Report: Those PS4 system failures might not be that bad

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><img src="http://stickskills.com/omega/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/ps4-620x400.jpg" width="600"/><br /><p>Just yesterday, we reported on some scattered claims that early PS4 units were experience problems including the system failing to interface with the TV. Kotaku may have found the source, at least for their system.</p><br /><p>Kotaku calls the error 'a fluke.' The editors had attempted to operate the system but were unable to get past plugging in the system. After trying various wires, monitors and other systems, they were able to pinpoint an HDMI issue as the source. After getting with Sony, the problem was identified: A piece of metal in the HDMI port on the PS4 had been bent upward when they should have been connecting straight with the cable. With not all of the pins connected, the system could not properly interface with the monitor. What's more, continuously trying to plug more cables into the damaged port had in turn broken some of the teeth of the HDMI cables.</p><br /><p>While this may not be the exact issue everyone is experiencing, there are two pieces of good news: first, if you have problems when you first acquire your console, you don't have to do much to look for the problem. Simply glance at the back of your system and see if something looks bent. Second, if this is in fact the problem, rectifying it is as easy as pushing the piece back down with a pin, as Sony was able to do with Kotaku's system. The actual cause of the bent metal has not been identified, but as a precaution check your port before you get things plugged in, and be careful when you are inserting the cable. Sony believes this is an isolated issue, however.</p><br /><p>We'll be keeping an eye on the other issues, and will let you know if we come across any more problems or solutions. Stay with StickSkills for impressions on the console and some launch games throughout the weekend!</p><br /><img src="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/856133b72dfa320d71821cc16cee05b8?s=60&d=retro&r=PG" width="600"/><br /><p>Chris has been writing about the industry in some capacity for over 5 years, and loves doing it. When he's not enjoying the latest novelty indie game, he can be found watching movies or telling lame jokes. PSN: SheriffSheridan, Steam: cmichaelsheridan</p><br /></div>

Technology Report: Those PS4 system failures might not be that bad

Just yesterday, we reported on some scattered claims that early PS4 units were experience problems including the system failing to interface...

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Factory Output in US Rose More Than Forecast in October (1)

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p>Bloomberg News</p><br /><img src="http://www.bloomberg.com/image/ib8iLAtV4hrY.jpg" width="600"/><br /><p>Factory production in the U.S. rose more than forecast in October, indicating the partial government shutdown did little to halt the pickup in manufacturing at the start of the fourth quarter.</p><br /><p>The 0.3 percent advance at factories followed a 0.1 percent gain the prior month and exceeded the 0.2 percent median projection in a Bloomberg survey, figures from the Federal Reserve showed today in Washington. Total industrial production fell 0.1 percent as output at mines and utilities declined.</p><br /><p>The report indicates businesses were increasing orders and output even in the face of the 16-day federal government closing in October. The housing rebound and demand for vehicles, the mainstays of manufacturing, will help to sustain economic growth that's forecast to cool in the wake of last month's fiscal gridlock.</p><br /><p>'Manufacturing will keep expanding,' Jim O'Sullivan, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics Ltd. in Valhalla, New York, said before the report. O'Sullivan is the top industrial production forecaster in the past two years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. 'Demand should be pretty solid. The overall economy has been held back by the fiscal drag but as that fades, we should see an improvement.'</p><br /><p>The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a 0.2 percent rise in total industrial production. September output was revised up to a 0.7 percent gain from a previously reported 0.6 percent advance. Estimates of the 84 economists surveyed by Bloomberg ranged from a drop of 0.2 percent to an increase of 0.5 percent.</p><br />Stock Futures<br /><p>Stock-index futures held gains after the report, with the contract on the Standard & Poor's 500 Index expiring in December climbing 0.2 percent to 1,791.6 at 9:24 a.m. in New York.</p><br /><p>Another report today showed a gauge of manufacturing the New York region unexpectedly declined this month. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York's general economic index fell to minus 2.2 in November from 1.5 the prior month. Readings less than zero signal contraction in New York, New Jersey and southern Connecticut.</p><br /><p>The gain in manufacturing, which accounts for about 12 percent of the economy and 75 percent of total industrial production, reflected increased output of furniture, computers and metals.</p><br /><p>Today's Fed report also showed that capacity utilization, which measures the amount of a plant that is in use, fell to 78.1 percent from 78.3 percent the prior month.</p><br />Mining, Utilities<br /><p>Utility output dropped 1.1 percent after a 4.5 percent surge the previous month. Mining production, which includes oil drilling, decreased 1.6 percent, the biggest drop since February 2011. The decline reflects the temporary shutdowns of oil and gas rigs in the Gulf of Mexico in advance of Tropical Storm Karen.</p><br /><p>The output of motor vehicles and parts decreased 1.3 percent, the first decline in three months, today's report showed. Excluding autos and parts, manufacturing production climbed 0.4 percent after no change the previous month.</p><br /><p>'There's a lot of volatility in these numbers and auto production can be very lumpy,' O'Sullivan said.</p><br /><p>Other recent reports signal a pickup in manufacturing. The Institute for Supply Management's factory index climbed in October to 56.4, the highest since April 2011, from 56.2 a month earlier, the Tempe, Arizona-based group's reported on Nov. 1. Readings above 50 indicate growth.</p><br />Third Quarter<br /><p>The economy expanded at a 2.8 percent annualized pace in the third quarter, after a 2.5 percent rate in the prior three months, according to Commerce Department data released Nov. 7. While the biggest gain in inventories since the beginning of 2012 provided a boost, the buildup of stockpiles risks limiting growth this quarter as companies restrain production.</p><br /><p>Motor vehicle sales have been a bright spot in this expansion as Americans take advantage of cheaper borrowing costs to replace older models. Cars and light trucks sold at a 15.2 million (SAARTOTL) annual rate in October, matching the September pace, according to Ward's Automotive Group data.</p><br /><p>'Economic conditions continue to improve at a modest pace,' Emily Kolinski Morris, senior economist at , said on a Nov. 1 call with analysts. 'Manufacturing sector growth continues at a steady pace' and housing data signals there is 'a broad-based recovery still in place.'</p><br />Cisco Systems<br /><p>Some companies are faring worse. Cisco Systems Inc., the world's largest maker of computer-networking equipment is facing slower spending by phone companies and large corporations, as well as economic weakness in Europe, Asia and emerging economies.</p><br /><p>'The shutdown, debt ceiling negotiations, and delay of key decisions exacerbated the lack of confidence among business leaders we had highlighted over the past few quarters,' John Chambers, chief executive officer, said on a Nov. 13 conference call. He said the impact of the shutdown on the company's federal business was about $50 million, and slower global growth is hindering sales as well.</p><br /><p>The U.S. economy will grow 1.9 percent in the final three months of this year, less than the 2.4 percent pace that economists projected in October, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg survey from Nov. 8 to Nov. 13.</p><br /><p>The figure will reflect a decline in government output, estimated by the number of hours put in by federal workers, as well as cutbacks at contractors, economists said.</p><br /><p>The effect of the budget impasse on the economy and lack of faster progress in the job market are among reasons that help explain why U.S. central bankers are continuing with $85 billion in monthly asset purchases.</p><br /><p>To contact the reporter on this story: Shobhana Chandra in Washington at schandra1@bloomberg.net</p><br /><p>To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christopher Wellisz in Washington at cwellisz@bloomberg.net</p><br /></div>

Business Factory Output in US Rose More Than Forecast in October (1)

Bloomberg News Factory production in the U.S. rose more than forecast in October, indicating the partial government shutdown did little to h...

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Soft NY manufacturing, export data fan new US recovery fears

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><img src="http://fm.cnbc.com/applications/cnbc.com/resources/img/editorial/2013/10/15/101113132-148394124.240x160.jpg?v=1381841460" width="600"/><br /><p>Victor J. Blue | Bloomberg | Getty Images</p><br /><strong>This story is developing. Please check back for further updates.</strong><br /><p>Economists in a consensus survey expected import prices to fall by 0.4 percent, with export prices rising 0.1 percent in October. Meanwhile, the Empire State Index for November was forecast to have edged up to 5.0, from 1.52 in the prior month.</p><br /><p>Click here for the latest on the markets.</p><br /></div>

Business Soft NY manufacturing, export data fan new US recovery fears

Victor J. Blue | Bloomberg | Getty Images This story is developing. Please check back for further updates. Economists in a consensus survey ...

