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ChangingCourse.com, Find Your Life Mission and Live It

Issue 120

July 13, 2005

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Compass

Changing Course is dedicated to helping you:

~Live Life on Purpose
~Work at What You Love
~Follow Your Own Road

Inside Today's Issue

Featured Article

Turning a Love of Nature Into a Livelihood

Featured Resource

Making Dreams Happen

Work At What You Love Workshop Update

Guest Article

Do Men and Women Do Mid-Life Crisis Differently?

Upcoming Workshops & Teleclasses

Resources for A Change

You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover is yourself. ~ Alan Alda

Turning a Love of Nature Into a Livelihood

By Valerie YoungValerie and her dog, Cokie

Pinau Merlin is living proof that any passion can be turned into a source of income. Merlin has one of the more, well, unusual interests… she studies holes. According to a recent article in National Wildlife magazine, the naturalist turned author spent months “trying to figure out exactly which fly, bee, beetle, or rodent made which holes, and how the animal uses subterranean habitat to live in the desert’s brutal environment.”

Figuring there must be others out there who share her sense of curiosity, Merlin took what she’d learned and turned it into a book. A Field to Desert Holes was one of the top four selling books on Arizona at Amazon.com and a book signing at a Tucson Barnes & Noble was standing room only. Her guide is now in its fourth printing. I was intrigued by Pinau and her passion, so I decided to do a little digging.

In an earlier interview for Smithsonian magazine, Merlin explained her interest in holes this way. “The more you know about what you see, the more you come to appreciate the intricacies of life, and the fantastic ways that animals have evolved to live in specific environments,” Merlin says. “And looking at holes is a great way to get to know the neighbors. You see rabbit fur by the kit fox hole, and it’s like reading the morning paper. Who was out last night? What were they doing?”

This got me wondering about what it takes to become a naturalist. Come to find out, anyone can be a naturalist. Although some naturalists have scientific backgrounds in botany or environmental science, the National Park Service defines a naturalist simply as a specialist who studies and/or teaches about nature. Professional canoeist, kayaker, and writer, Tamia Nelson, defines a naturalist simply as someone who takes an interest in the natural world.

“Imagine,” she says, “telling a roomful of casual acquaintances that you've decided to become a naturalist. They'd probably laugh. Ours is a world of specialists, after all. Anyone who's curious about the natural world is expected to have a narrow focus of interest – to concern herself only with comets, say, or birds, or mushrooms. And ours is also a world of professionals. If we're not being paid to do something, it's ‘just a hobby,’ on a par with watching daytime television or collecting postcards.”

Nelson goes on to cite numerous famous nineteenth century “amateur” naturalists. People like Charles Darwin, career civil servant turned naturalist Alexander von Humboldt who put the put the Orinoco, Rio Negro, and the headwaters of the Amazon on the map, Henry David Thoreau (a surveyor by profession), and children’s book writer Ernest Thompson Seton. “Except for Humboldt, who worked for a time as a mining engineer,” says Nelson, “none was ever a professional scientist. Yet each left his mark on biology, geology, and anthropology.”

Not everything you love to do has to be a paying gig. If you have a love of the whales and a flexible schedule consider signing on for the Cabrillo Whale Watch Program in San Pedro, California (CabrilloWhaleWatch.com). This comprehensive training runs Tuesday evenings starting October 2005 through March 2006. After completing a three month training course and passing a final exam, naturalists serve as volunteer guides on whale watching boats, give lectures in classrooms prior to their fieldtrip, and give presentations in the local community.

But what if you do want to get paid for your knowledge and passion for nature? As a naturalist you can work for the park service, at nature centers, and as trip guides. You can always go for some kind of college degree. For example, degrees earned by the staff at Durango Nature Studies in Durango, Colorado range from English to Biology to Environmental Biology (DurangoNatureStudies.com).

That’s where I learned about the Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center in Finland, Minnesota (Wolf-Ridge.org). If you love the idea of teaching kids, the center offers a Certificate in Environmental Education with 18 credits toward a Masters of Education degree at the Center for Environmental Education at the University of Minnesota Duluth.

