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But now with audiobooks, both cassette and CD, I can enjoy books. I can get them free at the library or at rental stores. Plus, I have a friend with failing eyesight who benefits as well. I wish I would've had them to use earlier. - Maria O., Garden Grove, Calif. |
Dear Heloise: When I have to stop somewhere on the way to somewhere else (like on the way home from work), I attach a note to my key ring. |
This way, if I forget, I find the note when I get into the car. I've shared this secret with several people, and it works. |
Dear Heloise: Those rabbit ears with the telescopic antenna work great for staking up potted plants. |
I cut off the wires and bury the base with the plant roots. As the plant grows, I pull up the antenna according to the height that's needed. |
You can hardly see it, and it's great to be able to recycle an item that will be obsolete in the next year. - Lyn Hutchison, Coto de Caza, Calif. |
Dear Heloise: I read and enjoy your column every day in The Villages (Fla.) Daily Sun. I would like to add a hint on packing. |
I have made a list on my computer with columns - including one small one to use as a check-off - listing everything we need in our travels: passports, reservation tickets, jackets, slacks, socks, toothpaste and brush, etc. I even included at the end of the list reminders to take out the trash, unplug small appliances, ... |
I am able to get two columns on one sheet of paper. When we are ready to take a trip, I just print it out, and we haven't forgotten anything yet. - Anne, The Villages, Fla. |
Dear Heloise: For a while, I had a problem with tea-bag tags ending up in the tea. Now I attach a clothespin to the tag, and it will not go into the cup or pot. |
- Don Paulsen, Valley Center, Calif. |
This is a novel unlike any other I have read. It begins with two perfect epigraphs, one from EM Forster and one from Elizabeth Bishop's poem "Questions of Travel", from which the novel takes its title. Forster's is mysteriously troubling: "Under cosmopolitanism, if it comes, we shall receive no help from the earth. Tre... |
really exaggerated in their beauty" |
Questions of Travel is about uprootedness and travel, about tourism and flight from terror, about the trivial and the terrible. It has two main characters separated by time and space – Laura, born in Australia in the 1960s, and Ravi, born in Sri Lanka, first seen as a child in the 1970s. Laura's story opens with her tw... |
The story proceeds in a series of episodes – Laura's 1980s, Ravi's 1980s, over the years to Laura in 2004, Ravi in 2004. It is a story without a plot but with changing locations in both history and geography. It is hard for a reviewer to describe because it seems to proceed with an uncanny lightness, in glimpses and su... |
Laura, an art student who decides she is not good enough, becomes a traveller and a tourist. Ravi is enchanted by early screens and the internet. Laura settles for some time in London where she meets Theo Newman, son of a German refugee from the second world war, who has inherited his mother's elegantly furnished house... |
This terrible forest floor is a part of de Kretser's pattern of trees – here found in history, elsewhere in the timeless world of tourism and geography. There is a mysterious scene where Laura and a Frenchman she has picked up in Strasbourg exchange stories about unexpected objects bulking outside a window or at the en... |
It is not really possible to describe, in a short space, the originality and depth of this long and beautifully crafted book. It isn't easy to read because the reader is always in danger of missing something significant. It has an extraordinary ending. It persists in the mind long after the last page. |
Google wants you to know it's investing in virtual reality compatibility. |
The company's Cardboard VR viewer, which launched last year, has inspired a whole range of budget VR viewers made out of affordable materials, and in an attempt to make them work with the hundreds of Cardboard apps already available through Google Play, as well as deliver a cohesive experience, Google has launched a ne... |
The programme gives developers and manufacturers the tools to make any VR viewer compatible with any Cardboard app. It doesn't matter if the viewer is made out of plastic, wood, or cardboard. It also doesn't matter if it features different optics and dimensions than Google Cardboard. These new tools can auto-configure ... |
As part of the programme, manufacturers must place a specific QR code on their Cardboard-certified VR viewer. You'll then scan this code using the recently-updated Google Cardboard app; it'll allow Cardboard apps in Google Play to recognise the viewer’s key parameters (like focal length, input type, and inter-lens dist... |
