Author: Bill

Up early in eager anticipation of getting in the water today. First off – it’s been a minute since I have been diving – and – two: I had my new lights to try out and this was gonna be the perfect dives to try them on~!  Shawn and his Daughter Kaidence were on the dive, so I had people subjects to ‘shoot’ whether they wanted me to or not. At the dock early, loaded my gear onto the boat and we were soon on our way. Put my dive gear together and then sat down to get my camera ready….. that’s a new routine for me, as my little GoPro – all I  had to do was turn it on. Got my camera ready… put the setting where [I thought] they were supposed to be and was soon falling over backwards out of the boat.  Well sir…… I apparently thought wrong. I tried a bunch of different settings while under the waves trying different techniques….. only to find out when I got back home….. none of them worked. Dammit Emmit~!  After some readin’ and studying…. I think I need to sync the flash to the camera (I thought I had done that already…. but apparently need to do it every time I start a new day of diving. Also watching a dozen videos and reading another dozen articles….. I’m pretty sure I had the flash mode set on the wrong setting. I’m gonna do some experimenting in our [dark] bedroom after the sun goes down to be sure. I have a paying photo shoot tomorrow for a Discover Scuba Dive tomorrow and I need to make sure I get it right this time. I also plan on bringing my little GoPro with me tomorrow – to double ensure I get enough satisfactory shots to keep the customer happy.

Somewhere in the middle of that first paragraph – I paused to run out and get some pizza~! (and inhale some of it) Shawn talked about pizza a couple of times during the dives today and I have had a pizza ‘itch‘ for a while anyway – so it just seemed like the thing to do. Still not Turoni’s pizza – but pretty dang tasty for island pizza. Plus it helped sooth a bruised ego from lousing up all those gorgeous pictures I ‘could have’ had today. (including a giant green Moray eel~!) So I’m gonna leave it with you, load my very blue pictures from today and go practice with my camera in the dark…..

Good Night Ya’ll ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” Thankx for Stopping in~!

Lots of new Sargassum…. definitely don’t miss that stuff~!

Shawn and Kaidence

P7210036  <—-video

Dive Master Anna

Greetings and salutations all ya’ll.  Up and mostly at ’em early this morning in preparation of a day of running around. I had my list made out (although when I got home I remembered a coupe of things that should have been on the list) everything loaded in the truck I needed for said running around. Gave my bride a kiss and was off like a herd of turtles. First stop was at ATV office to drop off Shawn’s shirts that I had borrowed. Hung out and chatted a bit before heading off for a dive shop to sign up for a club dive we have coming up. Usually don’t like to dive in that big of a group, but as a board member – I’m kinda of expected to support club functions. That went South as the boat was already at capacity…. so I put my name on the list for a second boat if they get enough people. Went from there down to the other dive shop that I hang out the most at and clarified my sign up for three other dives with them that ‘island Daughter‘ Cynthia signed me up for. Done. From there to the dump…. always a treat stopping by there…… Next on to a new place I was told might be able to work on my laptop for me. All the way past mid-island into a little spot I found on the map that looked promising. Stopped before I got there at a place trying to get my glasses fixed…… I was greeted promptly [and politely] and dude did a good job on what was left of my glasses…. but couldn’t finish them because an ear piece was missing (alcohol was involved) I thanked him for his effort and went on to the computer place. Dude there was equally accommodating but couldn’t do me any good either. He did say he would see what he could find out and give me a call with a quote….. we’ll see. From there – looked for another place I saw on the map that looked like it would be a good place for a hair cut. It had closed down. Dammit Emmit. The guy that I asked about the first place said there is another just place down the road – and I was headed that way. Place was call Karibbean Cutz….. and the smell of weed and Jamaican music that greeted me when I walked in, should have told me to turn around and leave – but hey, ya just never know. There was only one guy in the chair and the ‘barber‘ said I’d be next.  Let me preface this next part with….. I’m pretty sure this young man has never cut an old white dudes hair before….. I say that because my hair now greatly resembles the cut the guy before me got……. I mean this little dude went full SLING BLADE on me…… luckily, the hair from my ears down still grows like wild fire…. so I should start resembling my old self again in a couple of weeks……… dammit Emmit~!

