Like a super hero with a secret identity, Grim, 40, spends about five nights a week in his Sharpsburg home contributing his thoughts and photo-based art to his blogspot "Crown of Appalachia" (http://crownofa.blogspot.com), which chronicles Grim’s travels in and around Pittsburgh.

It’s just one of the hobbies he enjoys outside of his "real job" with the Seneca Valley School District. Others hobbies include figure drawing in phone books and reading more than 40 books a year, with the goal of reaching 1,tiffany key rings,000 books before his older brother does. The total so far — David Grim, 850, the other Mr. Grim, 300.

As for that figure-drawing thing, it’s more of an obsession, really. For the past four years, Grim has been filling a phone book with figure drawings he creates on the spot of models at various figure-drawing sessions around town.

To date, he has filled one book, which he calls "The Book of Life," with 450 of these drawings, scattered throughout the book about every two or three pages. And he is currently busy filling another.

Now, 420 of the drawings from the first book and several dozen from the second are on display at Panza Gallery in Millvale in a solo exhibit of the same title, "The Book of Life." Well, not exactly solo. There is Merge Divide’s solo exhibit as well, "Images from Crown of Appalachia," on display in the next room.

These two exhibits are the closest one can get to Grim’s creative nexus. By way of explanation, on the eve of the opening reception for the exhibits, Divide decided to interview Grim for the blogspot:

"Lately, I’ve been thinking that David and I should have a talk together," Divide said.

"Are you excited for the show?" he asked Grim. "I know you’ve invested a lot of energy in this (and so have I), and I have to wonder about the state that you are in."

"Hmmm … I’d have to say that I have mixed feelings about it," Grim said. "I’ve always gotten a bit anxious before my openings. There will be a mix of people there. I’ll be trying to manage the representation of myself while keeping a mindful state about my social relationships with whoever shows up. It’s a little overwhelming, to tell the truth."

In a similar showing last year at Imagebox, Grim presented his work with just as much trepidation. In the end, declaring that it didn’t go so well: "We don’t have to talk about that," he says.

"I am a very analytical person," Grim says. "I have a master’s degree in counseling. I never really used it, except on myself."

But all of that aside, visitors to these two exhibits will be privy to the inventive output of one of the area’s most creative individuals.

Inspired by a childhood escape from religious conversion, "The Book of Life" presents the opportunity for Grim to reclaim the act of creation from an externalized "other," he says.

Based on the concept of a holy tome containing the names of all those saved from eternal damnation, this project seeks to render humanity in its purest of form — nude, defenseless and open. The intention of the displayed product is to raise questions regarding authority, transience, privacy and the relationship between the artist and his subject. "I’m working with the idea that, as creator, you can appropriate your subject," Grim says.

Remarkably, the first phone book remains intact. It’s on display here, under Plexiglas — an implication of the "holy book" it has become. But the drawings are on view, being displayed as a massive single-wall installation of the drawings in actual-size reproduction. Alone they are magnificent little renderings, as unique as the individuals they depict. Altogether they are overwhelming, like humanity itself.

"The purpose of the installation is to document the artistic process, the developmental process that I went through," Grim says.

Conversely, convinced that Pittsburgh is the figurative "Crown" of a vast tract of America marked by the Appalachians, Grim/Divide decided to commemorate his blog of travels throughout the region with several dozen of the images he has posted along with his blog entries over the past four years.

"This marks my initial foray into the sense of a partially imaginary place that may indeed exist," Divide writes. "I mean to convey the weird netherworld quality of this area in sociological and alchemical terms."

Hence, the photographs, though based completely in reality, have an otherworldly feel. Each is titled by the date of the blog entry related to it, and visitors are encouraged to look those up on a laptop computer provided for the purpose. A good idea since, the two — image and words — may not at first seem to be related.

For example, in the blog entry and photo from June 22, 2010, Divide details Grim’s trip to Cook Forest with his girlfriend, where they booked a night in the all-pink "Princess Suite" at the nearby Shiloh Resort.

