The Tri-Town Chamber is seeking exhibitors for the 2012 Home Garden Show. Prospective exhibitors include appliance stores, builders, flooring companies, home decorators, electricians, home security, HVAC, kitchen/bath companies, landscapers, paving and seal coating, plumbers, roofers, septic and Title V, and other businesses serving homeowners, gardening enthusiasts and the vendors with whom they work. Booths are priced at $250 for Tri-Town Chamber members; $450 for non-members.

The 3rd Annual Home Garden Show will be held on Sunday, March 11, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Mansfield/Foxboro, 31 Hampshire St., Mansfield.

Adding to the excitement of this year’s event is the new Kids’ Interactive Play Area featuring face painting, temporary tattoos, and active play on soft equipment including mats and slides, courtesy of the Hockomock YMCA. In addition, there will be a Moon Walk Bouncy, Bean Bag Toss and three holes of mini-golf, courtesy of Deutsche Bank Championship.

 “Our objective in putting this show together is to boost our local economy and promote the whole ‘buy local’ philosophy,” said Tri-Town Chamber Executive Director Kara Griffin. “This year we’ve also added some enjoyable activities for the whole family so the kids can have fun while mom and dad can visit the booths and get fresh ideas for their homes and gardens. This is a great way to keep the children entertained while providing a valuable experience for all members of the family.”

Space reservations for booths is due by Friday, Feb. 24.

For more information, visit www.Tri-TownChamber.org and click the Home Show page under the events tab or call 508-339-5655.

Article source: http://www.wickedlocal.com/norton/newsnow/x1353875562/Chamber-Home-Garden-Show-in-Mansfield

Greyhound adoption: Greyhounds will be available for adoption, and knowledgeable volunteers will be on hand to answer questions about adopting a greyhound, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Furever Pets, 1902 N.E. Broadway in Portland. More information: visit www.fureverpets.com or call 503-282-4885.

Problem Pooch Class: A certified pet trainer will provide expert tips and advice on dog behavior and training issues at this humans-only class, 12:30-1:30 p.m. in the Ehmann classroom at the Oregon Humane Society, 1067 N.E. Columbia Blvd. in Portland. Cost: donation; no need to RSVP. More information: www.oregonhumane.org or call 503-285-7722, ext. 225.

Introduction to training class: Learn about how to set up a dog for success and get an overview of the Oregon Humane Society’s training philosophy at this class, 5-6 p.m. at the society, 1067 N.E. Columbia Blvd. in Portland. Cost: $15 as a stand-alone class; this course is also included in any basic or puppy manners program. No dogs, please. More information: www.oregonhumane.org or call 503-285-7722, ext. 225.

Trail Blazers Pet Appreciation Night: The Portland Trail Blazers will support the Oregon Humane Society at “Pet Appreciation Night” at the Blazers vs. Atlanta Hawks game, starting at 7 p.m. Send your best photo of your pet wearing Blazers gear to petpics@trailblazers.com to be shown on the big screen that night. Purchase your ticket www.oregonhumane.org; $5 from each ticket online will be donated to animals at the shelter. Purchase tickets here. 

–Monique Balas

Article source: http://www.oregonlive.com/pets/index.ssf/2012/02/happening_this_weekend_pet-rel_6.html

The Call Sheet sifts through the day’s glut of Hollywood news to find the stories even non-industry types care about. Today: Scott Speedman is having a comeback, someone’s letting Lindsay Lohan do live television, and Chris Colfer made a little movie.

RELATED: Lindsay Lohan Is Hosting ‘SNL’ Again; Bill Clinton’s Unappetizing Dinner

