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I've had a collection of recently published cookbooks on my desk that I have been meaning to tell you about. They are all Southern-themed with gorgeous photographs, funny stories, and recipe collections that range from familiar comfort food such as fried chicken and macaroni and cheese to the exotic – pickled crawfish tails, anyone? Peanut butter turns up in the most unexpected places. 'Chow-chow,' a pickled relish of vegetables, is a perfect use for an abundance of cabbage.
If these cookbooks made noises you'd hear the squeak of screen doors and the creak of old wooden floors with distant sounds of the guitar, mandolin, and banjo. Stereotypical? Perhaps. But that's what those of us who have traveled or lived in the South love about that region. Things don't change too much. Things are slow and uncomplicated. And food has to be good enough to keep folks at the table long enough for the storytellers to run out of wind.
A Southerly Course: recipes and stories from close to home
By Martha Hall Foose
(256 pp., $32.50, Clarkson Potter)
Martha Hall Foose, a charming storyteller and cookbook author, released another Southern-flavored volume this spring titled A Southerly Course. (Her first cookbook "Screen Doors and Sweet Tea" earned her a James Beard Award.) With the gentle rhythm of her prose that even seeps into her lists of ingredients, it's hardly a surprise to discover that as a child Foose lived down the road from Southern writer Eudora Welty. With recipes such as "Yazoo Soufflé" and "Charming Cherry Pie" alongside delicious photos and gentle, humorous essays y'all will be smitten enough to slow down and stir things up in the kitchen, and that's all right.
Glazed Rutabags
From "A Southerly Course"
"These glazed rutabagas look like topaz when cooked down with brown sugar, cider vinegar, and butter. My friend Jule adores rutabagas and thrift store jewelry. I came up with this dish for her."
Serves 6
1 large rutabaga (about 2 lbs.), peeled and cut in 1/2-inch dice
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
Put the rutabaga in a large skillet and add enough salted water to cover. Set over medium-high heat and bring to a simmer. Cook for 10 minutes or until slightly tender. Drain off the water and add the butter, brown sugar, vinegar, and salt. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 12 minutes or until the rutabaga is very tender and the butter begins to brown. Serve warm.
Tupelo Honey Cafe: Spirited recipes from Asheville's New South Kitchen
By Elizabeth Sims with Chef Brian Sonoskus
(222 pp., $29.99, Andrew McMeel Publishing, LLC)
Tupelo Honey Cafe in downtown Asheville, N.C., has a New South Spirit – it takes food traditions from Appalachia and gives them a modern twist. Grits become "Cheesy Grits Cakes with Sunshot Salsa and Smoked Jalapeño Sauce" and meat loaf becomes "Chicken Apple Meat Loaf with Tarragon Tomato Gravy." Asheville's tastes have always run wide with the Vanderbilt's Biltmore estate at one of town and the foothills of the Smoky Mountains at the other. Its famous author Thomas Wolfe may have penned "You Can't Go Home Again," but the folks at Tupelo Honey Cafe want to assure you that you'll always have a spot at their table.
Cheesy Mashed Cauliflower
From "Tupelo Honey Cafe"
"We serve this side at the restaurant in place of mashed potatoes, and sworn cauliflower-haters are immediate converts. It's hilarious, in fact, to tell someone he's eating cauliflower and watch the look of surprise on his face. The texture of the dish is meant to be a little chunky, a little funky, and surprisingly tasty."
Makes 8-10 servings
2 large heads cauliflower, cored and broken into florets
4 ounces cream cheese
1-1/4 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese (about 6 ounces)
2 teaspoons roasted garlic pureé*
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper
2 teaspoons unsalted butter
Steam the cauliflower for 10 to 12 minutes, until just tender. Place the cauliflower in a large bowl and mash with a potato masher or fork. In another large bowl, combine the cream cheese, cheddar cheese, garlic purée, and butter. Pour the hot mashed cauliflower on top of the cheese mixture and combine, using a large spoon, until the cheeses are thoroughly melted. Serve immediately.
*Roasted Garlic Purée
Another basic in our pantry, roasted garlic purée is the end product of simmering 12 to 14 garlic cloves over medium heat in 1 cup olive oil in a saucepan for about 20 minutes, or until the garlic turns golden brown. Strain the oil, reserving the garlic, and use the oil for sautées, salad dressings, and marinades. Purée the garlic cloves in a food processor until it forms a smooth paste. Refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.
Sara Foster's Southern Kitchen
By Sara Foster
(392 pp., $35, Random House)
Sara Foster is the owner of Foster's Market in Durham and Chapel Hill, N.C., and the author of several cookbooks. Sara Foster's Southern Kitchen presents comfort food in an elegant manner, but never loses its Southern sensibility of casual and unfussy. It has bonus tips such as what to keep stocked in your Southern pantry (grits and Carolina Gold Rice) and where to stop for the best barbeque (Bozo's Hot Pit Bar-B-Q in Mason, Tenn.). Have you joined the masses that are pickling and jamming this summer? You'll find a whole section in this cookbook just for you.
Tomato Jam
From "Sara Foster's Southern Kitchen"
"Whenever I'm at the market during tomato season, I keep my eyes peeled for what the farmers call 'ugly tomatoes.' You can buy them for a song because they're bruised, misshapen, or ripe to the point of bursting, but that makes them perfect for canning or cooking. This sweet and savory tomato jam, which is equally at home on toast for breakfast or on a baguette with fresh mozzarella and baby greens for lunch, is one of my standards."
Makes about 2 pints
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, smashed and minced
3 lbs. tomatoes, cored and chopped
2/3 cup unpacked light brown sugar
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
Zest and juice of 1 orange
2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
1 tablespoon fresh thyme
1 small chile pepper, cored and minced
2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons sea salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 whole cloves
Heat the olive oil in a nonreactive saucepan over medium heat until hot. Add the onion and cook and stir for about 5 minutes, until soft and golden. Add the garlic and cook and stir for 1 minute more. Add the tomatoes, brown sugar, vinegar, orange zest and juice, ginger, thyme, chile pepper, red pepper flakes, salt, black pepper, and clove and stir to mix.
Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat to a low boil, and simmer until thick, stirring occasionally about 30 minutes. Using a potato masher, mash the jam to a chunky-smooth consistency. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly.
Refrigerate in an airtight container until ready to serve, or for up to 1 month.
Southern Living off the Eaten Path: Favorite Southern dives and 150 recipes that made them famous
By Morgan Murphy
(256 pp., $21.95, Oxmoor House)
Off the Eaten Path is a part road trip, part diner's guide, part cookbook. It includes fun facts and signature dishes of well-loved Southern restaurants; reviews of kitschy roadside attractions; food finds such as the best local products from honey to barbeque sauce; and annual food events to be found along the way. Award-winning travel writer Morgan Murphy drives readers across 17 Southern states – from route 10 in Alabama to route 244 in West Virginia – pausing just long enough for such treats as "Loretta's Bread Pudding" (Arkansas), "The Hot Brown" (Kentucky), to "Country Smothered Pork Chops" (Mississippi). And if you find yourself in Amarillo, Texas, be sure to stop and stretch your legs at the Crop of Cadillacs: graffiti covered cars "planted" in a bare field. If you missed the chance for a road trip this summer you'll feel like traveler after browsing "Off the Eaten Path."
The Hot Brown
From "Off the Eaten Path"
"Make this classic sandwich with left-over turkey holiday turkey for best flavor." –The Brown Hotel, Louisville, Ky.
Makes 4 servings
1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups heavy cream
10 tablespoons grated pecorino Romano cheese, divided
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 lb. thinly sliced roasted turkey breast
4 Texas toast slices
4 plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise
1/4 teaspoon paprika
8 cooked bacon slices
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Preheat broiler with oven rack 4 inches from heat. Melt butter in a heavy 2-quart saucepan over medium-low heat; whisk in flour until smooth. Cook 2 minutes, whisking constantly. Gradually whisk in cream; cook over medium heat, whisking constantly 3 minutes until mixture is thickened and bubbly. Stir in 1/2 cup cheese, salt, and pepper.
Trim crusts from toast. Place 1 toast slice in each of 2 (24-ounce) lightly greased individual casserole dishes. Place 2 tomato halves beside each toast slice. Top toast slices with turkey. Spoon cheese sauce over turkey and tomato; sprinkle with 2 tablespoons cheese.
Broil 5 minutes or until cheese begins to brown. Sprinkle with paprika. Arrange 2 bacon slices in an "X" pattern on top of each casserole. Sprinkle with parsley.
Quick Southern Fix: homemade hospitality in 30 minutes or less
By Rebecca Lang
(178 pp., $16.99, Andrews McMeel Publishing, LLC)
Quick Southern Fix is a simple how-to paperback cookbook if you are pressed for time but still yearning to make something from scratch with a boost of Southern flavors. It doesn't have the gloss of the other cookbooks mentioned in this round-up but for those not wanting to spend more than an hour in the kitchen Rebecca Lang, a contributing editor for Southern Living, is the guide for you. While some of her recipes border on too-simple, when you've got the hankering for okra fritters, sweet ice tea, or refrigerator pickles, you'll find just the quick hit you need.
Shrimp and Grits Bake
From "Quick Southern Fix"
"Shrimp and grits became a favorite of mine while I was living in Charleston, South Carolina, for culinary school. I like to order it when I see it on a menu because every chef makes it differently. Baking it all together in one dish is certainly easier and faster than the traditional recipes."
4 cups chicken broth
1 cup quick grits
4 ounces cream cheese
1 cup preshredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 lb. medium shrimp
1/2 medium red onion, chopped
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon freshly squeeze lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup preshredded sharp Cheddar cheese
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly spray a 7- by 11-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
Combine the broth and grits in a large stockpot. Turn the heat to medium-high and cook for 20 minutes, stirring very often. Remove from the heat and stir in the cream cheese and Monterey Jack.
While the grits are cooking, peel and chop the shrimp. Set aside.