And finally, Google announced that it expanded Google Play's Cardboard apps collection in order to help you find specific VR apps even faster. It specifically added new categories like Music and Video, Games, and Experiences. |
The mortgage industry has witnessed very few mergers and acquisitions in the last year, despite what Kroll Bond Rating Agency calls a “fertile environment” for M&A activity. |
Why? Blame low profits and high origination costs (the average these days is more than $8,000 per loan). According to KBRA, the climate has some banks rethinking their positions. |
The agency named privately held, California based Provident Savings Bank as an example, as it closed down its residential mortgage operation last month, citing challenging market conditions. |
KBRA said it believes other small retail originators will follow suit as they are confronted with the challenging realities of competing in major markets. |
That said, KBRA said the U.S. mortgage market is actually on “good footing” as a whole, despite flailing refi activity. |
Outstanding first-lien mortgage balances totaled $9.1 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2018, down $20 billion from the previous quarter, KBRA noted. HELOC balances continued to backslide, dropping $4 billion in Q4, while delinquencies remain at historic lows. |
The agency said it expects originations to experience only modest compression in 2019, which will be mostly driven by lower refi volume. But even this will improve slightly, KBRA said, as a decrease in rates should create modest refinance action. |
Have you ever thought why do I always meet the wrong men? Why do my relationships never work out? Do you wonder why men act the way they do? Are you secretly hoping you will meet that one guy who will be different? This was my story for years. Always struggling with relationships blaming the guy and wondering why it wo... |
Badboy Breakthrough is committed to helping our clients who have hit the lowest point of their life change find the courage to walk out of the dark and into the light. Our flawless five step secret system has given women across the globe the opportunity to find their Mr. Quality. |
Lorna Poole is an international coach and professional speaker passionate about empowering women to move beyond the fear, pain, and regret that has held them back from attracting the partner they truly want and deserve. She is an Associate Certified Coach (ACC) through the International Coach Federation (ICG) as well a... |
A native of Ireland, Lorna’s work in the equine industry allowed her to travel the globe. During her stay in the United States, Lorna was honored to work closely with Marni Battista, a highly successful dating coach based in Los Angeles. Her opportunity to work with Marni helped develop and further advance her own uniq... |
Lorna is currently very active in USA, Canada, UK, Ireland & Australia she continues to motivate women locally and abroad to discover lasting, meaningful relationships. |
"Save The Date - 15th May 2015, I am getting married" |
"That night, I finally opened up and expressed myself to my fiancé, and later that evening, we got engaged after a long, meaningful talk. When we first started talking, I had no idea he was even going to propose, even though I was hoping it would happen all along. Lorna’s guidance motivated me to finally open up to my ... |
In her personal time, Lorna loves traveling, outdooor & adventure sports, studying the body-mind-sprit connection, and has a great love for animals, especially horses and dogs. |
ALAMO — Police here made another arrest Wednesday evening in an ongoing investigation into an alleged security leak that put sensitive narcotics information into the hands of local drug dealers. |
Janine Lynn Garza, 54, was arrested on a tampering with physical evidence charge, according to Alamo Police Chief Baudelio Castillo. |
Garza is the mother of the city’s executive secretary, Crystal Denise Garza, who was arrested last week on an engaging in organized criminal activity charge. Castillo said the city employee allegedly leaked police department narcotics information to area drug dealers. |
Municipal Court Judge Celia Garcia set Garza’s bond on the third-degree tampering charge at $40,000 during her arraignment Thursday. |
Janine Garza, 54, is arraigned on a tampering with physical evidence charge by Alamo Municipal Court Judge Celia Garcia on Thursday, Aug. 2, 2018, in Alamo. |
The police chief said the elder Garza tried to conceal her daughter’s cellphone from authorities during the investigation, an allegation that mirrors that made by the chief following the July 27 arrest of the executive secretary’s boyfriend, Eddie Ramirez, on the same tampering charge. |
Castillo said the elder Garza also made a false statement to police. |
Police became aware of the leak in early summer, the chief said, and traced it to the executive secretary, who they accuse of sharing police targets with local drug dealers, in addition to the identities of undercover narcotics officers. |