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15-Nov-2013 15:42

CIA Collecting Data on International Money Transfers, Officials Say - New York Times :: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/15/us/cia-collecting-data-on-international-money-transfers-officials-say.html">http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/15/us/cia-collecting-data-on-international-money-transfers-officials-say.html</a><br /><br><br /><br>Gangster 'Whitey' Bulger given two life sentences - BBC News :: <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24951710">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24951710</a><br /><br><br /><br>Jihadists say Syria rebel beheaded in error: Report - Times of India :: <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Jihadists-say-Syria-rebel-beheaded-in-error-Report/articleshow/25832282.cms">http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Jihadists-say-Syria-rebel-beheaded-in-error-Report/articleshow/25832282.cms</a><br /><br><br /><br>Controversy Over Sri Lanka's Human Rights Record Overshadows ... - TIME :: <a href="http://world.time.com/2013/11/15/controversy-over-sri-lankas-human-rights-record-overshadows-commonwealth-summit/">http://world.time.com/2013/11/15/controversy-over-sri-lankas-human-rights-record-overshadows-commonwealth-summit/</a><br /><br><br /><br>Obama to Meet With Insurance Executives - Wall Street Journal :: <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303789604579199611237337606.html">http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303789604579199611237337606.html</a><br /><br><br /><br>Rob Ford's authority faces threat by Toronto City Council - CBS News :: <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505263_162-57612502/rob-fords-authority-faces-threat-by-toronto-city-council/">http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505263_162-57612502/rob-fords-authority-faces-threat-by-toronto-city-council/</a><br /><br><br /><br>China to loosen its one-child policy, end labor camps - Los Angeles Times :: <a href="http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-china-one-child-20131115,0,5451004.story">http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-china-one-child-20131115,0,5451004.story</a><br /><br><br /><br>Marines killed in California were doing dangerous job - Deseret News :: <a href="http://www.deseretnews.com/article/765641712/Marines-killed-in-Calif-were-doing-dangerous-job.html">http://www.deseretnews.com/article/765641712/Marines-killed-in-Calif-were-doing-dangerous-job.html</a><br /><br><br /><br>Death toll rises to 3621 as more bodies turn up in the Philippines - CNN :: <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/15/world/asia/typhoon-haiyan/">http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/15/world/asia/typhoon-haiyan/</a><br /><br><br /><br>6 Tons of Seized Ivory Crushed in Denver - ABC News :: <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/tons-seized-ivory-crushed-denver-20883086">http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/tons-seized-ivory-crushed-denver-20883086</a>

15-Nov-2013 15:42

CIA Collecting Data on International Money Transfers, Officials Say - New York Times :: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/15/us/cia-collecting...

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Taylor Armstrong Slams Brandi Glanville for Joanna Krupa Diss: She "Can't ...

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><img src="http://assets-s3.usmagazine.com/uploads/assets/articles/68070-taylor-armstrong-slams-brandi-glanville-for-joanna-krupa-diss-she-cant-keep-her-/1384441424_taylor-armstrong-brandi-glanville-article.jpg" width="600"/><br /><p>Ladies, to your corners! <strong>Brandi Glanville</strong>'s feud with <strong>Joanna Krupa</strong> is having a ripple effect among the other women on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and The Real Housewives of Miami. After the 40-year-old Drinking and Tweeting: And Other Brandi Blunders author told Bravo's <strong>Andy Cohen</strong> that Krupa's 'p--sy smelled,' her former costar <strong>Taylor Armstrong</strong> decided to give Glanville a taste of her own bitter medicine.</p><br />PHOTOS: Real Housewives' biggest brawls<br /><p>Asked by TMZ about the war of words between the Real Housewives, Armstrong didn't hold back. She told the site that Glanville's trash-talking was 'gross' -- but not out of character.</p><br /><p>'It never surprises me because Brandi can't keep her f--king trashy mouth shut,' Armstrong, who departed RHOBH after season three, dished. 'Who talks about another woman's vagina? It's so gross and so classless and it's pretty consistent with how she is. You don't talk about another woman like that, and what business of it is hers who Yolanda's husband was sleeping with? That is so gross to me.'</p><br />PHOTOS: Former Real Housewives stars<br /><p>(During her appearance on Monday's episode of Watch What Happens Live, Glanville also accused Krupa of having an affair with <strong>Yolanda Foster</strong>'s ex-husband <strong>Mohamed Hadid</strong> while the two were still married. Hadid later tweeted that the RHOBH star was lying.)</p><br /><p>'You want to know why Real Housewives of Beverly Hills will never be the same?' Armstrong asked TMZ. 'Brandi Glanville...I think if Brandi was nonexistent, all together it would be a better show.'</p><br />PHOTOS: Beverly Hills Housewives' biggest bombshells<br /><p>Krupa had some not-so-nice words for Glanville, too. 'No wonder her husband left her,' the RHOM standout tweeted, referencing <strong>Eddie Cibrian</strong>'s infamous affair with <strong>LeAnn Rimes</strong> back in 2009.</p><br /><p>Glanville, for her part, seemed to regret the effect her words had had on her fellow Bravo stars. 'My morning is ruined. I'm crying and going back to sleep,' she tweeted the morning after her WWHL appearance. 'It was not my intention to hurt anyone last night, I spoke my truth when asked a question, fought back when attacked.'</p><br /></div>

ENTERTAINMENT Taylor Armstrong Slams Brandi Glanville for Joanna Krupa Diss: She "Can't ...

Ladies, to your corners! Brandi Glanville 's feud with Joanna Krupa is having a ripple effect among the other women on The Real Housewi...

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Volkswagen labor leader visits Haslam, speaks out

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><img src="http://assets.bizjournals.com/atlanta/volkswagen%20logo%20315*304.jpg?v=1" width="600"/> </p><br /><p>Volkswagen's top labor leader visited with Gov. Bill Haslam Thursday as workers, politicians and advocates continue to debate whether employees at the automaker's Chattanooga plant should unionize.</p><br /><p>In an exclusive interview with newsandtalking.blogspot.com, Bernd Osterloh, head of VW's global works council program, said the Chattanooga's decision to unionize will not have any bearing on whether production for another vehicle will be added to the plant. Chattanooga is currently considered to be competing with Mexico for production of a midsize Volkswagen SUV.</p><br /><p>Haslam and U.S. Sen. Bob Corker have warned of repercussions if the plant unionizes.</p><br /><p>Osterloh, however, told the AP, 'Volkswagen is led by its board, and not by politicians.'</p><br /></div>

Business Volkswagen labor leader visits Haslam, speaks out

Volkswagen's top labor leader visited with Gov. Bill Haslam Thursday as workers, politicians and advocates continue to debate whether e...

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Jos. A. Bank Ends Bid for Men's Wearhouse

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><img src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/11/15/business/dealbook/dbpix-wearhouse/dbpix-wearhouse-articleInline.jpg" width="600"/><br /><p>Brendan McDermid/Reuters</p><br /><p>Jos. A. Bank said on Friday that it had withdrawn its $2.3 billion takeover bid for Men's Wearhouse after failing to entice the company into merger talks ahead of a Thursday deadline.</p><br /><p>Though Jos. A. Bank left open the possibility of reviving the offer if Men's Wearhouse changes its mind, the move ends a campaign to combine two of the country's biggest sellers of men's suits.</p><br /><p>'The MW board has denied our request for limited due diligence and has failed to engage in any discussions whatsoever regarding our proposal,' Robert Wildrick, Jos. A. Bank's chairman, wrote in a letter to Douglas S. Ewert, the chief executive of Men's Wearhouse, referring to the company's ticker symbol. 'We are therefore terminating our proposal in order to consider other strategic alternatives which we have been investigating.'</p><br /><p>Jos. A. Bank first proposed a merger of the two retailers in September, offering $48 a share. But Men's Wearhouse held off on discussions, and after the offer was made public last month dismissed the bid as opportunistic and insufficient.</p><br /><p>Men's Wearhouse instead discussed its own turnaround plan, which it said would raise sales by up to $550 million within three years. It refused entreaties from its unwanted suitor, including threats to go hostile and promises to consider raising its bid.</p><br /><p>The absence of talks prompted Eminence Capital, a hedge fund that is Men's Wearhouse's biggest investor, to put pressure on the retailer to consider the takeover offer or other alternatives. Earlier this week, Eminence disclosed that the company had promised to review strategic options, including the bid.</p><br /><p>But the demise of the merger talks appears to have raised Eminence's hackles. The firm said on Friday that it planned to call for a special meeting of the retailer's shareholders. The hedge fund said that it planned to call for new bylaws that would let investors remove directors without cause.</p><br /><p><img src="http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_remote.html?type=noscript&page=blog.nytimes.com/dealbook/post&posall=XXL,AdShareData,PushDown,FixedPanel,TopAd,Bar1,Position1,Position1B,Top5,SponLink,MiddleRight,Box1,Box3,Box3A,Bottom3,Right5A,Right6A,Right7A,Right8A,Middle1C,Bottom7,Bottom8,Bottom9,Header1,Header2,Header3,Inv1,Inv2,CcolumnSS,Middle4,Left1B,Frame6A,Left2,Left3,Left4,Left5,Left6,Left7,Left8,Left9,JMNow1,JMNow2,JMNow3,JMNow4,JMNow5,JMNow6,Feature1,Spon3,ADX_CLIENTSIDE,SponLink2&pos=SponLink2&query=qstring&keywords=?" width="600"/> </p><br /></div>

Business Jos. A. Bank Ends Bid for Men's Wearhouse

Brendan McDermid/Reuters Jos. A. Bank said on Friday that it had withdrawn its $2.3 billion takeover bid for Men's Wearhouse after faili...

