Great yachts start with great design, and Hanse is proud to employ one of the best yacht designers in the world. Judel/Vrolijk (J/V) designs every Hanse yacht, and they are quite simply the best designers of cruising and racing yachts in the world. Their designs win awards, and their yachts win races. Judel/Vrolijk shot to fame when ‘Alinghi’ won the America’s Cup and they have over 20 years’ experience designing the very best production yachts. Once design is complete, Hanse engineering ensures quality and precision at every stage. Hanse uses vinylester and/or epoxy resins in the lay-up of their hulls, resulting in a yacht that is strong yet light and virtually impervious to any water penetration or osmosis. Every Hanse keel is fixed to the hull with stainless steel bolts and 20 mm thick backing plates. The bulkheads are glassed in laminate to the deck and the hull, resulting in a yacht that will safely cross any oceans. Hanse steering systems are built in Denmark by Jefa, a company recognized as a worldwide leader for rudder and steering components. Hanse boasts a tall performance tapered mast, a large mainsail and a non-overlapping selftacking headsail, making each Hanse yacht beautifully balanced and allowing for fast sailing with ease and limited crew. Hanse includes many performance features as standard on all their yachts: tapered masts, top quality sails and strong performance rigging. Below deck, each Hanse yacht boasts an open, contemporary interior with incredible attention to detail. As always quality is the word at every stage. Details such as a real wood veneer used throughout the boat, standard microfiber for the upholstery, top and bottom drawer style fridges, separate showers and a generous number of opening hatches are details that again set Hanse yachts apart from the rest.

“Hanse Yachts is proud to join forces with JK3 Nautical Enterprises. At Hanse Yachts we offer yachts with affordable modern construction, lots of living space, and outstanding sailing performance. These Yachts are a perfect fit for the West Coast, which is well represented by Jeff Brown and his team.” – Doug Brophy, Managing Director, Hanse USA. JK3 has a new model Hanse 385 on order for delivery and display at the San Diego Sunroad Boat Show, January 26 – 29 2012. For more information, contact JK3 Nautical Enterprises, Inc.

Are you ready for some football? I know we’re only mid-way into spring and the shine off the newly crowned New Orleans Saints has only begun to glean, but its time to take the magnifying glass to the 2010 Kansas City Chiefs football schedule released today. They Chiefs kick-off their season at Arrowhead Stadium with a matchup against newly anointed quarterback Kevin Kolb and the Philadelphia Eagles on Friday, August 25 at 7pm. They open the regular season at home with a featured spot on Monday Night Football against the San Diego Chargers on Monday, September 13 at 9:15 pm. Past the opener, other interesting matchups include facing up against Josh McDaniel’s Denver Broncos on the November 14 game, going on the road to test Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts on October 10 as well as battling the NFC West Champion Arizona Cardinals at home on November 21. For full schedule information, checkout Chiefs Schedule.

Scott Pioli has made nice strides in his first draft and looks to build on his work at the NFL draft in the coming weeks. Lots of speculation is swirling about as to what direction KC will go with the number 5 pick. Catch all the action unfold on ESPN April 26.

Conan O’Brien may have exited the Tonight Show in salicious fashion, but he isn’t leaving his fans hanging. After a few weeks of much needed R&R, Coco will be heading out on tour to bring his comedy act to the masses. He’ll be stopping by Kansas City’s The Midland on Sunday, May 16, at 8pm. Old cohort Andy Richter will be in tow as well as his band from the Tonight Show. For more information, check out Conan O’Brien Tour.

Tickets go onsale through Ticketmaster on Thursday, March 11 at 10am, and there will also be a special allotment of tickets for American Express cardholders that will be released at the same date and time. If you don’t find the seats you are looking for, there will also be a sale running in tandem for American Express cardholders. Ticket prices run $79.50 to $39.50.