Felicity finally chose Ben (well done, girl) like ten years ago (uh, spoiler alert, sorry), so that’s a little insane, but it also means that Scott Speedman, who played the proud-maned young swain in question, hasn’t really done much in a decade. Sure there was Underworld, but that hardly counts. Really he’s been mostly MIA since Felicity flickered off the air, and that’s too bad! I mean, look at him! He’s like a gourmet chicken finger, that one. A crisp, Canadian golden brown! So it’s very good news that he seems to be on his way back. Yes, Scott Speedman is speedmaning back onto the scene, first in a supporting role in The Vow, currently enswooning movie audiences at romance houses the nation over, and next in a new ABC pilot from The Shield‘s Shawn Ryan about a submarine crew that decides to declare itself a sovereign nuclear nation. Andre Braugher stars. So… that doesn’t sound great, we’d much rather watch a new show called Scott Speedman Tries on Sweaters and Then Cooks Dinner, but still, good for him for working. Pretty much everyone from Felicity is taken care of now! Well, uh, except Amy Jo Johnson. Nobody’s heard from her in years. Rita Repulsa must have finally gotten her or something. Too bad. [TV Line]

RELATED: Arnold Schwarzenegger Goes on a Bronze Statue Buying Spree

Uh oh, batten down the hatches, New York. Cocaine tornado Lindsay Lohan is blowing into town to come host Saturday Night Live on March 3rd. She is promoting… absolutely nothing, but oh well! It’s Lindsay Lohan! Hopefully there will be some really fun jokes from 2007 about how she’s crazy and then they’ll do “What’s Up With That” and “Secret Word” and that’ll be that. They really don’t need to do anything beyond that, as everyone will tune in anyway out of sheer curiosity. Will she fall down? Will she take anyone down with her when she falls down? How many times will she fall down? Will it be down a flight of stairs? Up a flight of stairs? There are just so many things to wonder about Lindsay Lohan falling down on Saturday Night Live on March 3rd. [The Hollywood Reporter]

RELATED: Lindsay Lohan Haggles with Playboy; Gingriches Return to Tiffanys

The underused Mary McCormack (Private Parts, Deep Impact) (that’s two movie titles, not one title with a comma in it, she’s not that kind of actress) has been cast as the lead in a new ABC pilot. She’ll play a busy businesswoman who, a la Baby Boom, loses her job and ends up having to focus on being a mother. Only in this case it’s not one little baby in Vermont, it’s a couple of awful, stink-filled teenagers. And probably Sam Shepard is not in this. But those are the only two differences between this and Baby Boom. God, isn’t Baby Boom a good movie? Mary McCormack, go do a Baby Boom remake. Wait, no, that’s a terrible idea. Do this show, but just keep in mind that Baby Boom A) is a great movie and B) probably did it better than this show ever will. And, hey, there was already a Baby Boom show anyway, with Kate Jackson. Shockingly, it didn’t last long. You know what? Baby Boom is on Netflix Instant so, uh, we’re just gonna go… brb… [Deadline]

RELATED: Christie Makes His Romney Endorsement Official

He left us, and we mourned. But, He said he would return to that hill someday and we would all be saved. And returned He has! O rejoice, hallelujah! Finally, at long last, we can all go home. We are, of course, talking about the fact that Chad Michael Murray is going back to do some work on One Tree Hill. We were right all along! Suck it, Jews! Or whoever didn’t believe in the second coming! Of Chad Michael Murray. On One Tree Hill. It’s a big deal. We’re pretty sure Harold Camping just got sucked up into space. Big Chad Michael Murray fan, Harold Camping. But aren’t we all? Everyone except Barack Hussein Obama, anyway. [The Hollywood Reporter]

RELATED: Baby Bruni’s Big Haul; Prince Harry Likes an American Girl

Here’s a trailer for the very low-budge looking Struck by Lightning, a movie written by and starring Glee‘s resident ghost Chris Colfer. It looks like a pretty standard-grade high school loner movie, except he managed to get a bunch of bold names — Allison Janey, Dylan McDermot Mulroney, Christina Hendricks — to be in it. So it sort of has a high profile, even though it looks like it was filmed using Lifetime original movie film stock. Eh, good for Kurt. He deserves it. Now we eagerly await the first trailer for Lea Michele‘s writing debut, Lea Michele is Lea Michele in “Lea Michele!” a New Movie Musical All About Lea Michele. That’s gonna be quite something.

