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spacetimewithstuartgary · 5 years

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ION BEAMS AND ATOM SMASHERS: SECRETS OF MOON ROCKS On July 20, 1969, as Apollo astronaut Neil Armstrong climbed down the ladder from the “Eagle” lunar landing module, he found himself surrounded by a sea of grey -- an expanse of powdery dust no human had ever seen in person. The iconic print made by his left boot marked but the first step on a long journey of discoveries about the Moon and our own world -- both of which hold secrets that scientists are only beginning to uncover. Fifty years after the Apollo astronauts collected samples of Moon rocks and dust during their forays across the lunar landscape, there are still mysteries to be solved, and one University of Arizona scientist is looking for answers. Jessica Barnes, an incoming assistant professor in the UA’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, was recently selected by NASA to receive access to preciously unopened Moon rock samples. Under NASA’s Apollo Next Generation Sample Analysis, or ANGSA, program, Barnes will be granted access to Apollo 17 sample 71036, which contains almost four ounces of rock. Several samples from that mission were initially processed under nominal laboratory conditions, protected from air exposure by a nitrogen cabinet at room temperature, and placed into cold storage within one month of return. “When these samples were brought back, the curators had the foresight to say, ‘In this moment, we don’t have all the methods to answer all the questions these samples could help us answer,’ and so they locked some away for future study,” Barnes says. “They realized that future technologies would allow us to do things that would have been impossible at the time, and that people would come up with new questions. It’s really exciting because we’re at that point in time now.” Barnes is on a quest to find out where water came from in the early solar system and how it has evolved over time. Previous research, including some of her own work, suggests that certain space rocks known as carbonaceous chondrites brought water with them when they impacted Earth and Mars, and potentially some of the larger asteroids. It is no coincidence that Bennu, the target asteroid of the UA-led OSIRIS-REx sample return mission, is a carbonaceous chondrite. “To understand where water in the solar system came from, and particularly how it ended up on Earth, Mars, and in the asteroid belt, we have to consider the Moon,” says Barnes, whose current research focuses on tracing water meteorites, including some of Martian origin, and Moon samples collected during Apollo 11, 14, and 17. “Understanding how life on Earth began is intimately tied to the story of how water arrived here. Lunar samples are critical pieces in this puzzle because unlike Earth, where the oldest rocks have largely been erased by plate tectonics, the Moon’s ancient rock record is still intact.” About 4.6 billion years ago, when a swirling nebula of gas and dust began collapsing into a disk that would give rise to our solar system, the rocky planets and the carbonaceous chondrites were developing in different places and at different times, Barnes explains, which poses a problem for the scenario involving early asteroids as harbingers of water. “It was only 10 years ago that water was discovered on the Moon, not only on the surface, but also inside minerals,” Barnes says. “In science, that is a pretty short timescale, and we don’t have it all figured out yet. How much water is there? Did it come from the Earth during the great impact that we think created the Moon, or was it given to the Moon later? Is it distributed uniformly or in patches within the Moon’s mantle?” To find answers to such questions, Barnes, who wasn’t even born when the Apollo astronauts crisscrossed the lunar surface on foot and with their rovers, is using technology that wasn’t invented until the early 2000s. “When you first receive your sample, you don’t know what you are looking at, so you start with a visual analysis,” Tom Zega says, pointing to a simple dissecting microscope, like the ones used in introductory science labs. Zega is an associate professor of planetary sciences, and materials science and engineering, and co-investigator on the ANGSA project. He also is director of the Kuiper Materials Imaging and Characterization Facility at the LPL, a state-of-the-art facility designed with one goal: extract as much information as possible from samples, both terrestrial and extraterrestrial. Studying a piece of Moon rock under an optical microscope is only the first step in a series of analytical techniques UA researchers have at their disposal. At the end is a 12-foot-tall transmission electron microscope, or TEM. Funded by the National Science Foundation and NASA, its serial number is “1” because it is the first of its kind in the world with this exact configuration. Its 200,000-volt electron beam can probe matter down to 78 picometers, scales too small for the human brain to comprehend. “If you want to know what an atom from the birth of our solar system looks like, I can show you,” Zega says. To get a sample to where it gives up that much detail of its origin and history, however, requires a suite of complex instruments and expertise that no single discipline can provide. “Today, all the interesting science happens at the intersection of various fields,” Zega added. “In my group, we have cosmochemists, quantum chemists, astrophysicists and astrodynamics, among others. This work requires a unique mix of knowledge and skills. Take the TEM, for example: it’s a quantum-mechanical tool, so you have to be an expert in physics, materials science and chemistry, all at the same time.” Another instrument, called an electron microprobe, allows researchers to discover certain properties of a sample by scanning it with an electron beam. As it does, a spatial image of the sample emerges, in this case revealing an abstract, speckled landscape of light and dark areas that cosmochemists can read like a map. “Heavier elements appear brighter, and lighter elements appear darker,” Zega says. “So this tells us, for example, where and how much iron there is compared to oxygen in a lunar sample.” When Barnes moves to the UA this fall, after wrapping up her current research at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, she hopes to be able to expand the capacities of the Kuiper Materials Imaging and Characterization Facility with a next-generation NanoSIMS instrument, which stands for nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry. The beauty of this technology, she says, lies in its ability to analyze isotopes, essentially different “varieties” of chemical elements, at very small scales -- less than one-fiftieth the width of a human hair. Measuring the composition of different volatile elements such as hydrogen and chlorine in the rock tells the researcher something about the chemical make-up of the magma from which the rock crystallized and how its chemistry evolved over time. “These data allow us to understand the chemistry of the Moon’s interior,” Barnes says. “Ultimately we are able to say something about how the Moon evolved and where its water came from.” The possibilities don’t end here. To a curator during the Apollo days, a focused ion-beam scanning electron microscope, or FIB-SEM, would have sounded like utter science fiction: By smashing the bonds between atoms inside the sample with a beam of heavy gallium ions, the instrument works essentially like a nano scale excavator, Zega explains. “Except that compared to other FIBs, which act like shovels, this one is a scalpel,” he says. FIB-SEM allows scientists to cut out tiny pieces from a sample with high precision and analyze only those pieces. This technique recently enabled Zega’s team to discover a grain of dust forged in the death throes of a star long before our solar system was born. “What we want to know from our samples is, how well do they conform to how we think the solar system formed based on astrophysical models?” Zega says. The same applies to the origin of the Moon, Barnes says. “It’s not just analytical instruments that have improved. In the last 10 years, major advancements in impact simulations and numerical modeling have allowed the community to simulate the speed, size and number of the bodies that might have been involved in creating the Earth-Moon system.” Analyzing samples from extraterrestrial bodies goes beyond the origins of the Earth and the Moon, of course. They are critical pieces in the puzzle because they allow scientists to test hypotheses about formation processes in the solar system based on simulations and models. “We have had lunar samples here for decades,” says Timothy Swindle, director of the LPL. “Our faculty have been studying the composition of the Moon for a long time, and what’s so special about these samples is that they were valuable 50 years ago, and they will be valuable 50 years from now.” “Being able to study these previously unopened samples is like a whole new lunar sample return mission,” Barnes says of the value of studying 50-year-old Apollo samples. “Not only do we get to be a part of the history of opening these samples, but we also will be using this opportunity to study how curation practices, such as ambient versus cold storage, affect our ability to measure a lunar water signature. “It’s exciting because this has never been done before.” TOP IMAGE....A NanoSIMS isotope ratio image showing water-bearing minerals (colors) in a sea of water-poor glass (black) in Apollo sample 10049. These were the last phases to crystallize from the lava as it cooled on the surface of the Moon. The scale bar on the lower left measures about one-fiftieth the width of a human hair. (Image: Jessica Barnes) LOWER IMAGE....Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison “Jack” Schmitt stands next to a steep-walled crater named Shorty on Dec. 13, 1972. The UA's Jessica Barnes is among the scientists selected by NASA to be granted access to previously unopened samples, including some collected during NASA's last manned mission to the moon. (Photo: NASA)

#space #science #Astronomy #physics

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t-baba · 4 years

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Fixing memory leaks, TypeScript 3.8, and what's new in Angular 9

#476 — February 21, 2020

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Fixing Memory Leaks in Web Applications — When the front-end became more dynamic, part of the bargain was that front-end developers would have to deal with “a new class of problems that don’t really exist in the server-rendered world”.. including avoiding memory leaks on 101 different types of client device. Here’s an introduction to client-side memory leaks and how to begin investigating them.

Nolan Lawson

TypeScript 3.8 Released — The latest version of TypeScript (the JS ‘superset’ with static type support) is with us and introduces support for ES private fields, export * as .., top-level await, and more, all demonstrated in detail in this release post.

Daniel Rosenwasser (Microsoft)

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A Guide to console Commands — Yes, this topic has been done before, but this is truly the most thorough article I’ve seen on the topic. If console.log is as far as you’ve gone before, this is quite the journey.

Travis Almand

▶ 9 Talks from the WebAssembly Summit 2020 — WebAssembly is undoubtedly going to become a more significant technology this decade and these talks provide a glimpse at the cutting edge of WASM with Lin Clark’s talk providing perhaps the best overview of the space.

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▶ Wes Bos Demonstrates Cloudflare Workers — Workers is Cloudflare’s ‘run JavaScript code at the edge’ service (though it also supports Rust, C and C++ now). This is a good, practical introduction to a common use case and worth watching if you want to use JavaScript to process in-flight HTTP requests.

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Aborting a Fetch API Request — The Fetch API didn’t have the ability to abort a request in its early days (unlike XMLHttpRequest) but AbortController and AbortSignal can help you get the job done on all modern browsers.

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An Introduction to Set Objects — A brief introduction to a handy type that was introduced with ES6/ES2015.

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Introducing the Page Visibility API — Modern browers generally handle page visibility stuff on their own nowadays, but you can do a little more with the API, which has excellent browser support.

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Moving from React to Ember in 2020 — There’s not a lot of detail here but it’s interesting to see someone make this choice and the reasons for it. Despite a lack of React-level buzz, Ember remains a solid choice for building apps if you lean into its advantages.

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Lazy Loading Components in Angular 9 — Have you ever wanted to lazy load an Angular component? Here is a technique you can use with Angular 9.

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How to Build a Tinder-esque Carousel with Vanilla JS

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Paged.js: Formats HTML Content Suitably for Creating PDF Output — I think this project’s site could win an award for sheer elegance, but it’s not just elegant, there’s tons of well formatted documentation too. Or.. if you prefer, the GitHub repo.

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Hex Engine: A Modern 2D Game Engine for the Browser — Still in early development. A TypeScipt- and Canvas-based game engine designed to feel similar to React.

