Love at the Edge of Life

I met Rachel at a party and we fell right into a close connection. At the end of the evening, while discussing possible New Year's Eve plans, Rachel confessed she may not be up to going out. She explained, "For the past 2 years, I've been having fun with ovarian cancer."

For the 2 years before that, I'd been volunteering one day a week in a 28-bed hospice ward as part of my spiritual practice. I knew at once how serious Rachel's illness was, and I was sensitive to my own urge to run. But we really liked each other, and over the next two months, slowly and carefully, we fell in love.




Many of my friends were dubious of my taking on the hard work and heartache obviously ahead. But when they got to know Rachel, they loved her too, and supported us loyally throughout the last year and a half of Rachel's life.

During the first several months of our relationship, Rachel underwent radiation for the third recurrence of cancer. We functioned well as patient and caregiver because we'd both had practice! This radical difference in our roles didn't hamper our relationship,though, because my time with the hospice had taught me to see the essential person inside the illness, and not to be afraid in the presence of suffering.
(Story by Web Lab)

My family had long accepted my being a lesbian, and within a few hours of meeting Rachel, they also accepted her into the family enthusiastically.

Rachel often remarked, "I can't believe how lucky I am to meet you at this point in my life. I just wish I weren't at this point in my life." Despite the radiologist's pessimism, the treatments (or love) obliterated Rachel's mass. For over a year, all her tests were normal, and we were able to travel, garden and dance together. We built a foundation of trust and joy that enabled her to talk through her fears and grief, and to let me take care of her when, a year later, her fourth and final recurrence slowly crippled her.

Despite Rachel's disabilities, though, I never saw her as a sick person. She was always the witty, sensitive and vivacious woman who charmed me at that party. Just as she often said she wanted, I cared for her at home in the short six days when she was bedridden, and she died with no sign of fear or pain with her hand in mine, looking right into my eyes.

I think we were able to form such an intimate and trusting bond so quickly because we both knew how short, and precious, our time together was. Sometimes, now, I wonder if having a new love so close to the end of her short (41 years) life made it harder for Rachel to accept death. But my heart, my friends and my family all say it was obviously a love meant to be. And she died the way she always said she wanted to, surrounded by love.

When I asked my mother if she ever thought I was crazy to get involved with someone so sick, Mom said, "Why, don't you think the grief is worth all the happiness you had? It was obvious you two loved each other so much!"

The anniversary of Rachel's death was July 1, 1999. And as my mother said it would, my gratitude for the joy we shared now outweighs my grief. The difference between us now is the biggest of all -- life and death. But Rachel will always be the sweetest part of my life.