"When we walked in the room we were initially struck by the overwhelming pinkness of the room," Divide/Grim writes. "It turns out that the shots (on the website) attributed to the Princess Suite were actually snaps of the "Angle (sic) Suite." I guess the color scheme for angels runs more toward the orange hues. If my expectations wouldn’t have been colored by the Net documentation, I likely would have not been surprised that Princesses only feel royal when surrounded by pink. Of course, I figured everything out as I got adjusted."

The image that accompanies the text is simply that of a layered lattice of tree branches. But here, as in all the entries, Grim’s detailed writings are as multi-layered as the images, making for an overwhelming exploration in itself.

"I think that Appalachia is a different country altogether, and Pittsburgh is the crown of Appalachia because, geographically speaking,tiffany bangles, it’s at the tip," Grim says, by way of simple explanation. But our region, as detailed by him, is far more diverse and interesting than could ever be imagined. Which is why this exhibit is so compelling.

Think, for instance, of the moment when your odometer rolls over to 50,000 or 100,000; do you pull over to admire it?

Those fleeting symmetrical figures command a singular fascination. Not a bit under, not a bit over — exact. And, then before you know it, they’re usually gone.

There is the Perfect 10, the 100th anniversary, the 5,000th friend and the 1,000,000th served. Even editors assign 1,000-word stories.

And then there is sports.

In a culture that is numbers obsessed, fans throw around terms like 1,tiffany bracelets,000-yard rusher or 100-RBI man all the time, but rarely do they mean that someone actually hit those statistical markers right on the nose. Usually athletes reach that milestone and then add on.

But a glance across the four major sports shows there are those rare times when players, for better or worse, didn’t make it any farther.

Perhaps the most well-known is also the most somber — Roberto Clemente’s 3,000 hits.

Following the 1972 season, Clemente boarded an airplane bound for Nicaragua. He was part of the relief effort to aid victims of an earthquake. But moments after the plane took off, it crashed,tiffany cuff Links, killing Clemente, and the other crew and passengers aboard.

Clemente’s impact on baseball went beyond his statistical prowess, but he never got a chance to advance past 3,000 hits when he died at the age of 38.

Of the major sports, baseball tends to draw the nerd — er, most cerebral fans, and baseball has an abundance of statistics to satisfy their geekiness, in a variety of categories. Rickey Henderson had 100 stolen bases in 1980. Darryl Strawberry finished his career with 1,000 RBI. Ellis Burks played in exactly 2,000 games. Bruce Sutter is 21st all time with 300 saves. Jim Bunning allowed 1,000 walks in his career.

Jeffrey Leonard and former Cub Shawon Dunston struck out 1,000 times. Leonard, who finished his career in Seattle, struck out in the fifth inning of his final game, which marked his last at bat. He was replaced in the field before his next turn in the lineup and he never played again.

Nobody has exactly 500 home runs. Chuck Klein, however, finished with 300.

New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez is within one home run of joining the 600 Club. But like a car’s odometer, this will likely be just a transitory figure. That doesn’t mean it will be easy for him to hit number 601. After Rodriguez hit No. 500, it took him nine games to hit the next one, and over those nine games, he hit .107.

For pitchers, 300 wins usually means automatic Hall of Fame entry. Both Lefty Grove and Early Wynn have 300 exactly.

A former White Sox player and broadcaster, Wynn struggled for his milestone, failing to achieve it in seven starts over nine months, the longest period ever between a pitcher’s 299th and 300th win. Finally, in 1963, pitching for the Indians at age 43, he pitched only five innings but got the win over the Kansas City A’s. "I was exhausted," he reportedly said.

In basketball, Wilt Chamberlain has the sport’s most notable round number, with the 100 points he scored in 1962. He hit 36 of 63 field goals and 28 of 32 free throws to do it. It took a minor miracle for Chamberlain to hit that many free throws, considering his lifetime percentage is just a shade over 51 percent.

But after that, basketball fails to produce many scintillating round numbers.

Walt Bellamy once had 1,500 rebounds in the 1961-62 season for the Chicago Packers. Danny Manning finished with 1,000 steals, while Shaquille O’Neal, if he retired today, would finish his career with 3,000 assists.