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Serialize JavaScript 3.0: Serialize Objects to a Superset of JSON — Why? So you can serialize regular expressions, dates, functions, and (as of this week) Infinity, as well as the usual things JSON can handle.

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Chardin.js: Simple Overlay Instructions for Your Pages/Apps — It’s not every week we get to announce a library’s new release after six years, but Pablo has taken over this classic library. Demo.

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kihn10 · 7 years

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THE ULTIMATE OVERWATCH QUESTIONNAIRE

1. Who is your defense main? Hanzo 2. Who is your support main? Ana 3. Who is your offense main? Sombra 4. Who is your tank main? Winston 5. Who is you MAIN main? Hanzo 6. Which character have you played the least? Before update:Bastion After update:Doomfist 7. Which character do you want to learn how to play? Zen 8. Which character do you dislike the most? Junkrat 9. Which character’s background story do you like the most? The shimadas 10. Which character’s background story do you like the least? Torbs 11. Which map is your favorite? Hanamura 12. Which map is your least favorite? Oasis 13. What Arcade game type is your favorite? 3v3 elimination 14. What Arcade game type is your least favorite? Don't really have one 15. Do you prefer quick play, competitive, arcade mode, or custom games? Comp/Custom 16. Which map type is your favorite? Assault, escort, assault & escort, control, or arena? Assault and Escort 17. Which map type is your least favorite? Assault, escort, assault & escort, control, or arena? Control 18. Which event map was your favorite? LucioBall Rio 19. Which event map reskin was your favorite? It's a tie between the Christmas maps 20. Which event was your favorite? Holloween 21. Which event legendary skin was your favorite? Its a tie between Wukong and Witch Mercy 22. Which event was your least favorite? Anniversary wasn't that fun 23. Which event legendary skin was your least favorite? Meirry, it was just a recolor with a hat 24. Which event non-legendary skin was your favorite? Okami 25. Which event non-legendary skin was your least favorite? Zarya's goth skins 26. Which event item do you most regret not getting? Sombra's and Winston's dance 27. Did you beat the Uprising event on Normal, Hard, Expert, and Legendary? All except Legendary 28. Do you have Sombra’s “Power Outage” achievement? Yes 29. Do you have Widowmaker’s “Smooth as Silk” achievement? Yes 30. Do you have Lucio’s “The Floor is Lava” achievement? Yes I got it before his rework 31. Do you have Zenyatta’s “Rapid Discord” achievement? Nope 32. What was the first achievement you got? The friend Zone 33. Did you get the “Not A Scratch,” achievement on Junkenstein’s Revenge? Yup 34. What has been the hardest achievement to get for you? Waste not Want not 35. What’s your current SR score in Competitive Mode? I didn't play season 5 for a month because I was tired of the Dive Meta so I decayed from 3746-3012 and made my way up to 3316 36. What the highest you’ve been in Competitive? 3900 37. What’s the most amount of placement matches you’ve won? All 10 38. How many gold guns do you have? Technically 4 cause I'm getting winston's when the season ends 39. Which was the first gold gun you got? I'm a Hanzo it shouldn't be hard to figure out 40. Whose gold gun do you currently want? Winston 41. What role do you usually play in Competitive? Dps/support 42. If you don’t play Competitive, why not? 43. What kind of theme event would you like to see in the future? Maybe Winter Games if Overwatch doesn't die before the Winter Olympics 44. What type of character would you like to see in the future? Another goddamn Deffense Hero where's the love Blizzard 45. Who needs more (or better) skins in the future? Ana,Sombra and Zarya 46. What country would you like a new character to come from? Maybe a middle eastern character would be cool 47. Favorite voice line? Are You Scared/I know who's been naughty 48. Favorite player icon? Anniversary Winston 49. Favorite emote? Ana's Candy 50. Favorite spray? Sombra's cute 51.Favorite victory pose? Peanut butter Winston 52. Favorite highlight intro? Sombra's Hacked 53. Characters you ship the most? Hanzo x Mcree MCHANZO FTW 54. Characters you ship the least? Mei x junkrat 55. Characters you wish had more in-game interactions? All the original Overwatch members it's always "I thought you were dead" 56. Character you wish had a comic about? Sombra or Hanzo 57. Favorite comic released? I liked Reins 58. Favorite short released? Infiltration/Dragons 59. Favorite new character released? Tie between Ana and Sombra 60. Overwatch, Blackwatch, or Talon? Talon 61. Pro-Omnic or anti-Omnic? Pro 62. Favorite character that isn’t a playable one? (Ex: Emily, Brigitte, Gerard, Efi, etc.) Brigitte 63. Character change (nerf, boost, work around) that you liked the most? Lucio rework 64. Character change (nerf, boost, work around) you liked the least? I'm a Hanzo main and I think his arrow hit box is broken 65. Best ultimate? Emp 66. Worst ultimate? Deadeye it's so easily countered 67. Most kills in game? QP:49 Comp: 62 68. Most heals in game? QP:16,128 Comp:20,853 69. What character do you think needs a nerf? Hanzo plz fix the arrow hit box 70. What character do you think needs a buff? Ana I miss the old Ana she was so good (Still is) 71. Have you ever rage quit in the middle of a game? Yup who hasn't 72. What’s the fastest you’ve won a game? 1:38 on Temple of Anubis 73. What’s the fastest you’ve lost a game? Technically 1:01 a triple queue left and the rest of my team just became friendly with the enemy team. 74. Your best Overwatch-related story? It was when I got my first POTG with Ana I got a Nano assist triple kill and a slept a pharah into the well on Ilios plus I a legendary vote at the end of the game. 75. Weirdest thing that happened to you on Overwatch? I spawned in the enemy team's spawn and was stuck there the whole game 76. Platform you play on? PS4 77. Do you stream? I want to but for now I make little videos on my YouTube channel 78. Do you normally play solo or with friends? 79. Have you made any friends because of Overwatch? Lots that I still play with to this day we have a group chat called the OVERSQUAD 80. Have you cosplayed a character from Overwatch? No but I want to get a Hanzo sleeve tattoo 81. Have you ever wrote fan fiction about Overwatch? Nope 82. What’s the lowest you’ve been in Competitive? Platinum at 26 something from a loosing streak 83. In “All Brawls,” if you get “Charge!” do you play Reinhardt or do you pick the Lucio role? Lucio I like supports 84. In “All Brawls,” if you get “One Shot, One Kill,” do you play Ana, Hanzo, or Widowmaker? Hanzo/Ana 85. In “All Brawls,” if you get “This is Ilios,” do you pick Lucio or Roadhog? Lucio 86. Team Genji or Team Hanzo? Team Hanzo 87. Be honest! Do you usually get on the payload? Yup 88. Does your team? Depends 89. What’s the longest session of Overwatch you’ve played? 24 Hours My friend wanted me to do a bronze to masters, I did get him to master but then he stopped playing for a little and decayed to 3000 90. No Limits, Mystery Heroes, or Total Mayhem? Total Mayhem or as it used to be called Arcade. (SHOUT OUT TO ALL MY BETA/ YEAR ONE PLAYERS) 91.Most cosmetics you have for one character? Hanzo I'm only missing his Anniversary spray and voice lines 92. Least cosmetics you have for one character? Besides Doomfist, Orisa 93. Have you ever made your own custom game? Yeas 94. Best D.Va skin? Officer 95. Best Mercy skin? Witch 96. Best Tracer skin? Graffiti 97. Zarya’s Industrial and Cybergoth skins: yes, no, or HELL NO? Hell No 98. Do you want more animal character, robot characters, or human characters? Animal 99. Is there are character you’d get rid of completely? Maybe Sym she's basically torb with lasers and shields 100. What do you think Sombra’s real name is? Idk Jade might be cool

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martinlawless · 5 years

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Tour of Malta 2019

Foreign National, General Classification Staged Race Masters E1234 10-13 April 2019

Extracts from my tour diary, to CC Ashwell’s club forum…

Tour registration day Wednesday 10 April 2019

Team CC Ashwell have arrived in Malta all safe and well. Mitchy - riding for Contour Cycles - had a nightmare getting over but he got here eventually. Me, Dave W and Jenny are representing the club. My dad and young Ellie Mitchinson are here in support. The Tour of Malta is a four stage GC race, registered as a Foreign Race with British Cycling, so hard to earn points for individual stages and overall GC are out there for the taking. But primarily, this is racing at its most enjoyable. It’s truly a friendly Tour, very much in the Maltese spirit. We are messing around on bikes in a warm country and drinking coffee in between: so we're all winners.

Among the registered riders, former multi GB national champ, Colin Sturgess, is in with me and Dave in the ‘Masters’ (40+) GC. A former stablemate of Bradley Wiggins, I fully expect to see Colin's wheel briefly before he rides off into the distance. Go get him Mitchy!

I’m staying in the official Tour hotel, so it's nice to bump into others, including Steve and Rachel from Verulam in St Albans. The weather forecast is pretty good. Around 16-20 degrees. Dry. Windy. It’s always windy on these small Mediterranean islands. Malta looks pretty in the Spring with lots of flowers and the grass not yet sun-baked brown. The drivers here are friendly. Just as well, as the major roads are quite busy and some of them are in poor quality.

The first stage is a 7 miles TT. I remember it from last year. It uses one of the National courses here, up and down the hill several times, besides the amazing ancient walled city of Mdina. It’s a nightmare to get any kind of TT rhythm and doesn’t play to whatever strengths I might have. But that’s the way it goes for us all. Fair enough. After that, there are three road race stages. The fourth of which is the one featuring the famous local climb of San Martin: Malta’s mini Alpe d’Huez. We’ll be hitting that seven times.

To check my bike over, I rode a few miles to Mosta this morning to buy a pump. Mosta is famous for its massive domed church, where in the Second World War a gigantic bomb landed through the roof but failed to explode. Sending an already ultra-religious nation into overdrive. Hopefully, this big failing bomb is not a metaphor for my performance on this tour. My objective is to simply enjoy it this time.

I spoke to an old boy outside his bicycle workshop in Mosta. Turns out it’s 78 years old John Magri. Maltese cycling legend, several times national champ and among other accolades finished 31st in the 1972 Olympics. Over an hour later, I’m getting nano-detail on some of his best races and cycling stories from this complete stranger. He’d make a great guest speaker for a Club social evening. He fixed his first bike in 1949. His gran opened the bike shop in 1899. I bought a pump from his son who now runs the shop who laughingly asked if his dad had been talking to me for a while...

In the afternoon, we all met up to ride gently over to Golden Bay for a coffee in the beachside cafe. Dave and Jenny had a swim in the sea and we tootled back. A leisurely way to spend an afternoon. The climb up San Martin has been partially resurfaced, but up top, the surface is not unlike Paris-Roubaix.This Stage 4 will have a bit of everything.