Like the Wolf Ridge program, the Eagle Bluff Environmental Learning Center also offers paid internships. This private, non-profit, accredited school dedicated to “fostering awareness, enhancing respect, and promoting personal responsibility for the natural world” in Lanesboro, Minnesota is currently seeking interns for paid participants for the Professional Naturalist Fellowship program. As one of 12 participants in the fellowship, you’ll develop teaching, interpretive, and public relations techniques, plus many other skills related to residential environmental education. Learn more at Eagle-Bluff.org

If you want to work in a beautiful place, but not necessarily as a naturalist, there are a number of sites that specialize in outdoor jobs. CoolWorks.com can point you toward over 75,000 seasonal job or careers including summer jobs in Yellowstone, Yosemite, or another national parks, jobs as camp counselors, and a range of opportunities at ski resorts, ranches, theme parks, tour companies and more.

At ColoradoGuide.com you can search under categories like executive, administrative, computer/technical support, conservation, travel/hospitality and more. For example when I clicked on the category “Guide Services,” I discovered a company in Snow Mass, Colorado with an opening for a fly fishing guide/right hand man or woman. Qualifications include knowledge of entomology, great people skills, die hard fly fisher.

If, like Pinau Merlin, you’re a nature lover who also enjoys writing, why not build on Merlin’s success by writing about holes in Maine, Hawaii, Kansas, Alaska, England, Spain, Nigeria, Pakistan or wherever you live or visit? But what if you’d love to write a book but nature just isn’t your thing. If Merlin’s success has taught us anything, it’s that if there’s a market for a book on animal holes in Arizona then there’s simply no end to the possibilities. Just ask Kendall Crolius. Crolius is the author of a wonderfully off-the-beaten path how to book called Knitting With Dog Hair: Better a Sweater from a Dog You Know and Love Than From a Sheep You’ll Never Meet.

About the Author

Off the beaten path career counselor, Valerie Young, abandoned her corporate cubicle to become the Dreamer in Residence at ChangingCourse.com, offering free resources to help you discover your life mission and live it. An expert on the Imposter Syndrome, she's presented her How to Feel as Bright and Capable as Everyone Seems to Think You Are program to over 30,000 people.

Find more articles written by Valerie at ChangingCourse.com/articles/

Happiness is something that comes into our lives through doors we don't even remember leaving open. ~ Rose Lane

Featured Resource

Tap Your Wildest Dreams... Find Your True Calling...
and Take a Giant Leap Toward a Whole New Life...

Making Dreams HappenSix months from now, you could be doing work you really love... and enjoying the freedom, flexibility, and quality of life you deserve. Find out from experts Barbara Sher, Barbara Winter, and Valerie Young exactly how you can make it happen… starting today.

With the life-changing program, Making Dreams Happen, you don't need to have a well-defined goal. In fact, you don't even need to know exactly what your dream is. We'll teach you...  

  • A sure-fire way to banish the "I wish I could, but..." from your vocabulary and replace it with surprisingly productive ideas you probably didn't know you had in you...   

  • The creative secret behind making a living without a job…

  • A shockingly easy, amazingly productive technique to generate fascinating business ideas… and open up an incredible range of positive possibilities for living the life you've always dreamed of… 

Learn more about making your dreams happen at ChangingCourse.com/makingdreamshappen.htm

 

A ship in harbour is safe, but that is not what ships are built for. ~ William Shedd

Work At What You Love Workshop Updates

Special Add-On Workshop:
Turn Your Everyday Snap Shots into Cash

I have some breaking news about this August’s Work at What You Love workshop. At the eleventh hour, I was able to arrange for Lori Appling, director of the American Writers and Artists Institute’s Travel Writers Program and professional photographer and digital photography instructor Rich Wagner, (Rich will also be on the Friday night panel) to run a special add-on fast-track version of their popular The Ultimate Travel Photographer’s Workshop. 

The optional add-on workshop is an abbreviated version of what is normally a 3+ day program. Their sell-out program in Paris in May cost $1397. But you can attend this 1+ day session for only $149 – and receive the first installment of the self-study course, Turn Your Pictures into Cash: A Comprehensive Course in Taking and Selling Amazing Photographs (a $79 value).