Well shoot…. I’m already at my limit…. so another Readers Digest version…. stopped at Blues for a beer and chatted with Jim and Deb for a couple of minutes. Stopped and got my new lights~!!!!! Got them half figured out and put on camera….. diving tomorrow and will see how they work~!!!

Good Night Ya’ll – – – – – – – – – – – – Thankx for stopping in~!

The plan, after a reasonable nights sleep, was to get up and not do a %$#@ thing…. just lounge and enjoy a day off without a time table to have to meet.  My Bride as it turns out, had a different plan – and of course we went with her plan. She decided she wanted to get laundry done, but wanted to eat first. Rather than heat up the kitchen and kill a bunch of time – we opted for a breakfast from our favorite place in town. She even called it  in and went and got it…… I could get attached to that. She had her standard issue one waffle with a sausage link while I had a couple of eggs, a couple of sausage links and a waffle [hen house special] being the hog that I am. We sat quietly and had breakfast and soon she was on her way into the laundry mat. The plan is to get a washer so she can do laundry here whenever she wants. In a pretty typical island style – our machine will have to sit out side and be covered with a tarp — only to be uncovered and plugged in whenever she wants to use it. It will still beat the hell out of having to lug a load into town and put up with those two-bit machines at the laundry mat. She likes hanging the clothes out to dry and our grass was already ankle deep again – so when she took off to town – I jumped up and fired up the lawn mower and mowed the area around and to the clothes line….. finishing that toot sweet, I went ahead and knocked out the rest of the yard around the house. It’ll be interesting to see if I upset the lawn dude doing  it. Angie made it back and strung up the laundry, I emptied trash and a couple of other minor house hold chores. Laundry was brought in off of the line while I worked on paying some bills and a couple of small odds and ends on line that had been neglected this past week.

We finally settled in on the couch around 2:00 for a couple of movies that neither of us were impressed with. A bite to eat, a full belly and here I am….. ready for a shower and some shut eye. I have already created a list for things to get done tomorrow….. including picking up my new camera lights~!!  Ought to be an a entertaining day tomorrow to say the least. I’ll see if I can manage a picture or two for you…. get you away from ATV pictures that all look basically the same. Also have several dives lined up over the next week compliments of island Daughter Cynthia, so I should have a bunch of under water pictures for you….. with my new lights~!

Good Night Ya’ll? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Thankx for stopping in~!

[pictures from years past]………………

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Into the shop early for what was supposed to be an oil change on a bike we are having issues with. Chatting with the bike mechanic, who was at his other job, he called and walked me through diagnostic stuff he wanted checked – and from that determined an oil change would be a waste of time and money and that we needed to leave that bike set. So I checked all the other bikes for oil levels, lug nut tightness and made sure they were all topped of with gasoline and moved them over to the yard and ready for the day.  FINALLY got everybody for the first tour ready – just in time for it to start raining…… yee-haw….. rain always adds a new dimension to a tour…. but off we went and put up with rain through ¾ of the tour. Rain also adds a whole new challenge trying to get decent pictures of everybody — but we made it back safely and everybody seemed to enjoy themselves – even though we were all soggy.

Got the bikes all moved around and ready for another full tour [4 bikes] and almost on cue – it started raining again……. nothing like being drenched before you even get out of town~! This rain was a lot more persistent….. in the middle of that, Jamal [guide] was having trouble with his bike…. and to keep the tour moving at a reasonable pace – asked me to lead the tour for a while – so I moved up to the front of the tour through a drenching down pour. For about 10 minutes – I was actually cold….. I mean, teeth chattering, shivering cold~! I don’t miss that at all~! I got us out to the trails and Jamal pulled up to resume the lead. I was good with that – as I get a lot better pictures from the back…. especially in that kind of weather. We had several incidents between the two tours, that required getting folks out of the weeds or helping unsure drivers get through some tough spots. The old fat boy got an additional workout as I helped one of the riders through 4 different places where I drove her machine through places she was scared of – then had to hump my big, fat tired old butt back up to my machine and catch back up with them…… That running stuff is way out of my pay grade  😉 But we finally got everybody back safe and sound [albeit soggy] and I think they all enjoyed themselves….. although the last tour I guess didn’t feel the need to express their gratitude. They were all ‘locals’ and it’s common knowledge – the locals are usually not the type to tip – for anything~! Life goes on……

Back from the second tour – I had to jump in the truck and take off for the airport to pick up the island kids returning from the states……. finally got them gathered up and delivered back to the shop and soon we were all on our way. So with the ‘rein’s’ of the business returned back to the kids – looks like we will return to our retired life style….. and we’re both good with that. Angie has her Wednesday job at Blues – and I have a new camera gig [diving] coming up…. so we’re not settling into our rocking chairs just yet.