And here’s a trailer for the upcoming History Channel miniseries Hatfields McCoys, about the famous centuries-long Appalachian family feud. Richard Karn will host. Haha, no just kidding. The miniseries stars Kevin Costner, Bill Paxton-Pullman, and Jena Malone, and, judging by this rock ‘em sock ‘em trailer anyway, seems to be a little less history focused and a little more pistol-shootin’ and butt-kickin’ focused. Which, sure, fine. But maybe they should just change the name to The Channel, y’know? Nothing historical really happens on it anymore, nothing really specific at all happens. It’s just stuff. The Things Channel. The Occasions Channel. Happeningz. That sounds good, right? Change it up, History Channel. Accuracy is key. Well, anyway, let’s all take a moment to sigh/weep/laugh at: “Golden Globe nominee Bill Paxton.” Oh man. That’s worse than putting nothing above his name.

Article source: http://news.yahoo.com/welcome-back-scott-speedman-230722774.html

“Every time somebody goes up to them and tells them that I was a legend, they say yeah, maybe in my own mind,” he said with a laugh.

But one of the most decorated wrestlers in New Jersey history is getting a chance to prove it to his children.

Kochakji, one of only two North Jersey wrestlers to win three Bergen County and three state championships, will be inducted into the National Junior College Athletic Association Hall of Fame this weekend for his more than 28 years of coaching wrestling at Bergen Community College.

And in March, he will join his former high school coach, Sal Cascio, in the inaugural class of inductees for the Bergenfield High School Athletic Hall of Fame.

“I’m taking my daughters to that one,” he said of his girls, Justine and Kaitlyn, both in their 20s. “I tell them what I did and they say, ‘No you didn’t.’ “

Kochakji, 61, who lives in Montvale with his wife, Debbie, and his daughters, will be inducted into the NJCAA Hall of Fame on Saturday in Rochester, Minn. While there, he’ll assist current BCC head coach Mike Massenzio as Bulldogs Chris Lantz of Bloomfield and Chris Duran of North Bergen compete in the NJCAA Division III national tournament. It also will be one of his final events as a coach before retiring at the end of the season.

“It’s wonderful recognition at this point,” said Kochakji, the head coach at Bergen Community from 1977 to 1992, and again from 1996 to 2004, when the program was revived after a four-year hiatus. “It encompasses everything I’ve done to help the student-athletes at Bergen Community College. By doing that, I feel I’ve given back to the sport without taking too much out of it.”

Kochakji coached four NJCAA All-Americans at BCC: Rob Young (’82), Tim Doherty (’83), Mike Indorato (’89) and Massenzio (’03 and ’04), who won it all in 2004.

In 2005, he coached the Bulldogs to a fifth-place finish in the national tournament.

Article source: http://www.northjersey.com/sports/139788793_Kochakji_s_dedication_recognized.html

If you’re looking for signs that the economy is improving, you might find them at this weekend’s annual Mahoning Valley Home and Garden Show at the Eastwood Expo Center. Attendance for the three-day show is expected to reach record levels — good news for the 150 exhibitors, also a record number.

“We’re completely sold out with exhibitors and all of them have committed to come back next year,” said Dominic Baragona, show organizer, as he observed the large crowd Saturday afternoon. “I think people are starting to see their way clear to buy something [because] they are more optimistic.”

Another reason for the large attendance is free admission for the first time in the show’s 22-year history. Baragona said sold-out sponsorship was the reason. “We’ve had so many sponsors come forward and I just decided the Valley needs a break,” he said.

Many of the exhibitors echoed Baragona’s sentiments about the reviving economy, including some who previously had not displayed their products in the show. Those included pianos and organs of Top Shelf Music, Boardman, whose operator, Mark Plegge, said the show led to the sale Saturday morning of a Lowrey Majesty organ valued at $30,000 to a buyer he described as a senior citizen.

“The show’s already a success for me,” Plegge said.

For the full story, read Sunday’s Vindicator or Vindy.com.