To learn more about the photography course scroll down to the Upcoming Workshops & Teleclasses section of the newsletter or visit ChangingCourse.com/courses.htm

Learn From People Who Have Done It

Ask any of our past workshop participants, and they’ll tell you that one of the most inspiring and informative segments of the program is the panel of local entrepreneurs. In this week’s Work at What You Love Update, I’d like to introduce you to three more inspiring entrepreneurs who will be on hand to share how they changed course. (If you missed the business owner profiled in the last update go to the newsletter archives at ChangingCourseArchives.com/issue119.html)

Retirement Community Developers Nancy and Heather Whitley

Every one has a dream. For some, its being a writer or a jewelry maker or a fitness trainer or running a doggie day care center. Then there are people who have what I call a “Big Dream.” Two women with a Big Dream are Nancy and Heather Whitley of Northampton, Massachusetts.

This enterprising couple is well on their way to establishing a retirement community both in Massachusetts and in Costa Rica. Nothing new about a retirement community, right? But what Nancy and Heather did was take an established business and niche market it to a specific demographic group. (You’ll learn more about the power of niche marketing at the workshop). The niche Nancy and Heather are going after is the growing population of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender baby boomers who are thinking ahead to retirement. They haven’t yet launched their formal website but you can take a look at their one pager at ParadiseCityVillage.com

Self-employment is nothing new to Nancy and Heather. For the last seven years, Nancy has owned her own home health care service and Heather took what she learned in her various corporate jobs to establish herself as a small business consultant. What I find remarkable about is Nancy and Heather is that they aren’t rich. And yet these average income women are totally undaunted at the prospect of putting together a projected $23 million dollars to fund the project. While the project is still in the pre-construction phase, their revenue goals are solidly on track.

If you have a Big Dream but can’t imagine thinking on this kind of grand scale, be prepared to take good notes because Nancy and Heather are going to share exactly how they got other people to invest in their dreams… and how you can too!

Karen Orfitelli, Children’s Book Writing Instructor

You never know when the decision to finally change course will hit. The seeds of Karen Orfitelli’s writing life started as an unspoken aspiration after she graduated from college. But, like many would-be writers, life was filled with rearing children, teaching, and graduate school. The dream of becoming a writer seemed like a dim and distant memory.

Then, one blistering hot August day in 1991, everything changed. Karen had just returned from Cape Cod and, as she was standing in the laundry room knee deep in sand-covered towels, she had an urgent sense that it was time to act on her dream of becoming a writer. Moments later, she stepped out of the laundry room back into a life-changed person.

Karen made good on her decision. She went on to have more than 300 articles published and is a former editor for McGraw-Hill Publishers. Karen never lost her love of children, a love she satisfies in two ways. In addition to reviving her earlier career as an English teacher, Karen is also a senior instructor for the Institute of Children’s Literature based in West Redding, Connecticut. From her home on Cape Cod, Karen provides one-to-one editorial feedback and guidance to adult students enrolled in the Institute’s Writing for Children and Teenagers course (visit ChangingCourse.com/children.htm to read my full review of this course).

Karen will talk about both how she launched her own successful freelance writing career as well as the opportunities that exist for article and book writers in the children and teen market and what it takes to succeed in this growing field.

Karen Rhodes, Interactive Story Teller and Franchiser

Karen is getting to be a regular at these workshops. I first met Karen at the Making Dreams Happen workshop Barbara Sher, Barbara Winter and I did in Boulder, Colorado two summers ago. Last May, she once again made it to the Dreams Can’t Wait seminar up in Kennebunkport, Maine. Karen will be at this summer’s event as well, but there’s one important difference. This year Karen is coming as a success story!

During one of our Idea Parties in Boulder (you’ll get to experience an Idea Party at the workshop this summer) Karen asked the group for help on a specific idea. She’d been running a highly successful business for some years. Now she wished she could find a way to franchise it but didn’t know where to begin. The group barraged Karen with ideas. Now, a mere two years later, she’s putting the finishing touches on her “business in a box.” But I’m getting ahead of myself.

This mother of four and home schooler’s unique foray into entrepreneurship began when she decided she wanted to somehow turn her love of history and acting into a money-making venture. Equally high on Karen’s list of priorities was to come up with a business where she could also bring her children. But what?