As for the NHL, the late Bob Hopert, a former Blackhawk, sat for 3,300 minutes in the penalty box, fifth most all-time in the NHL. Lanny McDonald had 500 goals, but after that, no hockey stats of significance ended in a couple zeroes.

The NFL, meanwhile, yields more interesting cases. Franco Harris and Curtis Martin both finished their careers with exactly 100 touchdowns. Two quarterbacks, The Bears’ Jim McMahon and Washington’s Doug Williams each threw for 100, but that pales in comparison to Denver’s John Elway,tiffany pendants, who had 300 when he retired. In 1986, Minnesota quarterback Tommy Kramer earned a Pro Bowl spot and the comeback player of the year award for his 3,000-yard performance, the only time an NFL quarterback threw for that in a single season. No receiver has had exactly 1,000 yards, but Marcus Robinson did have 1,400 for the Bears in 1999. Hall-of-Famer Barry Sanders did have the NFL’s lone 1,500-yard rushing season. Willie Ellison in 1971, Mercury Morris in 1972 — in Miami’s perfect season — Greg Pruitt in 1976 and Ricky Williams in 2000 rushed for exactly 1,000.

So why can’t you say someone who rushed for 998 yards is also a 1,000-yard rusher? Well, try telling that to anyone who missed out on an incentive bonus in their contract for falling just short of that mark. And try telling that to former Atlanta running back Dave Hampton.

In the final game of the 1972 season, Hampton reached 1,000 yards in the fourth quarter. But on his next carry, he slipped and lost yardage, putting him back at 995. Even though there was plenty of time left in the game, a long scoring drive by Kansas City put the Chiefs ahead late, forcing Atlanta to throw to catch up. Hampton didn’t carry the ball again that game.

Then in 1973, fate tormented Hampton again — he finished with 997 yards. After an injury-riddled 1974 campaign, Hampton entered the fourth quarter of the final contest in the 1975 season needing 28 yards to reach 1,000. Even with the Falcons trailing,tiffany earrings, Atlanta coach Marion Campbell gave Hampton the ball. He got 30 yards on three carries, and was immediately removed with 1,002 yards. It was the only season Hampton could call himself a 1,000-yard rusher — but not if we’re exact.

The ocean is more than a supplier for fast food sea food alone.

The ocean is sister to land and she resonates oxygen as well as an enormous amount of stabilizing nutrients and energy forces that control weather patterns and buffer zones. Water is our blood and most viable life source.

I and other older folks have lived our lives in a time that offered many selfish comforts at the price of our children.

The saddest part lies in the fact that moms and dads sit back and do nothing to support the interest of Planetary survival but rather fall victim to the continued rhetoric delivered by the "Drill Baby Drill" business as usual folks who unfortunately make up the biggest part of the Conservative Republican alliance. This is sad because "conserve" is far removed from the business as usual tactics being implemented by this alliance who would for the most part gain my support should they be more conservation oriented. For me there is only one party and it’s not the Democratic Party or the Republican Party but the Earth Party. I am far from a prophet of doom nor do I subscribe to all the age old prophesies as the gospel but I do know that a single quart of oil can contaminate up to two million gallons of water and that the smallest of trace particles within fossil oil compounds are extremely toxic. We could go on and on about who the bad guys are, who’s responsible,tiffany necklaces, etc.,

The real problem lies in the perpetuation of lies that are being delivered to our kids. America and BP does not need to apologize to the fine folks in the Gulf alone,tiffany bangles, they might consider apologizing to the world as a whole starting with the children and the parents that are willing to make personal sacrifices to assure their children an extended stay on this Earth should the Creator see fit to circumvent another manmade screw up via greed and arrogance. Sincere concerned parents should hold America and the world accountable for the longevity of a sustainable planet that some of us have no problem calling Mother Earth. Whoever made it uncool to be a tree hugger or called Earth friendly people environmental whacko’s should stick their head in the oil caked sand on the coast. America the beautiful was a lot more beautiful when it was Native America. Its one thing to take something that does not belong to you from someone else but destroying it is the ultimate disrespect. To all of the Children and Animals of the world,tiffany money clips, allow me to apologize for the extreme unfair footing that we as adults have left you with.