Finely chop the onion.
Heat the butter in a small skillet. Add the red onion and garlic. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes, or until softened. Stir into the grits.
Add the shrimp, parsley, lemon juice, salt and pepper to the grits. Stir to combine. Spoon into the prepared dish. Top with the Cheddar cheese.
Bake for 25 minutes.
Southern Living The Half-Hour Hostess
Featuring Rebecca Kracke Gordon
(272 pp., $24.95, Oxmoor House)
Trying to throw together a party in a hurry? The Half-Hour Hostess put together by the editors at Southern Living wants to show you how. Rebecca Kracke Gordon, the test kitchen director at Southern Living, exudes Southern charm as she beams out from nearly every glossy section, calmly ensuring you that even though you feel frazzled, Calm, Tranquility, Cute Food, and Perfect Hair are just a step or two away. These are very simple recipes, reminders that with just a little bit of effort and vision even store bought cookies can be transformed into an eye-pleasing dessert. Chapter sections range from "Cozy Gatherings" to "Chic Soirées" to "Kidding Around" (parties for kids). Recipes give prep time and there's even the "Hostess Hit List" to help get your ducks in a row the day before the party so you can hit the ground running. There are easy recipes for nearly every holiday, too.
Mini Crab Cakes
From "The Half Hour Hostess"
Makes 16 cakes
Hands-on time: 15 min.
Total time: 30 min., not including sauce
1 (8-ounce) package fresh lump crabmeat, drained
3 whole grain white bread slices
1/3 cup light mayonnaise
3 green onions, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
1 teaspoon Worecestershire sauce
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
Vegetable cooking spray
Salt, to taste
Garlic-Chive Sauce*
Garnish: fresh chives, chopped
Pick crabmeat, removing any bits of shell. Pulse bread slices in a blender or food processor 5 times or until finely crumbled. (Yield should be about 1-1/2 cups.)
Stir together mayonnaise and next 4 ingredients in a large bowl. Gently stir in breadcrumbs and crabmeat. Shape mixture into 16 (2-inch) cakes (about 2 tablespoons each).
Cook cakes, in batches, on a hot, large griddle or nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-low heat 4 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Season with salt to taste. (Keep cakes warm in a 200 degree F. oven for up to 30 minutes.) Serve with Garlic-Chive Sauce and garnish, if desired.
Note: Southern Living tested with Sara Lee Soft & Smooth Whole Grain White Bread
Garlic-Chive Sauce
Makes about 1 cup
Hands-on time: 10 min.
Total time: 30 min.
3/4 cup light sour cream*
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives
3/4 teaspoon lemon zeal
1-1/2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
Stir all ingredients in a small bowl. Cover and chill 20 minutes before serving.
*light mayonnaise may be substituted.
(Wait, there's more! click to the next page for more Southern recipes....)
Still hankering for some Southern recipes? Here are a few from our Stir It Up! archives:
Sweet garlic refrigerator pickles
Pimento cheese biscuits and creamy tomato soup
Fresh corn buttermilk biscuits
New Orleans-style buttermilk beignets


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That there is nothing unusual about either of these anecdotes is what makes them so remarkable.
First one: For weeks on my Sunday morning trip to the grocery store, I had noticed a large and growing array of ground-based solar panels - dozens of them -- just off Route 495 northbound in Westborough, Mass. Each time I've driven by I've asked myself, "What's up with that?" And each week by the time I've gotten home with the groceries I have forgotten to go online and find out.
Until last week: It took me all of 10 seconds on Google to pull up a story from the local newspaper that explained that the solar farm, which will number 3,100 panels when complete, is being built by owners of an office building looking to attract "green" tenants.
The second one: I saw that a link to a heartwarming video (doesn't matter which heartwarming video) that was on the front page of Reddit and had already accumulated more than 1,000 votes, which means the video had been watched by many times that many Redditors alone. Yet the view counter on YouTube indicated that the video had been watched only 306 times.
Why? I had noticed this same discrepancy on YouTube at least as often as I'd seen those solar panels, but never bothered to find an answer. Until this time. Another 10 seconds on Google brought me this answer from a YouTube employee via Quora:
"YouTube employs proprietary technology to prevent the artificial inflation of a video's viewcount by spam bots, malware and other means. We validate views to ensure the accuracy of the viewcount of all videos beginning with the first view. This validation process becomes publicly visible when the viewcount reaches 300. At this point, the viewcount may slow or temporarily freeze until we have time to verify that all further views are legitimate. Rest assured that the views system is working as intended, and that the viewcount will update as soon as the system has verified the legitimacy of the views."
I am now rest assured.
So how would these questions have gone pre-Internet, putting aside the fact that that they wouldn't have actually arisen pre-Internet. I suppose I would have been a subscriber to the local newspaper (I worked there for almost 20 years) and maybe the paper would have published a story about the construction just off the highway. Or perhaps I would have called the local library, as library reference desks were once a standard tool for newspaper reporters. Or maybe I would have pulled over into the breakdown lane, hopped the guardrail, and wandered around until I found someone who could tell me what was going on.
More likely I would have gotten over my curiosity.
Today answering such a question more often than not takes an Internet connection and 10 seconds. In fact, answering such questions quickly online has become so reliable that it is the rare occasion when Googling something doesn't work that is truly remarkable.
My 11-year-old children will never know what it's like to have such a mundane question occur yet not have the answer at their fingertips. They take this magic for granted.
I try my best not to.
You can always ask me anything. The address is email@example.com.
Read more about lans and routers in Network World's LANs & Routers section.

subset: commoncrawl


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This medication is used to treat a certain skin condition (actinic keratoses). Diclofenac is known as a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID).
Read the Medication Guide provided by your pharmacist before you start using diclofenac and each time you get a refill. If you have any questions, ask your doctor or pharmacist.
This medication is for use on the skin only. Wash and dry your hands before applying the medication. Gently apply enough medication to cover the affected skin well as directed by your doctor, usually 2 times daily. This medication is usually applied for 60 to 90 days. Wash your hands after using, unless you are using this medication to treat the hands.
The dosage is based on your medical condition and response to treatment. To reduce your risk of side effects, use this medication at the lowest effective dose for the shortest possible time. Do not increase your dose or use this drug more often or for longer than prescribed. Discuss the risks and benefits with your doctor or pharmacist.
Do not apply the medication in or around the eyes, open skin wounds, or infected/scraped/burned skin. If you do get the medication in those areas, flush with plenty of water.
Use this medication regularly to get the most benefit from it. To help you remember, use it at the same times each day.
Tell your doctor if your condition persists or worsens. It may take up to 30 days after finishing the medication for the skin to completely heal.
See also Warning section.
Rash, scaling, dry skin, swelling, or itching may occur at the application site. If any of these effects persist or worsen, tell your doctor or pharmacist promptly.
Remember that your doctor has prescribed this medication because he or she has judged that the benefit to you is greater than the risk of side effects. Many people using this medication do not have serious side effects.
This medication may raise your blood pressure. Check your blood pressure regularly and tell your doctor if the results are high.
Tell your doctor right away if you have any serious side effects, including: signs of kidney problems (such as change in the amount of urine), symptoms of heart failure (such as swelling ankles/feet, unusual tiredness, unusual/sudden weight gain).
Other medications similar to this medication may rarely cause serious bleeding from the stomach or intestines. If you notice any of the following rare but very serious side effects, stop using this medication and get medical help right away: black/bloody stools, vomit that looks like coffee grounds, persistent stomach/abdominal pain.
This drug may rarely cause serious (possibly fatal) liver disease. Get medical help right away if you have any symptoms of liver damage, including: persistent nausea/vomiting, loss of appetite, stomach/abdominal pain, yellowing eyes/skin, dark urine.
A very serious allergic reaction to this drug is rare. However, get medical help right away if you notice any symptoms of a serious allergic reaction, including: rash, itching/swelling (especially of the face/tongue/throat), severe dizziness, trouble breathing.
This is not a complete list of possible side effects. If you notice other effects not listed above, contact your doctor or pharmacist.
In the US - Call your doctor for medical advice about side effects. You may report side effects to FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088 or at www.fda.gov/medwatch.
In Canada - Call your doctor for medical advice about side effects. You may report side effects to Health Canada at 1-866-234-2345.
See also Warning section.
Before using diclofenac, tell your doctor or pharmacist if you are allergic to it; or to aspirin or other NSAIDs (such as ibuprofen, naproxen, celecoxib); or if you have any other allergies. This product may contain inactive ingredients (such as benzyl alcohol), which can cause allergic reactions or other problems. Talk to your pharmacist for more details.
Before using this medication, tell your doctor or pharmacist your medical history, especially of: asthma, aspirin-sensitive asthma (a history of worsening breathing with runny/stuffy nose after taking aspirin or other NSAIDs), liver disease, stomach/intestine problems (such as bleeding, ulcers), heart disease (such as previous heart attack), high blood pressure, stroke, swelling (edema, fluid retention), diabetes, blood disorders (such as anemia), bleeding/clotting problems, growths in the nose (nasal polyps).
Kidney problems can sometimes occur with the use of NSAID medications, including diclofenac. Problems are more likely to occur if you are dehydrated, have heart failure or kidney disease, are an older adult, or if you take certain medications (see also Drug Interactions section). Drink plenty of fluids as directed by your doctor to prevent dehydration and tell your doctor right away if you have a change in the amount of urine.
Before having surgery, tell your doctor or dentist about all the products you use (including prescription drugs, nonprescription drugs, and herbal products).
This medicine may rarely cause stomach bleeding. Daily use of alcohol and tobacco while using this medicine may increase your risk for stomach bleeding. Limit alcohol and stop smoking. Ask your doctor or pharmacist about how much alcohol you may safely drink.
Your condition may get worse when exposed to the sun. Limit your time in the sun. Avoid tanning booths and sunlamps. Wear protective clothing when outdoors. Ask your doctor if you should use sunscreen along with this medication.