Names of Mafia worldwide

NAMES OF MAFIA OR UNDERGROUND CRIME FIGURES

Angelo "The Gentle Don" Bruno
Tony Spilotro
Raymond Porrello
Rosario Porrello
Al Capone
Albert "The Executioner" Anastasia
Eugene "The Animal" Ciasullo
Danny "The Irishman Greene
Angelo "Big Ange" Lonardo
Mickey Cohen
James "Jack White" Licavoli
Frank Balistrieri
Carmen Milano
Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno
Paul Sciaccia
Natale "Joe Diamonds" Evola
Carmine "Lilo" Galante*
Philip "Rusty" Rastelli*
Joseph "Big Joey" Massino
Giovanni "John" Bonventre
Francesco "Frank Carroll" Garafolo
Carmine "Lilo" Galante
John "Johnny Burns" Morales
Paul Sciaccia
Frank "Frank Russo" Mari
Natale "Joe Diamonds" Evola
Philip "Rusty" Rastelli
Salvatore "Sal" Catalano
Joseph "Big Joey" Massino
Salvatore Vitale
John Tartamella
Salvatore "Bill" Bonanno
Michael Adamo
Nicholas "Nicky Glasses" Marangello
Stefano "Stevie Beefs" Cannone
Anthony Spero
Anthony "T.G." Graziano
Michael "Mickey Z" Zaffarano
Michael "Mimi" Sabella
Dominick "Sonny Black" Napolitano
Gerard "Jerry" Chilli
Frank Coppa
Louis "Louie Ha Ha" Attanasio
Gaetano "Tommy Brown" Lucchese
Stefano "Steve" LaSalle
Paul "Paulie" Vario
Salvatore "Tom Mix" Santoro
Mariano Macaluso
Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso
Steven Crea
Eugene "Boopsie" Castelle
Vincent "Nunzio" Rao
Christopher "Christy Tick" Furnari
Ettore "Eddie" Coco
Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso
Frank "Big Frank" Lastorino
Louis "Cross Bay" Louie" Daidone
John "Big John" Ormento
James "Jimmy Doyle" Plumeri
Aniello "Neil" Migliore
Alphonse "Little Al" D'Arco
Joseph "Little Joe" DeFede
Joseph Caridi
Joseph "Joe Bananas" Bonanno
Frank Labruzzo
Gaspare DiGregorio
Ronald "One Arm" Trucchio
Salvatore "Fat Sally" Scala
Francis "Frankie Loc" Locascio
Salvatore "Tore" Locascio
Louis "Braciole" Ricco
Vincent "Jerome" Squillante
James "Jimmy Brown" Failla
John "Good Looking Jack" Giordano
Steve Grammauta
Thomas "Tommy" Gambino
George Remini
Anthony Megale
Stephen "Stevie Coogan" Grammauta
George "Fat Georgie" Remini
Liborio "Louie" Milito
Gaetano "Tom" Gagliano
Gaetano "Tommy Brown" Lucchese
Carmine "Mr. Gribbs" Tramunti
Anthony "Buddy" Luongo
Carmine "Mr. Gribbs" Tramunti
Antonio "Tony Ducks" Corallo
Vittorio "Vic" Amuso
Carmine "The Doctor" Lombardozzi
Vincent "Jimmy The Blond" Corrao
Joseph "Joe Butch" Corrao
Vincent Corrao
Anthony "Nino" Gaggi
Louis "Big Lou" Vallario
Michael "Mikey Scars" DiLeonardo
Anthony "Tough Tony" Anastasio
Anthony "Tony" Scotto
Anthony "Sonny" Ciccone
Carmine "Charlie Wagons" Fatico
Angelo "Angie" Ruggiero
Nicholas "Little Nick" Corozzo
Peter "Pete" Gotti
John "Junior" Gotti
Richard "Richie" Gotti
Sammy Gravano
Philip Mangano
Frank "Don Cheech" Scalise
Don Corleone
Vincent "Jerome" Squillante
Carlo "Don Carlo" Gambino
Tommy Lucchese
Vito Genovese
Santo Traficante, Jr
Joseph "Joe Bandi" Biondo
Aniello "Neil" Dellacroce
Thomas "Tommy" Bilotti
Frank "Frankie" DeCicco
Joseph "Joe Piney" Armone
Tommy Agro
Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano
Giuseppe "Joe" Arcuri
Arnold "Zeke" Sqitieri
Sammy Gravano
Alphonse Sisca
Joseph "Staten Island Joe" Riccobono
Paul "Big Paul" Castellano
Anthony "Nino" Gaggi
John "Johnny Boy" Gotti
Francis "Frankie Loc" Locasio
Salvatore "Sammy The Bull" Gravano
Joseph N. Gallo
Joseph "Jo Jo" Corozzo
Stan "Itchy Fingers" Zambino
Alfonso "Nancy" Fiorelli
Nancy "Nancy" Fiorelli