Article source: http://www.vindy.com/news/2012/feb/18/eastwood-home-garden-expo-packed-vendors-people-to/

RELATED: Justin Bieber Isn’t Off the Hook Just Yet

The moment surely at least one or two of you have been waiting for has finally arrived: Here is a first teaser for the upcoming Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, the movie based on the novel by literary and historical meddler Seth Grahame-Smith. The movie stars up-and-comer and famed Meryl Streep son-in-law Benjamin Walker (Broadway’s Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson) as the 16th president who, in this imagining at least, spends a lot of time slayin’ vamps with a big axe. He also seems to be supernaturally strong? Unless that tree at the end there is balsa? Were there a lot of balsa forests in America around the Civil War? Who knows! I suppose we’ll find out in this here movie, which… looks kind of completely ridiculous. But, eh, that’s the point. Though, should anyone really be touting “from the director of Wanted” as a good thing? That movie was about a magic loom that told the future. That movie probably shouldn’t exist. This probably shouldn’t either, but who knows, it might be fun.

RELATED: John McEnroe Paid $85,000 for a Sketch of Jay-Z

RELATED: The Journalist and the Movie Star

Oh ho ho. House Cruise and House Lannister will soon be working with one another. Game of Thrones actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (he plays incestuous golden twin Jamie Lannister on the show) has been cast in Tom Cruise’s upcoming sci-fi future flick Oblivion. Something, who could possibly know what, about Coster-Waldau just caught Cruise’s attention, so here he is, in this movie. Cruise has done him a favor and a Lannister always pays his debts, so… Well, anyway! Coster-Waldau will play “Sykes, a battle-hardened, physically imposing, intelligent and extremely athletic military technology and weapons expert.” Ha, “extremely athletic.” Glad there’s time for sports in the ruined futureworld. Hopefully Tommy and Jamie can find some time to play futureball or whatever it is. We’ll be there to watch! [Deadline]

RELATED: End of ‘The Simpsons’ Threatened Again; Daniel Day-Lewis Visits Graves

So, right, the BAFTAs, aka the British Oscars, aka Britain’s Best Teeth, were last night and there were really no surprises. Octavia Spencer and Christopher Plummer won in the supporting categories, no doy, and The Artist won for Best Picture, derrrr. Jean Dujardin won for Best Actor, because of course. Really the only slight surprise, and it’s really not much of one if you consider it’s the BAFTAs, is that Meryl Streep won for Best Actress instead of Viola Davis. But really it’s been a tight race this whole time and Meryl Streep is playing a big, booming British person so of course she won. Doesn’t really mean anything for the Oscars except that that’s really the only category, only big one anyway, that’s up for grabs. Oh, and that no Brits won acting awards. Sucks to be you, Brits! And those are your BAFTAs, basically, [The Hollywood Reporter]

RELATED: Polar Bears, LSU Cheerleaders, and Popular Dogs

Uh oh. Poor sad scorned wife Jennifer Aniston has been cast in a dramatic weepy called Miss You Already about a sad woman in London. Sigh. Well, actually, it’s about two sad women, best friends whose relationship becomes rocky after one of them gets a pregnant and the other gets a disease. Oh no! Which fate will be befalling the ol’ spinster Aniston? She’s had babies in movies before, and she’s died in at least one movie, so she could potentially do both. But our guess? Her costar is going to be British and British people do better sickbed blushing so we think they’ll give Aniston the baby. Which is nice, probably why she does movies, so she can pretend and live a wonderful fantasy life. Sigh. Poor sad Jennifer Aniston, the world’s saddest self-proclaimed happy millionaire. [Deadline]

Speaking of lonely and miserable Jennifer Aniston, the lion goddess that ruined her, Angelina Jolie, will soon be the subject of a movie. Well, in theory, and then only kinda loosely. Jolie’s ex Billy Bob Thornton is said to be making a movie called And Then We Drove, about a man who picks up a “wild woman,” a character supposedly based on Ms. Jolie. Aha! And so is there also a dashing movie star and his mousy millionairess bride from whom the “wild woman” wrestles the strapping movie hunk? And does the mousy millionairess submerge herself in a bathtub of white wine only to occasionally emerge to make fantasy movies about being pregnant and in love and all those real-life impossible things? Impossible for the mousy millionairess, anyway. That plotline is integral to any movie loosely based on Angelina Jolie, so take note, Billy Bob. (Actually, someone in Hollywood: Please make a fictionalized movie about that whole triangle. Admit it, everyone: You would totally watch that movie.) [Vulture]

Here’s a brief preview clip of Louis C.K.’s return guest starring stint on Parks and Recreation and it is wonderfully awkward and both a fun mix of C.K.’s style and the show’s style and we are excited to watch it. That’s really all.