We register this evening and get briefed and find out out TT start times for tomorrow. Then a bit of local pasta and an evening of fettling with bike and kit. I’ve had a decent winter of training by my standards. It’s not at all scientific, but I gauge myself as being just about as fit as last year - so let’s see how we get on. The word is, the Masters field is tougher this year in general.

We'll be updating this thread as much as we can. Writing helps pass the time as we don't really want to ride or drink or eat too much to rest in between stages. And the messages of support give us a great boost. Racing day after day for four days is draining. Imagine the pros doing it for three weeks in a grand tour!

If there was ever a bike race to suit Ashwell, it would be this: it has the competitive element and camaraderie of our grass track events... But with sunshine. They drive on the left, use three-way plugs, Malta has it all. Stick it in your diary for 2020 and it will motivate you to train throughout the winter.

Tour of Malta, Stage 1 Individual Time Trial Mdina Bypass Thursday 11 April 2019 It’s warm and calm today. In fact, it’s the hottest day that I’ve raced here. It’s going to be a fast day. Certainly faster than this stage last year in the wind and rain. Luckily, it’s still quite early. All stages start at 10am.

The team muster on a side street off the TT course: which is a modern dual carriageway bypass road, bookended by roundabouts, by the side of the UNESCO World Heritage ancient walled city Mdina, which is not out of place if it were in Game of Thrones. The road is pretty much a straight line with quite a slope on it: think like the gentler part of the slope to Tadlow on our TT course, but around a half mile long. We have to repeat the loop five times for a 7 miles course.

The local teams always turn out in force and set up well: gazebos, pumping music, bottles and gels neatly laid out, rollers, their DSs do a great job. It gives each stage a festival-like feeling. We chat to various people. We spot (World Champ) Colin getting ready. He looks big and strong. We are friendly with Mosta Cycling Club mostly, so park ourselves there. We see our smiling Italian friend from last year. The Gibraltar team have good team branded kit: I note to up our tour kit game next time. We catch up with a few Brits. Everyone is pepped and excited, and a little nervous too of course and keen to get going.

With the road closed, we tootle around to warm up and familiarise ourselves with the loop and test our bikes. I’m delighted to see that last year’s dodgy eroded part of the road is well patched up. At the bottom corner, there is a lot of debris. Daryl, from CC london who we have adopted, asks the organisers to brush it, but I take the opportunity to remove the big bits while down there. I pick up a twig, then realise it’s a squashed giant centipede. As big as your big finger. I’m reminded that we’re not that far from Africa and Libya.

Team Ashwell and Contour prep well. Everything is easier when the weather is good. I've removed my bottle cage. Put on rubber aero socks. I’ve got tri-bars on which means I have no computer to look at, but actually don’t mind that: I intend to not use numbers - but riders - to gauge my effort and define my power exertions.

Jenny is the second rider off. Before you know it she is up and down the loop like a yo-yo. The start/finish is in the middle of the course and we get a good opportunity to cheer our team on twice a lap. Soon enough Dave is off, then Mitchy is off just in front of me and Daryl a few riders behind.

The good conditions mean we get the ramp start. Quite a nervous thing as there’ll be instant gravity in effect from the moment you’re released: you go hard instantly or you’ll slide off. “Watch this one, he’s Lawless. Breaking the law.” say the organisers in thick Maltese English, fascinated by the surname as I’m counted down. Three two one. Go. I’m off.

Despite the initial climb, months of stockpiled adrenaline from thinking about this start is released in an instant and I go off like a rocket to the top of the loop in what feels like three breaths. This course is technical in as much as gear selection is everything with no level section. I turn and go down in a high-ish gear not really knowing if I’m being optimal. The legs instantly hurt. To be expected. I can feel a soft wind in my face going downhill and think it will suit me as it will inhibit the power guys who can smash me on this section. I turn quite confidently in the good, bone-dry conditions and break the imminent uphill down into parts: an easier first bit until the fifth lamppost and then a hard gear on the steadier section in search of a good rhythm before nudging back a touch for the steeper peak and then turning for the downhill again. I count each lap out aloud to myself when going over the line. Without a computer I have a small fear that in the midst of the effort I’ll ride too few, or too many, laps.

I can’t yet see my minute-man, but on the second lap, Daryl goes past me on the downward section like a rocket. I know he’s good but all the same am impressed he’s caught me so soon. I’m delighted, all of a sudden I’ve got a perfect rabbit to chase after: someone better than me. It really focuses me. On the uphill, Daryl is surprised that I actually overtake him, such is the difference between my uphill and downhill power outputs. But I only serve to galvanise him and 20 seconds later he’s back in front. But this is good for me and I can sense I am pushing hard as I’ve got quite a stitch now and breathing hard. The air is hot. I move to my highest gear on the downhills to try and keep sight of him. It’s super hard and hurtful: but I know it’s short-term.

By lap 4, Daryl is too far ahead to be any use as a marker. I’m motivated by my team mates’ cheers and picking off the various riders on the course. Some are way off any TT form: but credit to them for turning up on a working day and having a go and enjoying themselves. Into the last lap and I spot my 2-minute man. He makes a good target, but eventually I catch him with three-quarters of a lap to go. It’s the downhill run and I’m like John Noakes in that Blue Peter episode when he’s training with the paratroopers in a plane in high-up thin air and he can’t remember his name or the name of Shep. I endeavour to glance at the big digital clock at the start line, on the other side of the road as I go past - because I start to doubt myself on how many laps I’ve done. It tells me I’ve got exactly two and half minutes to cross the line if I want to break 20 minutes. Righto: I’ve got one final thing to aim for to make me push hard in the final run in.

Out of nowhere, ‘Safety Dance’ by Men Without Hats pops into my head. It’s a song I know is very short and just over two and a half minutes long as it took a tiny amount of space on my Now That’s What I Call Music album. I hurtle down to the bottom of the course with ‘We can dance if we want to...’ going through my mind. I turn for the uphill and happily go into the red in the knowledge I can blow up over the line. ‘Am I in the second chorus bit?’ I think to myself as I see the finishing line coming up. ‘It’s the Safety Daaaaance’ I can hear as I make out Jenny urging me on on the line. Surely there’s still some of the song left? - I think as I blast over the line and glide to a stop where Mitchy is recovering by the side of the road.

We stumble back to the start, sweat is dribbling down my face and my uncomfortable TT helmet is about to get thrown into the cacti as I find out that I had broken 20 minutes with 19:46. Happy days!

There’s a short wait for all the Masters to complete their rides to find out I’d come 8th. I’m delighted. I’ve beaten local sports legend Fabio by 3 seconds, who has his own branded car with his face on it and ’Team Fabio’ written on it and everything. Dave W is 15th and Mitchy 6th. Jenny is 7th in her race, smashing the gap to the winner from over two minutes last year, to just 40 seconds. Wow. So, great results for us all considering the quality of the field. Of course, Colin Sturgess wins the Masters. Indeed, his time beats the winner of the Elites race. Wow. He will be hard to undo for the GC race in the next three road stages - that’s for sure. It will be great to be involved as things unfold. Daryl gets 3rd and takes the podium after we have a drink in the most delightful cafe nearby that’s utterly hidden away from anywhere.

So, we are now prepping for Stage 2. A hilly crit near the hotel, essentially. We’re all unsure as to how the dynamic of the peloton will work out: if it will break? More than once? Who’s where? How everyone will place and how it will affect GC? These are the thoughts I will take to my 10 euro buffet hotel dinner downstairs.

Tour of Malta, Stage 2 Road Race St Paul’s Bay Friday 12 April 2019 Last year, this stage got cancelled. It’s on top of a big hill really near where we are staying and totally exposed to the weather. It was so windy it wasn’t safe, and some club gazebos and the podium blew away.

This year: it’s much better. It’s a bit cooler this morning than yesterday. Mainly because of the stiff breeze coming in from the sea. But it’s fine. Sunny. This stage sends us up and over the road seven times. Each side is a bit like the climb up through the Weston Hills tunnel Baldock bypass road: about as long as it takes to get to the roundabout at the top and yes, pretty steep!

We make our base at the start/finish line at the top of the hill, sign on and prep. I realise I’ve left my aero socks behind, so will be racing in my bed socks that I left on all morning. Other than that, we’re all good. We are all thinking a one bottle strategy as this race is only 26 miles or so. I need to think carefully about this for the fourth stage as I drank much more than anticipated in the warmth and ran pretty low towards the end. We wonder what Colin will do who is in the Red Jersey following his win yesterday. The Elites start first. Then us in the Masters and Juniors races, then the Ladies race, with Jenny looking to improve on her last time here two years ago when she got dropped from the peloton.

We’re off. We take it fairly easy at the start, as to be expected. The first climb is almost like a warm-up. Everyone is settling in and it’s a bit cagey. The riding standard seems pretty high and there doesn’t seem to be any wild antics from anyone. Up, we crest the top and get cheers, then lurch down the steep winding west side of the hill into the wind. It’s a fairly tight turn on both sides. My new brake blocks squeak to let me know they’re working. We turn to climb back up east. This side is steeper. I resolve to keep it in the big ring all the way - but am in the granny ring at the back. The angle suits me and find it OK to stay at the spearhead of the peloton. All eyes are on Colin, waiting to see what he does. First lap done though and he keeps his cards to his chest as we descend to start the second lap.

It starts to crank up from here. Eventually, Colin shows a bit of his strength. The group respond. A few Maltesers have a go but are brought in. The big Gibraltarian who smashed the TT yesterday has a dig. I’m impressed, he’s a big powerful unit. He must have lungs the size of a blue whale. It’s great to have Steve from Veralum around whose wheel I can trust. He’s a very animated rider and nosing around at the front a lot. I’m just being careful and being really quite disciplined on positioning among the riders and tuning my position to shelter from the breeze.

The climb east is hurting some riders and I can hear it getting quieter at the back. I can see Dave W is over his bike in a way to suggest he’s in the red. There’s nothing I can do to stop the momentum of the front and eventually I catch Dave in the corner of my eye when he’s detached with a couple of other Brits who are forming up a second group.

Colin and co are doing that thing of putting the hammer down as we crest the hill so that there’s no respite. I’m holding on OK all the same, as are Mitchy and Daryl. We begin to tonk it down the long descent, comfortably holding 38mph until we squeak brakes, turn and generally take it easyish for the climb. The group puts in pulses of effort and I can see we are shelling riders. Soon, I see its down to twelve of us. Of which, I’m very much in the lower ranks! I ride alongside Colin. He’s a strong looking fella. I get the sense he could do us all if he wanted to. But hasn’t really done so yet.

