parade of lights denver 2009

parade of lights denver 2009  Featuring a lively procession of floats, marching bands, dance troupes and all manner of costumed characters, the annual Denver Parade of Lights has been a popular Christmas tradition since it was first held in 1975. Over 350,000 spectators line the length of the 3km (2 miles) parade route which snakes its way through Downtown Denver to the City and County Building where there is the ticket-only Grandstand seating area. Marching bands are competing to be crowned winner in a number of categories including 'Best Music and Marching Performance' and 'Best Lighting and Overall Performance' parade of lights denver 2009

tiger woods text message

tiger woods text message the answer!
Earlier this afternoon, we published a helpful list of Tiger Woods' women with pictures as a cheat sheet for those who can't keep track of his mistresses.
Now here's a compilation of the emails and text messages compiled by Us Weekly, Radar Online, In Touch Weekly and other sources over the past week.
We can't sum up the highlights or do these justice, so just read on ...
Text Messages Between Tiger Woods and Jaimee Grubbs
July 20, 3:04 p.m.
Tiger: Hey Sexy I can't come out this week. Something came up family wise
Jaimee: That's okay I hope everything is fine … would have liked to see you
Tiger: We will make it happen
July 26, 11: 22 p.m.
Jaimee: I drove out for the night to surprise a friend with a present for there birthday
Tiger: what kind of present your naked body
Jaimee: haha no a watch I slept alone
Tiger: alone with him that is
Jaimee: haha I wish
Sept. 27, 6:38 p.m.
Jaimee: miss u
Tiger: now that's hot so who is your new boy toy
Jaimee: no new boy toy … still running dry… been on 2 real dates in the pat 2 months :(
Tiger: I need you
Jaimee: then get your tight ass over here and visit me! I need u
Tiger: I will wear you out soon
Jaimee: how soon? I got a new piercing
Tiger: really. Where
Jaimee: I just sent u a pic of it … is on my cheek below my eye … implanted a little diamond
Tiger: send it again. I didn't pick up on that
Tiger: you just need some attention from me
Tiger: do you have a boy friend (8:45 p.m.)
Jaimee: I don't even have someone I am dating … no … u can be my boyfriend ;)
Tiger: then I am
Jaimee: I wish
Tiger: quiet and secretively we will always be together
Tiger: when was the last time you got laid
Sept. 30, 3:38 p.m.
Jaimee: if we hang out on a Sundway we can watch desperate houswives again haha
Tiger: oh god
Jaimee: take a break from watching boring old golf
Jaimee: I mean the amazing sport of golf ;)
Jaimee: [more than an hour later] babe I was kidding
Tiger: I know sexy
Oct. 1, 6:06 p.m.
Jaimee: is it orange county time yet?
Tiger: oh stop :)
Jaimee: hahaha I know … but you canceled on me last time so the anticipation is killing me … im finding myself watching sports center … haha j/k it isn't that bad
Tiger: its never been that bad
Jaimee: very true … I only watch football
Tiger: Figured you would say that. Big black guys.
Jaimee: u are my first, last and only black guy! U should feel special
Tiger: why do I not believe that?
Tiger: [later, in response to Jaimee's mention of a date who was "full of himself"] you kinda like that for some reason which is weird why you decided on me.
Tiger: having an asian mother and a military father you cannot and will not ever be full of yourself
Jaimee: I have fun with u, you always make me smile and I am not afraid to be myself or say anything to u … the day I met u I thought u were going to kick me out a few times but for someone reason you didn't and u have told me numerous times I talk to much but slowly as I get to know u iI think your absolutely amazing
Tiger: you are wrong I'm bone thugs in harmon
Oct. 15, 6:40 p.m.
Jaimee: Something wrong babe?I was excited to sepnd time with u this week
Tiger: I will you Sunda night. Its the only night in which I am totally free but I have to leave at 530 Monday morning to drive up to the valley for an outing for one of my sponsors. See you at 8 pm on Sunday in newport
Tiger: don't text me back till tomorrow morning. I have to many people around me right now
Oct. 18, 3:40 p.m.
Tiger: send me something very naughty
Jaimee: some things are worth waiting for lol … besides im at work
Tiger: go to the bathroom and take it
Jaimee: haha ur too much
Oct. 18, 11:38 p.m.
Jaimee: are u leaving me cause your wife is still in newport :( I am lonely now … i like falling asleep in your arms
Tiger: sorry baby I just can't sleep. Its just a problem I have.
Tiger: she is not here. They left this morning
Jaimee: well I appreciate you not wanting to wake me up but if y couldn't sleep I would have rather sat up and talked to u more … find out why I keep falling more and more for u ;)
Tiger: Because I'm blasian :)
Tiger: I'm sorry babe. Im already home.
Jaimee: I'm putting my underwear back on … thats a no no … come take them off
Tiger: :) you are too funny
Nov. 26, 11:16 a.m.
Tiger: happy thanksgiving to you
Jaimee: u too love
E-mails Between Tiger Woods and Rachel Uchitel
E-mail 1: "I know it's brutal on you that you can't be with me all the time. I get it. It f---ing kills me, too. I finally found someone I connect with, someone I have never found like this. Not even at home. You want someone to witness your life. I want you to lay next to me, lay on me or wherever you want to lay. F--k. Why didn't we find each other year's ago. We wouldn't be having this conversation. Never thought I would care and be as emotional as I am with you. You bring a side of me I never thought existed both good and bad. I don't like feeling so vulnerable. It bothers me a lot. I'm much tougher than this."
E-mail 2: "You don't have to answer that e-mail. I just wanted you to know what's going on inside me."
E-mail 3: "I don't know if this is going to work. I though I was getting to know you, but it feels like I'm just another person who happens to be famous. Everytime I think about it, I get a lump in my throat. Some of the other parts of your past really get to me. I don't know what person I was falling for so hard. The one I got to know on the phone, e-mail, text and in person. I am so confused, because what my brain is saying and what my heart is saying are two different things. Is it the Rachel I know or the character? That's what's hard. It guts me to think I've fallen for the wrong one and will be number f---ing five on that list."
E-mail 4: "I need you here [at the Australian Masters in Melbourne]! Just pack and get organized. Sorry if I hurt you."
Response from Rachel Uchitel, who said she wasn't flying across the world to be with: "someone who doesn't want and need me. I have some pride, too, you know."
"You broke my heart. You made me remember what real hurt is."
 tiger woods text message