Good Night Ya’ll > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Thankx for stopping in~!

You know – I REALLY hate to admit it – but I think may be I am getting older….. Dammit Emmit……. We had two really easy tours today…… first one was our ‘VIP‘ tour — and while they were a great group… that one one of the slowest tours I have done in memory. Geeez Louise….. I have nothing against a slow tour – but I’m fairly sure I fell asleep at least twice during the ride….. what made it aggravating, was the two women on the ride [the slowest of the four drivers], kept telling me how they rode ATV’s out through the Rockies… ‘up sheer cliffs‘ and so on….. give me a friggin break ladies…. I would bet both of my ears you had never been off of a paved road, but that is just one of the things you have to put  with from with in this particular job….. Best part is…. when we got back to the yard… they ALL [including 4 kids that were passengers] – all said that was one of the best times they have had in a while~! THAT’S what we want to hear~! That is really good press for the business – and that’s what we want. They also tipped very well…….. another important aspect from the guys that are busting our collective touchas’ to make sure everyone is safe and having a good time. (Since my A #1 favorite fan [Vera] asked…. ) This particular tour was arranged through a tour company that does all the ‘homework’ for groups of people who like to travel and experience each location they visit, to the fullest. I have used these types of companies before, and I can tell you, they come at a premium….. but for me, [and apparently lots of folks who use them) – it is worth every single penny…… and the folks that use these type of companies – also tend to show their gratitude, very nicely….. which is why we consider them VIP’s…. all of our customers are VIP’s……. I guess some maybe just a little more ”I” than others……..

The noon tour was supposed to be 3 bikes…. but only one couple showed up (1 bike) and normally – I would not ride follow up for 1 bike – but this was a young newly wed couple [another]…… and I was in a good mood and offered to go along and take pictures. Besides, I really didn’t want to hang back and wash bikes….   😉  So- off we went…. it became apparent pretty quick – the new husband had ridden before and was good at it – and with just the 1 bike – the tour was fun, fast and enjoyable. I took lots of pictures of them and it was just a very enjoyable ride. A great way to wrap a day up…….. Back at the yard… the new bride and groom were elated with their ride and soon scurried off for more fun on the island. No tip….. not sure if they were broke and couldn’t afford a tip….. or… and I hope….. new to the adult life and didn’t realize a tip was appropriate for the extra we done for them….. but whatever – I was genuinely happy for those 2 ‘kids’ and glad they had a good time…… I wish them the best.

We woke up this morning with no internet….. and sadly came home at 2:00~ish with still no internet……… DAMMIT Emmit~~!! I called and complained [again]…. fat lot of good that did…… by 4:30~ish, we finally got a signal and I could get my pictures loaded and edited for the day. Now, a full belly of Salmon patties, peas and stuffing…  shower and a snoot full of Vodka…. I’m ready for some shut eye….. WOW – way over my limit for tonight….. dammit……..

Good Night Ya’ll* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Thankx for stopping in~!

DCIM100GOPROGOPR2957.

Up this morning after a 03:30 rendezvous with the porcelain god that culminated in an event that will go down in memory as I tried to get myself back to sleep afterwards. Not sure what brought it on – but smack my mouth, it was memorable. Jeesh I  hate those kind of mornings. It must have took some out of me (so to speak) as I slept in until almost -07:00. Stomach still tender – but I got up and mostly motivated to get my morning started. Angie decided she needed to head into town early to check mail before heading to the shop. That gave me a glorious 30 minutes or so to myself – which I used to force a helping of a couple of eggs and a chopped up hot dog from last night into me. While my belly really wasn’t up for it – but as the day panned out – I’m glad I did it. My energy level stayed up and my stomach quit hurting – so I need to keep that mind for future reference.