Older adults may be more sensitive to the side effects of this drug, especially stomach/intestinal bleeding, kidney problems and worsening heart problems.
Before using this medication, women of childbearing age should talk with their doctor(s) about the benefits and risks (such as miscarriage, trouble getting pregnant). Tell your doctor if you are pregnant or if you plan to become pregnant. During pregnancy, this medication should be used only when clearly needed. It is not recommended for use during the first and last trimesters of pregnancy due to possible harm to the unborn baby and interference with normal labor/delivery.
It is unknown if this form of diclofenac passes into breast milk. Consult your doctor before breast-feeding.
Store at room temperature away from light and moisture. Do not freeze. Keep all medications away from children and pets.
Do not flush medications down the toilet or pour them into a drain unless instructed to do so. Properly discard this product when it is expired or no longer needed. Consult your pharmacist or local waste disposal company.
Drug interactions may change how your medications work or increase your risk for serious side effects. This document does not contain all possible drug interactions. Keep a list of all the products you use (including prescription/nonprescription drugs and herbal products) and share it with your doctor and pharmacist. Do not start, stop, or change the dosage of any medicines without your doctor's approval.
Some products that may interact with this drug include: aliskiren, ACE inhibitors (such as captopril, lisinopril), angiotensin II receptor blockers (such as valsartan, losartan), cidofovir, corticosteroids (such as dexamethasone, prednisone), lithium, methotrexate, "water pills" (diuretics such as furosemide).
This medication may increase the risk of bleeding when used with other drugs that also may cause bleeding. Examples include anti-platelet drugs such as clopidogrel, "blood thinners" such as dabigatran/enoxaparin/warfarin, among others.
Check all prescription and nonprescription medicine labels carefully since many medications contain pain relievers/fever reducers (aspirin, NSAIDs such as ibuprofen, naproxen, or ketorolac). These drugs are similar to diclofenac and may increase your risk of side effects if taken together. However, if your doctor has directed you to take low-dose aspirin to prevent heart attack or stroke (usually at dosages of 81-325 milligrams a day), you should continue taking the aspirin unless your doctor instructs you otherwise. Ask your doctor or pharmacist for more details.
This medicine may be harmful if swallowed. If someone has overdosed and has serious symptoms such as passing out or trouble breathing, call 911. Otherwise, call a poison control center right away. US residents can call their local poison control center at 1-800-222-1222. Canada residents can call a provincial poison control center. Symptoms of overdose may include: severe stomach pain, change in the amount of urine, slow/shallow breathing.
If you miss a dose, use it as soon as you remember. If it is near the time of the next dose, skip the missed dose. Use your next dose at the regular time. Do not double the dose to catch up.
Do not share this medication with others.
Laboratory and/or medical tests (such as blood pressure, complete blood count, liver and kidney function tests) should be performed periodically to monitor your progress or check for side effects. Consult your doctor for more details.
Keep all regular medical and laboratory appointments.
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Review: Signature 2 cooler proves great match for GTX 680
EVGA's GTX 680 Superclocked Signature 2 graphics card (we call it GTX 680 SC SIG 2) is factory overclocked, but the Signature 2 cooler is what makes this card to stand out from the pack. EVGA uses Signature 2 branding for all in-house designed coolers with two fans. Depending on the graphics card series, the Signature 2 cooler can differ in size and thus in cooling performance. Its main purpose is to ensure reduced noise and better cooling for the GPU compared to the reference coolers.
We reviewed the GTX 670 FTW Signature 2 a few days ago here, which features the same Signature 2 cooler. Additionally the GTX 670 FTW SIG 2 uses the stock GTX 680 PCB design and can be easily mistaken for the GTX 680 SC SIG 2. The picture below first shows the GTX 670 FTW Signature 2, followed by the GTX 680 SC SIG 2.
The GTX 680 comes with eight SMX units and 1536 CUDA cores, while the GTX 670 has seven SMX units and 1344 CUDA cores. Of course, additional transistors on the GTX 680 translate into more heat. Factory overclocking on the GTX 680 SC SIG 2 must be addressed with better cooling, and we hope that EVGA's Signature 2 cooler will do job.
For the GTX 680 SC SIG 2 the GPU base clock is set at 1098MHz, while the typical GPU boost clock is 1163MHz. In comparison, the stock designed GTX 680 runs at 1006 MHz with a typical GPU boost clock of 1058MHz. The reference memory clock is 1502MHz (GDDR5 6008MHz) but the memory on GTX 670 SC SIG 2 is overclocked out of the box to 1552MHz(GDDR5 6208MHz).
In the box you'll find:
-User Guide
-Quick Installation Guide
-Driver/Software Disc with EVGA Precision Tuning Utility
-A small note about PCIE 3 compatibility
-A new sticker set (Enthusiast Built)
-EVGA Full Size Poster
-EVGA Case Badge
-DVI to VGA Dongle
-1x Molex to 8-pin Power Adapter
-1x Molex to 6-pin Power Adapter
EVGA GTX 680 Superclocked Signature 2 graphics card comes with a dual-fan cooler. Reference cooling employs a radial, blower style fan that pushes the air through the heatsink, dissipating heat from the GPU outside the case through slits in the bracket. The Signature 2 cooler has two 75mm axial-flow fans. So, we're talking about an open type approach, where fans are positioned over and blow at the heatsink. This also means that hot air stays inside the case. It's nothing that a few quality intake fans wouldn't effectively nullify.
EVGA cooler fits within the dimensions of the reference GeForce GTX 680. The card is 25,4cm long, just like the reference GTX 680 and the cooler blocks only one adjacent PCIe slot on the motherboard.
The cooler features just a few screws, so taking the card apart can be done very quickly. The cooling shroud holds two fans. The mesh finish on the Signature 2's cooler shroud looks quite attractive, but it is also a magnet for dust. It's nothing that a quick blast of compressed air won't sort out.
Both fans are connected via four wires and those are gathered into a single cable and routed to the PCB. The fans in question are sleeve bearing units manufactured by Power Logic, designated as PLA08015S12HH, DC 12V, max 0.35A. RPM readouts are possible, as well as manual or automatic fan control.
The nickel-plated Signature 2 cooler looks very well made and it is massive. The heatsink does not stretch through the entire length of the PCB, it consists of two sections. With a help of four thick 8mm heatpipes the heat is moved from the cooler base to auxiliary section which is made of aluminum fins soldered to the heatpipes. The base and heatpipes are made of copper, while the rest is made of aluminum.
Recently we tested the GTX 670 FTW SIG 2 which uses the same cooler where it provide good cooling. The GTX 680 SC SIG 2 uses a more demanding GPU on higher clocks and this will be a real challenge for the Signature 2 cooler.
The GTX 680 SC SIG 2 sports five phases for the GPU and two for the memory, while the reference design features four phases for the GPU and two for the memory. GPU voltage regulation is taken care of by Richtek's RT8802A controller.
EVGA's GTX 680 SC SIG 2 packs a total of 2GB of GDDR5, in eight memory modules. EVGA overclocked the memory to 1552MHz (6208MHz effectively). The memory chips are made by Hynix and carry the model number H5GQ2H24MFR-R0C. They are specified to run at 1500 MHz (6000 MHz GDDR5 effective).
Nvidia's specs require one 8-pin and one 6-pin power connector since the card's TDP is 185W.
The GTX 680 SC SIG 2 card comes with DVI-I and DVI-D (dual-channel) outs, where only first one is analog VGA-out capable. EVGA made things easy by marking the VGA-capable out with "DVI-I". The plastic caps are also a nice touch. The I/O panel also features standard HDMI and DisplayPort connectors. Nvidia wanted to make sure that it does not lag behind the competition in multi-display support, so Kepler based cards can run up to four displays simultaneously.
The air exhausts are somewhat bigger than on the reference card. This allows for better airflow, which means hot air will exit the card faster and in turn help the cooler perform a bit better although the cooler design doesn't really call for that.
GTX 680 SC SIG 2 graphics cards come with two SLI connectors, which means it's possible to daisy chain up to four GTX 680 cards for some serious power.
Motherboard: EVGA X79 FTW
CPU: Sandy Bridge-E Core i7 3820 (3.6GHz)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright HR-02 (Thermalright-Europa Distri www.PC-Cooling.de).
Memory: 8GB ADATA DDR3 1600 XPG Gaming series
Harddisk: OCZ Vertex 2 100 GB
Power Supply: CoolerMaster Silent Pro 1000W
Case: CoolerMaster Cosmos II Ultra Tower
Operating System: Win7 64-bit
Nvidia 310.70-desktop-win7-winvista-64bit-english-whql
AMD 12-11_vista_win7_64_dd_ccc.exe
Crysis 2
Metro 2033
Tessellation: Heaven
We tried to overclock the EVGA GeForce GTX 680 SC SIG 2 with the Power Target set to the maximum of 125%. We let the fans in auto mode as increasing fan speed made no difference here. We only managed to increase the base GPU clock rate by 30 MHz (GPU clock is overclocked in incremental 10MHz steps), and the memory clock rate by 200MHz (GDDR5 effective 800MHz). This is not much overclocking for the GPU but bear in mind that the EVGA GTX 680 SC SIG 2's GPU is factory overclocked by 92MHz. With the help of a decent memory overclock we got up to 5% better results.
Fan speed is PWM-regulated from about 1100 RPM to 4230 RPM (according to the PrecisionX monitoring tool). The GPU temperature is up to 76°C with the fans regulated automatically. Subjectively said the card remained quiet, we noticed only small changes in noise levels from inside of the closed PC case.
With the fans set at maximum speed the card is really loud but the GPU temperature is only 60°C.
GPU temperatures didn't exceed 78ºC after overclocking.
Although it ticks at higher clocks, EVGA's GTX 680 Superclocked Signature 2's consumption isn't noticeably higher than the reference GTX 680 and this is good considering up to 7% better performance of the EVGA card.