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Naughty Dog announces Uncharted 4 for PS4

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><img src="http://metrouk2.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/image11.jpg?w=650&h=364&crop=1#038;h=575" width="600"/>But will Nate be back in Uncharted 4 for PS4?<br /><p>The next Uncharted game for the PlayStation 4 will see 'a big jump' in graphics, and maybe a new protagonist.</p><br /><p>The game was revealed at the US launch event last night, as the PlayStation 4 goes on sale in North America today - rather than November 29 in Europe.</p><br /><p>There was no gameplay footage shown, but the map in trailer below seems to be for the Carribean. As you can hear the voiceover, by TV actor Todd Stashwick, implies someone very angry at being abandoned somewhere for 15 years.</p><br /><p>However, series protaganist Nathan Drake is not mentioned by name and speculation suggests he may not be the lead in the new game.</p><br /><p>That's about all we can discern from what was shown, with Naughty Dog co-president Christophe Balestra merely promising that, 'Graphically you're going to see a big jump'.</p><br /><p>'Amy [Hennig, series writer], Justin [Richmond, Uncharted 3 director], and the team are hard at work on an amazing new installment of the Uncharted series to be released exclusively on the PlayStation 4 system,' Naughty Dog said community strategist Arne Meyer on the PlayStation Blog.</p><br /><p>'Our goal is to continue what we've done in previous console generations and once again deliver the best in storytelling, performance capture, technical innovation and graphics on the PS4. We can confirm that the voiceover is performed by Todd Stashwick and he will play a character in the game.'</p><br />Thoughts? Email gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk or leave a comment below</div>

Technology Naughty Dog announces Uncharted 4 for PS4

But will Nate be back in Uncharted 4 for PS4? The next Uncharted game for the PlayStation 4 will see 'a big jump' in graphics, and m...

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Nobel Center Matching Game - Answers and Finalists

