rimblr.com

The City of Hartford adopted its budget last week, while in West Hartford residents will be going to the polls on June 17 to give a thumbs up, or thumbs down to that town’s budget. A second budget referendum looms this week in Windsor, where school officials last week cut a half-million in spending after the first budget went down. A new Veterans Health Center for veterans with chronic health issues was dedicated in Rocky Hill, while a one-armed saxophonist from Bloomfield makes sweet music at local hospitals.
One-handed Blues: Ken Carter pushes a wire cart up the sloping, carpeted halls of St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center, keeping a bifocal watch on the zipped black case that rests inside.
His shuffle is slow, a slight drag in his right leg. “This carpet knocks me out,” he says in his gravelly croon. Now 74, the Bloomfield resident suffered a stroke nearly 17 years ago that partially paralyzed his right side. “Sometimes I think I’m movin’ my feet,” he says through a smirk, “and the shoe’s still standin.’”
Carter makes his way to the third floor of the Hartford medical center, parks his cart by the nurses’ station and unzips the case with his left hand. Gently, he lifts out a tenor saxophone. He steadies the instrument between his thighs, then bends over to hook it to a strap around his neck. He straightens to blow out a few test notes.
Right hand curled stiff against his chest, his left fingers work an instrument specially modified for one-handed playing. The hospital’s unofficial strolling troubadour is now on call. Time was, Carter played the smoky blues clubs and jazz joints of New York.
These days his stage is a sterile hospital unit, his audience a bustling medical staff and their recovering patients. He serenades them five days a week at St. Francis or neighboring Mount Sinai Rehabilitation Hospital, bringing nurses and visitors to dance in the corridors, compelling toes to tap from under their bed linens.

courant.com

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reuters.com

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts
My wife has started saying a murmured prayer before we have sex. From what I can make out, she’s praying for “success” — although I’m not sure whom it’s for. I always have success, but she may wonder if she pleases me enough. I did hear the phrase “catch up” the other night, so now I’m worried about something else.
I know I always have my orgasm much earlier than she does, but she has never complained, as I am always attentive until she achieves satisfaction — even though I’m often pretty tired by then. She doesn’t want children, so I know she’s not praying for that.
There’s a lot of tip-toeing around your marital bed — and who can blame you? It’s hard to ask big questions, but they need air time. You must ask gently: “What are you praying about before we have sex?”
You need to know if she’s praying for a real orgasm and/or for you to last longer. That’s most likely, since you admit you regularly arrive at ecstasy before she does. The person who orgasms first is usually getting the best out of the sex. She may be faking orgasms to please you — and to let you off the hook because she knows you’re tired.
Since women often don’t like the feeling an exhausted lover is working on them to climax, how about changing the order of things? You could have a shower before sex and privately use self-stimulation to bring down your highest levels of sexual need. That way your body will be in less of a rush to achieve orgasm.
Then go into training to control your orgasm. Train yourself to slow down by practising Masters and Johnson’s squeeze technique. Press your thumb and middle finger together hard (not in a friendly way) just under the head of your penis when you are getting too excited too soon. After some diligent training, you can just think about that nasty squeeze and your excitement will decrease.

winnipegsun.com

Teams eligible for this poll are the 124 schools representing the Potomac Chapter of US Lacrosse. This is primarily all the DC area teams. Enjoy! E-mail your Top 20 rankings with date, your name, and school affiliation to mike@madlax.com
All coaches from all schools are encouraged to vote by every Monday by noon throughout the season. Votes are due April 29 by noon! Email to mike@madlax.com. Thanks and as always please visit madlax.com for all your lacrosse needs!
Madlax - Potomac Chapter Boys Top 20 Coaches Poll 4/22/08 (All games through 4/20/08)
Our Lady Good Counsel
Notre Dame Academy
Others receiving votes: St. Stephens/St. Agnes, Annandale, Falls Church, The Heights, Calverton
Like the Website? Well then wait until you get signed up for Inside Lacrosse, THE MAGAZINE. Because the website doesn’t scratch the surface of our print publication. Inside Lacrosse is the source of the sport!
Stick-stringing articles. In-depth original features. Stunning action photography. How-to articles. Fitness articles. Interactive features with the reader. Women, Men, Pro, we’ve got it all.
At $34.95 for 11 issues, you’re cheating yourself not to give it a try. What are you waiting for?