Article source: http://news.yahoo.com/behold-abraham-lincoln-vampire-hunter-223947225.html

We asked a handful of the 380 recipients from 1993 to 2011: 

• Where do you live? Are you married/kids?
• What is your job?
  Describe a typical work day.
• What hasn’t changed about you since you
  entered your Best Brightest application? What do you wish you
  had known in high school?
• What achievement has most satisfied you?
• What’s made your life ‘work’?

Philip Saunders, 1993, Harrisburg High
School. Lives in Voorhees, N.J., 20 miles from Philadelphia.
View full sizeSUBMITTEDPhil Saunders, 37, a 1993 Best Brightest alum, became an expert investment strategist.  
-Worked in investment banking, spent 10 years on Wall Street, five in a
derivative strategy role. In 2009, launched Iso Ventures, a full
service online marketing company. “We help investment firms market
their products and services online. “I do everything. When it’s
your baby, you want to spend as much time and attention on it as
possible. Day to day, I do SEO work, managing social media and social
market profiles. It really runs the gamut and that’s what I like about
it.”
-”I’m just as optimistic as I was back then. I believe
wholeheartedly that I can achieve whatever I set my mind to. That has
led me to take on some pretty huge challenges throughout my career.”
-”The tendency as a Type A [personality] coming out of high school is
wanting to know everything right away, having a set plan. I said I
wanted to be a U.S. senator.   It’s crazy for me to even think
of that at this point. Take the time to figure out what you want to be
and listen to your heart. Don’t take a job because all your friends are
or your parents want you to. What gets you juiced? Failing is the best
way to learn something. The trick is to fail fast and fail forward.”
-”The education is really important to me. Princeton University degree
in engineering. MBA from University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton
School of Business. “In 2001, my equity research team at Wedbush Morgan
Securities was recognized as Best on the Street for the leisure sector.
My last five years as a derivatives strategist, I had a lot of work
cited in The Wall Street Journal and Barrons. Starting my own firm.”

-”It’s been a crazy ride. It hasn’t always been easy. My spirituality,
my religious beliefs, always looking on the bright side, always looking
to find a solution, never giving up and being tenacious.”

Kymberli
Wright-Roach, 1993, Harrisburg High School. Lives in Harrisburg area.

View full sizeJOE HERMITTKym Wright-Roach, 37, owner of Asja’s House of Style in Highspire, was a member of the first Patriot-News Best Brightest award recipients in 1993.
-”I am married to a great man, Reggie Sr., for eight-and-a-half years.
We have three wonderful kids, sons Reggie Jr., 7, Rylan, 5, and
daughter Reyna, 3.”
-”For the past 11 years, I’ve owned and operated my
own beauty salon, Asja’s House of Style. After getting the kids off to
school, I begin my workday at 10 a.m. servicing clients by applying
hair extensions, cutting hair, consulting about hair solutions and much
more. My workday will normally end between 8 and 11 p.m. By the time I
get home, my family has been fed and is in bed. This is the reason I
only work three weekdays. However, I love having flexibility
to schedule appointments around my children’s active lifestyles.”
-”I
still enjoy and love the beauty industry.”
-”The thing I wish I had
known when I was in high school is that my first employer, a beauty
salon owner, was put into my life as a teacher. If I had taken full
advantage of everything he was trying to teach me, I would probably be
further advanced than I am today.”
-”My greatest achievement is that
most businesses close within five-to-seven years of opening. I can
proudly say that Asja’s House of Style is still open 11 years strong.”
-”What makes my life work is having faith in God and being blessed with a
supportive husband and extended family support system. I would not be
where I am today without these things.”

Thomas Clippinger, 1996, Red
Land High School. Lives in New Freedom.