Inspiration often comes from the simplest things. Karen liked to read true life stories to her children about people she admired and wanted them to emulate. She found herself thinking, “More people should know these stories.” Then one day she took the kids to see the fictionalized movie version Anastasia. The historically inaccuracy of the film spurred her to design a program she called, “The True Story of Anastasia.”

Karen began by putting the story in terms simple enough for a six-year-old to understand. Then, knowing many mothers didn’t know the real story either, she decided to include them in the program too. But that wasn’t the only reason. Karen wisely understood that if the mothers were involved with their children, she could do more interesting and complicated things… like adding crafts, food, and even a lesson in waltzing where mothers and daughters dress up for a miniature “royal ball.”

In keeping with her original goal to somehow involve her own children, she enlisted her three daughters to work beside her in what would become a fun and financially rewarding weekend and summer business. The program was so successful that Karen designed more programs, including one inspired by the movie Mulan and another based on the book Little House on the Prairie.

All of which brings us back two years to that Idea Party in Boulder. Between the validation, the inspiration, and the information she received at the workshop, the on-going support of her Barbara Sher style Success Team (as an attendee you’ll also get the benefit of being part of your own Success Team), and her own hard work and determination, Karen’s Idea Party wish is now a reality.

Creating a turn-key business allows her to help other women who share her passion for history or who have an undeveloped theatrical side. Plus her particular “business in a box” provides a great solution for other mothers who want to earn money but don’t want to have to leave their kids with a babysitter to do it.

In addition to being a panelist, Karen will be joining us for the entire workshop… so you’ll have plenty of time to pick her brain. You don’t have to be a parent to benefit from hearing about how Karen successfully developed and marketed her creative business idea and the steps she took to create a franchise. Like all successful ventures, Karen’s began with an inspired idea… and so will yours.

Travel Updates

Accommodations

We recently negotiated another special conference price at the Clarion Hotel. This full service hotel is very close to the Best Western and just a little over a mile from the conference site. Weekday rate is $89, weekend rate is $135. For reservations call the Clarion at (800) 582-2929 and ask for the Changing Course rate.

Renting a Car from the Amtrak Station

Outside of the airports, a lot of local car rental companies have limited weekend hours which of course makes it difficult to return your car after the seminar. I did some digging and found a company called In & Out Car Rental (less than 2 miles from Amtrak) that’s open Weekdays 6:00 a.m.-9:00 p.m. and weekends from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. They also said they should be able to pick you up at the train station. Rentals run from $29.95-$34.95 and the first 100 miles are free which is good unless you plan to do extra site seeing while in the area (Northampton is about 21 miles from their location). If you do take a cab there, they’re just over the bridge at 143 Park Ave, West Springfield on the corner of Union Street at a Shell station. Call (413) 737-8250 for reservations.

Private Forum Set Up for Workshop Participant to Connect

Lisa has set up a forum on the new Changing Course Bulletin Board where workshop attendees can meet before the workshop to introduce themselves and share hopes and dreams for the workshop.

There’s also a special section to connect around travel arrangements. For example, if you’re arriving at the Hartford-Springfield airport or the Amtrak station in Springfield around the same time as others, you can save money by making a group reservation for the Valley Transporter Shuttle. Staying at one of the area hotels? Connect with others to car pool to the Hotel Northampton. Visit it at ChangingCourse.com/forum

Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.
~ John Wooden

Compass

The Changing Course Newsletter
Copyright 2004
Lisa Tarrant, Editor
Valerie Young, Publisher
info@changingcourse.com
www.ChangingCourse.com
7 Ripley Road
Montague, MA 01351

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Visualize this thing you want. See it, feel it, believe in it. Make your mental blueprint and begin. ~ Robert Collier

Guest Article

Do Men and Women Do Mid-Life Crisis Differently?
From Crisis to Opportunity Women Are Inventing Themselves

By Susan Reimer Torn

Some fifteen months ago, I sent out a letter to 50 women in 7 different countries asking if they shared my feeling that we were at a significant crossroads. Did they feel that one phase of their adulthood was drawing to a close and that now was the time to envision chapter two? The response was unequivocal and spiked with urgency-almost all the women intuited a now or never opportunity to make choices that would significantly influence the rest of their lives.