EVGA updated its GTX 680 Superclocked card with Signatre 2 cooler and jacked up the GPU clock, resulting in a new card, the GTX 680 Superclocked Signature 2. EVGA currently offers a total of 12 different GTX 680 cards, catering to a wide range of needs. The Signature 2 aims to address the need for a very quiet card.
The cooler is practically inaudible in idle, but even when the card is operating under heavy load, it tends to stay on the quiet side of things.
The only downside is the lack of additional overlocking potential. With a 30MHz GPU overclock and a 150MHz memory boost, we didn't break any records, but the real world results are already good enough. Bear in mind that the GPU is factory overclocked by 92MHz, while the memory clock was upped by 50MHz. Memory overclocking is not very popular among Nvidia AIBs nowadays, so we applaud EVGA's decision to go for a slight factory overclock.
The Signature 2 cooler can deliver lower noise emissions even on a demanding card such as the GTX 680. The card is widely available and in case if you want an overclocked and quiet GTX 680 we can recommend it. Currently the GTX 680 SC SIG 2 card is listed for about €443 and that is some €30 more that EVGA asks for the GTX 680 SC. It's not a huge premium, but we still feel that it could have been somewhat cheaper.


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The Pentagon's 12-Step Program to Create a Misfit Military
Military recruiting in 2006 has been marked by upbeat pronouncements from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, claims of success by the White House, propaganda releases by the Pentagon, and a spate of recent press reports touting the way the military has made its wo/manpower goals.
But the armed forces have only met with success through a fundamental "transformation," and not the transformation of the military -- that "co-evolution of concepts, processes, organizations and technology" -- Rumsfeld is always talking about either.
While the Secretary of Defense's longstanding goal of transforming the planet's most powerful military into its highest tech, most agile, most futuristic fighting force has, in the words of the Washington Post's David Von Drehle, "melted away," the very makeup of the Armed Forces has been mutating before our collective eyes under the pressure of the war in Iraq. This actual transformation has been reported, but only in scattered articles on the new recruitment landscape in America.
Last year, despite NASCAR, professional bull-riding, and Arena Football sponsorships; popular video games that doubled as recruiting tools; TV commercials dripping with seductive scenes of military glory; a "joint marketing communications and market research and studies" program actively engaged in measures to target for military service Hispanics, drop outs, and those with criminal records; and at least $16,000 in promotional costs for each soldier it managed to sign up, the U.S. military failed to meet its recruiting goals. This year those methods have been pumped up and taken over the top in twelve critical areas of recruitment that make the old Army ad-line, "Be All That You Can Be," into material for late night TV punch lines of the future.
1. Hard Sell
When not trolling for potential soldiers via video games, websites, or most recently the social networking site MySpace.com and text messaging, the Armed Forces employ recruiters who use old-fashioned hard-sell tactics to cajole impressionable teens into enlisting. Recently, one New Jersey mother told her local newspaper about the Army's persistence in targeting her 17-year old daughter. When the mother finally asked the Army to stop calling her child, the recruiter argued vigorously against it. The mother, who otherwise praised the military, was nonetheless aghast at the recruiter's tactics. "That's what frightened and enraged me. This military person telling me that I have no rights over my child," she said.
Teens are also subject to military advertising and high-pressure tactics at school. The Boston Globe recently wrote that recruiters were now setting up booths in "cafeterias in high schools across the nation." While the State Journal-Register of Springfield, Illinois reported that local recruiters were "visiting each school about every three to four weeks." At one school, administrators were forced to "clam[p] down on aggressive recruiters" and bar at least one from ever returning to campus.
2. Green to Gray
The military has always filled its rolls primarily by targeting the young, but these days the "old" are in its sights, too. In 2005, the Army Reserves increased their maximum enlistment age from 35 to 40; then, later that year, to 42. This year, regular Army green went grayer as well with a similar two-step increase that boosted active duty enlistment eligibility to 42 years.
3. Back-Door Draft
Another group of old-timers has recently been targeted by the military: the Marine Corps Individual Ready Reserve (IRR) -- troops who have left active-duty status and transitioned back into civilian life. In August, the Marines announced that they would begin making up for a shortage of volunteers by "dipping into [this] rarely used pool of troops to fill growing personnel gaps in units scheduled to deploy in coming months." As the Boston Globe noted, it was "the first time since the invasion of Iraq three years ago that Marine commanders have taken the extraordinary step of drafting back into uniform those who have left the ranks."
For its part, the Army, according to the Washington Post, "has used its IRR several times since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. It has mobilized about 5,000 soldiers from that pool over the past five years, most of them since the middle of 2004." CBS News reports that, from the Army Reserve, "approximately 14,000 soldiers on IRR status have been called to active duty since March 2003 and about 7,300 have been deployed to Iraq."
4. Rubber-Stamp Promotions
Earlier this year, the Army admitted that, to maintain desperately needed numbers, it was forgoing almost any measure of quality when it came to its officer corps. According to 2005 Pentagon figures, 97% of all eligible captains were promoted to major -- a significant jump from the already historically high average of 70-80%. "The problem here is that you're not knocking off the bottom 20%," one high-ranking Army officer at the Pentagon told the Los Angeles Times. "Basically, if you haven't been court-martialed, you're going to be promoted to major." Despite near-guaranteed promotions, the San Antonio Express-News reported that the "Army expects to be short 2,500 captains and majors this year, with the number rising to 3,300 in 2007."
5. Foreign Legion
In July, testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness David S. C. Chu listed a series of inducements currently offered to get foreigners to risk life and limb for Uncle Sam. These included: "President Bush's executive order allowing non-citizens to apply for citizenship after only one day of active-duty military service," a streamlined application process for service members, and the elimination of "all application fees for non-citizens in the military."
While noting that approximately 40,000 non-citizens are already serving in the U.S. Armed Forces, Chu offered his own solution to the immigration crisis. With the services denied the possibility of a draft, he made a pitch for creating a true foreign legion from a group "potentially interested in military service," the "estimated 50,000 to 65,000 undocumented alien young adults who entered the U.S. at an early age." Chu then talked-up legislation like the DREAM Act -- which would give illegal aliens the opportunity to, among other options, join the military as a vehicle to conditional permanent resident status.
In addition to proposing a possible source of undocumented cannon fodder that might prove less disturbing to Americans than their own sons and daughters, Chu noted that the "military also has initiated several new programs, including opportunities for those with language skills, which may hold particular appeal for noncitizens." Just in case noncitizens aren't thrilled to the depths by the chance to serve with the occupation forces in Iraq, the Army promises expedited citizenship, quick advancement, and a host of other perks -- including a boatload of cash. In addition to "foreign language proficiency pay while on active duty," those willing to sell their "Middle-Eastern language skills and join the U.S. Army as a Translator AideÖ in Iraq and Afghanistan" will receive an enlistment bonus of $10,000 -- a sizable sum given yearly per capita incomes in those countries which hover in the $800-$2000 range.
6. Mercenary Military
To solve its wo/manpower woes, the military has also enhanced its lure at home -- in the form of "more recruiters and more financial incentives." In some cases, this can mean enlistment bonuses as high as $40,000 for those documented but poor Americans looking to put themselves directly in harm's way for three years as an Army infantryman or explosive ordnance disposal specialist -- markedly more than 2005 per-capita yearly income for African Americans ($16,874), Hispanics ($14,483), and even non-Hispanic Whites ($28,946).
According to a recent Associated Press report, the Army is doling out yet more fistfuls of taxpayer dollars to entice troops to reenlist -- "an average bonus of $14,000, to eligible soldiers, for a total of $610 million in extra payments."
Marine reenlistees seem to rake in the biggest bucks of all. This July, Maj. Jerry Morgan, who runs the Selective Reenlistment Bonus Program, told Stars and Stripes that "the maximum bonus has been raisedÖ to $60,000 for Marines" serving in five critical military occupational specialties.
Add to these sums promised benefits of up to $71,424 and $23,292, for active duty and reserve personnel respectively, to "help pay for college" and you've got a potentially life-changing bribe, provided you still have a life when that college acceptance finally comes through.
7. Abuse of Power
More recruiters waving more money has its pitfalls. Last year, amid a swirl of complaints as recruiters struggled to meet monthly goals (including tips to potential enlistees on how to pass drug tests), the Army suspended all recruiting activities for a one-day nationwide "stand down" to reexamine its methods and retrain its men. Just last month, however, the Government Accountability Office issued a report showing that "between fiscal years 2004 and 2005, allegations and service-identified incidents of recruiter wrongdoing increased, collectively, from 4,400 cases to 6,500 cases; substantiated cases increased from just over 400 to almost 630 cases; and criminal violations more than doubled from just over 30 to almost 70 cases."
What also came to light last month, courtesy of the Associated Press was this revelation: "More than 100 young women who expressed an interest in joining the military in the past year were preyed upon sexually by their recruiters." According to one of the victim's lawyers, a recruiter "said to her, outright, if you want to join the Marines, you have to have sex with me. She was a virgin. She was 17 years old." Another teenage victim spelled out the situation quite clearly, "The recruiter had all the power. He had the uniform. He had my future. I trusted him."
8. Civilian Headhunters
Not surprisingly, given tough times and an administration that never saw anything it couldn't imagine privatizing, the private headhunter has landed on the military recruitment landscape. According to Renae Merle of the Washington Post, as part of a pilot program that began in 2002, two Virginia-based companies, Serco and MPRI Inc., "have more than 400 recruiters assigned across the country, and have signed up more than 15,000 soldiers. They are paid about $5,700 per recruit."
While these companies rake in the recruitment money, the mercenary recruiters themselves reap cash bonuses, free gas cards, and suede jackets. They can augment their base salary by about $30,000 a year by successfully shuttling large numbers of aimless kids and others into the Armed Forces. As has been true with the military's use of private contractors in all sorts of roles in recent years, this step has drawn ire. According to Rep. Janice D. Schakowsky (D-Illinois), "The use of contractors for this sensitive purpose, dealing with the lives of young people, is troublesome." She was particularly worried by the lack of oversight. Quality-control has been another issue. While an Army report recommended continuing the $170 million program, it also noted that the civilian headhunters "enlisted a lower quality of recruit."
