I had the opportunity to be taught under Deb Marquart and all I can say is she's terrific! EVERYTHING'S A VERB shows that she practices what she teaches, relating some of her real life experiences into her poetry. I was pretty mesmerized by her writing. To this day, I still love "Getting Ready," and wish I could write something are great as that. I would recommend this to anyone who loves poetry. Deb has a great gift, and I'm sure right now she's "being-have."

She knows how to use language! Read these poems outloud, to yourself or to anyone! I read this over and over. She tells what it's like to be a girl, a woman, a musician, a lover.

I keep one copy in my car and one at home. It has been extremely helpful in locating and reviewing golf courses for where ever I am in New York. A must have.

It's one stop shopping for golf courses in NY. Organized geographically, it provides easy access to a listing of local public and private golf courses.

Knowing that the authors are golfers who have personnally visited all of the courses, assures me of a golfers perspective.

If it's inspiration you want for doing aran knitting this is the book; the inspiration it has given me is superb. It has everything from very simple patterns to extremely complicated aran patterns and even fair isle knitting but my interest was the aran patterns.
There are coloured photos and written directions as well as chart directions so all are catered for.
It is quite inspiring....
maryanne

Even the most intimidating and complex designs are simply explained in diagrams that any novice can follow. One can easily use this guide to create patterns for Aran/Fair Isle sweaters, hats, blankets,etc., even if one has never attempted these before! What a find! Arans sweaters made easy!

Debra St. Claire (formerly Debra Nuzzi) did a series of videos with a book inside of it that was the basis for this book. Ms. St. Claire expanded the material and has made a very easy to understand and accessible book for both the beginner and advanced medicine maker. I had the pleasure of seeing Debra at Herfest a couple of years ago, and she is a fantastic teacher! This book is certainly something every herbalist or anyone interested in natural healing should own.

This book is exactly what I was looking for. As a student of altenative medicine, this will be a great addition to my "health library". There is a check list for one's herbal first aid kit/medicine cabinet, very concise and easy to follow directions, a little history of the herbs, a list of ailments and what to use. The ingredients for the most part are easy to get your hands on and if you can't seem to find what you are looking for--there is an extensive resource guide that includes everything Debra St Claire has discussed in the book! Lip balms, salves, deodorants, mouth washes, baby products---you name it and you will most likely find it in this book. If I were to choose one book to start me on the path to health altenatives, this would be the one I would choose. Five star? No. How about a six!

I read about this publication in the Wells Fargo newsletter. I was happy to
learn that the advice in the booklet lives up to (and actually surpasses) the
endorsement it received. The best bit of advice Traverso gives is to use the
line "What this means to you is. . . ." when trying to translate the features
and services you offer into benefits that the customer can understand. I've
been amazed at how that one line alone (which is only one of the 52 tips) has
helped me secure more attention and time from prospective clients. A wise
investment.

I have attended several workshops where they talked about "elevator speaches" and "personal commercials," but I was never able to write a great one for myself. Now, after reading this book and following the tips in it, I have my own "30-second commercial" that sounds professional and interesting.

Ms. Miller weaves with touching clarity the stories and words of women who follow all paths of life with strength of spirit and self. It is an eloquent exploration of the modern definition(s) of feminism, and how women can be both feminists and feminine. Above all, these are stories: histories, wisdoms and fallacies which display the many wonderful facets of independent women.

For any woman trying to reconcile the conflicting differences between ambition, family, self-reliance and love, this book is a MUST. Filled with interviews of real women who tackle real challenges, this book is easy to read in digestible chapters. It will force you to change your perceptions and transform your life! Debra Sands Miller is a wonderfully insightful writer with a big heart!

Speaking as a child abuse defense attorney, life would be much easier if social workers would learn the mistakes they can make resulting in false disclosures of child abuse. My job would be much easier if the results of these interviews were more reliable. This book shows how and why social workers need to use proper interview techniques. It's a great book from a defense attorney's standpoint to cross-examine a social worker with, but if every state mandated this book as training for social workers in the first place, we would have fewer cases in the system, and more reliable evidence.

I wish I had read this book the first day it came out. Very good protocols. Very effective strategies. Speaking as a law enforcement investigator assigned to these cases almost exclusively, there is not a better book I've found yet.