houston snow

houston snow  Some KPRC Local 2 viewers e-mailed that it snowed in the Katy, Cypress, Magnolia, Spring, The Woodlands, Jersey Village, Fairfield, Hockley and Tomball areas beginning at about 3 p.m. Snow also fell on the west and southwest parts of the area, including Sugar Land and Missouri City.

More snow was expected on the northwest side Wednesday evening.

"It's not going to stick, but snow and sleet certainly is going to fall, especially between the hours of 6 and 9 this evening. The wind is really rushing it to the ground, which is why it's falling so heavily," KPRC Local 2 chief meteorologist Frank Billingsley said. "Water on roads could freeze after 11 p.m. -- that's one concern. It's going to get very cold tonight."
 houston snow
 

walmart wii special

walmart wii special 

Beginning Saturday, Walmart is offering a special on the popular Wii console for $199 and get a $50 Walmart gift card for each Wii purchased. Beginning at 8 am December 5 and ending December 12, 2009 while supplies last, and no rain checks will be given.  Many stores offer the Wii for $199 this holiday season, but the $50 gift card you get for each one purchased makes this deal a steal.

During cyber week at Walmart several videos games are also on sale including: Madden 10, Halo 3, Left 4 Dead 2, and Uncharted 2 on sale for $50. Tiger PGA 10, WWE 2010, Rock Band: Beatles, and Lego Rock Band games are on sale for $40.

There are also several toys on sale, including: Playskool Monty Rex for $64, Barbie Glamor Camper for $70, Little People Children's Nativity Set for $39, and the 2009 Holiday Barbie (50th anniversary doll) for $35, and dozens of other toys are on sale.

walmart wii special

generation me

generation me
The bad news is that a lot of important details were left out. For example, the study by Kali Trzesniewski et al. looked at changes in narcissism on only ONE campus (UC Davis, which they compared to 1980s data from UC Berkeley). Our analysis (soon to be published in the Journal of Personality) found increases in narcissistic traits in data from TWENTY-SEVEN campuses across the nation. So we need to modify our conclusion only slightly, to "American college students are increasingly narcissistic, except at UC Davis."