Yet the Army's less than complimentary assessment of the private sector's performance didn't sway its officials from announcing in August that they had awarded MPRI "a firm-fixed price requirements-type contract for $11,196,996 as the base-period portion of an estimated $34,272,571 contract (if all options are exercised) for recruiting services toÖ be performed at any of the Army's 1,700 recruiting stations nationwide."
9. How Low Can You Go?
Lowered standards have hardly remained the property of privateers these days. As Brad Knickerbocker of the Christian Science Monitor noted, "The Army has had to recruit more soldiers from the 'lowest acceptable' category based on test scores, education levels, personal background, and other indicators of ability." Even Undersecretary of Defense Chu admitted in July that almost 40% of all military recruits scored in the bottom half of the Armed Forces' own aptitude test.
Other how-low-can-you-go indicators of the military's desperation are now regularly surfacing in news reports. Here are two examples:
Last year, the New York Times reported that two Ohio recruiters were quick to sign up a recruit "fresh from a three-week commitment in a psychiatric ward" even after the man's parents told them he had bipolar disorder -- a diagnosis that would disqualify him." After senior officers found out, the mentally ill man's enlistment was canceled, but in "[i]nterviews with more than two dozen recruiters in 10 states," the Times heard others talk of "concealing mental-health histories and police records," among other illicit practices.
In May of this year, the Oregonian reported that Army recruiters, using hard sell tactics and offering thousands of dollars in enlistment bonus money, signed up an autistic teenager "for the Army's most dangerous job: cavalry scout." The boy, who had been enrolled in "special education classes since preschool" and through "a special program for disabled workersÖha[d] a part-time job scrubbing toilets and dumping trash," didn't even know the U.S. was at war in Iraq until his parents explained it to him after he was first approached by a recruiter. Only following a flurry of negative publicity, did the Army announce that it would release the autistic teen from his enlistment obligation.
10. Armed and Considered Dangerous
In 2004, the Pentagon instituted a "Moral Waiver Study" whose seemingly benign goal was "to better define relationships between pre-Service behaviors and subsequent Service success." That turned out to mean opening the recruitment doors to potential enlistees with criminal records. In February of this year, the Baltimore Sun wrote that there was "a significant increase in the number of recruits with what the Army terms ëserious criminal misconduct' in their background" -- a category that included: "aggravated assault, robbery, vehicular manslaughter, receiving stolen property and making terrorist threats." From 2004 to 2005, the number of those recruits had spiked by over 54%, while alcohol and illegal drug waivers, reversing a four-year downward trend, increased by over 13%.
In June, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that, under pressure to fill the ranks, the Army had been allowing in increasing numbers of "recruits convicted of misdemeanor crimes, according to experts and military records." In fact, as the military's own data indicated, "the percentage of recruits entering the Army with waivers for misdemeanors and medical problems has more than doubled since 2001."
One beneficiary of the Army's new moral-waiver policies gained a certain prominence this summer. After Steven D. Green, who served in the Army's 101st Airborne Division, was charged in a rape and quadruple murder in Mahmudiyah, Iraq, it was disclosed that he had been "a high-school dropout from a broken home who enlisted to get some direction in his life, yet was sent home early because of an ëanti-social personality disorder.'" Recently, Eli Flyer, a former Pentagon senior military analyst and specialist on "the relationship between military recruiting and military misconduct" told Harper's Magazine that Green had actually "enlisted with a moral waiver for at least two drug- or alcohol-related offenses. He committed a third alcohol-related offense just before enlistment, which led to jail time, though this offense may not have been known to the Army when he enlisted."
With Green in jail awaiting trial, the Houston Chronicle reported in August that Army recruiters were trolling around the outskirts of a Dallas-area job fair for ex-convicts. "We're looking for high school graduates with no more than one felony on their record," one recruiter said.
The Army has even looked behind prison bars for fill-in recruits -- in one reported case, a "youth prison" in Ogden, Utah. Although Steven Price had asked to see a recruiter while still incarcerated and was "barely 17 when he enlisted last January," his divorced parents say "recruiters used false promises and forged documents to enlist him." While confusion exists about whether the boy's mother actually signed a parental consent form allowing her son to enlist, his "father apparently wasn't even at the signing, but his name is on the form too."
11. Gang Warfare
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, law enforcement officials report that the military is now "allowing more applicants with gang tattoos because they are under the gun to keep enlistment up." They also note that "gang activity may be rising among soldiers." The paper was provided with "photos of military buildings and equipment in Iraq that were vandalized with graffiti of gangs based in Chicago, Los Angeles and other cities."
Last month, the Sun-Times reported that a gang member facing federal charges of murder and robbery enlisted in the Marine Corps "while he was free on bond -- and was preparing to ship out to boot camp when Marine officials recently discovered he was under indictment." While this particular recruit was eventually booted from the Corps, a Milwaukee Police Detective and Army veteran, who serves on the federal drug and gang task force that arrested the would-be Marine, noted that other "[g]ang-bangers are going over to Iraq and sending weapons backÖ gang members are getting access to military training and weapons."
Earlier this year, it was reported that an expected transfer of 10,000-20,000 troops to Fort Bliss, Texas caused FBI and local law enforcement to fear "a turf war" between "members of the Folk Nation gangÖ[and] a criminal group that is already well-established in the area, Barrio Azteca." The New York Sun wrote that, according to one FBI agent, "Folk Nation, which was founded in Chicago and includes several branches using the name Gangster Disciples, has gained a foothold in the Army."
12. Trading Desert Camo for White Sheets
Another type of "gang" member has also begun to proliferate within the military, evidently thanks to lowered recruitment standards and an increasing urge by recruiters to look the other way. In July, a study by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks racist and right-wing militia groups, found that -- due to pressing manpower concerns -- "large numbers of neo-Nazis and skinhead extremists" are now serving the military. "Recruiters are knowingly allowing neo-Nazis and white supremacists to join the armed forces and commanders don't remove them from the military even after we positively identify them as extremists or gang members," said Scott Barfield, a Defense Department investigator quoted in the report.
The New York Times noted that the neo-Nazi magazine Resistance is actually recruiting for the U.S. military "urg[ing] skinheads to join the Army and insist on being assigned to light infantry units." As the magazine explained, "The coming race war and the ethnic cleansing to follow will be very much an infantryman's warÖ It will be house-to-houseÖ until your town or city is cleared and the alien races are driven into the countryside where they can be hunted down and ëcleansed.'"
Apparently, the recruiting push has worked. Barfield reported that he and other investigators have identified a network of neo-Nazi active-duty Army and Marine personnel spread across five military installations in five states. "They're communicating with each other about weapons, about recruiting, about keeping their identities secret, about organizing within the military." Little wonder that "Aryan Nations graffiti" is now apparently competing for space among American inner-city gang graffiti in Iraq.
Force Transformation
When the American war in Vietnam finally ground to a halt, the U.S. military was in a state of disarray, if not near-disintegration. Uniformed leaders vowed never-again to allow the military to be degraded to such a point.
A generation later, as the ever less appetizing-looking wars in Iraq and Afghanistan spiral on without end, an overstretched Army and Marine Corps have clearly become desperate. At a remarkable cost in dollars, effort, and lowered standards, recruiting and retention numbers are being maintained for now. The result: U.S. ground forces are increasingly made up of a motley mix of underage teens, old-timers, foreign fighters, gang-bangers, neo-Nazis, ex-cons, inferior officers and a host of near-mercenary troops, lured in or kept in uniform through big payouts and promises.
In the latter half of the Vietnam War, as the breakdown was occurring, American troops began to scrawl "UUUU" on their helmet liners -- an abbreviation that stood for "the unwilling, led by the unqualified, doing the unnecessary for the ungrateful." The U.S. ground forces of 2007 and beyond, fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan, or any other war du jour may increasingly resemble the collapsing military of the Vietnam War, the band of criminal misfits sent behind enemy lines during World War II in the classic Vietnam-era film, The Dirty Dozen, or the janissaries of the old Ottoman Empire.
With a growing majority of Americans opposed to the war in Iraq, even ardent hawks refusing to enlist in droves, and the Pentagon pulling out ever more stops and sinking to new lows in recruitment and retention, a new all-volunteer generation of UUUU's may emerge -- the underachieving, unable, unexceptional, unintelligent, unsound, unhinged, unacceptable, unhealthy, undesirable, unloved, uncivil, and even un-American, all led by the unqualified, doing the unnecessary for the ungrateful. Current practices suggest this may well be the force of the future. It certainly isn't the new military Donald Rumsfeld's been promising all these years, but there's no denying the depth of the transformation.
Copyright 2006 Nick Turse


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New York Manufacturing Index Slumped to Record Low in March
By Timothy R. Homan
March 16 (Bloomberg) -- Manufacturing in New York contracted in March at the fastest pace on record as orders, sales and inventories plunged.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York's general economic index dropped to minus 38.2, the lowest level since data began in 2001, from minus 34.7 in February, the bank said today. Readings below zero for the Empire State index signal manufacturing activity is shrinking.
The collapse in global trade, alongside a U.S. economy in its second year of recession, is causing manufacturers to pare back production as demand plummets. The subsequent payroll cuts have prompted the Obama administration to pledge to save or create 3.5 million jobs through tax cuts and more spending.
"The demand for manufactured products -- both domestically and globally -- has evaporated," Steven Wood, president of Insight Economics LLC in Danville, California, said before the report. "This has forced factories to substantially reduce production and employment to keep inventories from ballooning."
Economists forecast the Empire State index would climb to minus 30.8, according to the median of 45 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. Projections ranged from minus 25 to minus 40.
The measure of new orders decreased to minus 44.8 and a gauge of shipments fell to minus 26.7, the lowest levels on record. The index of inventories decreased to minus 27, the weakest since August 2001, from minus 8.1.