The practices outlined in this book are the foundation of IT operational service, availability and support. This book covers the key elements necessary for achieving a high level of IT operational excellence in great detail. I especially like the way production acceptance criteria is emphasized - this is an often overlooked topic that merits its own book - and the clear outline of how to implement change control (often talked about, but sadly missing in many organizations), and the clear distinction between problem management and the much narrower scope of help desk support operations.

Some of the issues raised by the previous reviewer regarding updating the core processes and procedures for contemporary operations in e-commerce and web-based environments are addressed in the newest book in this series titled "Web-Based Infrastructures: A 4-D Framework" by Sanmay Mukhopadhyay and Cooper Smith (ISBN 0130329894). Although that book does address the gaps noted, this book is still invaluable because it focuses strictly on the core elements while the newer book has a wider scope.

If you are a member of an IT operations management team or are involved with service level management this book will prove to be an invaluable resource, and is one that I highly recommend.

This book provides a coherent roadmap to "lights out" data center operations. It also provides a roadmap to developing a sound organization and processes to support data center operations regardless of whether they are "lights out", 24x7 or less demanding normal working hours support.

In fact, this book is misnamed because the real focus is on data center operations and the support requirements of running a data center in accordance with a set of best practices that the author has acquired over the years.

The roadmap that is used in this book appears to assume that operations will be outsourced. A good deal of the analysis and planning, and the roadmap milestones seems to lead to that objective. However, it will also support in-house operations after you align the people and process sides of the equation to the book's processes.

Real strengths of the author's approach are in the processes. He addresses the key process areas that need to be in place and the level of maturity needed to operate an effective and efficient data center. These same processes are the foundation of service delivery - which is the foundation of customer satisfaction. They are:

- Production Acceptance

- Problem Management

- Change Management

- Asset Management

- Disaster Recovery

Each of the above are essential processes. The author's approach validates my 24 years of mainframe experience. I especially like the production acceptance process that is conspicuously missing from most non-mainframe shops.

There are some potential problems with some of the processes that my current experience in distributed and e-commerce environments is uncovering.

Let's start with problem management. The author's approach is good for the here and now, but has a limited future. For example, the call center experts are rapidly integrating customer relationship management with internet technologies. External customers are benefiting from technologies and associated processes that we IT experts are designing and implementing while our internal customers are limited to more traditional kinds. Another issue is there is no clear linkage between problem management and disaster recovery. At what point does a problem trigger either business continuity or disaster recovery processes? This, as far as I can tell, has been adroitly sidestepped in every book and white paper addressing problem management, so the author cannot be faulted here. However, it is something you should consider as you read this section of the book.

The change management process is sound and works well in mainframe and traditional operational settings. However, the realities that we are faced with today are going to make the traditional approach to change management obsolete. It is not responsive enough to today's dynamic environments that are characterized by competitive pressures and the sheer complexity of data center environments. There has to be a streamlined approach, and the one proposed by the author will probably be an anachronism in the next two years. Managing changes in the Internet environment needs to happen quickly to respond to pressures, but with controls to ensure that you do not affect half the world. Consider something as simple as a new DNS server - mistakes in the tables can get propagated that make it look like you are hijacking web site traffic (this really happened!) While this particular process is well developed and meets today's needs, I hope the author will revisit this in the next edition and come up with a process that provides the speed that marketing demands, and the controls that we practitioners need.

Overall, this book is a very valuable source of ideas and comes with ready-made processes that can be implemented and managed to provide a mature operational support environment. The shortcomings that I cited do not detract from this book - they only underscore the fact that the world is rapidly changing and what works well today is not going to work well tomorrow. As the co-developer of the Tarrani-Zarate Information Technology Management Model, I can attest that there are no clear answers or solutions to these shortcomings. I can only hope that the author addresses these gaps in the next edition. In the meantime, the processes and approach provided in the book will give you the tools and techniques with which to build a mature operational support organization that is based on true best practices.

Currently I am teaching a co-op class at a Community College and cover information regarding recognizing outstanding employees as well as motivating employees. It has been very difficult to find materials to use that are simple and inexpensive. This book has been very insightful and loaded with ideas that can be easily implemented. Easy to read, easy to understand and easy to use.

This book was very easy to read. In fact, you could really choose to read any chapter in any order. I especially like all the examples given that you could put into practice right away. Just having moved into a management role, I'm anxious to try some of the suggestions given. This book is well worth the cost!