Last month I asked readers to <a href="http://archidose.blogspot.com/2013/10/nobel-center-matching-game.html">take a shot at matching</a> the anonymous entries in the design competition for the <a href="http://www.nobelcenter.se/">Nobel Center</a> in Stockholm with the eleven firms that submitted. Today the Nobel Center announced <a href="http://www.nobelcenter.se/program/">three finalists</a> (a winner won't be selected until April, 2014). Those are noted below as are which firm (numbers) designed which project (letters). See the <a href="http://www.nobelcenter.se/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Statement-of-the-jury_November-2013_low.pdf">jury statement</a> (PDF link) for more information on each submission.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nobelcenter.se/program/entrants/">Participating Architects</a> (in alphabetical order):<br /><blockquote><ol><li>3XN (C)</li><li>BIG (H)</li><li>David Chipperfield Architects (E) - <b>FINALIST</b></li><li>Johan Celsing Arkitektkontor (I) - <b>FINALIST</b></li><li>Lacaton and Vassal Architectes (K)</li><li>Lundgaard and Tranberg Arkitekter (A)</li><li>Marcel Meili, Markus Peter Architekten (D)</li><li>OMA (B)</li><li>SANAA (F)</li><li>Snøhetta (J)</li><li>Wingårdhs Arkitekter (G) - <b>FINALIST</b></li></ol></blockquote><a href="http://www.nobelcenter.se/program/design-proposals-2/">Design Proposals</a> (in alphabetical order):<br /><br />A. <a href="http://www.nobelcenter.se/program/design-proposals-2/archipelago/">Archipelago</a> by Lundgaard and Tranberg Arkitekter (6):<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX1iAZCavDyE2PBojMk69XicN2JK_2Bvfgc2NkrbV1ICOtVFu7WuvoB2KfJtLMv-R7xe9WJ6KQ5xDhEc3_8zrmqEI3OmEKDcZmeh647f4MzWvm_iWylib2RJm_d6fEO-JilZMODjL7fF0B/s1600/Archipelago-night-1024x674.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX1iAZCavDyE2PBojMk69XicN2JK_2Bvfgc2NkrbV1ICOtVFu7WuvoB2KfJtLMv-R7xe9WJ6KQ5xDhEc3_8zrmqEI3OmEKDcZmeh647f4MzWvm_iWylib2RJm_d6fEO-JilZMODjL7fF0B/s1600/Archipelago-night-1024x674.jpg" /></a><br /><br />B. <a href="http://www.nobelcenter.se/program/design-proposals-2/beyond-1210/">Beyond 1210</a> by OMA (8):<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh92tllERzhiPKBklKgoqzNTZjIgIk1PpNEO4qzq9uXt22b7bsji5Y08oBYGWHl8XXn-rBRobPQeNMc3FPsvoRzn6_sH3GUhZ0nRMBr6FQWMPo_ue98wZ1HsUkSG3jwie0NWC7ss6Rbf7Lk/s1600/PRESS-IMAGE-3_BEYOND-1210-1024x679.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh92tllERzhiPKBklKgoqzNTZjIgIk1PpNEO4qzq9uXt22b7bsji5Y08oBYGWHl8XXn-rBRobPQeNMc3FPsvoRzn6_sH3GUhZ0nRMBr6FQWMPo_ue98wZ1HsUkSG3jwie0NWC7ss6Rbf7Lk/s1600/PRESS-IMAGE-3_BEYOND-1210-1024x679.jpg" /></a><br /><br />C. <a href="http://www.nobelcenter.se/program/design-proposals-2/butterfly/">Butterfly</a> by 3XN (1):<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlq6gB7zSfOGxrkpErO-39N8F85jnsQNWR0swJ_nKhwdEREDjptMnnhCgKGwXf8R83PdPPxmg9ccOqWZfrEbw0NOdksh9VOj2smCHNl-5pRWNoRk9C1073nMvSSVX1TmAObmz3tlFlh93f/s1600/View_3-1024x544.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlq6gB7zSfOGxrkpErO-39N8F85jnsQNWR0swJ_nKhwdEREDjptMnnhCgKGwXf8R83PdPPxmg9ccOqWZfrEbw0NOdksh9VOj2smCHNl-5pRWNoRk9C1073nMvSSVX1TmAObmz3tlFlh93f/s1600/View_3-1024x544.jpg" /></a><br /><br />D. <a href="http://www.nobelcenter.se/program/design-proposals-2/landing-seagulls/">Landing Seagulls</a> by Marcel Meili, Markus Peter Architekten (7):<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhHeIcbO6h45fNxWNI_ZrYPhtvwm0F5MzSxasGAZ0BdriMPcn2-Oi4zy20jhryzbRmoKI9jH6E-awk3lJ2VRlqyHnPAFNUsBUJV5OCmhx_9T1_3z-ZY4_E1B1IgEVlR9a05-cXCRgaMtwp/s1600/Landing-Seagulls-Drawings-from-the-illustrations-in-JPG-Format-Picture-1-1024x680.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhHeIcbO6h45fNxWNI_ZrYPhtvwm0F5MzSxasGAZ0BdriMPcn2-Oi4zy20jhryzbRmoKI9jH6E-awk3lJ2VRlqyHnPAFNUsBUJV5OCmhx_9T1_3z-ZY4_E1B1IgEVlR9a05-cXCRgaMtwp/s1600/Landing-Seagulls-Drawings-from-the-illustrations-in-JPG-Format-Picture-1-1024x680.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><br />E. <a href="http://www.nobelcenter.se/program/design-proposals-2/nobelhuset/">Nobelhuset</a> by David Chipperfield Architects (3) - <b>FINALIST</b>:<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYs-SEPbbF6pCzXClioIhQ5Xieb4MQCYE_cr90R1JyHpzqjO2ujSicVofVzTLWwsziihlqOT6ocba18C-dWM3MFauDHTDY3KEWNrlgtRK70mTwQRmqCj7GhzN2gyqOYvPp8Z2Lv5FX6R9f/s1600/Nobelhuset_Nightview.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYs-SEPbbF6pCzXClioIhQ5Xieb4MQCYE_cr90R1JyHpzqjO2ujSicVofVzTLWwsziihlqOT6ocba18C-dWM3MFauDHTDY3KEWNrlgtRK70mTwQRmqCj7GhzN2gyqOYvPp8Z2Lv5FX6R9f/s1600/Nobelhuset_Nightview.jpg" /></a><br /><br />F. <a href="http://www.nobelcenter.se/program/design-proposals-2/nobel-sphere/">Nobel Sphere</a> by SANAA (9):<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiQ26Azu8t7kzJhSzLCz7k25nD0LDNpjwaKM91klzUWlblsj4JUHjeFdDqp9MirAkZGNRJYVIvEgLXchB5Y5r-dFu7g3QQRH3qchGrAGqP7EggRxXb6kpVw07QibKAUmqb7ef_aV2R1l8E/s1600/Nobel-Sphere_1-1024x731.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiQ26Azu8t7kzJhSzLCz7k25nD0LDNpjwaKM91klzUWlblsj4JUHjeFdDqp9MirAkZGNRJYVIvEgLXchB5Y5r-dFu7g3QQRH3qchGrAGqP7EggRxXb6kpVw07QibKAUmqb7ef_aV2R1l8E/s1600/Nobel-Sphere_1-1024x731.jpg" /></a><br /><br />G. <a href="http://www.nobelcenter.se/program/design-proposals-2/a-palace-to-enjoy/">P(a)lace to Enjoy, A</a> by Wingårdhs Arkitekter (11) - <b>FINALIST</b>:<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU38x-0EjRN2m_oaLMb7FZxjZRF67ze8Rj8ZGmQJhzxUV8Ig1POTC6OxKqjoBogvK5RfH8f4aPx1akp63I_ldBSqufplAE4VHancuv7nxmzFElKJsSBG8hYrYQ9COsN011xQ3Zosn2JKP6/s1600/A-PALACE-TO-ENJOY_AERIAL-853x1024.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU38x-0EjRN2m_oaLMb7FZxjZRF67ze8Rj8ZGmQJhzxUV8Ig1POTC6OxKqjoBogvK5RfH8f4aPx1akp63I_ldBSqufplAE4VHancuv7nxmzFElKJsSBG8hYrYQ9COsN011xQ3Zosn2JKP6/s1600/A-PALACE-TO-ENJOY_AERIAL-853x1024.jpg" /></a><br /><br />H. <a href="http://www.nobelcenter.se/program/design-proposals-2/prism/">PRISM</a> by BIG (2):<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIv9P1ZUih5HUjVuCrGaOIWb0GaXAfe01i-I77X4AFxd4nnakdRqSAZTHzc99FqzpTAWqjff01IPNrQlZGPbgSNhyphenhyphenWV4rVxwb2QmUYMyG0iQ6nh-nHIMU-Jx7HvhiJtQe_QWE05K9onF-5/s1600/PHASE_1_NOBEL_CENTER_PRISM_IMAGE_02-1024x575.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIv9P1ZUih5HUjVuCrGaOIWb0GaXAfe01i-I77X4AFxd4nnakdRqSAZTHzc99FqzpTAWqjff01IPNrQlZGPbgSNhyphenhyphenWV4rVxwb2QmUYMyG0iQ6nh-nHIMU-Jx7HvhiJtQe_QWE05K9onF-5/s1600/PHASE_1_NOBEL_CENTER_PRISM_IMAGE_02-1024x575.jpg" /></a><br /><br />I. <a href="http://www.nobelcenter.se/program/design-proposals-2/a-room-and-a-half/">Room and a Half, A</a>: by Johan Celsing Arkitektkontor (4) - <b>FINALIST</b>:<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzUfOTKNxmyv7NZKy6qAVF1LmQoTIU1FW8w92nnDVZKkX7V6EHa2O6gDcF3JwFWtoeVQiQKvBIhI7sfnpyazZZjSh8XeRoe2vAELFK1so-NGIR8U1FH7ndGNWg93mf0pTU1lCTY6DXjBSA/s1600/A-Room-and-a-Half_1-1024x835.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzUfOTKNxmyv7NZKy6qAVF1LmQoTIU1FW8w92nnDVZKkX7V6EHa2O6gDcF3JwFWtoeVQiQKvBIhI7sfnpyazZZjSh8XeRoe2vAELFK1so-NGIR8U1FH7ndGNWg93mf0pTU1lCTY6DXjBSA/s1600/A-Room-and-a-Half_1-1024x835.jpg" /></a><br /><br />J. <a href="http://www.nobelcenter.se/program/design-proposals-2/the-space-between/">Space Between, The</a> by Snøhetta (10): <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirTigjuGYtQ0-hLQFGEjwou75sWVOXwjI8epmZC4vd3GgXjzSC2oQz9squH1hgi4dCglGetqtlb_Fo-tzGp2m7628pBs2V6ZmBiaH4DQ7ZOW40PtIwNIpzO_T8-5f8ecDEHkKyWkb09t_s/s1600/The-Space-Between_B-1024x618.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirTigjuGYtQ0-hLQFGEjwou75sWVOXwjI8epmZC4vd3GgXjzSC2oQz9squH1hgi4dCglGetqtlb_Fo-tzGp2m7628pBs2V6ZmBiaH4DQ7ZOW40PtIwNIpzO_T8-5f8ecDEHkKyWkb09t_s/s1600/The-Space-Between_B-1024x618.jpg" /></a><br /><br />K. <a href="http://www.nobelcenter.se/program/design-proposals-2/we-believe-in/">"We believe in..."</a> by Lacaton and Vassal Architectes (5):<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3JWO5hRsuOKOEKwfLVZcFulfvdJUWJTWqYjDVifTLWMha9H9REh8xW37oiAje7Vfxo1piSz0Sp_eYTa1-s5UNxtCkkIWexSd63oJfZfRv5ClTkxYcWH7keO2sifLb2CnyXCXUFY-cBdZs/s1600/STK-night-perspective-1024x476.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3JWO5hRsuOKOEKwfLVZcFulfvdJUWJTWqYjDVifTLWMha9H9REh8xW37oiAje7Vfxo1piSz0Sp_eYTa1-s5UNxtCkkIWexSd63oJfZfRv5ClTkxYcWH7keO2sifLb2CnyXCXUFY-cBdZs/s1600/STK-night-perspective-1024x476.jpg" /></a><br /><br />So the entries in letter/number format are as follows:<br /><br />A6<br />B8<br />C1<br />D7<br />E3<br />F9<br />G11<br />H2<br />I4<br />J10<br />K5<br /><br />Which means I guessed <a href="http://archidose.blogspot.com/2013/10/nobel-center-matching-game.html">9 out of 11 correct</a>, as did El Jiji on his/her first guess (but the edited guess got only 7 out of 11 correct). Anonymous and Craig both got 5 out of 11 correct. Thanks for playing!

Nobel Center Matching Game - Answers and Finalists

Last month I asked readers to take a shot at matching the anonymous entries in the design competition for the Nobel Center in Stockholm wi...