In a lull, Daryl goes for it and pings off the front. On his wheel an Italian I’d not really noticed before. Daryl and the man from Milan quickly establish a gap of several seconds. The rest of us look to Colin who is watching his Red Jersey disappear. But there really isn’t a response. I can see Mitchy isn’t in the mood to chase his friend, or risk doing a lot of work on his own and blowing up. As we approach the last two laps, it’s clear that the break won’t be chased down and the two brave breakaways will get first and second. Well done to them for their bravery.

So, back in the bunch of ten, it’s going to be a bunch sprint for third place onwards. I really don’t want the last two places and be out of the BC points in eleventh or twelfth. I also want to preserve my GC position too if I can. It’s the bell lap. It’s laughably slow on the initial climb. I even find myself on the front for the first and only time here. Me: in front of this group. lol. I get a bit irritated after a while as no one will take the front off me, even though I'm doing that snakey whiplash thing across the road to shake the front. Then, Mitchy bursts through to ripple the group and I’m relieved of duty. We shoot down the other side and turn for the final climb. I look to see if somehow we’d dropped anyone, but alas, two people will miss on points here.

I’m feeling pretty good as we climb for the final time. I tell myself I can do all right and spin in a strongish gear near the front. We get down to the final 200 metres and there are several riders dropped from the Elites race in the way ahead of us. It’s a bit of a mess as we lurch into the gallop and I miss out on having a decent clean sprint. It’s eyeballs out. As we approach the line, I see Fabio in front who I have 3 seconds on in GC and focus on his wheel. Another 25 metres, I might have caught him, but he beats me by 0.5 second. In the cheering and melee, it’s hard to count my position, but I’m excited to think I got 10th. Mitchy beats Colin in the bunch sprint to get 3rd. Verulam Steve gets 7th. Daryl gets 1st by over 40 seconds and we work out he’s taken the Red Jersey off Colin by around 15 seconds or something (GC positions unconfirmed at the mo) I wander to the race HQ and see I’m confirmed as 9th. I’m delighted.

We gather and swap stories. Dave and Ellie go for a photo with Colin and he gives Ellie his cap! Jenny comes through for the Ladies race finish. She’s in the lead bunch and grabs 6th. This is proper amazing when you consider she got spat out on this same race two years ago. She has transformed herself in that time. Dave, working with the Brits, comes in 17th. I’ll be keen to see that he has kept or even improved on his GC position.

This afternoon, Jenny gets a massage. Mitchy and Ellie go to the beach. We catch up with Dave for a coffee, and then spend ages cleaning kit with hand wash in the bathroom sink. It’s Friday night. But all revelry is to be bottled for Sunday night. Stage 3 tomorrow is designed to give our climbing legs a rest: it’s a flat crit. Surely it will be a bunch sprint. Will it? Will it?? Or, will it? Tune in tomorrow for the continued adventures of Ashwell racing abroad.

Tour of Malta, Stage 3 Crit Zebbug bypass Saturday 13 April 2019 Today was a flat, super simple crit. It’s designed to give the legs a break after yesterday’s hilly road race - and in anticipation of the fourth and final stage: the San Martin road race stage with its steep climb. The course is quite far away from the hotel base and in the middle of the island.

In truth, the straight lined course does tilt. Gently so, but with a fierce headwind on top, today wouldn’t have the simple rhythm that could have been expected. It would swing from steady to bullet fast - depending on head or tailwind.

We would do 10 laps of the 2.6 miles course in the Masters race. As would Jenny in the Ladies race. The wind made the weather feel fresh. It was sunny, but there would be very light showers now and then all morning.

Most of this race went as predicted. Any idea of a break was impossible to imagine. Dave W was clearly loving his favourite course ever - and happily burning watts on the front during the fast tailwind side. There were silly solo attempts, including one by Fabio who I have to keep in check as I only have 3 seconds on him in GC. I think he just wanted to give the fans something to cheer for a little while. But we hauled him in soon enough. At one point it was all Hertfordshire and surrounding areas on the front, with me, Dave, Mitchy, Daryl and Steve from Verulam in a line. Indeed, we were always generally knocking around the front or thereabouts.

10 laps is hard to count accurately what with everything going on. What doesn’t help is when the lapboard gets out of sync which I’m fairly sure is what happened. We thought we were approaching one lap to go, when Colin’s team mate launched a late attack - in an obvious attempt to lure us and give Colin an opportunity to spring the trap. But we brought him in eventually quite easily as we had further to go than thought.

As we approach the final lap, I hear the sudden bang and hiss of a puncturing tyre. Sadly, it turns out to be our Dave. Rotten luck - especially when he’d animated the race so well. He’d hit a pothole at high speed. To his massive credit, he runs to the Start/finish line where young Ellie Mitchinson is waiting with a spare rear wheel. He’d lose a good couple of minutes from the rest of us, but finished and still holds on to a good chance of clawing back up the GC in Stage 4.

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Meanwhile, back in the bunch, it’s all winding up to the big sprint finish we’d anticipated. This would be one for the sprinters. Without the ability to compete, my plan was to go long and build up momentum. Weeks and weeks of road race training all winter with all the talent down at Welwyn had taught me that if I can make the sprint over 20 seconds, I begin to compete and negate the power of the fast sprinters. As we turn the final corner, there’s a lot of hustle and bustle. A few shoulders to shoulders. Mitchy touches wheels with Colin - and quickly apologises. This bit is not for the faint-hearted. Some riders back off. But, I’m loving the rush. I’ve got my eye on Colin and Mitchy and plan to jump into the gap they will leave when they fire the afterburners. The line is fast approaching and I can hear the shouts of support. It cranks up early as I’d hoped and indeed I seize the gap. I’m clear on the right and have a delightfully clear dash to the line. I can’t hear riders huffing behind me but quickly running out of road to do more damage up front. I’m 8th. Mitchy: wins! Beating Colin by a handsome margin. Daryl in the Red Jersey is on my left in 6th. Verulam Steve is 10th. He’d have placed higher for sure but did way too much work on the front earlier on.

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We cruise around and congratulate each other for a good race. I tell Colin how impressed I was by his racing style: so bullish and confident. We get back to see Jenny finish. She’s in the bunch chasing 2nd place downwards, and comes in 7th. She is frustrated as other riders lolling after their race got in her way and pegged her sprint. It’s a shame, but still a massive result. She’s got no team mates and fighting on her own all the way, all the time.

We reconvene and swap stories as we wait for the presentations. It’s great to see Mitchy get a win and pop the champagne on the podium: all in front of his daughter. Daryl retains the Red Jersey. It will be an exciting final stage as a final race, and in GC it will be a great game of chess. A lot can change. Friendships, pacts and allies will be made, then turn on each other. We will be doing calculations in our head to work out time gaps. There will be competitions within the competition. There’ll be heroes, villains, good fortune and cruel fate played out on the winding slope of San Martin hill, its vertiginous descent towards the sea and the crazy fast tailwind valley, repeated seven times. The French say ‘Allez!’, the Maltese say ‘Imshi!’.

Tour of Malta, Stage 4 Road race San Martin Saturday 13 April 2019 In GC terms, this final stage is the decider. Forget what has gone on before.

The San Martin race course is famous here. It has three parts: a vicious, long climb. With a much needed switchback. It varies from not very steep at all to out of the saddle steep for a mile or so. It levels off at the top for a flat fast section before turning for a fast descent on new tarmac. We then turn for a ridiculously fast flat road section through the valley until we start the climb again. For us Masters and Ladies races, we’d do this six times.

The day was pretty fresh, but very warm in the sun. A lot of riders were nervous about this race, though I was pretty calm. I was quite philosophical about everything. What will be will be.

Off we go and Dave hits the front for most of the first lap. It’s steady enough, though I feel my legs are tired. I’m a bit surprised by this and wish I’d done some massage work. We turn for the first climb of San Martin. One of the Italians, Gerloamo, pings off the front straight away. There’s an initial lull as we don’t think the guy is a contender. Then, there’s a surge. Led by another Italian, Tommaso. On reflection: this was a pre-planned Italian move. The weaker guy (not that weak) getting a head start before the stronger guy then stretches the group ensuring both make it.

It’s the first climb, and we are absolutely and suddenly in the red. We are attacking on a massive slope. This is outrageous riding. I know that we’ve instantly shed riders and the race hasn’t even done a lap. This is brutal. Like organ failingly brutal. Seeing stars. Can’t feel my hands. Can’t think. Breathing like a steam train. This is the fastest climb of the hill I’ve ever done, in the smallest group. I cling on as the climb stretches out and try and hold onto the selection at the top. I almost make it, but six guys make a few bike lengths of distance, including Mitchy, Daryl and Colin, while I’m with Verulam Steve and six others in group two. By the time we approach the descent, there’s not enough firepower into our group to bridge back and we have to work with what we’ve got.

That’s not to say things got easier. The GC factor kicks in. This second group is aggressive too. Derek from Gibraltar wants to keep his high place. Fabio wants to do me in. Steve knows he can climb the ranks. The second climb of San Martin is equally devastating. Steve, a rider considerably better than me, records his highest power 5 mins, 15 mins, 1hr and 90 minutes on this race. I mirror him so will have likely done the same stats.

We spin like mad to the top. I don’t know how I do it but I keep with the second group. I keep thinking that I've come all this way for this so am not going to give in. We drop big Derek, but he fights back. I really know we are burning watts: when we catch and pass the Elites race! They started two minutes ahead too. It’s a mess, but we get through them. This race is nuts.

Again and again we go up. It’s super hard. The Elites peloton eventually passes us on the climb. Fabio jumps on to the back of their bunch. A probable DQ in Britain, but acceptable here. He disappears out of view and I know I’ve slipped down a place in GC. At the top Derek puts in a great effort. I can’t believe his power: he’s a proper unit but can do the climbs too. Amazingly, he solos off the front and he too consolidates his GC position when I least expected him to do so.

So six riders up front, plus Fabio and Derek in between us in the second group, means we’re fighting for 9th place down.

We enter the last lap, I lob one bidon and squirt all but a swig of liquid from the other. Grammage counts now. As we climb San Martin for the final time, I actually feel pretty good. I take to the front with Steve and get into a rhythm. I can tell somehow that i’m hurting the others. No one is coming through and it’s very quiet behind me. We approach the line and Steve takes a lead. I hold his wheel but I can’t get past it and to be fair: he’d done so much work on the front, I'd feel bad if I nicked him on the line. Steve gets 9th and I get 10th. Despite the pain: a single BC point for my efforts. All good.

We are all breathing hard, but soon recover to chat. Fabio gives us all respect for holding on to the second group, and my nemesis Ivan from last year is very friendly and kind and says he remembers me from last year and is impressed with my improvements. I was in awe of everyone: this race was a brute to take on.