View full sizeSUBMITTEDTom Clippinger, 33, is an associate principal with a Baltimore-based engineering firm. He was selected for a Best brightest award in 1996. 
-”Although I work in
Baltimore/Washington, D.C., I choose to reside in Pennsylvania because
it’s home. I’ve been married to my wonderful wife, Tracey, for almost
10 years now. We have four kids: Reagan, 6, David, 5, Nolan, 2, and
Leah, 7 months.” -Graduated from Penn State with bachelor and master’s
degrees in architecture and went to work as an electrical engineer. An
associate principal for James Posey Associates, an MEP consulting
engineering company in Baltimore. “As an engineer, a typical workday is
really unpredictable.    Some days include engineering/design
work in the morning and client meetings in the afternoon. Some days
include project site surveys, and other days involve researching a
tricky code issue. Regardless, every day brings a unique challenge. It
is rewarding to see your ideas come to life.”
-”I still try to enjoy the
‘little things’ in life. Although life seems to get busier and busier,
there is a need to every so often stop what you’re doing,
reflect/pray, and be thankful for the many amazing things around us. I
remember doing this then and still do now.”
-”I wish I would have truly
known the importance of serving others and better recognized the
positive impact any one person can have on others.”
-”Being blessed with
a loving wife and four healthy children remains the greatest
achievement for me.”
-”As an engineer, we look to develop efficient
solutions and methodically solve complex problems. However, I believe
the greatest successes in life involve a simple equation-one that
involves faith and family. My faith and family continue to be constants
in my life where most everything else around me changes. I attribute
my personal success and the success of so many others to these
important themes.”

-Josh Line, 1996, Carlisle High School. Lives in New
York City, single.

View full sizeSUBMITTEDJosh Line was a Patriot-News 1996 Best Brightest award recipient.
-”I’m a senior director in the consulting
practice at Scratch, which is part of MTV and Viacom. Every day is a
little different than the last. But my days can consist of anything
from researching focus groups with young people about their inner most
wants and needs to visiting a college campus as part of a program to
engage young people for our clients to participating in a brainstorm
[session] with my colleagues to come up with ideas to help drive our
client’s business to actually pitching those ideas to the clients.”
-”I’m still hungry to learn new things about the world, others and
myself. I think when I was in high school I was really curious about
the world beyond high school. I think I still have that same curiosity
and hope to always have it.”
“Two things I wish I had known, that
failures are OK, and that they are an important part of learning. And
that it’s more important to follow your passions than to assume that
the life plans you make will always hold true.”
-”From a career
perspective it was probably helping in the creation of a fantastic
cooking show on PBS called ‘Avec Eric,’ with four-star chef Eric
Ripert. The show has won multiple Emmy Awards, including best food
program.”
-”Challenging myself whenever I’ve gotten comfortable or
complacent.”

Ansley Watson, 2003, Milton Hershey School. Lives in
Brooklyn.

View full sizeSUBMITTEDAnsley Watson, 27, is a 2003 Patriot-News Best Brightest award recipient.
-”I have been with the same man for eight years-we met in
college at Dartmouth.” -Works for Peeled Snacks. “You may have seen us
in Starbucks. We make organic dried fruit. I am the operations manager.
Every day I make sure orders are received, processed and delivered
accurately and on time. I also source ingredients, maintain quality
control standards and develop new products. Peeled Snacks is a small
woman owned business and all of us work in the same room.”
-”I still
take on more than I can handle!”
-”I wish I would have tried more
things instead of targeting myself for a specific career. There is so
much more to learn than you even know when you are 17 or 18.”
-”I was
recently published in two academic collections, and it’s very exciting
to see my name in print.”
-”Finding a job where I am appreciated and
challenged and devoting myself to a few important relationships.”

Renee
Killins, 2003, Central Dauphin High School. Lives in Lafayette, Ind.

View full sizeSUBMITTEDRenee Killins was a 2003 Patriot-News Best Brightest award recipient.
-Fifth-year doctoral candidate in the Medicinal Chemistry and
Molecular Pharmacology Department at Purdue University. “I plan on
defending my thesis in June of this year. My typical day at work
involves planning and performing research experiments to study spleen
tyrosine kinase, a protein involved in leukemias, lymphomas and breast
cancer.”
-”Something that hasn’t changed about me since my Best
Brightest application is my love for science and learning.”
-”In high
school, I wish I would have known that there is no sense in worrying
about the future; if you prepare to the best of your ability,
everything always works out.” -”The achievement that has satisfied me
the most will be obtaining my Ph.D. this summer.”
-”The thing that has
made my life ‘work’ is my determination and wonderful support network
of family and friends. I have always had big dreams of becoming a
principal investigator of my own laboratory one day. Things haven’t
always turned out the way I have hoped and I often have to take paths
that I had not originally laid out but at the end of the day I am very
close to achieving that goal. It’s because of my refusal to give up on
my dreams and the motivation my family and friends give me that I have
made it this far and will continue to achieve all I set out to do.”