insidelacrosse.com

Parliament’s bear pit has often been likened to a schoolyard brawl with the Speaker trying in vein to control her unruly class.
Like the good school Ma’am she is, Margaret Wilson has arranged a holiday programme for some of her class, only on this occasion she didn’t get to chose which ones would be on it.
School’s out for the next three weeks and over the weekend the Speaker and her charges climbed into their airline sleepers and headed off to Europe to foster good relations with countries that we don’t usually pay much attention to.
They’re the old eastern block countries where our MPs will visit the capitals of Warsaw, Prague and Budapest, all cities rich in history with architecture from another age. They tell us they are going there to build on parliamentary relationships by extending our understanding of other electoral systems.
The mind boggles as to why they want to understand other electoral systems since the one in this country has either had enough of them or they won’t be playing a part in it this year, except for one of them.
The anti immigration campaigner Peter Brown wants to come back but unless his boss Luigi Peters can win Tauranga back then his chances, given the party’s polling will be quite slim.
His fellow traveller the Tory’s bad boy Brian Connell’s seat been swallowed up and he hasn’t been given another one so he will be out in the cold after the election. His colleague Katherine Rich is calling it quits to spend more time with the kids but she is off on the trip to and Marian Hobbs is heading off to England after the election looking for a teaching job so this will be a nice sojourn in the meantime.
Even delegation leader Wilson is chucking in the towel to return to academia.

newstalkzb.co.nz

Cotswold District Council’s new weekly charged-for garden waste collection service will start from Monday, 21st April, and food waste will also be collected across much of the District from that date.
This means that everyone who has received a new food waste container will be able to put it out weekly for collection and those householders who have paid for the garden waste service will be able to empty food waste into their green wheeled bins.
However, the rest of the Council’s new waste and recycling service has been delayed. Householders are therefore advised to continue to put out their non-recyclable waste in black bin bags for the time-being. This landfill waste will continue to be collected weekly, not fortnightly, until the new service starts.
Cllr Mark Tufnell, Portfolio Holder for the Environment, said: “The delivery of new wheeled bins and other containers to more than 38,000 addresses across an area of 450 square miles is a major logistical operation.
“We had hoped this delivery process would be complete in time for the whole of the District to start on the new service from 21st April.
“Unfortunately, this will not now be the case, so we are delaying the introduction of the new service until everyone has received their new containers.
“However, we WILL be starting the new weekly collection of garden waste from 21st April for everyone who has paid for that element of the service and we will also be collecting food waste from that date.”
Residents who have paid for the new weekly garden waste service will soon receive annual licences to attach to their green wheeled bins so that the binmen will know who has paid.
Every household will be informed shortly of the start date for the rest of the new waste and recycling service, including the fortnightly collection of card and cardboard for recycling and the fortnightly collection of non-recyclable waste in new wheeled bins.

ebrington.com

This is shaping up to be one of the best shows on television!!!
Though we previously reported that Jennie Garth probably wouldn’t be part of the new 90210 spinoff because she was attached to CBS’ pilot My Best Friend’s Girl, there’s now a chance we’ll see Garth reprise her Kelly Taylor role in version 2.0!
According to a new report, Garth has dropped out of the comedy pilot — described as a mutual decision between her and the producers. Although, the source also does point out that Garth has been coping with the death of her father. Sad.
Garth’s departure from the pilot is probably good news for Rob Thomas, who wrote the script for the 90210 spinoff. He really wanted Garth to reprise her original role and possibly return to good ole’ Beverly Hills High School as a fashion design teacher.
Jennie come home!
Do it! Do it! Do it!
[Image via WENN.]
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Whats in it?