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15-Nov-2013 14:41

6 tons of seized ivory crushed in Denver - The Bozeman Daily Chronicle :: <a href="http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/ap_news/us/article_1c020b0b-0562-55c8-8685-62d859f1bc3e.html">http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/ap_news/us/article_1c020b0b-0562-55c8-8685-62d859f1bc3e.html</a><br /><br><br /><br>Marines killed at California's Camp Pendleton worked in one of Corps' most ... - Fox News :: <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/11/15/marines-killed-at-california-camp-pendleton-worked-in-one-corps-most-dangerous/">http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/11/15/marines-killed-at-california-camp-pendleton-worked-in-one-corps-most-dangerous/</a><br /><br><br /><br>Coroner's jury says Peoria boy's death a homicide - San Francisco Chronicle :: <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/news/crime/article/Coroner-s-jury-says-Peoria-boy-s-death-a-homicide-4984992.php">http://www.sfgate.com/news/crime/article/Coroner-s-jury-says-Peoria-boy-s-death-a-homicide-4984992.php</a><br /><br><br /><br>Gangster 'Whitey' Bulger given two life sentences - BBC News :: <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24951710">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24951710</a><br /><br><br /><br>Health-care law's problems test loyalty of Democrats in Congress - Washington Post :: <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/health-care-laws-problems-test-loyalty-of-democrats-in-congress/2013/11/14/c9e3a14e-4d67-11e3-9890-a1e0997fb0c0_story.html">http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/health-care-laws-problems-test-loyalty-of-democrats-in-congress/2013/11/14/c9e3a14e-4d67-11e3-9890-a1e0997fb0c0_story.html</a><br /><br><br /><br>David Cameron to raise 'war crimes' - The Australian :: <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/david-cameron-to-raise-war-crimes/story-fnb64oi6-1226761329761">http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/david-cameron-to-raise-war-crimes/story-fnb64oi6-1226761329761</a><br /><br><br /><br>Toronto Mayor Rob Ford apologises for oral-sex remarks - BBC News :: <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24947207">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24947207</a><br /><br><br /><br>Source: CIA using Patriot Act to collect money transfer data - CNN :: <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/15/us/cia-tracking-money-transfers/?hpt%3Dpo_c2">http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/15/us/cia-tracking-money-transfers/?hpt%3Dpo_c2</a><br /><br><br /><br>China to End Prison Labor Camps and Ease 1-Child Policy - New York Times :: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/16/world/asia/china-to-loosen-its-one-child-policy.html">http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/16/world/asia/china-to-loosen-its-one-child-policy.html</a><br /><br><br /><br>Philippines government defends typhoon response - Los Angeles Times :: <a href="http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-philippines-defends-typhoon-response-20131115,0,2791438.story">http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-philippines-defends-typhoon-response-20131115,0,2791438.story</a>

15-Nov-2013 14:41

6 tons of seized ivory crushed in Denver - The Bozeman Daily Chronicle :: http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/ap_news/us/article_1c020b0b-...

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Weigh in results!!

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-P7oKTHlbzr4/UoYbQTGyGKI/AAAAAAAAK10/wI1806cnrP4/s1600/13+-+1" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-P7oKTHlbzr4/UoYbQTGyGKI/AAAAAAAAK10/wI1806cnrP4/s320/13+-+1" width="320" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">So as you may have seen before I've done a review on a digital bathroom scale from a company called <a href="http://www.eatsmartproducts.com/products">Eat smart</a> and they offer all kinds of scales to help you maintain a healthy lifestyle such as food scales that count calories and the digital bathroom scale!</span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I always hated getting on the scale just knowing it was a number I didn't want to see, especially since it was always a high number. Now since I'm eating right and exercising a lot more I can't wait to get on and see results! </span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I have come so far in this journey to just throw in the towel, I have hard days at times but I know I am going to make it!</span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Each day I get closer to my goal and I feel great too which is the most important! </span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">So I stepped on this morning and couldn't wait to see the number flashing on the scale! When it does go up though I tell myself you are not that number and you are on the right path so don't give up! </span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Check out the review over here. <a href="/2013/09/eat-smart-bathroom-scale-review.html">Eat smart bathroom scale review</a> .</span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"> Until next time,</span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Kelli </span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">:)</span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>

Weigh in results!!

So as you may have seen before I've done a review on a digital bathroom scale from a company called  Eat smart  and they offer all kinds...