Timothy Hanks, 2003, Hershey High School. Lives in New York.

View full sizeSUBMITTEDTimothy Hanks is a 2003 Patriot-News Best Brightest recipient.
-”I am a
specialist for JPMorgan in sales and trading. I cover and recommend
trade ideas for the industrials, materials, and energy sectors. A
typical day involves me getting to work at 4:45 a.m., where I will go
through all the news from the night before and overseas. I put out two
morning notes by 7 for those focused on industrials and those focused
on energy and materials. After that, my day is spent advising clients
(mutual funds and hedge funds) and explaining the importance of various
headlines and earnings releases to traders, sales traders, research
analysts and portfolio managers. I also recommend short-term trade
ideas to clients, which could have a time frame of anywhere from an hour
to a month.”
-”I still have a very competitive personality. I
have chosen to work on Wall Street because I enjoy working in a
fast-paced environment which is action-packed every day. It is a very
competitive industry where I am always on edge and constantly
multi-tasking, which I love. I also continue to play golf and softball,
which we take very seriously.”
-”I wish I had known the importance of
patience. While my nature of being someone who wants results
immediately has in no way hurt me in my career, the 2007-2009 recession
has forced me to adapt to the fact that my career goals on a 3, 5, and
10-year horizon are probably more suited with a 5, 10, and 15-year
horizon.”
-”The achievement that has most satisfied me is my presence on
the trading desk of a top Wall Street firm after graduating from Penn
State University.”
-”I feel like I have found a good work/life balance. I
love my job at JPMorgan and working hard in my career is important to
me, but so is my free time. I am a huge Yankees fan and love going to
Yankees games. Also, going back to Penn State football games to see my
college friends has become a bit of a tradition. Besides a job I love, spending time with people who are important to me has made my life ‘work.’”
 

Article source: http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2012/02/best_brightest_profiles_where.html

Where: BC Place Stadium, 777 Pacific Boulevard, Vancouver.

When: Wednesday (4 p.m. to 9 p.m.); Thursday, Friday (noon to 9 p.m.); Saturday (10 a.m. to 9 p.m.) and Sunday (10 a.m. to 6 p.m.).

Admission: $15 for adults ($12 online); $12 seniors ($5 for seniors before 5 p.m. Thursday, Friday), and free for children, 12 and under.

The Vancouver Sun Gardener’s School will be back at the BC Home Garden Show next week with a first-class program of speakers on a wide range of gardening topics.

It is the school’s 10th anniversary. I started it back in 2002 as a place for gardeners to find great information and inspiration for a new season of creative gardening.

Officially, this is the school’s 11th year, but we missed a year when the show was cancelled because of the Winter Olympics in 2010, so technically this is actually the 10th time the Gardener’s School has been held.

Not a lot has changed.

A decade ago, speakers were showing slides from a tiny projector propped up in the middle of the aisle. Today, we use more high-tech computer systems to project PowerPoint presentations and digital images.

But we do try out new things.

For instance, a new idea I will be test driving this year is something called Live Story. It will be the equivalent of a typical garden page feature story, only presented live on stage with the subjects of the interview appearing in person and speaking directly to the audience instead of through printed quotes.

B.C.’s New Generation of Gardeners will be the topic of this first Live Story presentation. I will be interviewing two of the youngest and most successful garden centre owners, Jordan McDonald, of KJM Nursery in Southlands, and Miles Hunter, of David Hunter Garden Centre in Surrey. Together, we will tell the story just as it would appear in the newspaper.

Jordan and Miles will be on stage with me to offer their expert insights and tips into gardening, just as they would (and have done) in regular feature stories.