fashion.ie

Published: Monday, April 7, 2008 at 6:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Monday, April 7, 2008 at 6:33 a.m.
WHAT: “Comedy of Errors”
WHERE: Central Florida Community College, Fine Arts Auditorium, 3001 S.W. College Road, Ocala
WHAT: “Showcase On Talent” Edward Graves will address the local art group Fine Art on Broadway
WHERE: Brick City Center for the Arts, 23 S.W. Broadway St., Ocala
Tickets available for Taste of Ocala
The Central Florida Community College Foundation has tickets available for the 20th annual Taste of Ocala scholarship fundraiser from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday on the grounds of CFCC, 3001 S.W. College Road.
Attendees can sample dishes from area restaurants. Tickets are $25 for adults, $15 for children 12 and younger and $15 for CFCC students with college identification. Tickets are available at the Foundation office, Enterprise Center at the Ocala campus, Macy’s, J.C. Penney, Roger’s Frame and Gallery, Regions Bank and on the Foundation Web site at www.cfccfoundation.org.
Civics Association will hold meeting Tuesday
The Marion Oaks Civic Association meeting will begin at 7 p.m. Tuesday at 294 Marion Oaks Lane. The guest speaker will be Issac Burguess IV, principal of Sunrise Elementary School. Call Miguel Santos, president of MOCA, at 553-7204 for more information.
Miami Jackson High School reunion planned
The 50th class reunion of Miami Jackson High School will be held July 18-20 at Shula’s in Miami Lakes. For more information, call Angel V. Rodgiguez at 489-3426.
Community college offers Kayak Fishing course
Central Florida Community College Citrus Campus will offer a Kayak Fishing course on two Fridays, from 9 to 11 a.m. this Friday and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. April 18 at Riversport Kayaks at the Riverside Resort, 5297 S. Cherokee Way, Homosassa.
The first session will provide instruction and the second is a four-hour fishing trip. The $50 fee includes kayak equipment. Students must provide their own fishing gear.

ocala.com

SOFIA, April 2 (Reuters) - These are some of the main stories in Bulgaria’s newspapers on Wednesday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
GENERAL AND POLITICS
- Two senior finance ministry officials responsible for pre-accession EU funding programme PHARE have resigned after the EU suspended 50.7 million levs in aid due to suspicions of irregularities (Standart, 24 Chasa, Dnevnik, Monitor, Sega, Duma, Klasa, Trud).
24 CHASA - The government discusses a memorandum of the Black Sea countries’ economic forum to build 7,000 kilometres of highways connecting seven countries in the region.
- The government will provide over 100 million levs ($79.94 million) to complete the construction of the major Trakia highway, if the concessionaire fails to finance the project, Construction Minister Asen Gagauzov says (Dnevnik, Standart).
- Some 7,100 Bulgarians have registered to look for jobs in EU countries, mainly in construction and tourism, the social ministry says (Monitor, Sega, Duma, Novinar, Trud). Continued…

reuters.com

April Fools’ Day has arrived, giving me the opportunity to write about a topic that is very dear to me: practical jokes.
Let’s face it: Nothing beats a little practical joke in the workplace to brighten up the day. It just so happens that my workplace is at 35,000 feet, and while safety is the flight attendant’s No.1 concern, we all need an occasional release. Sometimes we have the right crew and circumstances to let loose.
There are milder capers like sticking a sign saying “CREW USE ONLY” on the back of a cute flight attendant, or rolling the butter balls in coffee grounds and serving them to the cockpit as chocolate truffles. We make instant dribble glasses by piercing holes in the plastic containers, and sometimes we serve the coffee cold. After exhausting the run of mild pranks, we tend to move on to the more intricate ones. Here are some of my favorites.
Quite a few years back, there was a pilot who was famous for his sense of humor. His favorite prank was to wait until all passengers were on board, and then enter the plane through the rear door wearing his uniform and dark sunglasses — and carrying a white cane. Staggering around and acting as if he were blind, he would eventually make his way to the cockpit. This act would have most of the passengers roaring with laughter but left a few silently fearful. His other antic was to emerge from the cockpit during the flight in a panic, holding a handful of nuts and bolts and letting them drop to the floor. Finally, one complaint too many from an unamused passenger put an end to his comedy routines.
A couple of pilots wanted to have fun with a new flight attendant, so they told her during the flight that there was a problem with the landing gear. The flight attendant was instructed to go out to the middle section of the cabin and jump up and down a couple of times in hopes of dislodging the wheels. It was hilarious at the time, but one of the pilots got suspended for it.

msnbc.msn.com