“She was being used as the middle person to set up the buys with the actual bigger players for the smaller drug dealers,” Castillo said, adding that his department’s investigation “placed her at different residences that we’ve been investigating” as drug stash houses. |
As a result of the leak, the chief said his officers weren’t finding the amount of drugs they were looking for during raids and that suspects were leaving residences in advance of a raid. |
“When there’s crucial information being leaked out from our own employees, that becomes a hazard and a crucial item that we need to investigate,” Castillo said. |
Alamo Mayor Diana Martinez said she had “no comment” Thursday about the investigation and declined to answer questions. |
City Manager Luciano Ozuna Jr., who was Garza’s supervisor, also declined to comment, although he noted that she has been suspended without pay since her July 26 arrest. |
He said his officers are working with the U.S. Marshals Service to make several more arrests in the case. |
If convicted of the third degree felony charges, Crystal and Janine Garza and Ramirez could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted. |
SALT LAKE CITY — A grocery store with a loyal following opens this Friday in Salt Lake City. Trader Joe's is expected to attract a slew of shoppers, all eager for their unique name-brand products. |
Employees spent the day Tuesday stocking the shelves at the new 634 E. 400 South location. Devoted buyers of Cat cookies and frozen Mandarin Orange Chicken, even peppermint JoJo's, will all be able to buy it all Friday morning at 8:00. |
"We really want to give our customers a great value, good food, and have fun while they're doing it," said Rory Violette, captain of the Salt Lake store. |
Indeed, with its homey setting, with locally created murals, handmade signs and international and comfort foods, Trader Joe's is a corporate chain that's carved out a clever niche. A key to its success may be the products: unique and priced attractively, with no formal advertising. |
It's all a deliberate marketing scheme, according to Nancy Panos Schmitt, an associate professor of marketing at Westminster College. |
"People swear by various categories of goods that you can only by there, obviously. So, people are very excited about Trader Joe's,'" Schmitt said. |
Trader Joe's location is within a mile of some fierce competition: namely, Whole Foods, Spouts, Smiths and Harmon's. |
Bob Harmon, co-owner of Harmon's grocery stores, says his company has spent tens of millions of dollars on its stores over the last 10 years. He is also keeping tabs on what customers want, concentrating on local products — all parts of his job, he says. |
"We've really re-engineered what we're offering in the consumer, in terms of high-quality, fresh items — natural, organic. |
But Trader Joe's still seems to be something different for a lot of people. Just to clear, something up will be stocking 3.2 beer, but no wine at this new store. |
Yippee ki yi yay! Times are good again. Jobs are plentiful. Stocks are high. Real estate is bubbling. |
Economists tell our government to borrow and spend more in bad times, then pay off debt during prosperity. It makes the good times less reckless and the bad times less dangerous. |
Government gets it half right. It borrows all the time. |
So the U.S. has run up federal, state and local government debt, Social Security and similar obligations to $750,000 per household. Compare that to median U.S. household income of $56,000 a year. Groan. |
Given the current flight path of public debt, it looks almost inevitable that the economy will splash and sink sometime before today’s kindergartners send their own kids off to school. |
It will take better government than we have had for generations to shoot a winning round. |
Some public spending is critically important. Near the very top is police work. It can be overdone. It can be underdone. But it must be done. That is not true of all spending. |
The differences are obvious in this sample of spending: Roads. Dog pounds. Bus systems. Planning and zoning. Open space. Recycling. Fire, rescue and ambulance. Libraries. Gyms, ice rinks, swimming pools, ball parks. Courts. Fairs, festivals and fireworks. Trails. Water and sewer. Vegetation control. K-12 education. Sub... |
The whole bundle of government spending adds up to $47,000 per household per year. The Congressional Budget Office plots a debt trajectory impossibly aimed for Mars. Something big will change. |
In government as elsewhere, much spending is driven more by emotion than reason. I, for instance, like libraries. That emotion may trip me up when attempting to assess libraries rationally. So, too, for other people and other programs. |
For an often ignored framework of thinking about programs and laws, let me caddy you around municipal golf courses. The towns of Breck, Vail, Gypsum and Aspen all own them. |