Falling Prices
The index of prices paid dropped to minus 14.6 from minus 13.8, and the gauge of prices received decreased to minus 23.6 from minus 20.7. A measure of employment improved to minus 38.2 from minus 39.1.
Factories in the state turned optimistic about the future. The gauge measuring the manufacturing outlook for six months climbed to 3.1, the first positive reading in three months, from minus 6.6.
Today's report is one of the earlier measurements of regional manufacturing this month. The Philadelphia Fed report, due this week, may show manufacturing in the region also contracted in March, according to the Bloomberg survey median.
Another Fed report today is forecast to show industrial production nationwide decreased in February for a fourth straight month, according to the survey median. Manufacturing accounts for four-fifths of industrial production.
Exports Slump
The U.S. trade deficit narrowed in January to $36 billion, the lowest level in six years, on tumbling American demand for everything from OPEC oil to Japanese automobiles, Commerce Department figures showed last week in Washington. American exports also decreased the lowest level since September 2006, as sales of automobiles and telecommunications equipment dropped, the government report showed.
The slowdown in global demand is hurting U.S. companies. United Technologies Corp., the maker of Otis elevators and Carrier air conditioners, said last week it plans to cut 11,600 jobs.
Louis Chenevert, chief executive officer of the Hartford, Connecticut-based company, said in a March 10 statement that "the economic recovery previously anticipated in the second half of 2009 now appears unlikely."
Although 70% of our economic activity is service based, I would contend that the manufacturing base is far more important and it is continuing to contract. It is important because services do not add productive value in the same manner that manufacturing does.
The stock market believes it is looking past this data into the future. It's the same thing they were doing last year and the year before that, etc. You can look past it all you want, but sooner or later the reality will strike home, and that's already happening in spades.


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Select discussion of our 2012 Greatest Films of All Time poll on external websites.
Praising 'Kane'
Richard Brody on how Orson Welles and the French New Wave paved the way for Vertigo's critical rise (The New Yorker's The Front Row blog, 5 September)
Sight & Sound, Part 4: Modern Directors
Parsing the top modern directors in our poll (Forrest In Focus: Critical Film Reviews, 1 September)
The Top 25 Swedish films of all time
En gång en klassiker, alltid en klassiker? Vi har sammanställt en filmhistorisk topplista med hjälp av 50 filmkritiker och -akademiker (FLM, 30 August)
The Sight & Sound poll
Peter Bogdanovich objects! (Indiewire, 10 August)
The Sight & Sound poll 2012
Video clips and essays from the Criterion Collection on their 25 titles in our poll (8 August and ongoing)
The 'Greatest Films Ever' List Includes Nothing From the Past 40 Years? Good
A real classic must show itself to be timeless, argues Alexander Huls (The Atlantic, 8 August)
Vertigo over Citizen Kane? Why the new Sight and Sound critics' poll is full of itself
Owen Gleiberman bemoans the deconstructionist self-indulgence of voters for Vertigo – and Mulholland Dr. (Entertainment Weekly, 7 August)
Bird Watching – Considering The Greatest-Ever Films By Women
Brandi Sperry puts forward five female-directed greats for 2022 (The MacGuffin, 7 August)
The 2012 Sight & Sound Poll [Part 1]: Don't Call it a Consensus
Andrea Comiskey and Jonah Horwitz number-crunch the real story of our polls: a "tendency toward statistical dispersion" (Antenna, 6 August)
Better have a head for heights – Vertigo is back
Jonathan Romney on Hitchcock vs Welles (Independent on Sunday, 5 August)
The radical visions in Sight & Sound's stodgy best-films poll
Scott Tobias hails the mini revolutions-in-their-time in our 'ossified' canon (AV Club, 3 August)
What Are the Greatest Movies Directed by Women?
Melissa Silverstein spotlights female filmmakers we missed, especially if they speak English (Women and Hollywood blog, 3 August)
Sight & Sound's 10 Greatest Films of All Time, and their one-star IMDb reviews
Not everyone sees eye to eye with our critics… (Ultra Culture, 2 August)
A Very Obsessive Guide To Sight & Sound's Greatest Films Poll
Tim Grierson's ten sharp-eyed takeaways from our new poll (Grierson & Leitch, 2 August)
Greatest Films of All Time: Where's the funny?
(Jim Emerson's Scanners Blog, 1 August)
On Writing My Top Ten For 'Sight & Sound'
Edgar Wright finds a way to fill his time at the Chateau Marmont (edgarwrighthere.com, 1 August)
If I Had a Sight & Sound Film Ballot
Slant magazine's The House Next Door blog hosts a Salon des Refusés of online critics omitted from our poll (30 July and ongoing)
Is Citizen Kane still the greatest?
Matthew Sweet asks if Orson Welles's classic is finally losing its lustre (Telegraph, 27 July 2012)
Sight & Sound Film Poll: Critics' Picks
A series of video essays featuring prominent film critics on films they selected for our poll, edited by Kevin B. Lee (Indiewire's Press Play video blog, May-June 2012)
The Criticwire survey
Indiewire correspondents nominate additions and removals from our last Top Ten list (30 April 2012)
The greatest films of all time
Roger Ebert on how he compiled his submission to this year's poll (26 April 2012)
Not simply the best
Kevin B Lee, David Jenkins, Vadim Rizov and Bill Greorgaris preview and debate our poll. Plus Part Two: A Top Ten Dilemma; Part Three: Predictions You Can't Refuse (Indiewire's Press Play blog, 18 April 2012)
The best damned film list of them all
Roger Ebert on why our poll is the only such exercise he submits to (5 April 2012)
John Ford and the Citizen Kane assumption
Kristin Thompson parses our poll and argues the merits of Ford's supposedly 'overrated' How Green Was My Valley (6 March 2012)
Related pages
The complete Greatest Films of All Time poll
Explore all the films and all the votes in our 2012 Greatest Films of All Time poll.


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PHOENIX — The Rockies' 5-4 win Tuesday night against the Arizona Diamondbacks was tainted by the scene of right-hander Tyler Chatwood being escorted off the mound by manager Walt Weiss and head trainer Keith Dugger in the sixth inning.
The Rockies won the game — and clinched their fourth consecutive series — on a home run to right by Drew Stubbs in the ninth inning off Addison Reed. It was Stubbs' first homer this year. Then Stubbs protected the lead with a great catch in center field of a deep drive by Arizona's Eric Chavez with two on base to end the game.
"(Reed) kind of left a slider that was hanging over the edge of the plate, and it tried to go the other way with it," Stubbs said of his game-winning homer.
Troy Tulowitzki, in the middle of a classic Tulo hot streak, was thrilled to see Stubbs, who hasn't gotten consistent playing time, come through.
PHOTOS: Colorado Rockies vs. Arizona Diamondbacks – April 29, 2014
WATCH: Drew Stubbs on his game-winning home run
"Stubbs is definitely a friend of mine and I've know him a long time," Tulo said. "He's a great guy. I can't say enough good things about him, so it was nice to see him put together a good at-bat and make a big defensive play."
Manager Walt Weiss, who inserted Stubbs into the game with a double switch in the eighth inning, was thrilled with how Stubbs came through as the Rockies won for the 10th time in their last 14 games.
"We all know about Drew's talent, and he's been in a tough spot with so many guys playing well in front of him," Weiss said. "Tonight, he won a ballgame for us, along with a bunch of other guys.
"He had a big shot late and he ran that ball down in center field, which he does so well. Chavez hit that ball well, but it was a big-time performance by Stubbs."
The Rockies' clubhouse was a festive place after the game, but Chatwood's injury is cause for real concern as the club moves forward.
"Chatty had tightness in his right elbow and we wanted to get him out of there at that point," Weiss said. "We will reevaluate him tomorrow."
Weiss said he didn't know if an MRI will be required. Chatwood had surgery last October to remove a bone chip in his right elbow. He also missed 28 days last season because of tightness in his elbow.
Chatwood left a mess for reliever Chris Martin to clean up, and Martin did a spotless job. He got Chris Owings to ground out to third baseman Nolan Arenado, who threw to the plate for the force out. Then Martin struck out pinch-hitter Roger Kieschnick and induced Tony Campana to hitter a chopper to first.
"I was already warm when they took Chatty out so I was ready to go," Martin said. "I came in looking to get a groundball out and the first out to (Owens) worked out exactly like I wanted."
Said Weiss: "He came into a tough spot … but he was fantastic. It doesn't get any tougher than that, with the bases loaded and nobody out. But he came in with hard and heavy sink and he did a hell of a job."
Lefty Rex Brothers then came in and pitched a 1-2-3 seventh. But but Boone Logan gave up a game-tying homer off the left-field foul pole to A.J. Pollock in the eighth. LaTroy Hawkins allowed two men to reach in the ninth but recorded the save when Stubbs made is catch in center. Hawkins is 9-for-9 in save opportunities this season.
The Rockies have managed to compile a 16-12 record despite losing two starting pitchers to injury. Right-hander Jhoulys Chacin had a strained right shoulder during spring training and just finished his rehab starts. He could rejoin the rotation as soon as this weekend. Left-hander Brett Anderson made just three starts before he broke the index finger of his left hand. He's on the 60-day disabled list and could be out until the all-star break.
Meanwhile, the middle of the Rockies' order continues to pillage opposing pitchers.
The Rockies tied the game 2-2 in the fourth on a single by Tulowitzki, a triple by Justin Morneau and a single by Arenado. The Gold Glove third baseman extended his hitting streak to 19 games, best in the majors this season, while Morneau's streak grew to 13.
The Rockies regained the lead at 4-3 in the sixth on a screaming two-run homer by Tulo that nearly splashed down in the party pool in right center. Tulowitzki drove in Carlos Gonzalez, who showed signs he's coming out of his slump with a line-drive double to right.
Tulo has five home runs and 10 RBIs in his last seven games. His 22 RBIs this month are tied for his most ever before May. He also drove in 22 runs in April last season.