Two mostly interesting tours…. some dandy folks you get to meet on some of these tours…… folks you would never suspicion would do something like an ATV tour – but they do, and USUALLY you’re better off for having got to meet these people. Me and Jamal work hard to put on a fun friendly face for them and do our level best to ensure they are kept safe and have a good time. Yes – it is good for tips, but better for business….. so we put forth a good effort. Sometimes it is easier than others. As I alluded to that one tour – I would have been good just shooting everybody…… but that’s the exception – not the rule. Both tours today were fun. There were no ‘cowboys’ in the group. Everyone drove like they had a brain, asked lots of good, fun questions and just over all seemed to really enjoy themselves. I’ll take those tours every day.  They all also tipped…. maybe not tipped well…. but they tipped. That always makes our [me & Jamal] day a little bit easier to take. It’s nice to be appreciated for the effort you are putting out. Machines all washed and fueled and ready for tomorrow. Another 2 tours tomorrow…… including what we call a VIP tour…. long story that I’ll go into some other time unless one of you ask about it sooner…..

Back at the house….. gear rinsed…. pictures edited and loaded….. a bite to eat, some tasty pork chops – which is actually ironic as that is what is splattered across the back of the shirts I wear each day ”PORKCHOP”. They are Shawn’s shirts, as I don’t want to louse up my own shirts. New shirt everyday and at the end of the day it is soaked in a stain release agent and saved for laundry day. Guess if this becomes more of a full time gig – I’ll have to get my own set of shirts. He is ‘Porkchop’ – she is ‘Biscuit’…. not sure what I should be…. VEAL….. or maybe Cutlet ?   Let me know what you think…..

Happy Birthday to our first ‘teenage’ Grand child — my gorgeous Charlotte  ( my Sugar Pop~!!)       ”13~!”

Good Night Ya’ll : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : Thankx for stopping in~!

Well okay – it didn’t almost kill me….. but I gotta have a catchy title to help get your interest don’t I ??  My Bride started her first official ‘work’ day at Blues today – so she was up and gone by 08:30. I was supposed to be in at the shop by 9~ish and an 08:40 phone call confirmed that. I had a fairly busy day planned at the ATV yard, something to keep me busy while the ‘dude’ worked on the gate to the garage.  Dude showed up in true island fashion around 10:00-ish…… by then I had already soaked my shirt with sweat, because my tired old fat butt was out working in the sun light like I knew what I was doing……… so  I stopped and sauntered on over to provide what ever intel I thought he was going to need. I wound up having to go back over to my truck for a a tape measure for him…. what kind of contractor shows up to a job like that and doesn’t have a tape measure…? [ an island contractor-DUH]  He said he needed to gather a couple of things from the shop and he would be back…… and silly ole me – thought he meant like in the next hour or so…… BA-ha-Ha-ha……. I continued working in the yard until I got every single thing done I planned on getting done…..and because I was still waiting on dude….. then some. Tired of waiting on him – I finally went over and wrestled with the doors and got them open enough – I could get the machines out I wanted – got them over to the yard, all scrubbed up for another tour, then took them over and filled them with gas and re-parked them. Still no dude…… so I ”worked” on the bus for a little bit….. cleaning… checking oil and finding out some fun stuff about it. Still no dude. So I went back over to the yard and started prepping the building for a porch I am going to add as soon as I’m not working….. Got that done and ‘sub’ dude showed up and said DUDE would be there in 30 minutes or so…… that ‘or so’ on the island can mean 10 minutes or 10 hours…… Dammit Emmit~!  So I started cleaning inside the garage a little bit…. Dude finally shows up….. I ‘supervise’ for the next 45 minutes watching the most Sanford & Son looking outfit I have ever seen in real life do their thing. I even got to help….. even though I really didn’t want to – but it seemed like the thing to do at the time.