At about the same time I conducted my survey, Sue Shellenbarger, the World Street Journal’s Work &Family columnist was interviewing 50 different women about their experience of the “midlife crisis” (a term heretofore mostly reserved for men in the throes of a second adolescence.) Sue Shellenbarger sat up and took notice of the responses to her inquiry. In her own words, as quoted in the Wall Street Journal Online on April 1, the subject of women at mildlife “had touched a hidden nerve.” Never in her 30 years as a journalist charting social trends had she “experienced interviews as moving as these.”

In Shellenbarger’s new book, “The Breaking Point: How Female Midlife Crisis is Transforming Today’s Women” she draws upon a recent study conducted by the MacArthur Foundation on “Midlife in the United States” which reveals that “a startlingly high number” of women– statistics point to 15 million –undergo a personal crisis in their late 40’s. They described the crisis as a turbulent time “when old values and goals no longer made sense to them.”

The first stage is characterized by “inner turmoil, a sense of frustration and disappointment.” This dip in well being is explained by the statistical evidence that before the age of 50 only a small minority of women felt they had fulfilled their dreams. In fact a majority of those queried described the ages of 35 to 49 as “a lowest ebb of fulfillment in their entire adult lives.”

Women’s midlife transition is attaining the status of a social phenomena, marking our times much as the boomers’ “ Generation Gap” and “Sexual Revolution” defined the 60’s and 70’s. I see it as a neo-feminist declaration of a woman’s right to creative self-determination at any age. Shellenbarger is convinced that women’s midlife transitions will send “visible ripples into society” and if you initiate the conversation at your next dinner party, you will surely remark that the ripple effect is well underway.

Responses to midlife turmoil reveal important gender differences. The study shows that women experience a deeper crisis, more radical changes and more positive long-term results than do men. For most women, after the age of fifty, there is a remarkable turn around: Frustration is alleviated, new territory is broached, risks are taken, self defeating patterns are broken, all of this resulting in reports of “dramatic rebound” and “powerful renewal.” Wherein lies the difference between the genders? While men in midlife crisis often resort to exploits and acquisitions (i.e. sports cars and trophy wives) women tend to withdraw into a chrysalis of introspection.

What transforms crisis at midlife into a regenerative opportunity? When Shellenbarger reports the widespread renewal among women, she emphasizes that women are “driven by some new insight into themselves.” She also highlights women’s willingness to explore issues with friends and their readiness to “openly seek solutions” such as coaching and support groups.

Whether you are a man or woman approaching or immersed in mid-life the opportunity for renewal abounds. The key is to use this time wisely to grow, to risk, to renew.

About the Author

Susan Reimer Torn is a recognized expert on the compelling needs of midlife women and founder of the Women Inventing Themselves (WIT) network. Her unique coaching program focuses on upgrading social and professional visibility. Susan's eye-opening workshops have been well received at Morgan Stanley, N.Y.U., the 92nd St Y and a variety of women's organizations. This article is excerpted from Susan’s Keep Your WITs e-newsletter. To download a PDF of the full e-review go to VisibilityProject.com/witnews-spring05.pdf Learn more about Susan’s exciting, in depth approach to self development at VisibilityProject.com

Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming. ~ John Wooden

Upcoming Workshops & Teleclasses

This Summer, Discover How to Replace Your Job With Work You Really Love… and Gain the Freedom, Flexibility, and Quality of Life You Deserve Work at What You Love Workshop, August 19-20, 2005

  • Find out how you can escape the J-O-B box… and uncover a whole new world of possibilities.

  • Tap your wildest dreams... and create a step-by-step plan to make them happen right now...

  • Discover the powerful secret to turning almost anything into an alternative to a job...  

  • Highly successful entrepreneurs do it instinctively. Now you can, too. Learn powerful, proven techniques for transforming ideas into bankable income.

Work at What You Love:
The Life-Changing Workshop for
People Who Want to Quit Their Jobs and Get a Life

August 19-20, 2005
Northampton, Massachusetts

ChangingCourse.com/workshop.htm

Can You Take a Simple Picture?