So why aren't they more narcissistic at UC Davis? In 1996, California passed Proposition 209, which radically changed admissions policies at the UC campuses. The enrollment of Asian-American students at the UCs nearly doubled, from 25 percent in the 1980s to 45 percent now. Nationwide only 8 percent of college students are Asian-American. Asian culture discourages narcissism, so it makes sense that this campus wouldn't show the same change as the rest of the country. Even apart from the ethnic changes, the shift in admissions policies created a different campus climate that might have suppressed narcissism even among non-Asian students.

The other people in the article appear to be stating their opinion rather than providing any data. Though I'm a big fan of Jeffrey Jensen Arnett's book Emerging Adulthood, I can't figure out why he would question the validity of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory. His opinion is not supported by the hundreds of scientific articles showing that the NPI predicts all kinds of narcissistic behavior, from liking to gaze at yourself in the mirror to hoarding resources to lashing out with aggression when insulted. Even if some of the test items "sound like pretty normal personality features" to Arnett, it doesn't change the fact that the NPI predicts an array of negative outcomes.

And when he and the Yale prof talk about older people having warped perceptions of younger people, I agree. That's why my studies always look at what young people say about themselves and not what older people say about them. Generation Me increasingly says that they think they're special and they like to seek attention -- some older people might agree, and some might not, but it's not their opinion that matters.

world cup bracket

world cup bracket  

amanda knox verdict

amanda knox verdict One of Knox's attorneys, Luciano Ghirga, was asked if she was distraught. "Yes, I challenge anyone not to be," he replied.

Silence fell on the packed and tense courtroom as the jurors walked in. Kercher's mother and sister cried at the verdict.

"The sentence is fair and satisfactory for the family," said their lawyer, Francesco Maresca. "It was a heartfelt sentence. There is deep suffering on all sides."

A juror, a woman, also looked like she was crying after the verdict.

A group of local youths who gathered outside the courthouse shouted insults and "assassin!" at the Knox family as they walked in to hear the verdict.

Throughout the trial, prosecutors depicted Knox as a promiscuous and manipulative she-devil whose personality clashed with her roommate's. They say Knox had grown to hate Kercher.

The most intimate details of Knox's life were examined, from her lax hygiene – allegedly a point of contention with Kercher – to her sex life, even including a sex toy.

"It appears clear to us that the attacks on Amanda's character in much of the media and by the prosecution had a significant impact on the judges and jurors and apparently overshadowed the lack of evidence in the prosecution's case against her," the statement said.

The eight-member jury was not sequestered during the trial.

Kercher's body was found in a pool of blood with her throat slit on Nov. 2, 2007, in the bedroom of the house she shared with Knox while the two were studying in the medieval town of Perugia in central Italy. Prosecutors said the Leeds University student was murdered the previous night.

In Seattle, relatives and friends clasped hands as they watched the verdict on TV. "Oh God, no," her uncle, Mick Huff, cried when it was announced.

Other friends buried their faces in their hands and shook their heads.

"They didn't listen to the facts of the case," said Elisabeth Huff, Knox' grandmother. "All they did was listen to the media's lies."

Madison Paxton, Knox's friend from the University of Washington, said: "They're convicting a made-up person ... "They they're convicting 'foxy Knoxy.' That's not Amanda."

Prosecutors argued that on the night of the murder, Knox and Sollecito met at the apartment where Kercher and Knox lived. They say a fourth person was there, Rudy Hermann Guede, an Ivory Coast citizen who has been convicted in the murder and sentenced to 30 years in prison. Guede, who is appealing his conviction, says he was in the house the night of the murder but did not kill Kercher.

The prosecution says Knox and Kercher started arguing, and that Knox joined the two men in brutally attacking and sexually assaulting the Briton under "the fumes of drugs and possibly alcohol."

Knox said Kercher was a friend whose slaying shocked and saddened her.

Defense lawyers described the American, who made the dean's list at the University of Washington, as a smart and cheerful woman, at one point even comparing her to film character Amelie, the innocent and dreamy girl in the 2001 French movie of the same title.

That is the film Knox and Sollecito said they were watching at his home on the night of the murder, where they say they smoked marijuana and had sex. Knox said she went home the next morning to find the door to the house open and Kercher dead.

The prosecution said a 6 1/2-inch (15.2-centimeter) knife authorities found at Sollecito's house had Kercher's DNA on the blade and Knox's on the handle. Defense lawyers said the knife was too big to match Kercher's wounds and the amount of DNA collected was too small to determine with certainty whose it was.