Mitchy gets 5th from the front group. Colin wins the stage, but Daryl preserves his Red Jersey and we get to see him on the podium to celebrate his GC win.

All of a sudden, it’s all done. The trophies are handed out and we make plans to watch Paris-Roubaix in the hotel bar with everyone. Johnnie, the MCF president and main organiser, has a tearful moment while wrapping everything up, having had the chance to meet the Pope recently for all his efforts to promote cycling in Malta. It’s a big deal to this highly Catholic country.

Jenny comes in 7th on her race. Another great performance on the front bunch. She really has had a strong Tour: up there and in the mix at the tip of each race. Dave comes in around 20th in a third group, along with a couple of friendly Colchester lads who thought Malta would be a bit like Majorca.

10th place today, and 10th in GC for me in end. A very successful trip, especially when the quality of the field is accounted for. The Tour of Malta has awarded me I think 12 BC points. Half the total required for preservation of 2nd Category status. I can’t wait to hit the grass track and score more.

:-)

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lpdwillwrite4coffee · 7 years

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Awww yiiissssss, get to know me memes are the best!

I was tagged by @kteague cuz my girl knows what’s up (I love this shit, I can’t help it).

I’m gonna go with @asnowballschance @priya212 @cemeterydreamer @asocialfauxpas @purelyfueledbycaffeine But no pressure! Under the cut for obvious reasons.

Rules: you must answer these 85 statements and tag 20 whoever you’d like!!

The Last …

1. drink: coffee

2. phone call: real estate agent (I’m such an adult haha)

3. text message: friend telling me she has poison ivy

4. song you listened to: Bellbottoms by the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. I got back from seeing Baby Driver and immediately needed the soundtrack in my life.

5. time you cried: A couple days ago. I was super overwhelmed with life ~stuff and just needed to cry it out.

Have you ever …

6. dated someone twice: No but I’ve thought about it.

7. kissed someone and regretted it: YES. Ugh.... Several. (feel free to ask for details on those train wrecks haha)

8. been cheated on: Not that I’m aware of...

9. lost someone special: Oh yes.

10. been depressed: Yes, been on medication for it and then off meds. I was incorrectly diagnosed with clinical depression when it was situational and because of my own past traumas and emotional abuse.

11. gotten drunk and thrown up: Yes, I just can’t remember how many times... 2? 3? I think?

Favorite Colors…

12. Cobalt blue

13. Rich, royal purple

14. Emerald green

In The Last Year Have You…

15. made new friends: Yes!! IRL and online (y’all know who you are, and if you don’t I’ll come tell you)

16. fallen out of love: It’s been a couple years since I’ve *been* in love.

17. laughed until you cried: So many times.

18. found out someone was talking about you: In a negative way, yep, and it sucked. I thought we were friends... In a positive way? I think so! Well, found out people were happy about what I was doing and my work. So that’s been super lovely!!

19. met someone who changed you: Definitely.

20. found out who your friends are: Yeah, some friendships have fallen apart or been tested. That’s never fun.

21. kissed someone on your facebook list: Yes

General

22. how many of your facebook friends do you know in real life: Most? I tend to accept friend requests from people I don’t *know* but have lots of mutuals with and I’m sure we’ve run into each other or run in the same circles. So like, 85%?

23. do you have any pets: MY LIGHT OF MY LIFE, MY DOG ODIN. HE’S THE BEST AND I WILL SCREAM ABOUT HIM FOR DAYS IF YOU LET ME.

24. do you want to change your name: Ahaha, I’ve already changed my name. I used to go by my middle name and then started going by my first when I changed schools. I’ve changed my last name too. I’d make a mediocre spy.

25. what did you do for your last birthday: On my actual birthday, I got lunch with friends out and then had dinner made for me by other friends/my surrogate family (they made me steak) And then that weekend I went out for drinks with friends and my favorite bar tender bought me a round and gave me the special pint glass. It was a great birthday week.

26. what time did you wake up: 5:45.... uggghhh.

27. what were you doing at midnight last night: I was surprisingly asleep! Good job adulting Lauren, you went to bed on time.

28. name something you can’t wait for: I’m stealing one of my answers from K- The Punisher series! Also, moving to MA, finishing my second book, getting a new house, and currently I can’t wait for my second cup of coffee.

29. when was the last time you saw your mom: September I think........... Yeah, that sounds right.

31. what are you listening to right now: My co-worker’s FB messenger going off...

32. have you ever talked to a person named Tom: I... think so? Sure. I’m sure I have.

33. something that is getting on your nerves: My co-worker’s FB messenger going off!!! (Vibrate is a setting. USE IT.)

34. most visited website: Tumblr, Pinterest, and Gmail.

35. hair color: Strawberry blonde/ red, and currently with purple, copper, and bright red highlights.

36. long or short hair: Short, asymmetrical cut. I used to have long mermaid hair and chopped it all off. Showering takes WAY less time now haha.

37. do you have a crush on someone: I had a crush on an old co-worker, but I left and haven’t seen him in so long that it’s faded. Celebrity crushes? YO HOW MUCH TIME DO YOU HAVE??

38. what do you like about yourself: I’d like to think I’m funny but Idek lol. I’m creative and passionate. I’m a good friend to people. I’m really proud of my empathy and compassion, especially in a world that tells you not to be. I’m also not to be fucked with, and I like that about myself. I like that I can fit into different groups, chill with different kinds of people, and no one can put labels on me because I don’t fit any mold at all.

39. piercings: Hold on lemme count... 11!

40. blood type: SHit, I should probably know this about myself... O.... Positive? Negative? I’m an O, I know that much! (bad job adulting Lauren. Bad job)

41. nickname: I don’t really have a nickname... Not that I’m aware of anyway. I’m not opposed to one! But my names don’t really make for good nickname material haha.

42. relationship status: single, and TOTALLY fine with that. Ya girl is too busy for that relationship stuff right now.

43. zodiac: Scorpio

44. pronouns: She/her

45. favorite tv show: Listen, stop trying to make me pick between my children I love them all equally okay?

46. tattoos: I have to count again, hold on.... 8!

47. right or left handed: right-handed

48. surgery: A few times. 4 maybe?

49. piercing: see above.

50. sport: That I played? Volleyball (very poorly I might add). That I watch? Baseball. The only sport I give 2 shits about is baseball. And maybe rugby if it’s on and I like the team.

51. vacation: I have a girls weekend planned for the end of this month. My last true vacation was to Beaufort with @asnowballschance and then up to North Adams, MA to visit a friend who had moved. Man I’ve traveled a lot this year...

52. pair of trainers: I have one pair of true “trainers”. The rest are like Converse sneakers or slip ons that can’t be used for actual physical activity, they just make me look sporty haha.

More General

53. eating: Home made trail mix for breakfast

54. drinking: Water... and more coffee

55. i’m about to: email my realtor, refill my water bottle, and start writing. I have a Camp NaNo word count to get to.

56. waiting for: NEWS ABOUT THE PUNISHER. GIVE IT YOU ANIMALS. Also waiting for the caffeine to kick in....

57. want: to find a house in my price range that DOESN’T need serious remodels. Seriously, I’m not Bob Villa. Let it be move in ready or close to it please and thank you.

58. get married: Yes! Absolutely! But the dude has to show up first... haha

59. career: Writer/author. I mean, I work an office job to pay the bills but that’s not my career.

60. hugs or kisses: Both? plz love me.

61. lips or eyes: Eyes! I’m so enamored with people’s eyes- the color, the shape, the way they show emotion, the way they change in the light. I love it.

62. shorter or taller: Taller? I’m 5′8 almost 5′9 so sometimes that’s hard to find...

63. older or younger: Older. I have the hardest time finding anyone my age who is compatible.

64. nice arms or nice stomach: Arrrrmmmmmssss. Not jacked. Just strong. Broad shoulders and a wide, strong chest makes me WEAK

65. hook up or relationship: Both, depending on my mood. I’m currently hooking up with a couple people, but I’m so not wanting to date.

66. troublemaker or hesitant: Hahahahha, I’m called the human embodiment of the grinning Devil emoji for a reason.

67. kissed a stranger: Yes. It was..........

68. drank hard liquor: Lord help me yes.

69. lost glasses/contact lenses: My glasses are my everything. I’m so blind without them it’s awful. I never take them off.

70. turned someone down: Many times. I’m a picky girl.

71. sex on the first date: Sure, I’ve done it before. Worked out fine!

72. broken someone’s heart: Yeahh... It sucked at the time but it was necessary.

73. had your heart broken: Yes, in more ways than one.

74. been arrested: No, but I’ve been yelled at by the Coast Guard. That was fun.

75. cried when someone died: Of course!

76. fallen for a friend: Yes.

Do You Believe In …

77. yourself: Yes! Most of the time. Okay, like 67% of the time.

78. miracles: Yes, but probably not in the way you’re thinking.

79. love at first sight: Maybe? I’ve never experienced it myself though.

80. santa claus: I used to! Now I believe in the spirit of Christmas/ Holidays that make people want to keep the idea of him alive for children. It’s a precious concept and tradition.

81. kiss on the first date: Sure, if it feels right. Life’s too short. Kiss the person you wanna touch faces with.

82. angels: Yes, but again, not the way you probably think

Other

83. current best friends’ names: *EXTREME KRIS JENNER VOICE* I LOVE ALL MY FRIENDS

84. eye color: Blue green

85. favorite movie: PSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHH look you’ve made it to the end of this list do you really think I’m able to pick just one???

#get to know me #lists #these are fun I love these #Thanks K!!#about me

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xennariel · 7 years

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I was tagged by @icameheretowinry Thanks! =D

Rules: Answer these 92 statements and tag 10 people.

THE LAST: 1. Drink: Strawberry lemonade 2. Phone call: My dad called 3. Text message: I don’t remember... I think my husband? 4. Song you listened to: I don’t remember. It’s been a while since I listened to music of any kind. Does my ringtone count? It’s the chorus for the 4th FMAB opening. 5. Time you cried: In April sometime

HAVE YOU: 6. Dated someone twice: What, like, broke up and then got back together? Because no. Gone on a date with the same person twice? Yes. 7. Kissed someone and regretted it: No 8. Been cheated on: Sort of? It’s complicated. 9. Lost someone special: Yes 10. Been depressed: Yes 11. Gotten drunk and thrown up: No

LIST 3 FAVORITE COLORS: 12-14: Medium blue, dark purple, sea green

IN THE LAST YEAR HAVE YOU: 15. Made new friends: Yes 16. Fallen out of love: No 17. Laughed until you cried: Yeah 18. Found out someone was talking about you: No 19. Met someone who changed you: Not really 20. Found out who your friends are: Yeah 21. Kissed someone on your Facebook list: Yeah, but he doesn’t really use FB so...