The numbers are fine, but Tulo is most happy about the way the team is pulling together, especially on the road where they are now 8-8.
"I think right now you see signs of the group coming together and they know what it takes to win," he said. "I see young guys buying into preparing and doing all the things it takes to win. That's what we've been trying to accomplish the last few years. I think this group has a firm grip on that and it's important to me."
Before leaving the game, Chatwood experienced an uneven night. He was a groundball machine in the first, setting the Diamondbacks down in order. But then he started leaving pitches up in the zone, and the Diamondbacks struck quickly in the second. A leadoff double by Miguel Montero, a wild throw by Chatwood on a pickoff attempt, a walk and a double by Owings put Arizona in front 2-0.
A leadoff double by Aaron Hill and an RBI single by Chavez gave Arizona a short-lived 3-2 lead in the fourth.
Patrick Saunders: firstname.lastname@example.com or twitter.com/psaundersdp


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Family gives gift to Vermont Children's Hospital
New isolettte will help care for most fragile infants
Stephany Hasse wanted to make a donation in her late mother's memory, but not in cash.
"To honor my mom I really wanted to have something that was more tangible, say this is what we gave in her memory," said Hasse.
So she and her husband gave a $40,000 Giraffe Omni Bed to Vermont Children's Hospital at Fletcher Allen.
"This is the most recent technology that exists for these kinds of beds," said NICU Nurse Manager Michele Bouchard.
It has a hut-like enclosure over the top that can be quickly raised and lowered, allowing unit to be either an open bed warmer, or an isolette.
"The hood will come down and then keep the baby in a more quiet environment," said Bouchard.
It also keeps the baby in a warmer, more moist environment which is critical in some cases. But there's more that makes this bed special.
"Greater access to the baby by the walls dropping; the bed will pull out, the mattress turns so that you don't have to move the baby, you can move the bed," said Bouchard.
That can be a big help to a fragile baby.
The nurse also said being able to lift the hood on the isolette and access the patient quickly and easily is much better for performing certain procedures, including handling IVs and other tasks.
"I mean this bed was specifically designed with input from clinicians expressing the needs of extraordinarily small, fragile infants," said the director of the neonatal ICU, Charles Mercier, MD.
Vermont Childrens Hospital has two of these beds, and is grateful for the third.
"What the Hasse family did just adds to what makes our Children's Hospital so special. Giving us this Giraffe Omni Bed is going to make all the difference in the world to make sure we have state of the art care for the families and babies who need us," said Chief of Pediatrics, Lewis First, MD.
It's a gift Hasse says would make her mother happy.
"Bruce and I, my husband, we really thought that this is something that would be meaningful. If she was alive, she would appreciate it," said Hasse.


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Napa Valley: Home to Wine Tasting -- and Turkey Hunting
Some vineyard owners take aim when wild turkeys threaten their precious grapes.
Nov. 21, 2007 -- California wine country is a civilized place, framed by lush landscapes, beautiful vineyards and refined wine tasting. But the pristine Napa Valley is also home to wild turkeys, and the people who hunt them.
Amid the world's finest cabernets and merlots, you might just catch a glimpse of turkeys dodging bullets between the vines.
Vineyard owner and heir to the Sutter Home wine label Dave Trinchero gave "Nightline" a rare glimpse into the hidden side of wine country; a side so sensitive -- even dangerous -- that his fellow vineyard owners feel uncomfortable talking about it.
"They'll come to me, because I'm a local hunting guide, and because I'm the president of the National Wild Turkey Federation Chapter for this area, so they'll complain to me, but they're not willing to do it on camera," Trinchero said. "They complain that their crops get wasted, that [the turkeys] are raping their crops."
That's right -- the turkeys. It turns out the chubby little birds like to eat grapes and they love wine country, a potential recipe for disaster on a vineyard.
So every Thanksgiving, for two short weeks, Trinchero's beautiful vineyards turn into battlefields: man vs. turkey.
'They Are That Good'
The" Nightline" crew suited up in camouflage and went along to watch.
"It's a little early right now, and it rained last night, and if they're cold they'll sit up there in that tree for a little bit longer and be a lot more quiet," explained Trinchero.
Trinchero began his turkey call, an art form that took him four years to learn, and then he took out the masks.
"The reflection of the skin on your face will alarm the birds," he explained. "And if they can distinguish a human form, they'll never come within shooting range."
It was then the hunt started getting good.
From our makeshift bunker hidden amid the cabernets behind a camouflage netting of unknown vintage, we watched Trinchero and the turkeys actually talk to each other.
Without Trinchero's trained ear, I doubt we would have identified the faint, faraway bird sounds as turkey, but he seemed certain there was a large flock -- maybe 45 turkeys -- about 350 yards away from his precious grapes. Trinchero said these particular turkeys have good taste: "This vineyard here is half cabernet and half gewürztraminer."
And they'd be watching. Trinchero swears he once lost a hunt because a turkey spotted him blinking.
"Those birds know within five feet of where we are right now from the talking noise," he said. "They are that good."
No time to chat with us -- it was time to talk turkey again.
The 'Diverse Diet'
After the excitement of dressing up and sitting in a cold dark vineyard began to wear off a bit, we started to realize the turkeys were not in fact getting any closer. The hunt had reached a stalemate, and it was time to regroup.
Trinchero eats the turkeys he catches, but said you can't taste the precious grapes in the bird. But, he added, you can taste olives.
"The flavor of forage that I've tasted coming through a turkey is olives …A bird that's been living in an olive orchard tastes kind of like a marinated olive," he explained.
We toured the vineyard for a while by ATV; Trinchero was convinced we could ambush the pesky turkeys. He also told us they aren't his only problem.
"If you get turkey in here, the natural predators for the turkey are the bobcat and the mountain lion," he said.
I'd like to tell you that at this point we rounded a corner and had a phenomenal encounter with a wily group of turkeys. It didn't happen, but we did have a fantastic lunch, complete with wild turkey from a previous vineyard hunt.
In fact, from the wine on the table to the stuffing, everything seemed to be from the vineyard.
The sausage in the stuffing? "It was a wild boar that was walking through the vineyard," Trinchero said.
At this point there's really only one more thing you need to know.
Trinchero said the turkey he hunts do taste better than the turkey you'd find in your grocery store, because they "eat a more diverse diet."
Of course, the wine helps, too.


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Hey Y'all! How are you? I want so much for everyone to know about the avm world and what part all of you play in it - so that is what this blog entry is about! I'll try and keep it simple, ok? This avm is hard enough for me to understand and I'm living it - I can't expect you to "get it", although many of you really do! Mark lives it every day with me and I know my sister Celia really gets it too! As you know, "bleeds" can result in what looks like a CSI crime scene sometimes. Keep in mind that other avm patients may be having a different experience depending on the severity of their avm.
I was @ Wal-Greens the other day, filling a prescription, when a boy of about 9 years old came around the corner, saw me and went, "Eewwww"!!!!! I could tell he thought my appearance was maybe a Halloween thing. I heard his mom call out his name and I told him it was not polite to stare! This isn't the first time I've experienced this - several years ago, another kid @ a Halloween carnival looked @ me and I could tell he thought my face was not what I really looked like everyday - he thought it was part of my "costume". Mark and I ran into one of my lovely co-workers, Griselda several weeks ago @ Petsmart and she was with her son, about the same age as the two boys I had just told you about. Her son never flinched, hid behind his mom or stared - very well mannered and excited to tell us about a school project he was working on! Kuddos to parents that are raising well adjusted kids! You should see Griselda too - she would have every reason to be vain - has long straight hair, very pretty and dresses well - she is the classic example of beauty is as beauty does - she is very down to earth and is always willing to listen and to help in any way she can! Sadly, I've had adults blurt out, "what happened to your face"?! Yikes! I'd never ask someone, "hey, how'd you get stuck in the wheelchair, or how'd you lose the limb"? I don't want people feeling sorry for me either - just treat avm-ers as you would anyone else! I've been impressed every morning as I get to the front door @ work @ the Nueces County Probation Office, that one of the defendants in the lobby stands up to hold the door open for me as I pull along my "what if" bag as Mark calls it. It's a cart full of anything that will make me more comfortable while I'm @ work. From meds, to snacks and books, magazines, etc.
I've had discussions with some cancer survivors (co-workers) that truly are grateful and appreciative of their lives - puts things in perspective and they have a very positive outlook after what they've been through! On the flip side, I am shocked to know someone having suffered a medical setback and appear not to have learned from their experience! Same arrogance, false appearances and superficiality. Wow. Guess we all handle things differently.
As many bleeds as I've had, you'd think I'd get a handle on it. Seems to throw me off physically, psychologically for a few days. Takes a while for me to process the experience before being able to relax a bit. I can't help but feel sad and upset several days after a bleed. Can't help but feel like there is impending doom - just waiting for the next bleed. I'm afraid to go anywhere, I want to stay home where I have what I need to try and stop the bleed. I worry about what I can eat - although a bleed can happen @ any time whether I'm eating or not. I can't eat just anything either, due to some dental problems - it's easier for me to have something fairly soft and not something really crunchy or hard to chew. I want this overwith already!!!!
Mark is so great @ soaking my clothes and getting all the blood off of them. I never can get them as clean as he does! Celia has insisted my embolizations be no more than 5 weeks apart, as this is the only way this nightmare will be over - is to keep after it until we beat this!
I give so much credit to our maternal grandparents that set a foundation for our family of faith, love and prayer - otherwise I would not be able to deal with this hardship. Family and friends I appreciate your prayer and love! My Primary Care Physician, Dr. G. Boynton - I sure keep him busy as I've needed many blood transfusions. A doctor can go his whole practice and not see anyone like me w/an avm. Wound care techs, patient coordinators and nurses - you are awesome and so appreciated by me! Keep up your fantastic outlook - you are in the right line of work! If you are out there with an avm - you need to see Dr. Yakes! He has a fantastic bedside manner and knows how to help you! All Dr. Yakes P.A.'s, Kelly, Mandi and Andie are always so caring and professional! Putting the patient first and always there for us! I started with P.A. Dave, Rhonda and Eric and nurse Julie Labadie - all so fabulous!!!