Hole 1. On the tee is an eternal question: Is golf a worthy use of government’s power to whack citizens on the head? Or, another way: “Should government be allowed to put your mother in jail for not paying taxes for golf?” For most people, this is an easy hole-in-one. No. |
Hole 2. What is the public purpose of subsidizing golf? Is it to supply leisure? If so, perhaps the towns should subsidize Netflix, rafting guides and trips to Vegas. |
Hole 3. Maybe the purpose of subsidized golf is to reduce health care costs? Probably not. If so carts would be banned. It might be more cost effective to chip away at local hospitals instead. |
Hole 4. Perhaps the goal is to bestow wide, green views on nearby homeowners? People further away might claim discrimination. Score that reason a 6 on a par 3. |
Hole 5. The goal might be to attract new businesses and residents. Is that what citizens want? If so, towns should show them some numbers about how much growth a golf course buys. |
Hole 6. More likely, there is no clear purpose nor measurable goals for governments to own golf courses. In work where people’s money matters, that forfeits the game. |
Hole 7. The towns’ financial reports are written by specialists for specialists. If an average high school graduate cannot quickly see the forest and its most important trees, there is darkness where there should be light. |
Aspen and Breck’s reporting is clearer than Vail and Gypsum’s. The first two report golf cleanly, the latter two mix golf numbers with other business. Seems to me that some penalty strokes should apply. |
Hole 8. Public golf courses are economic sand traps. |
My rough estimates are that Vail and Aspen’s golf course losses amount to the low thousands of dollars per household per year. Breck and Gypsum’s losses run in the low hundreds. |
None of the towns report how much money is lost to the community by using land for which others would bid higher. |
None address the core question: Are the benefits greater than costs? Expect to hear some throat clearing, but nothing else. |
Hole 9. Municipal golf courses suffer from a democratic deficit, too. When did citizens last vote on them? Perhaps never? When will they vote next? Never, too? |
The less citizens vote on specific issues, the less legitimacy the system possesses. Local governments have untapped potential to strengthen their democratic street cred which the feds and states do not. The local units could be much, much closer to real people than they are. |
Every day takes us further from the last recession and closer to the next. Meanwhile the public sector sees no reason to improve its swing. |
So hole after hole, it tees up your money and slices it into the woods. |
COVINA — It isn't often a single stat can tell the story of a game, but there might not be a more compelling reason as to why the La Cañada High girls' basketball team isn't advancing farther this postseason after the Spartans scored only nine points in the second half in falling at Covina, 51-25, in the CIF Southern S... |
"The story of the game is the shooting percentage. When you only score two field goals in the second half after having opportunity after opportunity, it's hard to look at any other stat," La Cañada Coach Tamar Hill said. "It was just a really bad game from the field." |
The No. 7-seeded Spartans (16-12), the Rio Hondo League runner-up, shot two for 22 (8%) in the second half and didn't convert their first field goal of the half until junior Kasey Okazaki drained a straightway three-pointer off an assist from Micaela Anderson with 57.0 seconds left in the third. |
The bucket, the final for either side, cut the lead for No. 2-seeded Valle Vista League champion Covina (25-3) to a 37-19 advantage. |
Overall, the Colts won the quarter, 11-3, in expanding a 26-16 halftime advantage. |
"It was just one of those days when our shots weren't falling," said Spartans junior center Lauren Barsamian, who totaled eight points, eight rebounds and four steals. "We worked hard and even though we lost, we're still proud of each other." |
Okazaki's three-pointer that closed the third was followed by a Colts 10-0 run in which Covina went up, 47-19, with 2:49 remaining after a pair of free throws from senior guard Ashli Baddorf. |
Sophomore guard Courtney Chen scored La Cañada's other six points via a three-pointer and three free throws when she was fouled on a three-point attempt. |
"Our defense is what fuels our team," said Covina Coach Nick Masi, who qualified his team to its first-ever quarterfinal berth. "We know that we're not the greatest offensively, so we have to play a lot of defense." |
La Cañada's best quarter happened to be the first, in which the Spartans rallied from a quick 7-0 deficit with seven straight points, four of those coming from Barsamian and the other three off a triple from Chen. |
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