Like many, I am a praying man

but…

After a while even God will turn a deaf ear.

Mark Inman and the Taylor Maid crew aren’t stepping up production to take advantage of Thanksgiving’s misfortune, no way. They’ve been staying late to assist Thanksgiving by roasting some of its coffee.

One reason that Inman, Taylor Maid’s president and "Director of Coffee,tiffany rings," jumped to extend a hand to Thanksgiving Coffee is that he’s always considered the Fort Bragg roaster’s co-founder, Paul Katzeff, to be his mentor and hero.

"He’s a tornado of man," Inman said, noting that Katzeff’s whirlwind life includes having run the late Hunter S. Thompson’s campaign for sheriff in Aspen, Colo.,tiffany key rings, in 1970.

Katzeff sent an e-mail to Inman right after the July 4 fire in Fort Bragg and told him about the damage done to Thanksgiving Coffee. Inman replied, in essence: "My roaster is your roaster."

Life’s been busier at the Taylor Maid Farms organic coffee and tea company in Sebastopol since an arsonist hit Fort Bragg’s Thanksgiving Coffee.

Mark Inman and the Taylor Maid crew aren’t stepping up production to take advantage of Thanksgiving’s misfortune, no way. They’ve been staying late to assist Thanksgiving by roasting some of its coffee.

One reason that Inman, Taylor Maid’s president and "Director of Coffee,tiffany bracelets," jumped to extend a hand to Thanksgiving Coffee is that he’s always considered the Fort Bragg roaster’s co-founder, Paul Katzeff, to be his mentor and hero.

"He’s a tornado of man," Inman said, noting that Katzeff’s whirlwind life includes having run the late Hunter S. Thompson’s campaign for sheriff in Aspen, Colo.,discount tiffany,in 1970.

Katzeff sent an e-mail to Inman right after the July 4 fire in Fort Bragg and told him about the damage done to Thanksgiving Coffee. Inman replied, in essence: "My roaster is your roaster."

Remember, he writes, "You can be deeply in love with someone to whom you cannot be successfully married." If you’re thinking love conquers all, "it doesn’t," he writes. Top on his list is, "Never marry a man who cannot hold down a job." Then there’s "never marry a man who has no friends."

When a portion of Father Pat’s list appeared in the New York Times, a twice-married and divorced woman sent him her own version: "Never marry a man who is more affectionate in public than in private. Never marry a man who notices all of your faults but never any of his own. Never marry a man whose first wife had to sue for child support. Never marry a man whom your children don’t like."

Father Pat advises women to take a year between the decision to marry and the wedding. "Use the engagement as a time to ask questions," such as, "What would I be glad to know about him that’s impossible to know in the first few months of dating?"

He writes about one woman whose fiancé loved to shop for expensive clothes. "Then he wants to go to pricey restaurants to show them off," she told Father Pat. "I prefer eating at home and wearing my comfortable clothes. How can I change him to like the simpler life?" "Change him? Forget it! He’s a bad risk for marriage. I’m afraid it’s just that simple,tiffany rings," Father Pat told her.

One of his must-haves is physical attraction. "There used to be, in one of the formulas used at weddings, a wonderful sentence that was said by each spouse in turn: ‘With my body, I thee worship.’ If you feel no physical attraction to him, don’t marry him!"

He urges women to ask: "Has your love grown since you became serious about one another?" "Do you see in this person the qualities you want in your children?" "Do you love each other with equal intensity and are you sure your love is not one-sided?"

Beware of the "Green-Eyed Monsters." "Envy and jealousy are as complex as they are puzzling, and they’re both destructive." He tells of a young woman who loved to dance but complained, "my boyfriend always declines my offers to dance with me. When I’m dancing with other boys, I can feel him staring at us. How can I help him to like dancing and to stop staring?"

"You’ll probably never get your boyfriend to like dancing," Father Pat told her, "and the staring only means that jealousy is in play here. Have a chat with him about that unlovely quality. If he persists in his jealous-laden behaviour, drop him!"