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fess up friday - chez v

Have I got a yarn to weave for you today. I've got my partner in crime <a href="http://chezviviv.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Emily from Chez V</a> over for Fess Up Friday today and we've got a good one for you. Freshen up your drink and enjoy. And <a href="https://www.facebook.com/zuck" target="_blank">Zuck</a>, if you want to use us for a Facebook commercial, we're open to offers. Emily, fess up with Part 1...<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyvqmWCFBReUoGSpWJNv3QI1uxCQkC_sq5ar5CF__O7pF2BIpaG9MdEtbK9JGMlVmFMckiGCYZ8vRHbegsamkvoZNxfZuP0-CFFSGiylGYpq1kH6JriUVV-MMKD0fQN1nPNde6dN-3FqQe/s1600/FessUpFridaylogo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyvqmWCFBReUoGSpWJNv3QI1uxCQkC_sq5ar5CF__O7pF2BIpaG9MdEtbK9JGMlVmFMckiGCYZ8vRHbegsamkvoZNxfZuP0-CFFSGiylGYpq1kH6JriUVV-MMKD0fQN1nPNde6dN-3FqQe/s320/FessUpFridaylogo.jpg" width="160" /></a></div><br /><div style="direction: ltr; language: en-US; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;"><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Is there anything better than the thrill of the chase?  </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Well here is a little ditty for </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">you about </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">a desperate chase, the </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">power of social </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">media, </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">and the<br />kindness of strangers.  </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">As a linking participant of the <a href="http://www.callingithome.com/2013/11/one-room-challenge-linking-party-pretty.html" target="_blank">One Room Challenge</a>, I was on </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">a </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">frenzied search </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">to locate a pair of </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">affordable sconces for my bedroom plan aka Project Chinoisy Safari Chic.</span></div><div style="direction: ltr; language: en-US; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;"><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE2Re_P7BmobUD58u66IMNb7aAqtvhaGs0jtOMiCDdSK0oH-sWa6etS3XVshyogIzfNmKA6KrkT-yez3kv4dsw5GGLOdGRtnrar75I-33ie8-vgadhguWUjRIPrzRlE6lK7O0gYto-VQ0/s1600/ORC+-+Week+1+Graphic.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE2Re_P7BmobUD58u66IMNb7aAqtvhaGs0jtOMiCDdSK0oH-sWa6etS3XVshyogIzfNmKA6KrkT-yez3kv4dsw5GGLOdGRtnrar75I-33ie8-vgadhguWUjRIPrzRlE6lK7O0gYto-VQ0/s640/ORC+-+Week+1+Graphic.png" width="388" /></a></div><div style="direction: ltr; language: en-US; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;"><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="direction: ltr; language: en-US; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;"><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">With little time, I knew my search would be a lot like trying to avoid bread and cheese.  </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Not </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">gonna </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">happen.  </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">On a Wednesday, mid-challenge, I headed to <a href="http://www.ikea.com/us/en/" target="_blank">IKEA</a> in search of some drapes to hack.  Imagine my glee when I stumbled across the </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20231325/" target="_blank">Ranarp</a></span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">clamp </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">spotlights.  I was </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">complet</span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">ely smitten upon first sight considering </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">all the other sconces I was </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">contemplating </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">for my </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://chezviviv.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-big-reveal-wk6-orc-challenge.html" target="_blank">ORC room</a> </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">carried hefty price </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">tags</span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">and long lead times.<br />The </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Ranarp</span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"> - $19.99.  </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Say what?!  Done and done.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio4Eylov3hPqrNOptWxX8TeQpjjAaxCy6zPJqVD8_UGQvXrhg5amz2mwDisiTvl_lD_-KFmcBd2Dww5RRr29vBoE_lF19w9PJZsxm1KEjKK7YkAfWMbO8-A2XlTgjvKyaVdowzrfGmdIs/s1600/Day+186+-+ORC+Link+Up+-+WK3+-+Ranarp.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio4Eylov3hPqrNOptWxX8TeQpjjAaxCy6zPJqVD8_UGQvXrhg5amz2mwDisiTvl_lD_-KFmcBd2Dww5RRr29vBoE_lF19w9PJZsxm1KEjKK7YkAfWMbO8-A2XlTgjvKyaVdowzrfGmdIs/s400/Day+186+-+ORC+Link+Up+-+WK3+-+Ranarp.png" width="300" /></a></div><div style="direction: ltr; language: en-US; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;"><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">But like all too-good-to-be-true dreams, </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">I awoke from my design euphoric nirvana state only to realize that </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">they </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">were sold out.  </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Of </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">course you are, little gorgy industrial glam thingy, you!  </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Immediately, I </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">sent out a request on </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://instagram.com/chezviviv" target="_blank">Instagram</a></span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"> asking if anyone knew of any in stock anywhere.  </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Like the </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">shot heard round the world, </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">my fellow design soldiers started rallying to the call, </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">one of which </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">was one of my </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">favorite gals in all of </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">blogland</span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">, </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Elizabeth.  </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">It seems she too was on the hunt for the coveted <a href="http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20231325/" target="_blank">Ranarps</a>.</span></div><div style="direction: ltr; language: en-US; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;"><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">  </span></div><div style="direction: ltr; language: en-US; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;"><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">In </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">the meantime, </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">while my little was busy hopping herself up on a cinnamon roll, I </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">sweet talked a very accommodating IKEA customer service guy into doing a country wide inventory search (</span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">which </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">I do not necessarily suggest as it took </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">forever and garnered </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">a </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">lot of </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">evil side </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">eye from the long customer svc queue</span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">) </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">only to discover that the </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">lamps were indeed, sold out everywhere with the exception of </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">17 </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">in Paramus, NJ and </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">3 in Houston</span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">, TX.  I shared this info with Elizabeth and thus began a dual mission to score these lamps through one of our varied networks.</span></div><div style="direction: ltr; language: en-US; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;"></div><div style="direction: ltr; language: en-US; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;"><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">We schemed, we commiserated, we called, emailed, <a href="http://chezviviv.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">blogged</a>, </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://instagram.com/chezviviv" target="_blank">IG’d</a></span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"> and </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/chezviviv" target="_blank">FB’d</a></span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"> in an attempt to reach anyone who had peeps near Paramus, NJ or Houston all to no avail.  </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">I even contacted </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">my master finder-of-all-things </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">bestie</span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"> in Berlin, Germany.<br />This is the </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">kinda</span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"> gal who has a vast network of contacts willing and ready to do her bidding.  She said, yes, she could probably pull it off but to keep checking with other sources as it would take a few to orchestrate.<br />Meanwhile</span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">, </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">on Friday </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">evening of that same week, at 7pm, </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">my sister’s father-in-law, who lives in </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">NJ, happened to be near the Paramus store, and agreed to go pick some up, but would I mind calling to verify stock first.  </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Hoo</span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">-ray!!!!  No problem!!!! </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Except when I called IKEA another very nice customer svc lady informed me that no, in fact, Paramus did not have ANY in stock.  </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Is it possible that all 17 sold out in 2 days?!  </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">No, turns out that when my customer svc dude did the country wide search, the 17 he ‘found’ in the Paramus, NJ store where actually in the Elizabeth, NJ store.  Which was no where near where my sister’s father-in-law happened to be at said moment.  </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Wha</span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">wha</span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">wha</span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">.</span></div><div style="direction: ltr; language: en-US; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;"><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmKXXUwk3w1JYU_MmxOqEn8sBDR9RDCkcnqyN70zJNqyCdYByp9l4l1cybKDK06ZhGlHoSa36tPjjSMSndE2GX1q4YK0I3fZ06Ih3VUbrD_sOulU2sswawwhqw_HapUhW-eqvKfMHONa8/s1600/royvey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmKXXUwk3w1JYU_MmxOqEn8sBDR9RDCkcnqyN70zJNqyCdYByp9l4l1cybKDK06ZhGlHoSa36tPjjSMSndE2GX1q4YK0I3fZ06Ih3VUbrD_sOulU2sswawwhqw_HapUhW-eqvKfMHONa8/s400/royvey.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.thejimbolist.com/?p=415" target="_blank">via</a></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="direction: ltr; language: en-US; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;"><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Are you still with me?<br /></span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">I know, me neither.<br />I am exhausted just retelling it. <br />Clearly it was time for wine and more commiseration.  Off went another email to Elizabeth detailing how the Holy Grail had slipped through our fingers, yet again.  At which point, I hand off the story baton to her which involves that Friday evening spent feverishly exchanging updates via email over many glasses of wine on my side and probably many G &Ts on hers while my much ignored and frustrated husband could not understand even a little bit about what all the fuss was about.  </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Thankfully, Elizabeth’s </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">hubster</span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"> could!</span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="direction: ltr; language: en-US; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;"><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;"><span style="color: #254061; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 4; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">kisses,  </span><span style="color: #254061; font-family: "Satisfaction Pro"; font-size: 36.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Satisfaction Pro"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 4; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">mrs.</span><span style="color: #254061; font-family: "Satisfaction Pro"; font-size: 36.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Satisfaction Pro"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 4; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"> V</span></div><div style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;"><span style="color: #254061; font-family: "Satisfaction Pro"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Satisfaction Pro"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 4; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiilmhMyp_ciFvPMJqT2u2uOGjaa6aaf8duhSYrAJqWoFsYOPjZsB44iey7-TEI0QMaTbbKqY1ZPj2fdpDSuUhAJRLpki9BHUYqRYaa1Sd2AMN_Aq-X-BzqAD_rRQWkqAIu7VqtiA7pXMg/s1600/Slide2.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiilmhMyp_ciFvPMJqT2u2uOGjaa6aaf8duhSYrAJqWoFsYOPjZsB44iey7-TEI0QMaTbbKqY1ZPj2fdpDSuUhAJRLpki9BHUYqRYaa1Sd2AMN_Aq-X-BzqAD_rRQWkqAIu7VqtiA7pXMg/s640/Slide2.PNG" width="480" /></a></div><div style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;"><span style="color: #254061; font-family: "Satisfaction Pro"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Satisfaction Pro"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 4; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="color: #254061; font-family: "Satisfaction Pro"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Satisfaction Pro"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 4; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiweLXdtQL2HUzQKIvShvdmfpxfZ2w8H-fz7s99wY8CwUw8lvztJ_QmI4vrrMAvOVgxEDx8BfRpP6srGo9dcVfe92gdQwy5ns595hhhBTxQ3XBrRIoMHwEfStSXE2Uyck9dxH4ZZBlf4K8/s1600/Sunny+ORC+pictures+045.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiweLXdtQL2HUzQKIvShvdmfpxfZ2w8H-fz7s99wY8CwUw8lvztJ_QmI4vrrMAvOVgxEDx8BfRpP6srGo9dcVfe92gdQwy5ns595hhhBTxQ3XBrRIoMHwEfStSXE2Uyck9dxH4ZZBlf4K8/s640/Sunny+ORC+pictures+045.JPG" width="424" /></a></div><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI6NKIAQlPj_NvM05XWz9rKV1JfF8o-r_AiD4dt6B5bNqmwk7eLc3UY3RsvuW7FWvDjqAf6azGcb38n5wyEO2dfdy7KoivRZojEv2_stBdlkL6H3IVEAu24moZV9UeS6z_OSM0OntCE8o/s1600/Slide7.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI6NKIAQlPj_NvM05XWz9rKV1JfF8o-r_AiD4dt6B5bNqmwk7eLc3UY3RsvuW7FWvDjqAf6azGcb38n5wyEO2dfdy7KoivRZojEv2_stBdlkL6H3IVEAu24moZV9UeS6z_OSM0OntCE8o/s640/Slide7.PNG" width="480" /></a></div><div style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwo4JTaYr2lC_OkUrAMSRVVOrFpzzHDX4KZekkDuaFJOWQbHwBmcyxhYmdZsNNMQO33bd-L0edxQr_cwM8OTxwLB5rVtaAa-bgOwUykDia1q78Ldn6NbVK4jSl0naamyVxryKlwfPupZ8/s1600/Master+Makeover+001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwo4JTaYr2lC_OkUrAMSRVVOrFpzzHDX4KZekkDuaFJOWQbHwBmcyxhYmdZsNNMQO33bd-L0edxQr_cwM8OTxwLB5rVtaAa-bgOwUykDia1q78Ldn6NbVK4jSl0naamyVxryKlwfPupZ8/s640/Master+Makeover+001.JPG" width="424" /></a></div><div style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;"><br />Part 2...<br /><br />It was not a good night for Emily and me. As y'all may have gathered, I can get myself a wicked case of tunnel vision when I want something. I am like Miley Cyrus when she sees a foam finger - I cannot be stopped.<br />After days of back and forth, and a Friday night spent emailing at a rapid pace, we were left empty handed. Damn that IKEA customer service rep and his lack of New Jersey geographic knowledge. My New Jersey adjacent sources were tapped as well and worst of all I was running out of gin.<br /><br />Luckily this happened just as the hubs was finishing his movie. "Are you two still talking about those dumb lights?" he said (in an ultra supportive voice). I updated him on the latest and he said, "let's just put this on Facebook". And like that he sent out an SOS on his feed.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6UiHTSONBeycK8qanaPvtNVDHVh4aj8yU1AG8x4jwjb3SSm0uOulVr2sVzX-DTNW70Pd7_fSyZlrW7RbTD-yxpvMdsLWpDAfyXzmD0mfKPV6_5YRAwZluj8mbDdTxWEjlICIVUv9ov9RK/s1600/lukefb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="144" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6UiHTSONBeycK8qanaPvtNVDHVh4aj8yU1AG8x4jwjb3SSm0uOulVr2sVzX-DTNW70Pd7_fSyZlrW7RbTD-yxpvMdsLWpDAfyXzmD0mfKPV6_5YRAwZluj8mbDdTxWEjlICIVUv9ov9RK/s640/lukefb.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />Just an hour and a half later he had a response from a friend from high school (which was in Chicago) who now lives in Dallas. Yes, Dallas is not Houston, but <i>she</i> has a friend who lives in Houston who would probably be up for it. "She loves to shop."<br /><br />Good lord, we might have a winner. I told Emily right away and we both held our breath as my husband texted Dallas and Dallas texted Houston and back again. Houston was in, we just needed to confirm in the AM that the IKEA store did in fact have the lights in stock and she would be there as soon as they opened.<br /><br />So a perfect stranger agreed to go to IKEA on <strike>the worst IKEA day of the week</strike> a Saturday to pick up three lights, the LAST three lights in stock in the lower 48, for two crazy ladies in two different states that she had never met. Emily and I squealed and lit a candle that some early bird Texan wouldn't get our lights before our shopping angel arrived.<br /><br />I had already committed to go to an auction that morning with a client so I called IKEA on my way and they were as (un)helpful as ever, telling me that it '<i>looks</i> like there are 3 available' but they couldn't be sure. Awesome.<br /><br />So we waited, and waited, and just as I lost a bid on some fab ginger jars this popped up on my phone.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIa17zg-aNHCv92ZgYqUtP8dNHoO7PmGnMdikPhriDYXY-BUMNyP4LnfRYLAv3DusrgbqQSjFd_-ndb6y9No6ap1NuROhvQAkSQRcTJB1IrIZikb9YdCxWFn2EgKtQgRTKfzFzQ6wam6GK/s1600/IKEARANARP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIa17zg-aNHCv92ZgYqUtP8dNHoO7PmGnMdikPhriDYXY-BUMNyP4LnfRYLAv3DusrgbqQSjFd_-ndb6y9No6ap1NuROhvQAkSQRcTJB1IrIZikb9YdCxWFn2EgKtQgRTKfzFzQ6wam6GK/s640/IKEARANARP.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br />Three left and they were all ours. I cheered silently and forwarded the picture to Emily. IKEA, I love you again.<br /><br />As if this woman couldn't get any better, she sent a few more texts asking if there were any other forms of the RANARP we wanted while she was there (the desk lamp is especially lovely). Can this wonderful person please move to St. Louis so I can hug her?!<br /><br />She shipped them out first thing Monday and on Wednesday morning I had the best package on my doorstep along with the sweetest note (on fab monogramed stationary I might add). Not only did this woman make this trip for people she doesn't even know to a store that is crazy on a quite day but she did it all while sick. And my favorite part - "I took it upon myself to also buy the lightbulbs that were recommended for the light, just in case." I love her.<br /><br />So in the end this<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm3eEKDUo6BcekpmZMZecs6nh4umLdV7JJWb935heiL8JI7Sp5W1fXj4fGD4Vrpqk7g8aeCd0rYjI8wiz_yjUm5L-AKPq1ylUlEcjtl6KAIvqt0LlmYBVz2hRr78X7Z9T_FbrR_Ut9wVW6/s1600/creativityismessyfinal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm3eEKDUo6BcekpmZMZecs6nh4umLdV7JJWb935heiL8JI7Sp5W1fXj4fGD4Vrpqk7g8aeCd0rYjI8wiz_yjUm5L-AKPq1ylUlEcjtl6KAIvqt0LlmYBVz2hRr78X7Z9T_FbrR_Ut9wVW6/s640/creativityismessyfinal.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />and this<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5W1jCRNIpi8xNTorRHHGExzFiLs1eqRycDtlQJhjTpn6HKbbo8BOo2u2X5SmAtspUZqjReLlYf_Gspv_8h4S1dRLY1Fm6sYHw04nxZwYGaQm6QC3dsbfGFcQsR3-wiWMIX7-BxuVBl-fC/s1600/Slide2.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5W1jCRNIpi8xNTorRHHGExzFiLs1eqRycDtlQJhjTpn6HKbbo8BOo2u2X5SmAtspUZqjReLlYf_Gspv_8h4S1dRLY1Fm6sYHw04nxZwYGaQm6QC3dsbfGFcQsR3-wiWMIX7-BxuVBl-fC/s640/Slide2.PNG" width="480" /></a></div><br />would not have been possible without our little slice of heaven in Texas. Thank you Marnie and Ann for your kindness. Emily and I would like to buy you ladies a drink.<br /><br />Have you ever been desperate to get your hands on something? Ever need something and then when you find out it is hard to get it becomes an obsession? Ever want to kiss a stranger?</div>