Almost an hour later…. dude and his cohorts were on their way….. gate fixed and mostly to my surprise – looks to be a really nice job… time will tell. I finally got to finish my  day by running several large bags of garbage to the dump, filling and rehanging gas container and finally moseying my tired, sweaty old butt to the house. My Queen showed up about 25 minutes behind me from her first day of work at Blues and didn’t seem to much worse for wear…… Gotta tell you….. this version of retired life sucks…… but it’s kinda of fun to be useful again….. Guess what we’re doing now  😉   More ATV tours for the next 3 days………….!

Good Night Ya’ll – – – – – – – – – – –  – –  — Thankx for stopping in~!

More of my companions today

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Up this morning with my belly feeling much better….. made me a bite to eat – gathered up camera and gear and headed into town for another day on the trails. It was supposed to be an easy day….. 1 tour, 3 bikes…… easy peezy…… uh,…. yeah, okay~~ Had an extra rider sign up late and from the get-go seemed like he was going to be trouble….. but very early in the ride, he was trying to be a ‘cowboy’ and scared  the bejeezus out of himself and settled down for the rest of the ride. We had got a heads up the night before, this group might be a pain in the keester, so I was a little more forceful with my pre-ride briefing than usual, and it must have helped….. because overall they were a decent group and left a nice tip at the end of it……. back and ready to wash the bikes and put them up – a couple of walk ins wanted to do a tour. The usual guide [Jamal] had other unpleasant obligations to deal with and couldn’t stay – so I offered to do the tour….. I had never led a tour before, but I know the trails well enough, and the tourist spiel at each stopping place…. I figured what the heck and offered to do the tour. Upon approval from the owners, I got the one couple (newly weds) acquainted with their machine (the other couple got  lost or something and never showed back up ) and we were off.  Turned out to be a lot of fun while I got my cherry popped. It’s a WHOLE lot different being at the front of the pack…… #1: – it ain’t near as dusty~! #2:, I probably turned around a whole lot more than I needed to – but the driver was a newbie and I didn’t want to lose him….. #3: Taking pictures takes on a whole new dimension when you’re shooting behind yourself….. but the couple seemed to really enjoy themselves and apparently just had a ball…… even though they didn’t bother to express their gratitude with any kind of tip…….. but they had a good time and I’m sure we’ll get some pretty decent ‘press’ out of it. In the middle of all that – the gate to the garage where we keep the bikes decided it needed to fall off of the wall – so me and Jamal was doing some island engineering to keep it from falling completely down.  I got to contend with it some more when I got back from the tour. Jamal was gone and a couple  of guys showed up [I’m presuming Cynthia called them] to look at the gate. I was supposed to do another tour ( the couple that didn’t show up for the noon tour). While I was waiting on them, I was helping the guys ‘look at’ the gate on the garage. SHeesh what a Cluster... mess. The other couple never showed up, so I put the bikes in the garage and the 2 gentlemen helped me get the gates closed and secured. Over my word limit… so condensed version, put the bikes away empty and dirty. Came home, drank, uploaded pictures, drank, ran back into town for oil, drank, bite to eat and now anxiously awaiting to get into the shower…..

Going in tomorrow to open up garage and clean and maintain bikes while [hopefully] dudes show up to fix doors….. should be a fairly slow busy day off…….

Good Night Ya’ll # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # Thankx for stopping in~!

Conch shell

Better nights sleep last night although most of the day I had stomach pains that I couldn’t figure out. I skipped eating anything (yea, yea, yea – I know it’s a bad idea) but my belly was just not up for it. We got to the yard a couple of minutes early and I set in to getting the bikes ready for the day. We have to check oil levels and lug nut tightness on all bikes every day before we start. We fill them up with gas at the end of the day before we put them up – so that’s one less thing we need to do before taking them over into the yard and staging them for the first ride of the day. First tour was one family – three bikes.  Mom had never driven before. Other two kids said they knew how….. said they did……. yea – okay. A very slow [actually almost relaxing] kind of ride. We opted to take them to a third stop on the ride that covers the most ‘tactical’ part of the ride. We were all in agreement, ‘Mom’ would ride with Jamal [guide] and Ataisha would ride with me. We made it without issue up to the old Sugar Mill that sits high atop the mountain and I’m satisfied – they were all happy we went. Back down where we left ‘Mom’s’ bike – we finished the ride up [slowly] and with out issue. Nice ride~! Second tour was only 1 bike and me and Jamal agreed, I did not need to ride follow up for it. A guy and his small Daughter – so Jamal took off with him while I stayed and washed the bikes that were in the yard and then went and filled up one of the portable gas tanks and looked for some oil that we needed. Turns out the oil was going to be a a challenge to find – so I went on back to the shop – hung the gas tank while Jamal cleaned up the last 2 bikes. His tour ended early when the little girl got scared and wanted to come back.  I had covered the West end of the island looking for the oil, only to find out I needed to go to mid-island….. so we closed the yard up and my Queen and I set off in search of said oil. I didn’t find exactly what I wanted – but got a suitable substitute that will keep us going for the rest of the week. More tours have been added to our schedule and the way it stands now – we have at least one tour every day this week except Wednesday…… Will make for a nice busy week. IF, Wednesday stays open… I may have to see if I can sneak in another dive…… or at the very least – get me in a good walk.