Fredo "The Plumber" Giardino
Tony "Stable" Zampelli
Vinnie "Vinnie" Marcussi
Anthony "Chicken Fucker" Bastoni
Mike "No Jokes" Hunt
Henry "The Singer" Morosso
Johnny "Blind Man" Biaggio
Bruno "Big Guy" Venutti
Luis Fernando da Costa "Fernandinho Beira Mar"
Jimmy "The Weasel" Fratianno
Vincent "Chin" Gigante
Peter Milano
Jimmy Hoffa
Babe Triscaro
Paul "Big Paulie" Castellano
Carmine Persico, AKA "Junior" & "The Snake
Tony Accardo, AKA "Joe Batters" & "Big Tuna"
Carlo Gambino
Leo "Lips" Moceri
Aniello Dellacroce
Aniello "Neil" Dellacroce
Richard Marino
Joe Porrello
Sammy "The Bull" Gravano
Tony Salerno
Vincent "Fish" Cafaro
Salvatore "Sammy G" Gingello
Louis Buchalter, A.K.A. Louis Lepke
Albert Anastasia
Meyer Lansky
Lucky Luciano
Frank Costello
Thomas "Tommy Ryan" Eboli
Larry Fay
Rosario Porrello
Joe Porrello
James "Whitey" Bulger
Bugsy Siegel
Allan Smiley
John Branco
James Burke
Carmine Galante
Jimmy "the Gent" Burke
James Palladino
Ivan "Don Diego" De La Vega
Carlos Enrique Lehder Rivas
Celso "Celsinho" Luiz Rodrigues
Sheen Ching-Jing
Ho Hung Sun "Dr. Stanley (Sun Gor)"
Chen "Dry Duck" Chi-li
Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar
Inagawa Kakuji
Yoshinori Watanabe
Semyon Mogilevich
Kozh-Ahmed Noukhaev
Arbi Barayev
Abuzer Ugurlu
Alaatin Cakici
Dundar Kilic
Onur Ozbizerdik
Huseyin Basak
Osman Donmez
Sheikh Abdullah Azzam
Truong Van Cam "Nam Cam"
Terry Adams
Patrick Adams
Tommy Adams
Carmelo Messina
Alfredo Messina
Attilio Messina
Eugene Messina
Matteo (U siccu) Messina Denaro
Bernardo Provenzano
Toto Riina
Francesco Messina
Leoluca Bargarella
Salvatore "Toto" Riina
Giovanni "u Verru" Brusca
Pietro "u Signurinu" Aglieri
Bernardo (Binu) Provenzano
Leoluca Bagarella
Benedetto Spera
Paolo Borsellino
Giovanni Falcone
Giuseppe Palazzolo
Benedetto "Nitto" Santapaola
Juan "La Muneca" Garcia Abrego
Oscar Malherbe de Leon
Amado Carillo
Juarez Cartel
Joaquin Guzman Loera
Humberto Garcia Abrego
Juan Garcia Abrego
Osiel "El Loco" Cardenas Guillen
Ernesto Carillo "Don Neto" Fonseca
Rafael Quintero
Rafael "El Professor" Aguilar Guajardo
Juan Garcia Abrego
Emilio Quintero Payan
Amado Carillo "Lord of The Skies" Fuentes
Pablo Escobar
Pablo Acosta
Vincente Carillo Fuentes
Albino Quinteron "El Beto" Meraz
Alcides Ramon Magana aka El Metro
Juan Jose Quintero
Rafael Caro "El Grenas" Quintero
Miguel Angel Caro Quintero
Vincenzo "The Egg" Cotroni
Joseph Bonanno
Carmine Galante
Sal Giglio
Paolo Violi
Johnny Papalia
Salvatore "Bill" Bonanno
Pietro Sciara
Gerlando Sciascia
Joseph LoPresti
Ignazio "Lupo The Wolf" Saietta
Nicholas Morello
Ciro "The Artichoke King" Terranova
Giuseppe "Joe The Boss" Masseria
Salvatore Maranzano
Salvatore "Charlie 'Lucky' Luciano" Luciana
Salvatore D'Aquilla
Alfred "Al Mineo" Manfredi
Frank "Don Cheech" "Ciccio" Scalise
Gaetano "Tom" Reina
Buontunio (Joseph) Pinzolo
Giuseppe (The Fox) Costabile
Joseph Profaci
Vincent Mangano
Umberto "Albert Anastasia" Anastasio
Lord High Executioner
Phillip Mangano
Umberto "Albert Anastasia" Anastasio
Joseph "Crazy Joe" Gallo
Stephen Grammauta
Carlo "Don Carlo" Gambino
Tony "Narcoleptic" Fazoli
Ralf "Trophy Hunter" Mortangelo
Johnny "Big Lips" Pescatori
Carlos "Futon" Santiago
Jimmy "The Chop" "Marini
Johnny "Crap Foot"Gambini
Sidney "Poitier" Gambini
Ants 'Ice Man' Zamboni
Marco "Gifilta Fish" Munchinni
Vincent "Pretty In Pink" Vega
Joey "Kneecap" Santorielli
Roberto "Wrinkle Free" Capelli
Johnny "Bingo" Bosco



