his flashlight upon the left arm of the chair where the old man sat peacefully.The flashlight began to go dim and fade out altogether, as the detective had forgotten to replace the batteries.The timing couldn't have been worse, he thought.Just as soon as he had finished that thought, the lightning struck about 100 feet away from the house.The thunder cracked fiercely, and in the instant of the lightning's flash, he caught a glimpse of an outline of a man out in the yard, silhouetted against the lightning.A pair of cold, crimson eyes shone brightly and gazed down into the soul of the detective.Once again, Death's Head had appeared, and disappeared along with the lightning.Also with the lightning went the cool bravado of the detective.All of the detective's fear welled up within his throat, his entire body became tense, and he knew that he had just taken his last breath.The lightning quickly lashed out again, this time 50 feet away from the house.In that instant the detective could be seen lying on the floor, with blood slowly creeping from a deep, yet perfectly measured slit across his neck.The curse had claimed its final victim."June 8, 1997 To any man that may find me here in my final respite..'Tis in this gothic gateway to dark death that I sit and await my final moments, and my deliverer unto the fate of that which is Beyond.Yes, it is an ancient, inherited curse laid upon the house's very foundation.This house is cursed from the basement to the chimney's tip, and remains so until the end of time because of bloody evils which I did not personally commit.Even upon the family lineage has the curse been placed.It has finally been handed down to me, like unto a form of spiritual collateral issue.I yet carry those stains, those century-old aftereffects of evil oppression, inherited by way of my bloodline.Every man shall meet his fate as it is given to him, and it is this that I do finally accept.I shall, however, continue my spiritual longsuffering, and try my hand at peace in those greater realms of the soul.However, I pray that ye gentle yet unfortunate visitor would not meet the same fate as I, but that ye would leave as you came and seek out your own fate.I beseech you to tarry here no longer than needs be, in order that the anomalous spirits that rule this accursed gateway to darkest death wouldst still allow you to yet walk away with your breath and life.Take only your memory of this place with you, and pray that my soul would find the eternal peace that it has been so longing for, outside of this cursed body and this wretched estate.And now, I, for what I know shall be my last moments on this plane of existence, shall go into death with calm expectation.I await he who has conquered in death and written in blood.".
The lessons learned in Part 1 continue in Part 2 by using the calendar strategy found in the multi-strategy system and applying it to the same winning Pick 4 number that has been drawn multiple times in the exact order in the Virginia Pick 4 Lottery.This calendar strategy, as all of the strategies, found in the multi-strategy system may be applied to all other State Pick 4 Lotteries as well.In Part 1 I began telling the news story of a North Carolina lottery player who keeps winning different lotteries in Virginia.In his latest win on October 13,, 2011 he won $65,800 in the Pick 4 midday drawing playing the 5117.This seems to be his lucky Pick 4 number since he won on this same Pick 4 number twice in 2010.This North Carolina gentleman explains his latest success and all previous wins on his being lucky all his life.Most Pick 4 lottery players can't claim the same kind of luck story, and therefore the not so lucky players need to work at winning the Pick 4 lottery.Most expert players suggest that if a player wants to be serious about winning these lotteries, he or she needs to use a system.A comprehensive multi-strategy Pick 4 System is the best choice.As highlighted in Part 1 the player using the calendar strategy was able to research the dates that 5117 had been drawn along with a couple of family members of this number, 1715 and 1175.As a result the Virginia Pick 4 player found a way to cash in on the 5117 when it was drawn again on May 22, 2010 in the midday drawing.Part 2 begins by employing the same successful recommendations that Pick 4 expert players give to all other Pick 4 lottery players namely keeping notes.In Part 1 success came from the fact that the player kept a calendar record of all the drawn winning Pick 4 numbers.From those calendar notations the player was able to confirm each date that 5117 was drawn along with the other two versions - 1715 and 1175.Working like a detective, the Virginia Pick 4 player gathered all the information and clues and came up with some dates in May 2010 to play the 5117, and won on May 22, 2010.Returning to those same notes to use the same information that already lead to one success, the player is ready to apply that information to the next time 5117 is drawn.The notes included that the pattern for the 5117 involved that this winning Pick 4 number (1) would be redrawn in the following month, (2) on the same day of the week, and (3) on or around the same date that