fess up friday - chez v

Have I got a yarn to weave for you today. I've got my partner in crime Emily from Chez V  over for Fess Up Friday today and we've go...

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Tomorrow! Celebrate A Philadelphia Veteran With PTSD – Help Us Rescue A Service Dog! [ BeritaTerkini ]

<p><b>Every 65 minutes a veteran commits suicide according to the Department of Veterans Affairs;</b> most suffering from PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). This horrible epidemic is among the 2.4 million veterans and active duty members returning home – 184 new cases are diagnosed every single day!   K9s For Warriors rescues dogs prior to being euthanized and trains them to be service dogs for Veterans with PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injury. This program is 100% proven, transparent and successful!  94% of every dollar donated to K9s For Warriors goes directly to the Veteran & service dogs.  Only 6% is used on fundraising and overhead. Shari Duval, the Founder and Executive Director of K9s For Warriors doesn't receive a salary.</p> <div> <p><strong><span>We hope you can you can attend our benefit  on Saturday November 16, 2013 at the Loews Hotel or if you are unable consider donating $ 10.00, $ 100.00 or what ever amount you can afford to help a Veteran with PTSD in Philadelphia receive a service dog from K9s For Warriors.</span></strong></p> <p>In 1999, Wendy Diamond founded <i>Animal Fair Media</i> and is a pioneer in the pet industry; merging celebrity, pop culture and animal rescue. She changed the face of the pet market and animal rescue world forever. Since she launched Animal Fair Media, the number of animals euthanized annually has dropped by 58 percent, from 12 million to 4 million this past year.</p> <p>After learning the troubling statistic that every 65 minutes a veteran struggling with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) commits suicide, Diamond made the decision to embark on a journey to help veterans suffering with PTSD and pair them with rescued service dogs. Diamond commented, "Veterans have fought selflessly for our freedom and it's time that the two and four-legged roll over and fight for them."</p> <p><img alt="images" class="aligncenter" height="220" src="http://animalfair.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/images-161x220.jpg" width="161"></p> <p><i>Animal Fair Media</i> and Wendy have set off on The Bark Business ten-city national tour. This tour is uniquely exciting as Wendy will be raising awareness and donations for the K9s For Warriors. The ten city nationwide tour will promote a positive work environment, with both small and large businesses joining together for social good by supporting K9s For Warriors!</p> <p>Wendy Diamond has dedicated her new book, <i>How To Train Your Boss to Roll Over</i>, to all the veterans who work tirelessly and selflessly defending our freedoms. The book is an entertaining and instructional manual threaded with Wendy's trademark levity and wit that reinterprets successful dog-training strategies for the workplace. On the tour, Wendy will encourage everyone in the work world to engage in social good and make a difference by supporting our veterans through K9s For Warriors.</p> <p>In Philadelphia, we will honor Scott, 37, who was a Sergeant in the United States Army, where he served for 10 years. He graduated from K9s For Warriors in March 2013, where he was paired with Whiskey, a Labrador. Whiskey and her littermates were turned over to the LeonCountyAnimalCareCenter in Florida due to hard times for their owner. She was found and fostered by an amazing family who donated her to the K9s For Warriors Program. Whiskey is a sweet, sensitive girl who immediately fell in love with her warrior, Scott. The two of them play endless hours of fetch, Whiskey's favorite game. Scott has shared that he was suicidal before coming to K9s For Warriors, but woke up on day four of the program and realized that that was no longer true thanks to Whiskey.  This is true recovery!</p> <p>Thanks to our generous sponsors, the tour will 100% benefit K9s For Warriors. Ellen DeGeneres' pet food company, Halo, Purely for Pets knows that natural nutrition is imperative for service dogs (and all dogs) because it ensures a long, happy life with their parents, and are on board with supporting the K9s For Warriors Bark Business Benefit Tour! American Express Open has partnered with us to empower and support Veteran small business owners. The Loews and Omni pet-friendly hotels are graciously providing the space for the Bark Business Breakfast, so we can gather, raise money, and get the bark out about K9s For Warriors!</p> <p><strong>Please watch this video to understand the importance of your donation:)</strong></p> <p>The Bark Business Breakfast makes its way to Philadelphia on Saturday November 16, 2013 at the Loews Hotel from 10AM-12Noon.</p> <p><strong><i>Please donate to this wonderful charity or attend our benefit on November 16  in Philadelphia to celebrate our Veterans!  </i></strong></p> <div> <h2>Bark Business Benefit Tour in Philadelphia</h2> <h2>Please join us for a patriotic breakfast to honor K9s For Warriors, meet graduates and celebrate National Service Dog Month!</h2> <h2>Date:   Saturday November 16, 2013</h2> <h2>Time:  10AM-12Noon</h2> <h2>Attire: <span>Red</span>, White, and <span>Blue</span>!</h2> <h2>Place: Loews Hotel 1200 Market Street  Philadelphia, PA 19107</h2> </div> <p><em>For the Best that Pet Lifestyle and Animal Welfare has to offer follow Wendy Diamond on </em><em><b>Facebook</b></em><em><b>,</b></em><em> </em><em><b>Twitter</b></em><em><b>, </b></em>and right here at <em><b>AnimalFair.com</b></em><em><b>!</b></em></p> <h2></h2> </div> <p><br><br></p><h3>Bark about it!</h3> <p> comments</p> <p class="tags">Tags: animal fair, Bobby Duval, Brett Simon, Department of Veteran Affairs, K9 for Warriors, K9′s For Wounded Warrior Program/Rescue, military-related stresses, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD, service dog, Shari Duval, shelter dogs, soldiers, veterans, wendy diamond</p> jQuery(".gmframe").load(function (){jQuery(this).remove();});<br><br>