GENERAL: 22. How many of your Facebook friends do you know in real life: Like, 90% 23. Do you have any pets: Yep, Cooper dog, my furry son. 24. Do you want to change your name: Eh, I’m okay with it. Changing it would be too much of a hassle anyway and I never changed my last name when I got married because I didn’t want to and my husband’s last name is so dumb. lol 25. What did you do for your last Birthday: Took a couple of friends, my mom, my parents-in-law, and my friend’s mom to dinner at my favorite sushi place then went back to my mom’s place and ate cake. 26. What time did you wake up: 9:00 AM. Technically Cooper woke me up at 4:00 AM and I was wide away for a few hours after, which sucked and has happened for four nights in a row now, but I got out of bed at 9. 27. What were you doing at midnight last night: Trying to fall back asleep after my husband got home from his D&D night and woke me up. 28. Name something you can’t wait for: Publishing my book! lol Or the new harcover FMA mangas. Or going to the local anime convention in October. It’s been a long time since I went to a con. 29. When was the last time you saw your mom: Yesterday 30. What is one thing you wish you could change in your life: I wish I could focus on writing original work more. I wish I didn’t have so much self-loathing. I wish I wasn’t so awkward and mean. 31. What are you listening right now: My husband playing the new Diablo 3 class, Necromancer. 32. Have you ever talked to a person named Tom: Yeah, my uncle is named Tom. 33. Something that is getting on your nerves: Not writing when I plan to, not drawing when I want to, not having enough self motivation to do anything like losing weight for example. I have no self discipline and it’s so frustrating. 34. Most visited Website: Tumblr for sure

LOST QUESTIONS. 35. Mole/s: Yes 36. Mark/s: Yes 37. Childhood dream: I wanted to be a marine biologist or somehow work with animals 38. Hair Colour: Blonde 39. Long or short hair: Medium 40. Do you have a crush on someone: Yeah 41. What do you like about yourself: I like my eyes, I have good ideas? 42. Piercings: Ears. I would mind piercings all the way up my ears, but right now I just have the lobes pierced. 43. Blood type: Not a clue 44. Nickname: Xen, Maggie, Megami, Burnie, Nickles 45. Relationship status: Married 46. Zodiac: Aquarius 47. Pronouns: She/Her 48. Favorite TV Show: /shrug I don’t watch tv. Does FMAB count? 49. Tattoos: Nah, I’d like a few, but I’m afraid of pain 50. Right or left hand: Right 51. Surgery: Nope 52. Hair dyed in different color: I have highlights, and there’s still a little blue left from the last time I dyed it blue. I need to dye it blue again. 53. Sport: E-Sports. Heroes of the Storm, Hearthstone, World of Warcraft pvp 55. Vacation: New Zealand, Washington State, maybe Hawaii if I lost weight. 56. Pair of trainers: Yeah

MORE GENERAL: 57. Eating Currently: Nothing. I had an egg sandwich for breakfast a few hours ago though. 58. Drinking currently: Strawberry lemonade 59. I’m about to: Play some World of Warcraft (even though I should be writing. I’m already behind on my goal for camp nano...) 61. Waiting for: My motivation to write to come back from the war 62. Want to: Write and draw, but I’ll probably slack off again. I’ve been getting four hours of sleep for the past four nights and I’m so exhausted. 63. Get married: Already did. I honestly didn’t care about marriage though. The husband wanted to. 64. Career: Writer, marine biologist, freelance artist

WHICH IS BETTER 65. Hugs or kisses: Hugs 66. Lips or eyes: Eyes 67. Shorter or taller: Taller 68. Older or younger: Eh, doesn’t matter 70. Nice arms or nice stomach: Nice stomach 71. Sensitive or loud: Sensitive 72. Hook up or relationship: Relationship 73. Troublemaker or hesitant: Troublemaker

HAVE YOU EVER: 74. Kissed a stranger: No 75. Drank hard liquor: Yes 76. Lost glasses/contact lenses: No 77. Turned someone down: Yes 78. Sex in the first date: No 79. Broken someone’s heart: Probably 80. Had your heart broken: Yes 81. Been arrested: Nope 82. Cried when someone died: Yeah 83. Fallen for a friend: Yeah

DO YOU BELIEVE IN: 84. Yourself: Sometimes 85. Miracles: Nah 86. Love at first sight: Nah 87. Santa Claus: Nope 88. Kiss in the first date: Yeah, why not 89. Angels: Nah

OTHER: 90. Current best friends’ names: Alisa (she’s my only friend really that I feel like I can just frely talk to or hang out with whenever.) 91. Eye color: Gray 92. Favorite movie: Mad Max: Fury Road still... The new Pirates might be right up there if I had a chance to see it yet.

This was fun, if you want to do it, consider yourself tagged.

#tagged #about me

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sassyhottubstrawberry-blog · 6 years

Text

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"Where do I look for health insurance for my family?

Can i call insurance agents and get quotes from them for free? my husband is self employed do they have any health insurance specifically for that?

BEST ANSWER: Try this site where you can compare quotes: : http://averageinsurancecost.xyz/index.html?src=tumblr

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""Teenager first car, first insurance questions I live in the UK?

My step daughter has a car registered in her name at her home address. She wants her father who lives at a different address to add her to his insurance as the second driver. The premium will be far cheaper. But her father will not drive the car. I think its known as 'Fronting'. I want to know for this kind of insurance would her father have to be the registered owner and would the car have to be registered at his address? As a second driver will she be able to drive anywhere in the country and still be covered? If she gets a speeding ticket and he is the registered owner who will get the points and/or fine?

What would the insurance quote for a Chevy silverado 1500 1995 be?

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Does your car insurance premium rise after a heart attack(UK)?

my parents are wondering what happens after you have been discharged from hospital, and the 4 weeks or so passes, will the premium for domestic car insurance rise or stay same or what? anyone know ?thanks""

Has your Dr ever lost interest in you when your insurance won't pay his prices?

I am seeing many comments about care being reduced equal to your ability to pay. If there were 40,000 government doctors available (like military doctors, on salary, not profit based) ...show more""

Does anyone know where I can find individual dental insurance? Not the Dental discount but Insurance.?

I live in Ohio, so obviously it needs to cover us here, I've searched google and there are so many and most are regular health, we have that, we need really good dental with low copays. Primarily one that has pediatric dentists. Thanks for the help!""

Car insurance- if your vehicle is stolen do your rates skyrocket?

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Is being an adult really that hard? Owning a house? Having a job? Owning a car? INSURANCE??!?

I'm only 15 but I've been looking around and now I'm just not eager or happy to be an adult. The amount of stuff that I will have to do will essentially cause flippin' hair loss! When I'm older why do I actually have to have TV license to buy a TV? Do I have to have insurance on EVRYTHING? House, car, health..like seriously why do I have to pay for something hazardous that might not even happen in my life? Is it vital to have car insurance? What if I don't have one and my car is perfectly fine? Please don't even get me started on bills! It freaks me out to know that companies just want money, money, money and wont stop at anything to get it. I heard that there's this thing where gas companies and all those other stuff essential in a house can directly take money off your credit/debit card instead of going to the post office and paying. For people who do this, is it better? It's quite scary to know that I'll be doing all this in the future.""

Help with car insurance?

i have a driving licence but do not own a car so i have no insurance of my own. if my friends mum offered to lend me her car for a few hours could i drive it through her insurance if she is fully comp and she gave me permission to drive it? and if i was to get pulled over by the police what would happen ?

What used 4 door sedans are cheap on insurance?

Im 18 years old, turning 19 in december and need a car for college, what would be a good 4 door sedan, 4 cylinder, that is good on gas, cheap on insurance and cheap on repairs, reliable. What would be a good first car? Im not staying and living at the campus, im coming back home everyday.""

Ca dmv insurance online?

heres the deal. i want to renew my tags online but it says my insurance needs to be on dmv file to be able to do that. so is there a online system i can file my insurance on or do i still have to go to dmv to do that

Does anyone know what the average insurance cost for a 2004 Dodge Ram is?

I just bought a beautiful 2004 dodge ram quad cab 4x2 4.7 V8 and i have quotes that range from $165- $303 per month. If you have a similiar truck to mine, how much is the average insurance payment, and what company do you use? I head AAA and 21st Century were pretty good?""

How is 18yr old meant to get car insurance?

I live in London and passed my test in February. I own Renault Clio 1.2 And the cheapest quote i got so far is 305 pounds per month, which is way too much for me. What companies are cheap? What can i do to start driving legally, searching for insurance is frustrating Dont say price comparison websites they suck cheapest quote there was 8k per year""

How much for motorcycle insurance??

I've tried goind to ceico and progressive but no luck. I just want a ball park quote for a 19yr old. I want the 2008 kawasaki ninja 250r since its a good first bike to start with and its cheap. I am planning on taking the safety class course so hopefully it won't be that much and I'm only going to ride it on the weekends for fun, not as a daily driver. what would be a good estimate for a 1 year insurance?? I want one year so I won't have to pay every month and worry about not being able to pay my truck as well. thanks for your experience.""

Help me with me car insurance?

i am 34 years old have a new license with pass plus and recentley bought a car. what is the cheapest car insurance for me(third party) thanks

How much is teenage car insurance?

I am 15 years old and going to have my permit. I want use my dad's car who already has insurance. But, based on certain websites they say i need to include licensed drivers on my dad's car insurance. I think we do not have me listed. Is it possible to include me as a licensed driver. I am currently under Nationwide. Will it cost me to be included? If, so how much or what is the average and how do I do it?""

Can I turn my health bills from a car wreck into my health insurance?

I'll try to make this as short as possible. I was hit by another car, who fled the scene but I was able to get her license plate, made and model of her car. Her insurance is covering the body damage for my car but I'm having problems with the medical part of all this. In all, I have had two visits with my doctor and he sent me to the hospital for xrays. I have whip lash and nothing else. I live in Kentucky, which is a no-fault injury state (I have no idea what that means). The other driver's insurance company is not going to pay for my injuries since they are less than $1000. Which means I have to turn it in to MY car insurance company and pay my $1000 deductable or pay out of pocket, which will be about $800. Someone I work with mentioned that I can turn the bills into my health insurance company for them to cover it. Is that an option? I'm not at all familiar with any of this b/c this is my first experience having to deal with car insurances. I know it doesn't matter how I feel, but I'm really ticked that someone can hit my car, flee the scene, cause injuries to me, and then I am the one responsible to pay for the medical care. Does anyone have any experience with this? Can I turn this into my health insurance to avoid paying the $800 that I don't have? Thank you.""

How much does it cost to put myself on car insurance ?