NAMES OF FAMOUS GODFATHERS
A list of American organized crime leaders, known as "Godfathers" or Dons, who usually control Mafia crime families.



PROHIBITION
Joe Aiello (1928-1930), assassinated October 23, 1930.
Al Capone (Scarface), died 1947.
Steve Ferrigno, assassinated November 5, 1930.
Antonio Lombardo, assassinated September 7, 1928
Salvatore Maranzano, assassinated September 11, 1931.
Giuseppe Masseria (Joe the Boss), assassinated April 10, 1931.
Alfred Mineo, assassinated November 5, 1930.
Joseph Pinzolo (1930), assassinated September, 1930.
Gaetano Reina, assassinated February 28, 1930.
Johnny Torrio (The Fox), died of natural causes April 16, 1957.
Frankie Yale, assassinated July 1, 1928.

DEPRESSION-ERA
Joseph Bonanno (Joey Bananas)
Gaetano Gagliano (1930-1953), natural death in 1953.
Thomas Lucchese (1953-1967), natural death in 1967.
Charles Luciano (Lucky Luciano) (1932-1936), heart attack at Naples airport in 1962.
Philip Mangano (1931-1951), assassinated April 10, 1951.
Vincent Mangano (1931-1951), disappeared in 1951.
Giuseppe Profaci (Joe) (1931-1962), died of cancer June 7, 1962.

POST-WWII
Tony Accardo (Chicago)
Joe Adonis
Albert Anastasia (1951-1957), assassinated October 25, 1957.
Joe Colombo
Paul Castellano
Frank Costello (The Priminister)
Carlo Gambino
Vincent Gigante
John Gotti
Sam Giancana (Chicago)
Thomas Eboli, assassinated July 15, 1972.
Vito Genovese (1952-1959), died naturally in prison in 1969.
Carlos Marcello (New Orleans)
Willie Moretti (New Jersey)
Santo Trafficante Sr (Miami and Tampa)
Tony Tursi (San Juan, Puerto Rico)

MODERN ERA
Don Vince (Melbourne) JUAN GARCIA ABREGO (MATAMOROS)

Source : http://www.lowchensaustralia.com/names/underground.htm

What is becoming of Singapore Airlines (SIA)?

Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Distasteful comments on SQ Girl.

I find this statement, made by a member of a forum discussing about the case of a SIA stewardess getting slapped by her passenger, distasteful and a great insult to the SIA girl :

colonelmustard:
Yesterday, 03:38 PM
#163 Singapore ladies in general have more proficient English than HK ladies but not the SQ girls sorry. Those are mostly not educated. I guess the "CX bigwigs" will just have a big shock when they hear them speak in the interviews.
For more go here

In another forum,I have found some kind of support for SIA and the "victim" stewardess . Go here to read.