Pearl Jam is getting ready to rock the Sprint Center like it was 1994. The Seattle grunge icons have laid out 10 cities they’ll call home this May, and on Monday, May 3 at 7:30pm they’ve decided to settle into Kansas City. The band is touring in support of their latest album “Backspacer” which was released last fall. It climbed to number 1 on the Billboard Album Charts in its first week of release. Band of Horses will be offering opening support for Pearl Jam on their upcoming tour. For more information on tour stops, checkout Pearl Jam Tour.

Tickets go onsale to the general public through Ticketmaster.com on Friday, March 19 at 10am. Ticket prices are $69 for floor and lower level seating and they range from $69 to $49 in the upper level of the arena.

Tween heartthrob Justin Bieber is the apple of little girl’s eye across the country, and he’s ready to launch his first headlining tour to promote his upcoming album release “My World 2.0.” The ambitious “My World Tour” will blanket 40 cities in less than 3 months, and he’s set to play Kansas City’s Sprint Center on Wednesday, July 28 at 7pm. Sean Kingston will be providing opening support on the upcoming tour. For expanded tour information, visit Justin Bieber Tour.

Tickets go onsale to the general public through Ticketmaster on Saturday, March 27 at 10am. There is an Internet presale and VIP Packages being offered in advance on Thursday, March 18 at 10am. Ticket prices will run from $29.50 to $49.50.

The fabled Lady Gaga stage show is about to become a reality for Kansas City as she brings her Monster Ball Tour to the Sprint Center on Tuesday, August 3 at 8pm. Lady Gaga is headlong into her world tour and has just announced another 30+ dates for North America. She’s now catering to arena crowds, which is a big jump from her theater run just last fall. For a full listing of cities that will comprise the new tour, checkout Lady Gaga Tour.

Tickets for the Sprint Center show go onsale to the general public on Monday, March 29 at 10am. There is a presale for both Citi cardholders and Virgin Mobile subscribers on Tuesday, March 23 at 10am. Ticket prices range from $85 for the general admission floor to $175 to $49.50 for reserved seating options. Lady Gaga promises to bring with her a show you won’t soon forget.

We’re going to do the ceremony and reception on that yacht, so I was wondering if anyone has any experience with yacht weddings? This yacht has 3 floors (bottom for reception, grand stair case to middle foor for cocktail hr, top floor outside)… I’d love any yacht wedding ideas for photo ideas, cool things to do to make it special etc… Also, if anyone has any photographers with yacht experience that would be great to!

Regarding suspicion about banks. I am not suspicious enough! I believe that every possibility should be considered and it’s those suspicious people out there (like JeffK!) that help me see the downsides to what I would like to do. It’s not necessarily the number of applications but I believe they COULD have a $ limit that is invested before they decide to lower the rate. Due to the delay in online application and processing, they can change the interest rate when they reach $X to mature on a certain date. Not necessarily a conspiracy but could be a business practice.

I don’t base my decisions on an economist either but consensus between a group of economists tends to reflect the market. Currently the consensus seems to be that there definitely will be a rate cut next month and it’s more a case of how much. Personally, I speculated that there would be a 25 basis point cut and another 25 basis point the month after but with the banks cutting term deposit rates NZ so aggressively, it tends to point to a 50 basis point cut. Seems like the economists (SFX) are leaning towards a 50 basis point cut too:
“NAB would only commit to passing on a rate cut of up to 25 basis points if the Reserve cuts by 50 basis points – and the Sydney Futures Exchange said there was a 61 per cent chance it would”

I’m so glad I saw your post! I’ve always had hand-me-down pots and pans and they were starting to get old and chipped and I was afraid of the teflon coating getting in my food. So for Christmas I asked for a brand new eco-friendly cookware set. I ended up getting the Cuisinart GreenWare Eco-friendly 10 pc. cookware set. It has a “ceramica” non-stick coating instead of the teflon coating. The handles are made of recycled steel and the pots and pans are supposed to heat up quicker than others.
You can see stonedine cookware.
I only just started using them, but so far it works pretty well. I did a lot of research before I asked for this specific set and this was the best one for the price (about $150-$190). You can get it at Bed, bath, and beyond or on Amazon.com.

Good luck finding a great set!