The defense maintained there was not enough evidence for a conviction and no clear motive.

However, prosecutor Manuela Comodi said violent crimes can lack a motive. "We live at a time where violence is purposeless," she told the jury.

The pair also was convicted of illegally carrying a weapon – the knife – and of staging a burglary at the house where the murder occurred by breaking a window, supposedly in an effort to sidetrack the investigation.

Knox also was convicted of defaming a man she had originally implicated in the case.

After the murder, Knox told investigators she was home and had to cover her ears to block out Kercher's screams. She accused a Congolese man, Patrick Diya Lumumba, of the killing. Lumumba, who owns a pub in Perugia where Knox worked, was jailed briefly but was later cleared. Knox said during the trial that police pressure led her to initially accuse an innocent man.

___

Associated Press writer Gene Johnson in Seattle contributed to this report.
amanda knox verdict

april ryan

april ryan
beginning of The Longest Journey, April lives in the "Border House", a small boarding house for students, then located in the New Venice district of Newport, and prepares for the admission tests at VAVA, one of the biggest art academies in the world. She has a stable job as a server at the local café and two good friends: Charlie, who pursues a dancer's career, and Emma, who plans to be a sculptor. The only things troubling her are her dreams, in which she sees dragons, magic, and mythological monsters. Moreover, a man whom she knows as a local eccentric named Cortez – who is, in fact, the Red of the Draic Kin and therefore one of her blood relatives – tells her that her dreams are actually more than unsubstantiated images.

The truth behind this is actually the disturbance of the Balance between Stark and Arcadia caused by the current Guardian of the Balance's departure from his position without naming a successor. April is one of the first humans to become aware of it, because (as Cortez informs her) she is a Shifter; a person capable of traveling between the Twin Worlds. After some contemplation, April travels to Arcadia via a Shift that she opens with Cortez's help and lands in Marcuria, one of its largest cities.

Despite her difficulty to accept the presence of an alternate dimension, April convinces herself of its reality and even learns the true history of the Balance and the Twin Worlds from the local priests. To return home to Stark, she, being not yet fully in control of her Shifting powers, gets help from another Starkian, Brian Westhouse, who has arrived in Arcadia some years earlier.

Upon her return, Cortez informs her about the disappearance of the Guardian, which compromises the Balance, and of their common opponents, the Vanguard, also known as the 'Church of Voltec' in Stark, who seek to reunite the worlds, disregarding the risks that go with this operation. In order to preserve the Balance and thus both Twin Worlds from imminent destruction, April must cooperate with Cortez and find both the old and the new Guardian, locate the "backdoor" entrance to their Realm and thereby save the worlds. Cortez also hints that April is a chosen one whose journey is foretold in countless prophecies.

April begins gathering information about the Guardians, who have presumably both been captured by the Vanguard, and about the Vanguard themselves. First of all, she gains access to the central police archives of Newport and with the help of an experienced hacker, Burns Flipper, finds out that the Vanguard Headquarters are located in Newport and that their leader is Jacob McAllen, who is later revealed to be the Green Kin. Meanwhile, the Vanguard capture Cortez; April, seeing this in a dream, unconsciously opens a Shift and flees to Arcadia.

While in Arcadia, April decides to search for the parts of the Stone Disc, an artifact vital for unlocking the entrance to the Guardian's Realm. As she finds out, the Disc consists of four parts distributed for safekeeping among four magical peoples of Arcadia, who would presumably gain nothing but death should the Balance be compromised, and of four sacred jewels called the Dragon's Eyes, each associated with one of the four Draic Kin. Since two of the Kin (Red and Green) permanently reside in Stark, Cortez has agreed to get their Jewels himself, while April is responsible for the rest.

April realizes that she has need to travel to the tropical island of Alais, where is a possibility of finding one of the Draic Kin and getting more information pertaining the Disc and the Guardian's Realm from Alatien, a magical people famous for remembering millennia-old legends. She travels north of Marcuria and defeats Roper Klacks, an alchemist who trapped the wind with his spells, stopping every kind of sea ship traffic in the Marcurian region, and who is secretly a powerful agent of the Vanguard. On her trip north, she discovers the Banda, one of the magical peoples who have a piece of the Disc; by gaining their trust, April gets it into her possession. During a night in their sacred Spirit Dig, she is forced to confront her underlying doubts of herself as well as realize that she is not alone in completing this monumental task. She also hears that Charlie loves her, although she never finds out if this is true or not, despite things others have said to support this. Upon returning to Marcuria, Vestrum Tobias, the head of the Sentinel Order, informs her that she is, in fact, the next Guardian and presents her with the powerful Talisman of the Balance, which she reluctantly accepts, for she is not ready to suddenly accept such enormous responsibility.