A reply from SIA Public Affairs

Some people have reached all sorts of conclusions in this forum. However, permit me to explain the comment was made in response to a question concerning proceedings before the courts.Singapore Airlines abides strictly by the sub-judice convention; that is, we do not publicly discuss matters before the courts, in particular when the Airline is not, formally, a party to the case.However, in general terms, let me put firmly on record that Singapore Airlines adopts a zero tolerance approach to assaults on our staff in the course of their duty. Where an allegation is made, the Airline will support a decision by the staff member to refer the complaint to police (noting it is a personal decision as to whether they do so), and we will also provide reasonable support to staff to seek other remedies in the event a prosecution cannot be made.We do have established policies in place to support affected staff, which were developed jointly with our staff unions. The one thing I will say about this particular case is that these policies were followed in full. I am sorry that some readers may have drawn an alternative view from our need to abide by the sub-judice convention.However, I hope also that I have clarified some of the conclusions that various forum participants have erroneously come to about how Singapore Airlines deals with such cases.

Stephen Forshaw Vice President Public Affairs Singapore Airlines


Tuesday, February 19, 2008
SIA apologises for unpleasant incident

Feb 18, 2008

I REFER to the letter, 'SIA should have shown more understanding' (ST, Feb9), by Mr Law Cher Khiam. We have apologised to Mr Law for the unpleasant incident.
Our ground staff in Jakarta should have just accepted Mr Law's redemption ticket at face value for travel on the next flight to Singapore, given the flood situation.
Normally, customers holding redemption tickets are allowed to change their flight or date of travel as long as the change is made during the validity period, and on the same route. However, there is a cancellation fee of US$75, or 7,500 KrisFlyer frequent-flier miles, in the event of a change.
In Mr Law's case, he did not have enough KrisFlyer miles to pay for the cancellation fee. So he bought a new ticket which was for a return Jakarta- Singapore-Jakarta trip, not one-way Jakarta-Singapore. We will refund the additional collection he was charged versus the usual fare he would have paid for a return ticket.
As a practice, we do waive cancellation fee for customers who have to change flights due to extraordinary circumstances like bad weather, which are beyond their control.
Regarding the matter of crew rest, there are universally established mandatory minimum rest hours for air crew due to safety reasons before they can re-operate a flight. For short-haul routes, our crew do operate the turnaround on the same route or in combination with other routes to maximise the duty time allowable.

Ong Boon Khim Vice-President, Customer Affairs Singapore Airlines


Monday, February 18, 2008
Shocked by behaviour of SQ leading stewardess

MY PARENTS and I were on flight SQ865 on Jan 13, from Hong Kong to Singapore.
The Leading Stewardess was giving out The Straits Times and I requested a copy. I also asked her politely to pass another set of newspapers to my father, who was seated in another row.
To my surprise, she told me loudly to share the newspapers since we are one family and that there were still many other passengers waiting to get a copy. Can you imagine how embarrassing it was for me?
How would the other passengers think - that I was greedy? I was just helping my parents as they were seated elsewhere and could not speak English.
She could have said something along the line of "I'm sorry Madam, but can you please share if you don't mind as we are running out of newspapers".
I was stunned by her rudeness and could only manage a reply of "Okay".
Singapore Airlines is supposed to be well-known for its good service, but why was I given that kind of treatment?
Was it because I was seated in the Economy class?
Ms Tan Ai Ching Serene

Above complaint drew 474 comments from this forum alone, after which SIA apologised. See SIA apology below.

SIA says sorry for cabin crew's behaviour

I REFER to the letter by Ms Tan Ai Ching, Serene (my paper, Jan 23).
We apologise for Ms Tan's unpleasant experience. We have looked into this issue following her feedback.
Demand for The Straits Times was higher than usual during Ms Tan's flight, and our crew, therefore, asked customers who were travelling together to share copies.
We have stressed the need for our cabin crew staff to be mindful of the manner in which they communicate with our customers.
I would like to assure Ms Tan that no offence was meant.

Mr William KohDivisional Vice-President, Cabin Crew Operations
Singapore Airlines

Start the NEW YEAR with Savings!

Monday, December 31, 2007
Start the NEW YEAR with Savings!
Time for those New Year Resolutions! Take time to resolve to manage your personal finances better in 2008.

So I mentioned earlier that the first step for most people is to save money - most planners recommend anywhere from 2 to 6 months of your salary stashed away in a liquid savings account. This would be for emergencies (like losing a job or medical) or for your savings goals (like a new car or vacation).