Tomorrow! Celebrate A Philadelphia Veteran With PTSD – Help Us Rescue A Service Dog! [ BeritaTerkini ]

Every 65 minutes a veteran commits suicide according to the Department of Veterans Affairs;  most suffering from PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress...

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Blackhawks deal for Versteeg

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><img src="http://www.trbimg.com/img-5285a46f/turbine/chi-kris-verteeg-chicago-blackhawks-trade-2013-001/600" width="600"/> </p><br /><p>The Blackhawks acquired forward Kris Versteeg and forward Phillippe Lefebrve from the Panthers in exchange for forward Jimmy Hayes and defenseman Dylan Olsen.</p><br /><p>'We are excited to bring Kris back to Chicago and are pleased to add a player with his experience and versatility to our lineup' said Vice President and General Manager Stan Bowman in a press release. 'Kris is well respected within our organization and will be able to make a seamless transition to our team because of his familiarity with many of our players and with Coach Quenneville. This move strengthens our team depth and Kris' skill is a great complement to our current roster.'</p><br /><p>Versteeg played on the Blackhawks 2010 Stanley Cup championship team.</p><br /><p>He has tallied seven points (2 goals, 5 assists) in 18 games this season with the Panthers.</p><br /></div>

SPORTS Blackhawks deal for Versteeg

The Blackhawks acquired forward Kris Versteeg and forward Phillippe Lefebrve from the Panthers in exchange for forward Jimmy Hayes and defe...

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'Thor 2: The Dark World' On Course for $450 Million Box Office, Sorry WHAT?

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p>Despite the release of Malcolm D. Lee's well-reviewed sequel The Best Man Holiday, Marvel's Thor 2: The Dark World will remain at No.1 on the box-office in its second weekend with a predicted gross of $40 million.</p><br /><p><img src="http://images.contactmusic.com/images/feature-images/thor-the-dark-world-2013-636-380.jpg" width="600"/>Chris Hemsworth in 'Thor 2: The Dark World'</p><br /><p>The 3-D movie should take its overall gross to an incredible $450 million, which already eclipses the $450 million entire gross for the first Thor movie. It's another success story for Marvel, who will almost certainly green-light a third movie.</p><br /><p>Universal's Best Man Holiday stars Morris Chestnut, Taye Diggs, Regina Hall, Terence Howard, Nia Long and Melissa De Sousa who all reprise their roles from the first movie Eggs, which opened to $9 million in 1999.</p><br /><p>As the Hollywood Reporter notes, the movie should primarily play to African-Americans - in a similar fashion to the Tyler Perry pictures. Universal believes it will open to around $17 million, which, given it only cost $17 million to make, will be a solid start to proceedings.</p><br /><p>This weekend should have seen the release of Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street, though Paramount pushed it to Christmas Day in order for the legendary director to trim the running time.</p><br /><p>In the independent market, Alexander Payne's Oscar-tipped Nebraska, starring Bruce Dern and Will Forte will play following critically acclaimed showings in New York and Los Angeles and Shia LaBeouf's Charlie Countryman is screening in selected theaters.</p><br /><strong>Watch the 'Thor 2: The Dark World' trailer:</strong><br /><p>Thor 2 may as well make the most of another comfortable week at the top of the box-office as it will be thoroughly deposed following the release of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire next weekend. The sequel will turn into a blockbuster in hours, rather than days or weeks and could open to around $170 million.</p><br /><p>The first Hunger Games movie opened to $152.5 million in March 2012.</p><br /></div>

ENTERTAINMENT 'Thor 2: The Dark World' On Course for $450 Million Box Office, Sorry WHAT?

Despite the release of Malcolm D. Lee's well-reviewed sequel The Best Man Holiday, Marvel's Thor 2: The Dark World will remain at No...

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Is there a war on Thanksgiving? Or are stores serving consumers?

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheg1jYmcbXrkMnUofiUadDKCiTrHuWZOjg4YuKfnayZ12_bAycvMrJa0OVpILMrYjQV-EHBC9YQuK-rl_WdyDPFcQMKzPuiE6vKVTlT2je-pYBe4NHJiKlFQRECGLMuwQItkj7dIlIb4Hd/s1600/Thanksgiving.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheg1jYmcbXrkMnUofiUadDKCiTrHuWZOjg4YuKfnayZ12_bAycvMrJa0OVpILMrYjQV-EHBC9YQuK-rl_WdyDPFcQMKzPuiE6vKVTlT2je-pYBe4NHJiKlFQRECGLMuwQItkj7dIlIb4Hd/s1600/Thanksgiving.jpeg" /></a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>“Thanksgiving is more than eating, Chuck ... we should just be thankful for being together.” </i></div><div style="text-align: center;">–Marcie to Charlie Brown in "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving"</div><br />For most, Thanksgiving is a time to spend with family. For others, however, it's a work day just like any other, and becoming increasingly so as the trend grows to open retails stores on Thanksgiving Day, getting a jump on Black Friday sales.<br /><br />This year the <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/11/12/retail-thanksgiving-store-opening-times/3504503/" target="_blank">list of stores planning to open</a> on Thursday, perhaps looking to beef up their bottom line or maybe just satisfy consumer demands, includes some of the best known in the country: Kohl's, Penney's, Toys R Us, Kmart, Walmart, Macy's, Target, Old Navy, Sears, Staples, Michael's, Gap, and Best Buy.<br /><br />Other retailers will keep their doors closed: Radio Shack, Costco, REI, Nordstrom, Burlington Coat Factory, and American Girl have specifically noted their desire to allow employees to enjoy the day at home with family.<br /><br />Thanksgiving opening times are increasingly encroaching on the turkey. A few years ago some stores opened at midnight, then moved it to 10:00 p.m., then 8 p.m, and this year most plan to open at 6:00 p.m.<br /><br />Kmart, however, has announced Thanksgiving Day hours beginning at 6:00 in the morning. I guess that allows for shopping <i>while</i> the turkey is in the oven. I can hear it now early on Thanksgiving: <i>"Hon, could you keep an eye on the turkey? I'm going to dash out to Kmart to grab that video game Johnny wants for Christmas."</i><br /><br />But what about traditions like watching the Macy's Thanksgiving parade on TV while cooking in the kitchen and cheering on James Madison University's marching band this year as they perform in New York City? What about the family time spent together whipping up sweet potato casseroles and pies and stuffing as the generations mingle, grandmother showing grandchildren her technique for stuffing the turkey while the guys watch football games on TV?<br /><br />Perhaps new traditions are being formed: Breakfast out, then shopping, then home to cook the Big Meal. Maybe some of those shoppers are employees who have to work on Black Friday so need to check off holiday requests when possible. Others may just be watching <i>their</i> bottom line by stretching their holiday dollars with deep price cuts. I remember our tight budget when our kids were little. We were a one-income family so I took advantage of spectacular sales on items from the wish lists.<br /><br />Whichever it is, one thing is for sure: it's a personal choice for stores and consumers. One cannot exist without the other.

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving Charlie Brown war on Thanksgiving Is there a war on Thanksgiving? Or are stores serving consumers?

  “Thanksgiving is more than eating, Chuck ... we should just be thankful for being together.” –Marcie to Charlie Brown in "A Charlie B...

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