I'm an 18 year old male. I drive a red 2009 jetta sport. How much do I have to pay to put myself on the the car insurance. And how much will I pay monthly ? Oh an btw. I just got the car yesterday and I'm trying to get State Farm. Thank you!

I'm 20 with no diploma: How do I get health insurance?

I'm a 20 year old male in Austin, Texas, and I was homeschooled and have 2 courses to complete until I get my highschool diploma. I have very little work experience (worked for HEB for 3 months). How do I get health insurance? Any suggestions on who would hire me that has insurance, or any government help I could be eligible for health wise?""

Good used sports car that won't jack up my insurance?

I am 17 and getting my license in november and I want to buy sports car (ex:mustang) that won't jack up my insurance, and won't break down all the time, my budget is about 12,000. Any recommendations?""

Cheapest car insurance for a single?

I'm 20 years of age and my parents said that having my name put on the insurance mean that there insurance will go from 800$ to 2500$. Now, I'm fairly clueless right now so I'll be doing my own research but what would you say is the best and cheapest insurance for a single male such as myself. Any recommendations?""

Does anyone know any affordable health insurance for a college student?

How much will my insurance go up?

I recently crash my car into a bush going 50 with 4 other people in it. The car costed $2000 and I totaled my car and the police came. My 6 months weren't up so I wasn't supposed to have anyone in the car with me so I got a ticket for that and I got a ticket for reckless driving plus my license suspended. How much will my insurance go up?

Speeding ticket in california with no inssurance?

My friend jst bought a car from sacramento and i was driving it since it was manual he was jst learning and i was speeding in the freeway on a 70 went 86 and i got pulled over .. with no insurance since we were going to transfer hes old insurance in hes old car to this new one toyota xrs 06... how much will it cost me for the ticket and the no insurance please help me i have no idea what to do ?

Where do I look for health insurance for my family?

Can i call insurance agents and get quotes from them for free? my husband is self employed do they have any health insurance specifically for that?

Is car insurance cheaper for a 2 seat car?

I heard a 2 seater car has cheaper insurance. Does anyone know how true this is?

Best Car Insurance for an 18 yr old?

I stay in Illinois and I just graduated from high school in December. I'm already enrolled in college and I'm taking two courses. In one class i have an A and the other I have a B. My GPA is still higher than a 3.0. I plan on getting a car really soon and I would like to know what is the best car insurance for me right now. I'm 18 years old, I was born in 1991, I do not yet own a license, and I've had my permit every since I was 15. The car I plan on getting is an 2004 honda accord with more than 100k miles on it or a 2004 Monte carlo with less than 100k miles on it. Which would be the best car for me to get? Should I get the Monte Carlo or a Honda Accord? Which car insurance would be the best for me also, because I don't want nothing so expensive!""

Which is the best child insurance plan for my 2 months old child ?

I need help in knowing the best LIC's insurance plan for my 2 months old child. Please help me out! I need so that after 15-20 years of age, I have enough money for his studies.. and in case something happen to me he is secured.""

Can my parents insure my car without me on the insurance policy?

Ok, there's a little bit to the story. I want my mom to sign my car (which is in her name at the moment) over to me. She said that she would. The DMV people said that to change the car over into my name, I have to bring in my I.D. and proof of insurance. I'm wondering if they will switch the car into my name without me being listed on my mom's policy (the ins. car has her name on it.) Will the people at the DMV switch the car into my name, or do I have to have my own insurance, or be put on her policy?""

What kind of coverage do I need for my motorcycle insurance during storage months? It has a lien on it.?

What do I need and what can I take off from my coverage during the winter months when I store and not riding it? It has a lien on it so obviously I need to keep some coverage. A ...show more

Car insurance question...?

I am currently driving my father's car. The insurance for the car is under his name, so the proof of insurance has his name on it. I have no idea if i myself am supposed to have insurance or not. Am i driving legally? If not, tell me what i can do to be able to. I am 16 and my father and I both live in Florida.""

Insurance adjusters... how much can I expect to get for my car?

My car was stolen and I don't expect it will be recovered. I was curious about how much I can expect to get from my insurer. The loan is paid off, so I will receive 100% of the total offered by my insurer. Please see the car details below: 2002 Dodge Intrepid SE, 4 door 104,000 miles V6 automatic power doors, windows, driver seat cd player a/c I know I won't get the retail value. I feel a fair private seller price is about $4500. My research shows the trade in value is about $3600. I feel I should get something close to the private seller value as I know I won't get the retail value but should get more than trade in value. Is this a reasonable expectation? Input from actual insurance adjusters is appreciated. Given the car and miles, how much do you think I'll be offered?""

What determines car insurance prices?

I'm going to get my first car soon. im 20 years old, been driving for a while, clean record. someone told me that the car you drive really makes a difference in the insurance price. Ive heard things like, white cars are cheapest, old cars are cheapest as well.. I dont knwo what car I'm buying but I want to get something that will get me a cheap insurance. So what shuld I get? An older car or a newer one? Also does color matter? things like that. thanks all!""

Does anyone have Traveler's Auto Insurance?

I got a quote from a travelers auto insurance agent thats a good $75 less a month than what im paying now to progressive. The coverage isnt even bottom of the line either, its all the recommended selections. Anyone have any experience with them?""

""Car Insurance, what Car shall i get?""

I am living in the UK and i am 18 i want to buy a car that has very cheap car insurance, but i don't want a car that a lot of people drive if its unavoidable then i'll buy one but i'd rather have somehing diffrent""

Your insurance or the other persons insurance?

if you get into a car accident and the other person is at fault....whos insurance would you go through?

Need to find cheap but good minibus insurance. Can anyone help?

Car Insurance - Accident (Please Advise)?

Today an OAP came driving down a one-way carpark (trying to get my car parking space). In the process, she attempted to drive along the side of my car to get to the space, and scraped the side of my car and bumper. She said she would give me 20. But i said that i haven't got a clue how much the cost would be and im sure 20 wouldn't cover me. So she decided for us to drive to the local police station. The LSTO took both our details, and said for us to go through the insurance company, as the OAP was in the wrong and liable. When we left the police station she said she has previously written off a car earlier this year, and doesn't want to go through the insurance company! She gave me her home telephone number and said for me to get a quote and she'll pay for it. I got the quote - its 450. after she offered 20, i don't know if she will pay this amount! If we go through the insurance will i have to pay my excess. and what exactly happens!? I'm clueless!! I am fully comp...""

Do Cops get free car insurance?

As part of one of their benefits? Just curious..

I've been pulled over last night no insurance and no L plates HELP ME PLEASE?

Hello, I'm a genuine person, who has had a bad past with motoring, 3 - 4 years ago i was a maniac, a complete ideot who defied everything that was said and told to him( been caught for no insurance and disqual driving and driving without a license x15 times but after relizing what a ideot i was i decided to go the straight and narrow, so i got my license back last august with 6 points on it, they aint due to clear till next year although they are dated 2009?! any way, i own a decent 09 bike, that isnt cheap and i was what i thought fully insured (otherwise i wouldnt have driven and risked loosing my bike) anyways i got pulled over last night for speeding, and it came apparant i wasnt insured :O i rang my girlfriend and got her to produce the paperwork, they couldnt get hold of my insurance company due to they were shut at 10pm at night :S so they decided to seize my bike!:@ they give me a gypsys warning about the speeding, and refered me to court for no insurance no L plates, my arguement is, after going home and checking my bank, i have been driving for 3 months uninsured ( i really had no intention of doing so) i had thought that when my giro money lands into my bank acc swintons took it out the same day so i never defaulted, but this is not the case and i have defaulted. so i have insured my bike immediately after relizing what has happened and im going to get it out the impound in a minute (15 hours later after being seized) but the genuine thing is i've always had a rear L plate till 4 days ago when it snapped and i was waiting on my giro to come to purchase a new one, however i know that is no excuse but its the truth! what can i say to the judge to not get myself banned! the L plates situation is difficult because there like1 to buy but i have 0 pence! and i run my bike of scrap yard petrol ( filtered runs sweet) and i will take full admission to only ever having one L plate on my bike and explain my situation but what can i say or do so i dont get banned!? im really stuck with this one, it really is annoying as i had no intention to drive without insurance?! thanks guys""

About how much will insurance be for a 2004 Mazda RX8 for a 16 year old?

The car has 117,000 miles its an automatic and its $3,200 and my parents said that I would go under their insurance but I would be put as the main driver. So about how much would it cost me monthly?""

I live in NC and I cant afford my car insurance; I'm on disability and I can't drive.?

Can someone else get insurance and use my car and take me to appts.?

Grad. Student needs health insurance?

I will be quitting my full-time job to attend Grad school full-time in May. Unfortunately I will lose my health insurance covered by my employer. I really cannot go with out health insurance. I need affordable coverage. Any suggestions?

About how much would car insurance be?

My husband and I are stationed overseas for the army and we are looking to buy a new car. (A Ford Focus or a Ford Fusion) I want to know about how much it will be a month/year for insurance. We are both under 21 (19 and 20), but my husband turns 21 in January. Anyone have any idea how much it would cost?""

Any program available for women who are pregnant but don't have insurance in CA?

I have a friend who is one month pregnant but doesn't have an insurance. She is a foreign student, studying in CA. Can she obtain any kind of program to help her with medical cost during and after pregnancy?""

I'm 20 years old looking to purchase insurance?

I'm looking to purchase life, medical , and short term disability insurance I'm new to this so i need to know the basics what do i need to know before purchasing I'm only 20 years old also if you can leave some tips on what are some good affordable insurance companies i was thinking of purchasing short term disability through Aflec basically i need to know the basics what i should look for how much should i pay average a month please help thank you !""

What the best life insurance for a 23 year old female?

i want what best so when something happen to me my girls has the money to buried me nice. I want something that don't go away in 30 years and i half to get another policy. ...show more

Do you have to get insurance for just a learner's permit in california?

I just turned 15 and a half like 3 days ago and every time I bring up driver's ed or my learner's permit at all to my mom. All she says is No, I can't the insurance! All my friends are getting theirs and i've been waiting since I was like 5 to get my permit then my license (cuz my parents never let me even park the car and if I can drive I can actually go places) So is insurance needed for a permit and how much would it cost for a 15 year old male per month.""

How would i go about getting a hypothetical insurance quote?

I haven't even started to learn to drive yet, but just out of curiosity i want to get a rough estimate for insurance for a car that i found, are there any website where i can do this anonymously?""

How can i get cheap car insurance?Compare website's don't work for me?

hi there i want the cheapest car insurance that you can get i have already used comparing websites but the quote's are too much! Is there any other website that can help me get them quotes get knocked down or another way to get around it?

Where do I look for health insurance for my family?

Can i call insurance agents and get quotes from them for free? my husband is self employed do they have any health insurance specifically for that?