Now most people don't have 6 months of salary sitting in their checking account, especially those starting off right from college so here's the easiest way to go about saving money:

Open a savings account with an online bank (I use ING Direct) with as little as $100. Online banks pay much higher rates than normal banks because of their lower overhead. This also allows you to "link" your checking account to your online savings account and establish an automatic transfer. ING lets you do any amount daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly. You can also do 1-time transfers.

If your goal is to have 6 months of salary saved up by the end of 1 year, then set your automatic transfer to be 1/24th of your salary every month (when you get paid).

I recommend setting up the transfer on whatever day you get paid - so if you're paid weekly, you would have weekly transfers; monthly - monthly, etc. This way you're PAYING YOURSELF FIRST before you spend it!

Of course, if your budget doesn't allow this, then you should take a good look at your spending habits, your earning potential, and then transfer whatever you can with a goal to increase it. The point is to START!
Source:moneywiseguy

Brand Building.

Brand is a long term investment. It takes decades to build the brands we know. I like the article in HBR on Long Term Management of Brands by Leonard Lodish and Carl Mela.

Companies routinely overinvest in promotions and underinvest in advertising, product development, and new forms of distribution. As a result, powerhouse brands have been weakened, often beyond recovery.

Two contrasting examples were used to illustrate the key managing brand. A pickle manufacturer sell through Wal-Mart and experience huge increase in sales through low price. The next effect is the overall margin drop as sales in Wal-Mart cannibalized other channels. When the pickle manufacturer asked Wal-Mart for price relief, Wal-Mart refused and the pickle manufacturer has to file for bankruptcy. Whereas when Footloose a shoe retailer cut Nike orders by $200 million to protest the terms Nike had places on prices and selection, Nike cut its allocation of shoes to Foot Locker by $400 million. Sales at a competitor of Foot Locker increase and in the end Foot Locker acceded to Nike's term.

Nike maintain strong relationships with a variety of retailers and invested in brand equity whereas the pickle manufacturer allow the channel to own the brand and end-customers.
This article was by http://kthinking.blogspot.com

A Short Affair with a Female Doctor.

Our relationship came to an end when i realized that Dr.E was falling for me. Some might called me a flirt, a jerk or an idiot, but i truly know that its not right for me to continue this relationship.
I felt that it will be very unfair to her as she was still young and a well educated, she will also have to lived with my flirting life style which i can say its not going to be an easy task and this relation will only be based on sex pleasure and satisfactions.
Our parting was not as i have predicted, it turn out to be very clean and straight forward, no pain, no tears and till today we are still friend and keeping in touch... i really wish that she can find a better man who is more responsible than me.
Taken from http://darememore.blogspot.com

That Old Filthy Lying Rich Cock.

It was many years ago when we happened to meet this filthy rich old passenger in the first class cabin. Let us call him Mr. Lee. He could not speak English and so we conversed with him in Hokkien,a Chinese dialect. Of course Lee was delighted because we communicated with him in Hokkien.
My chief steward and I spoke with Lee and found out that he was making his money through some sort of financial speculation or gambling. We were very impressed when he related to us how he came from China as a penniless young man and through his shrewdness and hard work made tons of money.
At that time his company was going public and we asked him for tips on how to make money from the stock market. His advice was.."young men,save every cent you earn and never,never gamble". When asked whether we should invest in his company share ( IPO was not more than 20cents),he again told us not to get involve in shares as it was a form of gambling.
Sometime during the flight,Lena, a lovely stewardess who worked in the first class came to me and the chief steward and told us Lee had whispered into her ear and prompted her to buy as much as she could afford of his company shares. When Lena told him she did not have money to buy the shares,Lee told her with a cheeky wink in his eyes that he would give her $20,000.
My chief steward and I was disappointed with Lee's insincerity. But then being a shrewd businessman and a flesh man,who would not want to make advances at a girl like Leena.
A few months later,Lee's company shares shot up to $5.
Mr. Lee has since been six feet underground (dead and burried).