If your boyfriend has cold feet,tiffany, "Never put yourself in the position of trying to persuade him to marry you. No good can come ofthat," he writes. "It’s important to pay attention to those actions that convey a lack of commitment on his part."

Adhering to dating rules is another mistake, he says. "I’m uncomfortable with this rules approach to dating- rules that take into account anything from who calls whom and when, who pays for dinner, and how many dates to have before either becoming intimate or moving on. Rules can quickly morph into ultimatums,tiffany earrings, and that’s no good for anybody."

Also, think twice about the "fun or quirky proposals," like eloping to Vegas "on a whim." Father Pat urges women to "think about it. The decision to get married will affect your entire life. Do you really want to enter into something so casually?"

One couple’s modest engagement rings made him happy. The groom said, "We bought these rings, one for $15,tiffany pendants, one for $20." The couple hoped to upgrade later on. Father Pat told them, "I hope you forget in future getting more expensive rings. Put the money toward your children’s college funds!"

The woman, Shawn Marie Melton,tiffany rings, 45, pleaded guilty last month to first-degree assault in the Nov. 28 incident at the couple’s home. Under terms of a plea agreement accepted by Judge Eric Hylden,discount tiffany, Melton received a stay of imposition of sentence. If she complies with conditions of her five-year probation,tiffany bangles, the case will be discharged and for civil purposes — employment applications, for example — she will have a record of a misdemeanor instead of a felony.

Melton has no prior criminal record.

Hylden ordered that Melton serve 60 days in a female offender program unless that interferes with her employment,tiffany money clips, in which case she will serve her time in the Bethel Work-Release program. She was ordered to abstain from alcohol and non-prescribed drugs and is subject to random testing to make sure she is abstaining.

Melton must undergo counseling and participate and complete the Domestic Abuse Intervention Project women’s program.

According to the criminal complaint, Melton told the 911 operator that she and the victim, John Kaarbo, were intoxicated and fighting and "being drunk and dumb."

St. Louis County sheriff’s deputies responding to the 911 call from Melton found her leaning against the back screen door of the house where she and Kaarbo lived. Kaarbo, 41, was found lying on the couch with his hands on his chest. There were two stab wounds to his torso. He said Melton had stabbed him and he told her she’d better finish him off. She then stabbed him again, he said.

A physician listed Kaarbo’s condition as critical and said he would have died from his injuries if not treated. Melton suffered two black eyes, a broken nose and bumps on the back of her head during the incident.

Kaarbo told Hylden that he and Melton are now engaged to be married and are closing on a house they are buying together next month. He said the couple have been sober since that night.

"The whole incident was life-changing for both of us,” Melton told Hylden. "The end result was positive. There is no more alcohol use on either of our parts. … We’re looking to the future together.”

Credit: Duluth News Tribune, Minn.

Scope:

– Detailed chapters on the clothing market, plus womenswear, menswear and childrenswear sectors, issues and opportunities for each.

– Includes market sizes and growth drivers 1999-2010e, market shares of Top 20 players (2004-2009), spend per head and per age group of each sector.

– Population trends,tiffany money clips, profile of clothing shoppers, loyalty drivers by gender and age, retailer clothing visitors numbers and spend per head.

– Channel shares and market segmentation (value,tiffany bracelets, midmarket and premium) 2004-2009.

Highlights

After a decade of the value retailers driving the clothing market in the UK, there has been a shift and the premium segment is to become the new battleground. Price inflation is returning to the market and the value sector has consolidated into the hands of largest operators. Opportunities for retailers now lie in the premium segment.

Though the 55-64 year age group is the lowest segment by value in the womenswear market,tiffany earrings, worth 2.83bn, its spend per head is the second highest at 760. This further underlines that this generation of women, who will be moving into the 65+ market over the next five years, should not be underestimated.

The recession has hit menswear spending and population trends are likely to hit it further unless retailers act to stimulate it. It has lower spend per head than womenswear or childrenswear. The biggest spending category, 15-24 year olds,tiffany rings, is set to shrink by 4.5% by 2015 and the current lowest spending group, 55+s, are set to rise significantly.