I think this format will be as spontaneous and immediate as reality TV and even more interactive than the Internet. In the process, you’ll pick up all kinds of great insights and information.

As we present the Live Story, images will be projected on to a big screen to illustrate the story.

For the rest of the days at the Gardener’s School, I will be doing a PowerPoint presentation called Gardens that Touch the Heart, featuring some of the most exciting gardens I have visited here and abroad and various creative elements in them that made them unique, beautiful and memorable — ideas we can all duplicate in our own gardens.

We’ve pulled all the stops out this year, it being a special, celebratory anniversary year, to assemble an even more impressive program of top-notch speakers, including many local favourites such as Brian Minter from Chilliwack, and Gary Lewis from Richmond, but others from out of town — Ciscoe Morris, Seattle’s favourite TV gardener, and Carolyn Herriot from Victoria, author of the best-selling The Zero Mile Diet and A Year of Growing Organic Food.

Art Drysdale, who was at one time the host of the top radio garden show in Canada, Your Home and Garden, will be joining us to talk about his visits to fabulous gardens around the world.

Mike Weinmaster, of Green over Grey, Living Walls and Design, will give a special presentation on the beauty and simplicity of vertical gardening (green walls) and how they can be used more effectively in the city to transform an ugly space into a spectacular green oasis.

The last time Weinmaster gave his presentation to top designers and architects he got a standing ovation. I think you will be impressed by his enthusiasm and vision of the world of green-wall gardening to come.

All of my local favourites will be speaking at this year’s school – all the people I routinely contact to talk about latest trends and cool ideas and hot new plants.

These are people with their fingers on the pulse of horticulture, so I know you will come away from their talks with plenty of brilliant ideas and cutting-edge plant information.

Miles Hunter will return to the stage on his own to talk about roses — one of his garden centre’s specialties. As a boy, it was Miles’s job to label thousands of roses as they arrived at the garden centre. Without knowing it, he became an expert on the best roses in all the key colours and categories. He’ll be sharing that knowledge.

Rebecca van der Zalm, owner of Art’s Nursery in Surrey, also grew up in the gardening business and has a wonderful, practical depth of knowledge. I find I never come away from speaking with her without learning something new and interesting.

She will be joined on stage by Laurelle Olford-Down to explain how to guarantee success in your garden.

Pam Dangelmaier and Elke Wehinger, of Botanus in Langley, think we could all make better use of lilies in our garden. I totally agree. This is one summer-flowering bulb that we don’t use creatively enough.

Make sure you bring a notebook to jot down the planting sequences and creative ideas, as well as the names of all the best-performing cultivars and how to us them in engaging combinations.

Alfred Kwan is a hugely talented, but surprisingly shy man (when it comes to speaking in public), but I am delighted that I was able to persuade him to share his years of expertise gained as owner of the immensely popular WIG Garden Centre in Burnaby.

He will also be decorating the school’s stage this year with some of his fabulous succulents, so you’ll get an idea of his standards of excellence in horticulture by just glancing at the complexity of plant material on stage.

Gary Lewis, of Phoenix Perennials in Richmond, is in big demand these days as a director of the Perennial Plant Association and the Great Plant Picks committee in Washington. He will be talking in depth about the value and diversity of hellebores (jewels of winter) and good companions.

And rounding out our program will be B.C.’s consummate gardening pro, Brian Minter, owner of Minter Country Gardens in Chilliwack, who packs so much information into his talks that he really is a one-man lecture series.

No one works as hard for an audience as Brian. He always manages to leave his listeners deeply enriched with new knowledge and fresh inspiration. Precisely what the Gardener’s School is all about.

So I hope you’ll find time in your busy schedule to be with us.

I think the Gardener’s School is great value in itself for the admission fee, even without all the other special attractions at the show.

If you find other things to entertain you during your visit, that’s a bonus. But I guarantee that your garden will be better for your investment of a little time at our Gardener’s School.

swhysall@vancouversun.com

t

Article source: http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Home+Garden+show+Back+school+green+thumbs/6165264/story.html

Article source: http://news.yahoo.com/dog-bit-news-anchor-not-fault-231400057.html