Pictures are now loaded, belly is pleasantly full (my Bride made some kind of meat in the crock pot, concoction, with corn, green beans and smashed taters) and now I’m ready for a shower and some shut eye. I think I have some dive pictures left from yesterday – so I’ll put the rest of them up for you….. and more trail pictures if needed.

VERA – fair warning — pictures of an Eel below ((NOT a snake))

Good Night Ya’ll ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) Thankx for stopping in~!

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Golden spotted Moray eel  ( NOT a snake Vera)  😉

2 Porcupine fish

Mitch and Andrea [my dive buddies]

Octopus~!

After a truly pathetic nights sleep – I got up and got my day started the best I could….. My Bride made a small breakfast and soon I had my gear loaded into the truck and headed into town for what hopefully was going to be a much needed slow quiet SCUBA dive. I met up with neighbors [and dive shop owners] for a casual kick out and dropping down on to one of the big doll pins….. used to be used for helping tie up the big cruise ships that come in…… Not in use anymore, but they hold the widest variety of ocean life you ever want to lay your eyes on. We kicked out to them before dropping down on them and spending our first 20 minutes of the dive on them.  Truth be told – I would have been happy spending my entire tank of air on them….. but SO much other stuff to look at, so we kicked on over to the pier…… the life that the pier holds is just incredible…. again – any one given set of legs holding up that 1500′ of pier would have kept me occupied for a tank of air……….. but it is a photographers dream….. you can’t hardly look around or snap pictures fast enough to capture everything the pier has to offer…… One of the things underwater photography has taught me….. is to slow down…. I mean s.l.o.w down…… sometimes hovering in one spot for 10 minutes or so, just to see what is going on around you. I am struggling with that concept, as my entire diving career so far, has been…. go-go-go…….. I did good today…. laying as still as I could muster for several minutes at a time in one spot to get shots of little critters that requires tons of patience [and silence…. i.e. – no bubbles]. I learned a while back, holding your breath is paramount for getting some shots (although the absolute biggest no-no in SCUBA diving you can do) but you have to make a compromise sometimes.  Mitch and Andrea let me ‘bottle-ass‘ around as much as I wanted and I had a wonderful time playing with settings on my camera and experimenting with different settings. I figure it shouldn’t take me more than another 20-30 years before I figure them all out  😉  We were under water for 75 minutes before finally popping up close to shore and calling it a day. I felt sorry for Mitch and Andrea as they had to go back to work – while I headed back to the house to soak my brains in alcohol. As I pulled into the drive way – I saw a truck parked in my slot. I started to get pi**  off…. mad,  until I recognized the truck as Jim and Deb’s… (from Blues). What  a great surprise. They were out ‘slumming’ and decided to stop in. Wonderful people those two. We sat and chatted for an hour or so before they finally packed up and head ‘all the way back’ to mid island….. a whole whopping 30 minutes or so  😉  Always a good time to spend time with those two~!!

Finally back in the house…. made a sammich and got today’s pictures up and edited….. you’re gonna like them [I hope]… a nice change from ATV pictures….. Looks like I have tours tomorrow – new news….. but it keeps me [mostly] out of trouble and busy……

Good Night Ya’ll : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : Thankx for stopping in~!

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