it or another box form of the 5117 was drawn.Part 1 began its investigation with the facts that the 5117 was drawn on April 12 and May 10, 2009, both were Sundays.The new Information from Part 1 playing from one month to the next month also meant that the neighboring months could extend into the following year.Which is why that the first drawing cited was in April 2009 allowed the Pick 4 player-detective to investigate the possibility of the 5117 being drawn again in May 2010 using the calendar strategy from the multi-strategy Pick 4 system.It was a good decision he or she made, because he or she walked away a winner.A Pick 4 lottery player, like a good detective, should never overlook any piece of information when searching for clues that will produce another winning Pick 4 number.In Part 1 the focus was on the numerical dates of the month and the days of the week.Since numbers and math fit together like a hand with a glove, is there a possibility that there are additional clues available to a keen eye Pick 4 player that hasn't been mentioned yet? Let's look at the months, April 2009 represented by the number 4 and May 2009 and 2010 each represented by the number 5.Mathematically speaking, 4 plus 5 equal 9, and 5 plus 5 equal 10.The ninth month of the year is September and the tenth month of the year is October.Being neighboring months, just like April and May, could September and October become the next set of months that the 5117 could be drawn?Going back to information in the notes the Pick 4 player sees that the three previous dates that 5117 was drawn were April 12, 2009 May 10, 2009 and May 22, 2010.This creates a date range from the 10th to the 22nd, a period of 13 days or 26 drawings.If the 5117 would be drawn next in September 2010, it would be the first month, and there is no day-to-day information to match up as it was in the April 2009 to May 2009 Sunday to Sunday connection.Going back to the calendar here's what the Pick 4 has learned. 5117 was drawn on Wednesday, January 26, 1994, Saturday, May 22, 2010, and Sundays April 12 and May 10, 2010.This provides the player with a day range, Wednesday to Sunday.Looking ahead to September 2010, combining the date range and the day range, the following September dates qualify as days to play the 5117. September 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 22.Using all the elements of the calendar strategy the player now has just six days to play to see if the calendar strategy is going to produce another winner with the 5117.When September 2010 finally arrives, the Virginia Pick 4 player puts his plan into play.On Thursday, September 16, 2010 in the evening drawing the Virginia Pick 4 Lottery draws the 5117 as the winning Pick 4 number.This is the third win in the last three times the 5117 has been drawn for the Virginia player-detective.The calendar strategy from this multi-strategy system is gaining credibility when it comes to winning the Pick 4 lottery.
The Minnie Mouse costume is ideal for a Halloween party, a costume party or any other gathering which requires the guests to be dressed up.Minnie is one of Disney's most popular lady characters.She was created back in 1928 and has always embodied everything chic.Minnie Mouse was first created as a flapper girl.Her character was inspired by the girls of the 1920's who were wearing short skirts and listened to jazz music.These were things that were not proper at the time, so Minnie was a kind of youth rebel back then.She has kept her youthfulness, beauty and playfulness every since.This makes the Minnie Mouse costume the most perfect choice for every girl who feels young, pretty and glam.If you have the chic charm of the character, then you will certainly feel great in one of the fabulous costumes available.You will not get it wrong if you wear the classic mini balloon dress in red with white polka dots.Pink is also an option when it comes to the color of the character's outfit.Do not miss to put on black stockings which are typical for her.If you want to get the classic Minnie look, then you should definitely consider putting a woman's bowler hat.Of course, you might want to put a headband with ears first.Such an outfit is great for girls of all ages.How about wearing a Minnie Mouse costume with a more modern look? A classic Minnie shirt in red with white polka dots can go excellently with a black plated mini skirt or with slim fit pants.You will certainly have the charm of the character.At the same time, you get the modern school girl or sporty look that you want for the evening.It is essential for the outfit to be complemented with a headband with black ears and a polka dot bow.Minnie has played all sorts of roles over the years from a pioneer settler to a musician and from a detective to a cheerleader.Her last appearance was in the 2004 movie Mickey, Donald, Goofy. The Three Musketeers where she was the princess of France.You can readily choose to play any of her roles in real life.All you have to do is to put the right Minnie Mouse costume on.Even if you do not find an outfit that matches that of Minnie in particular, you always have the option of putting on the black ears headband with the polka dot bow.