Thank you Lord for surrounding me with the angels that help me get through each day and for giving me the strength to handle what I wish you wouldn't trust me so much with! I love my life with Mark and our two furry kids Hanz and Bella! They love me unconditionally and keep my spirits up! I need to deal with knowing that spontaneous bleeds will be inevitable until there is no trace of the avm left! I'll do my best not to whine about it and throw myself into the things I love most that make me happy! Love reading, Twilight, the #1 comedy The Big Bang Theory, country music and hearing from friends! Thank you! My co-workers go above and beyond always offering their help and treat me so well - especially my friend Diana - she's brave enough to venture out to have lunch with me knowing I could have a bleed (and have) while I'm out w/her!
Our families help us get to Denver and to maintain our home! Their generosity is enormous and they help us function in a somewhat normal manner! From helping us move out of storage rooms to fixing a broken window. Celia has come over with her cleaning lady and dusted, cleaned out our fridge and swept and cleaned the kitchen! My angel of a brother-in-law Greg (DDS) will get me back on track, along with my nephew Mark that makes beautiful porcelain crowns/teeth that I'll need replaced eventually! As I've mentioned before, Celia is a dental hygenist and does her best to maintain my teeth for now! Because of the avm, I'm limited to how wide I can open my mouth, so It's hard to get in there to brush and I worry about my breath and my teeth rotting! UGH!
I want to mention my brother-in-law Jim and his wife Shelley again - they support us during this time and help Mark keep his spirits up too! Jim comes into town often from Rockport and takes Mark out for lunch and keeps in touch often over the phone! My in-laws Doris and George and other family members keep me in their prayers and this helps so much!
I've had a trache for a couple of years now so that I can be intubated for my procedures and I'll have that until the avm is completely gone. Unfortunately I have some partial paralysis on the left side of my face. Hopefully there won't be any more before this is all over!
I'm always being asked whether Dr. Yakes is really helping me and are these treatments really working? Celia found Dr. Yakes on the internet and I would be bleeding out of control without his help! Since my avm is facial, it is extremely complicated and time consuming! Patients with an avm on their arm or leg can have 2 treatments each visit to Swedish, but I can only have one. Healing varies as well - some patients experience swelling, some cracking skin, etc. My stubborn pseudomonous infection took months to recover from - which meant being on an IV antibiotic several times a day for a couple of months and that just zapped my strength! My family almost literally had to carry me to my doctor appts. and wound care during that time!
I miss being the kind of friend I like to be, that sends gifts and cards and shows her friends how much she cares. I miss you Dorinda, Felice, Patty and Sylvia! I just can't function like I used to right now, but I have hope that my life will return to normal in a few years! I miss being a woman in love that enjoyed Mark-a-ritas and wish I could roll on the grass with Hanz and Bella! I miss my hobbies of rubber stamping, calligraphy and cross stitching - I just don't feel up to doing much of anything. Don't know whether my left ear hearing loss is permanent and for now I sleep in a hospital bed so I can be propped up to help the facial swelling and every night I sleep with a humidifier on my trache. I also sleep with a "bed wetting alarm" that I pin on my nightshirt in case I have a bleed during the night - the alarm will vibrate and make a loud noise to wake me up!
I know all of this will be over one day. I just wanted all of you to know that it is a huge team effort that allows me to be able to function! Team Cyndi! Thank you for helping me get through this and being part of Team Cyndi!
I welcome your questions or comments any time!
P.S. By the way, Celia and I are Team Edward. Haven't seen the new Twilight movie yet - too many people out and I don't need to be having a bleed in the middle of it all! I'll probably wait a week or so and see it w/my sister Celia and my husband Mark! He is such a great sport about my Twilight obsession! We rarely take in a movie - we'll venture out to see The Hobbit as well, but that'll be it for this year! I'll try and come back and put some photos in here, ok?
Team Cyndi
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Hey Y'all! How are you? I want so much for everyone to know about the avm world and what part all of you play in it - so that is what this blog entry is about! I'll try and keep it simple, ok? This avm is hard enough for me to understand and I'm living it - I can't expect you to "get it", although many of you really do! Mark lives it every day with me and I know my sister Celia really gets it too! As you know, "bleeds" can result in what looks like a CSI crime scene sometimes. Keep in mind that other avm patients may be having a different experience depending on the severity of their avm.
Posted by Dulce at 10:28 AM 0 comments
October 2012-Denver
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Hi again!
How are you? Celia and I just got back last night from another trip to CO! We learn something new each time we go for me to have a treatment. I had some questions and was not necessarily happy w/the answers. I wondered if other avm patients Dr. Yakes has, have as much trouble w/bleeding as I do. Yes. I also had wondered and hoped that the closer I would get to finishing treatments (embolizations) that maybe I would be less likely to have a spontaneous bleed. The answer was, as long as there is a trace of avm, then there is a chance of a bleed. So, from now on until this avm is completely gone, I can have a spontaneous bleed - ugh! I can't help but think about whether this will really all be over one day. The answer I got was one I pretty much knew the answer to - after Dr. Yakes declares the avm is taken care of, he'll have the patient come back w/in 6 months to have an MRI done, to make sure he didn't miss an area, or that there has been any regrowth. If there is, then there will be more embolization done (usually very mininmal) and then another 6 month wait and another MRI done to see if all is clear. I'm thinking once a year has gone by, then the reconstructive surgery begins. I hope not to have any more facial paralysis or chipped teeth or losing crowns! As time goes on, I can wait a year and then longer to have the avm checked out and we make sure it won't come back!
Some of my favorite nurses - Jill, Judi and Laura came to say a special hello, as did Jason and of course Alex (a/k/a "Jacob Black") was on duty, so I enjoyed talking to him! Burgess must have been off, because I didn't see her, and Saba has gone to nursing school from what I understand, so I don't get to see her as a tech to come in and take my vital signs anymore! Each night I was there, Jack was my nurse and he came in the room one time to find me nearly tipped off the bed to the right! He made sure an extra hand rail went up so I wouldn't fall off the bed! I always enjoy talking to Victoria - she is in housekeeping and is from Africa! Always in a good mood and assures me I will recover completely as she has seen many patients do so! She keeps me in her prayers and that is very much appreciated!
The day before being released from the hospital, one of the nurses came by to ask if she could have my blog address to give to another Dr. Yakes patients that was in a room down the hall! Of course - always nice to hear from a fellow avm-er! I went down to the nurses station later and asked about the patient, hoping to meet her, but she had company @ the moment. We left the following day, so I never did get to meet this patient! I will always be grateful for all Shalon has done for me regarding having an avm and relating to someone pretty much in the same situation!
The weather was decent - no snow during the time we were there! I think Celia said the lowest it got might have been in the 50's. I was pretty much stuck indoors @ Swedish the entire trip! We did get a chance to hit Wally World, so Celia treated me to some cute jammies and a nice jacket! Got a t-shirt from the space store @ the Houston Airport as well! We enjoy talking books - her with her I-pad and me with my Nook! These trips help us catch up - we're all so busy during the week but we always do make time to touch base w/one another @ least once a day by texting or calling each other!
All in all it turned out to be a pleasant enough trip. I tell everyone @ Swedish that I tell people here how much they make their patients feel well cared for! Had fun talking to one of Dr. Yakes fairly new patient coordinators - JoAnn! She's got us hooked on drinking some Chi Tea from the coffee shop downstairs! I believe Becky is the other patient coordiator and she was telling us what she likes ordering @ Starbucks, so we got some good tips! Andie was the P.A. we dealt with most this trip - did see Mandi as well, but didn't get a chance to see Kelly!
For the most part, I have been able to deal with having to go through this medical crisis, and sometimes I even forget about it until someone stares, I feel rotten or I have a bleed! I know there is no way Mark and I could get through this without our faith, love, prayer and support of our families! It's great to be home after Mark had been gone 4 days to OH. Then I was in the hospital a couple of days here, then Celia and I left for Denver! Hanz and Bella are probably wondering what's going on w/their folks coming and going all the time! I know when Mark was gone, they missed him terribly!
My sister Celia and husband Greg go above and beyond in helping us through this difficult time! From expenses to emotional support and lots of prayer! Marks brother Jim and his wife Shelley in Rockport give us so much support as well! They are both there for us if we need anything and never hesitate to let us know how much they care! If I didn't have all that, I would be a lot worse off! My darling husband is amazing - he often has to clean the bloody mess my avm bleeds leave behind since I can't bend down to do it myself! Mark knows exactly how to make my favorite comfort food, so even if I can't always eat what I want, @ least what I do get to eat is delicious! Mark puts in a full day of work - (sometimes working out in the hot, humid, Texas heat and that can really drain you)! He'll rest a bit and then make sure I'm well taken care of. Makes our dinner, takes care of the dogs if they need bathing, grooming, feeding - plus he picks up the chores I can no longer do depending on how I'm feeling! All I really do around here is the wash and that's not much, but all I can handle @ the moment!
Here are some photos of our trip - Fall in Denver, leaves changing colors, something we don't see down here! Being transported to OR talking to Mark and then waiting in OR to be set up for procedure. The bulletin board on the 7th floor feature my peeps that take care of me while I'm thier patient! Then of course, that's me in front of the hospital sign - my home away from home!
So onward we go ... hoping and praying for mininmal bleeds until all of this is behind me one day! Thank you for coming on this journey with me! Every single one of you matter and are a part of my recovery from what we are going through right now!
Posted by Dulce at 11:12 PM 0 comments


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Red Chile–Guava Margarita
A little bit sweet with a nice kick of heat.
This tropical, spicy margarita was created at Public in New York City, but it's a fitting way to beat the heat any time the mercury's rising. What to buy: Guava nectar is available in health food stores and Latin groceries. You can also get it online.... Read More
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