Reasons to Purchase:

– Identify growth opportunities in your sector and take market share from competitors

– Understand the issues and challenges in the market to plan strategy and avoid risk

– Access unique data and analysis on population spending trends in the clothing sectors and exploit the potential fully

Key Topics Covered:

OVERVIEW

CLOTHING MARKET SUMMARY

CLOTHING MARKET

CLOTHING MARKET OPPORTUNITIES

WOMENSWEAR SUMMARY

WOMENSWEAR MARKET

WOMENSWEAR OPPORTUNITIES

MENSWEAR SUMMARY

MENSWEAR MARKET

MENSWEAR OPPORTUNITIES

CHILDRENSWEAR SUMMARY

CHILDRENSWEAR MARKET

CHILDRENSWEAR OPPORTUNITIES

ACCESSORIES MARKET

APPENDIX

Inside the package was a lime-green sweatshirt with a tie-dyed or retro frog flashing a peace sign, and a matching pair of socks. The gift was the beginning of a collection that has turned into a retail venture for Hedge-Schoo. "I love Peace Frogs and decided I wanted to be in charge of my own destiny."

Hedge-Schoo has opened The Pond in the Lewiston Orchards near Papa Murphy’s Pizza and Dutch Bros. Coffee. The store carries sweatshirts,tiffany, short-sleeved, long-sleeved and sleeveless shirts, pajama pants, boxer shorts, running shorts, skirts, bags, hats and stickers all with the Peace Frog logo. She expects to add scrubs, jewelry and socks to the selection soon.

The attire comes in sizes for babies, children, men and women that start at three months and top out at men’s triple extra large for some of the shirts. Prices range from $1.50 for stickers to $28 for earth-tone casual shirts for women where the frog is barely visible.

The collection includes onesies for infants with frogs sporting milk moustaches and the logo "Got Flies?" ($14.95) and cheer shorts in gray,tiffany earrings, red, blue and black where the logo is on the back ($13.75) and even a shirt with a glow-in-the-dark frog on black background that reads "Rest in Peace" ($14).

The company that makes Peace Frog clothing got its start in the 1980s when the founder, who was attending the University of Virginia, began sewing shorts with fabric that looked like flags of different countries, Hedge-Schoo said.

The frog originally was just intended to be a small label, but it quickly became apparent it was a lot more popular than the concept of using national emblems to make shorts,tiffany bangles, she said.

The Pond is Hedge-Schoo’s first business and is a joint venture with her husband,tiffany bracelets, Pete Schoo. She plans to continue with her job as office manager of the Lewiston Roundup Association, a position that was previously full time. "Due to the economy, my hours got cut."

The Pond is at 145 Thain Road, Suite J. The hours are 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

If the venture happens to propel the 1998 Chaney High School graduate to a successful career as a fashion designer, all the better.

At the launch of his clothing line, Wardrobe,tiffany pendants, at Club Gossip in the Wedgewood Plaza on Friday night, McDowell explained how fashion can thrive in places such as Youngstown.

"People see this as an outlandish idea at times," McDowell said of designing and selling original clothing from Youngstown.

But McDowell believes his combination of online sales (www.wardrobeclothing.com),tiffany key rings, marketing at events such as his launch and at the Canfield Fair will lead to success.

McDowell, 30, who has been a visual artist since his youth and studied graphic design for a short time at Youngstown State University, believes men are frustrated with the clothing options available.

He spent two years designing a line of shirts — tees,tiffany bangles, V-necks and polos — that he felt gave men what they need to be comfortable and hip.

As McDowell showed some of his designs, he explained how they exemplify "the true meaning of gentleman yet retain the comfort and cool of the street."

McDowell has not designed the clothing itself, only the graphics that go on them.

He has his shirts screen-printed at Artists at Work in Struthers.

McDowell and his business partner,tiffany bracelets, Ryan Kulik of Austintown, are planning to extend the Wardrobe line to women’s and children’s clothing and accessories.

Credit: Vindicator, Youngstown, Ohio