En route to Alais, the ship she has boarded in Marcuria is intercepted by a magical Chaos Storm; A desperate attempt to escape results in the ship's sinking and in April's being cast out into the middle of the ocean, with no land or people in sight. She drifts into the territory of the Maerum, a race of Merpeople, who save her and teach her to breathe under water, only to make her work for them as a gatherer of Tan'yen, a magical substance vital for their existence. April is able to convince the Maerum that she is the Waterstiller, a messiah from their prophecies who will reconcile them with their bitterest enemies, the winged folk of Alatien, with whom they share common, albeit forgotten ancestry.

The Maerum bring April to the island of Alais and after a long exploration of the ancient ruins of a common Alatien-Maerum city, she is able to find her way up into the volcano's caldera where the new Alatien settlement is located. She convinces the Alatien that she is their own long-awaited messiah, Windbringer. April finds out that the Blue of the Draic Kin is residing on the bottom of the sea near Alais and that both Maerum and Alatien are, in fact, his progeny.

Acting as an emissary, April manages to declare peace between two peoples. As a sign of gratitude, they present her with the second part of the Disc and a passage to the Blue Kin. The Kin is extremely reluctant to give any answers, but he willingly parts with his Jewel and even summons a Shadow Ship of the Dark People, who without causing any more trouble for April acknowledge her as the Wave (another messiah) and hand over their part of the Disc as well as a stellar map indicating the location of the secret entrance to the Realm of the Guardians, which is somewhere outside the Solar System.

With half of her task done, April returns to Marcuria and finds the city deserted because, in the meantime, the Vanguard have spurred the lust for conquest in Marcuria's neighbors, the Tyren, an aggressive and barbaric nation, who are now preparing to attack the city. Immediately upon her arrival, April is attacked by the Tyren's champion, Chaos Vortex, a mysterious terrifying creature somewhat resembling the Langoliers. She is able to escape through a Shift, again unconscious.

In Stark, the Vanguard are already after her, now that they have Cortez. Led by Gordon Halloway, Jacob McAllen's right-hand man and the latest prospective Guardian, whom the Vanguard's experiments stripped of his nature, they take all April's friends hostage and threaten to kill them if she refuses to surrender herself. Emma provides April enough time to flee; April escapes, though Emma is shot. After a short but intense chase, April escapes Vanguard agents through yet another Shift and ends up in the mysterious House of All Worlds, between Stark and Arcadia, whose owner, Lady Alvane, calms April by telling her that Emma will be all right.

Shortly thereafter, April leaves the House for Arcadia and quickly locates the last missing piece of the Stone Disc in possession of Abnaxus of the Venar, who hands it over to her proclaiming her the Kan-ang-la (the Venar messiah) and leaves before the Tyren block all ways to the city. April recombines all pieces into a full Disc by using the ancient mechanisms of the Sentinel Enclave, where it was initially kept before being split, and escapes Marcuria through a Shift just before the Tyren attack.

In Stark, April recalls that Lady Alvane suggested using her talents to control her Shifting abilities, and tries to apply it by drawing a picture of what she saw in one of her dreams. Immediately, she is transferred to the very location in Arcadia that she drew; that is, to the "nest" of the White of the Kin. The Kin is exhausted by her previous battles against Chaos Vortex and dies shortly after April retrieves her Jewel. When she dies, the single egg in her nest hatches and a new White Kin is born, whom April calls "sister". Both leave the place immediately.

April, now fully in control of her Shifting powers, returns to Stark and visits Flipper, who gives her a fake identification card that will help her enter the Vanguard Headquarters and confront McAllen and Halloway. Up in the Headquarters, McAllen quickly forces April to hand over the Disc and the two Jewels and sets a mutant (probably a result of a failed experiment in Vanguard laboratories) on her for further intimidation. She destroys the mutant and is later found by Cortez, who has just escaped the Vanguard custody. McAllen reappears and engages in a fierce fight against Cortez. Both assume their true dragon-like forms during this battle, wherein they apparently die after falling from the top of the HQ skyscraper.
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