If yes, you could make $200-$2,000 a week taking snap shots in your own backyard… on your family vacations… or anywhere in the world you care to travel.

You don't need fancy equipment. And you don't need to know a thing about photography to get started.

This August 20th-21st you'll learn first-hand just how easy it is to turn your snapshots into cash, and enjoy the freedom, independence, and travel that freelance photography delivers. All while you explore one of New England’s most enchanting cities.

Rich Wagner professional photographer, digital photography instructor, and frame shop owner (and a panelist at this summer’s Work at What You Love workshop) and Lori Appling, Director of the American Writers and Artists Institute’s Travel Writer program will be your instructors at this “fast track” condensed version of their popular 3+ day course The Ultimate Travel Photographer's Workshop.


Saturday August 20th from 5:00pm-7:30pm
Sunday, August 21st from 8:00am-5:00pm 
Northampton, Massachusetts

ChangingCourse.com/courses.htm

(*Note: You do NOT need to attend Work at What You Love to register for this special photography course.)

Compass

The View From
the Other Side

“…you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

~ Steve Jobs

Compass

 

Resources for a Change

Getting Your Articles Out on the Web

One of the best ways to establish yourself as an expert amongst a large number of potential clients and customers – and possibly attract interest from the press looking for experts to interview – is to get your articles out on the internet.

There are a number of article submission sites that will distribute your articles for you. A few are free, others charge a yearly or per article fee. The one I’ve had success with is Article Announcer http://groups.yahoo.com/group/article_announce which also happens to be free. Some other sites that take submissions include: 

NetterWeb.com
EzineArticles.com
Amazines.com
GoArticles.com
MakingProfit.com
IdeaMarketers.com
ListADay.com
ChooseToProsper.com

Creative Education and Inspiration

Creative Career Schools.com offers a wealth of information for people interested I careers like graphic design, fashion design, museum curator, and other art related careers. Features a directory of art and design schools and colleges, articles on how to work as freelance artist, tapping your creativity and more, and links to sites to help you launch your successful art career

That’s where I learned about a wonderful non-profit called Art-Start. This New York City based organization brings the arts to children in homeless shelters. If you’ve been thinking about ways to put your vocation where your values are you’ll be inspired by this organization and the people who started it.

WritersOnTheRise.com is monthly e-zine and web site designed to “spark writers’ creativity, authenticity and sense of satisfaction.” Aimed at both emerging and established writers the site features interviews, articles, tips and photos from successful authors, as well as how-I-did-it-style articles from writers who are soaring to new heights.

Join a Success Team

Barclay Williams is a woman with a dream. Like most of us though, she’s finding it’s far easier to “think” about changing course than to actually doing it. So Barclay is seeking 4-5 Raleigh, North Carolina area dreamers to be a part of a Barbara Sher-style Success Team interested in meeting once a week to help one another go from idea to reality. For more information on Success Teams and how they work visit SherSuccessTeams.com. To join Barclay’s Raleigh area team, email her at barclaywilliams@yahoo.com with some possible evenings or weekend meeting times and the best way to contact you.

Work At What You Love

Finally, if you want to work for yourself look to people who are doing it. If you can’t join us at this summer’s Work at What You Love, I encourage to scroll up to the Workshop Update to read the inspiring stories of some of our small business panelists. If you missed the four panelists profiled in the last issue, click here.

Working for Yourself May Be Good for Your Heart

According to British researchers, dull, steady, unexciting jobs may make the heart beat in an unchanging, rapid rhythm which in turn could lead to heart disease. A healthy heart varies, says researcher Dr. Harry Hemingway of University College London Medical School. The study, which was conducted exclusively with men, but presumably would find similar results with women, found that men in jobs with little control over their daily tasks and those in low social positions had faster and less-variable rates.

“This finding helps explain why men with low-paying jobs and less education have a higher risk for heart disease, a trend that has been evident for the last 30 years,” said Dr. Hemingway. One way to prevent heart disease he says is to change workplace conditions.

As Changing Course readers well know, there’s no better way to change workplace conditions than to get out of the workplace, start your own business, and take control over your job, your life, and your health.