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/anchor-general-insurance-luis-wolfe/"

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vdbstore-blog · 6 years

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New Post has been published on Vintage Designer Handbags Online | Vintage Preowned Chanel Luxury Designer Brands Bags & Accessories

New Post has been published on http://vintagedesignerhandbagsonline.com/doctor-whos-hardest-task-yet-making-yellow-braces-happen-television-radio/

Doctor Who's hardest task yet – making yellow braces happen | Television & radio

Yellow braces. In the grand history of fashion – women’s fashion, at least – yellow braces are not something that have ever had a moment. Not even a nano-second. But then, Doctor Who has never really been a slavish follower of fashion. While the world’s designers spend their whole time in a constant shift between decades (anyone looking at the new Vogue out this week would be forgiven in thinking the time machine had got lost in the 70s), the Doctor has never really paid much attention to the sartorial codes of his – and now her – travels through different eras.

But those braces are something else. Red braces and the new Doctor would have been in tricky skinhead territory. Especially with those boots. But the mustard yellow brings to mind fellow sci-fi traveller Mork (of late-70s throwbacks Mork & Mindy) who, when he wasn’t in his red bacofoil and crimplene boiler suit, was rarely seen without his wonderfully upbeat rainbow coloured braces. There is something reassuringly children’s TV presenter about the braces, too. And maybe, given Dr Who’s core audience, that’s no bad thing. When the monsters get too scary, the Doctor’s attire will be a comforting distraction.

Who’s company … doctors Tom Baker, Jodie Whittaker and Jon Pertwee

Every Doctor worth their Tardis has to have a signature. For the first Doctor, played in 1963 by William Hartnell, the look was a Dickensian cravat tied around his wing collars in a neat bow. He also liked the occasional monocle. The most memorable doctors have boasted instantly recognisable looks. For third Doctor Jon Pertwee, it was a dash of Liberace with big hair, ruffled dress shirt, bowtie and velvet smoking jacket. The fourth Doctor (I would argue that the golden age was 1974-78) was an opportunity for Tom Baker to cast off his construction site overalls and go through the BBC dressing-up box. He was a true style leader; his maxi coat, beaten up hat and that handknit stripey scarf could well have inspired Richard E Grant’s look in Withnail and I.

So the wardrobe of Jodie Whittaker’s first female Doctor is of some considerable importance (some might argue even more importance than the latest Gucci collection). The mustard yellow braces hold up navy culottes which are a 70s favourite enjoying something of a comeback. They are very practical for a woman on the go, as are the sturdy boots. The coat has subtle stripes that match the stripe on her top – perhaps a nod to the great Baker’s scarf – and looks as though it could be reversible which would be very handy if you only had one change of clothes for an entire TV series. She is practically attired, fashionably timeless. Almost anti-fashion, in fact. But then, like all of her predecessors, she has her mind set on far more pressing matters like saving the Earth from impending doom. But just you wait. Fashion works in mysterious ways and those yellow braces may well have their moment yet.

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#Fashion

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xtravirt · 7 years

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VMware UMDS – Securing vSphere Patching

by Curtis Brown

In a time where security is top of mind, patch management for both the health and security of a VMware vSphere® estate has never been more important.

VMware vSphere® Update Manager™ is an essential, but often under-appreciated part of VMware vSphere. However, punching VMware vCenter® straight out to the internet may not be an attractive option for several reasons, most notably security, but also scaling. If you have a large estate with many vCenter servers and Update Managers, do you want all of them pulling down updates straight from VMware?

VMware Update Manager Download Service is a software solution that provides the means to place an intervening server between Update Manager (or multiple Update Manager installations) and the internet. It can be used as a host for updates itself, or it can be configured to publish the updates on an upstream web server.

Previous releases only supported Windows, however, we can now deploy a Linux derivative, permitting a more solid appliance to be constructed. The guidance in this article is a combination of VMware’s documentation, guidance from noted VMware blogger William Lam and my own testing.

Installation of UMDS on Linux

The first step is to prepare a Linux server. For this deployment, Ubuntu 14.04 was used. Ideally, this should be provided with a static IP address for ease of use. I tested a multi-homed configuration with an external and internal connection which worked fine.

The next step is to prepare the VM for UMDS and then install it.

Install the following pre-requisite components for Linux:

perl

tar

sed

psmisc

unixodbc

postgresql

postgresql-contrib

odbc-postgresql

William Lam has a really elegant script that automates this: (http://www.virtuallyghetto.com/2016/11/automating-the-installation-of-vum-update-manager-download-service-umds-for-linux-in-vsphere-6-5.html)

Once these are in place, it creates a PostGreSQL database and sets up a local ODBC connection to it, including establishing authentication to allow UMDS to access the database. The script creates an answer file to configure the UMDS installation prior to installing it. This is explained very well in William’s blog post referenced above.

At this point we have a UMDS server up and running, which can be confirmed by running:

/usr/local/vmware-umds/bin/vmware-umds -v

Configuration of UMDS

Once UMDS is in place, it needs to be configured. The commands are identical to the Windows release of UMDS.

Existing configuration can be checked by running the following command:

/usr/local/vmware-umds/bin/vmware-umds -G

This will show the following:

· Configured URLs – where UMDS is configured to pull patches down from. We can add vendor URLs to this, but the default VMware depots are listed.

· Patch Store location – where UMDS will download files to. The default is /var/lib/vmware-umds.

· Export Store Location – we can specify a remote location where UMDS can export patches to – we won’t be using this here, but vmware-umds -o [ --default-export-store] (path) can configure this.

· Proxy Server – where needed, proxy server values can be configured using vmware-umds -p.

· Patch Content – we can select whether to enable Host and Virtual Appliance patching and define which Host Releases we wish to support.

Let’s go through some of these, firstly deciding what content to download.

Selecting whether to enable Host or VA support is simple – we run vmware-umds with the -S option. For example, the following will prevent download of VA patches but enable Host patches:

/usr/local/vmware-umds/bin/vmware-umds -S --enable-host --disable-va

For Host patches, we can refine which releases we wish to support. Again, this uses the -S switch. The example below disables ESX 5.0 patching. To enable a release, substitute -d for a -e:

/usr/local/vmware-umds/bin/vmware-umds -S -e embeddedEsx5.0.0-INTL

Next, we might want to add third party download sources for vendor-specific patches. Obviously, you’ll need the URL for their repository. Use --remove to remove a URL.

/usr/local/vmware-umds/bin/vmware-umds -S --add-url https://host_URL/index.xml --url-type HOST

To select where to download to, we use:

/usr/local/vmware-umds/bin/vmware-umds -S --patch-store your_new_patchstore_folder

The default in 64-bit Windows is C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\Infrastructure\Update Manager while the default location in 64-bit Linux is /usr/local/vmware-umds.

Running the -G command again gives us the following:

In our example, we’ve left the default configuration for the URLs and patch store, but have restricted ourselves to just ESXi 6.5 host patches.

Once all this is set as required, we need to download the patches from VMware. The command for this is straight forward:

/usr/local/vmware-umds/bin/vmware-umds -D

This can be set up as a scheduled task in Linux by configuring crontab. If we need to, we can re-download patches using -R and specifying a date range as per the following example.

/vmware-umds -R --start-time 2010-11-01T00:00:00 --end-time 2010-11-30T23:59:59

At this point we have a populated UMDS server. A simple listing of our UMDS patch store shows our content:

We then need to either export the content to an upstream location or host it on our UMDS server for collection by the VMware Update Manager installation. VMware Update Manager can only use a local path or a Web Server URL as a local repository - the latter option is preferred. If we have an upstream repository set up, we can use the **-E **command to upload the content.

We’ll focus on setting up a web server on our UMDS server.

Setting up Nginx to serve UMDS content

VMware provide this guidance as part of their validated design – and it’s relatively simple to use to provide a persistent web server.

Firstly, we install Nginx. A simple one-liner will suffice (though you’ll need the root password!)

sudo apt-get -y install nginx

Once complete, we need to allow access to our UMDS Patch Store:

sudo chmod -R 755 /var/lib/vmware-umds

Next, we copy out the default Nginx configuration file to create one for UMDS. We then edit this using a text editor such as vi or nano – I’ll use vi:

sudo cp /etc/nginx/sites-available/default /etc/nginx/sites-available/umds

sudo vi /etc/nginx/sites-available/umds

The amendments we make are highlighted in green below. We amend the root path to our UMDS patch store, add the DNS short name and Fully Qualified Domain Name, and turn on autoindexing.

** server {**

** listen 80 default_server;**

** listen [::]:80 default_server ipv6only=on;**

** root /var/lib/vmware-umds** ;

** index index.html index.htm;**

** # Make site accessible from http://localhost/**

** server_name localhost exampleumds exampleumds.domain.local;**

** location / {**

** # First attempt to serve request as file, then**

** # as directory, then fall back to displaying a 404.**

** try_files $uri $uri/ =404;**

** # Uncomment to enable naxsi on this location**

** # include /etc/nginx/naxsi.rules**

** autoindex on;**

** }**

We then delete the default configuration, enable our UMDS configuration and restart Nginx.

sudo rm /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/umds /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

sudo service nginx restart

We should then be able to browse our UMDS patch store.

Configuring VMware Update Manager

Configuring VMware Update Manager to use a Shared Repository is a straight forward process.

From the Home Menu, select VMware Update Manager; then select the Update Manager from the Server list and go to the Settings Tab.

Pick Download Settings from the left-hand menu and select Edit Download Sources. As per shown below, select Shared Repository and enter a URL.

VUM will validate this setting. After that, we can download our patches into Update manager and then it’s business as usual. Set up Baselines, scan and remediate as you would do when Update Manager pulls directly from VMware.

Closing Thoughts….

With this approach, we can provide a secure gap between VMware vCenter and the internet and still retrieve updates. One downside of the new VMware Update Manager integration with VMware vSAN in VMware vSphere 6.5 Update 1 is that vSAN requires a direct connection to VMware in order to establish vSAN Baselines. Currently, proxying of this through UMDS is not possible, so if this functionality is required, then vCenter will still need some internet connectivity, though at least the patch downloads are segregated.

If you need assistance in getting the best from your VMware vSphere estate, please contact Xtravirt, and we’d be happy to use our wealth of knowledge and experience to assist you.

About the Author

Curtis Brown joined the Xtravirt consulting team in October 2012. His specialist areas include End User Compute solutions and Virtual Infrastructure design and implementation with particular strength in VDI, storage integration, backup and Disaster Recovery design/implementation. He is a VMware vExpert 2017.

#xtraCBrown #vmware #cloud #virtualisation #virtualization #UMDS #vsphere #Patching #sevurity #Updatemanager #vcenter

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