I miss it really bad. I was a mechanic, a fueler, I've worked in event coordination and it all started with being a receptionist and customer service agent.
Anyway, here are some memories. I have more pictures but they are not that exciting to anyone but me. Oh well... I will try to go see everyone when I head back to California.
The shop.. prolly the best job I ever had. I miss all my tools which are sitting in my tool box in my Dad's garage 6500 miles away.

Me and the boys from the shop on a fishing trip.

Woohoo.. I used to get to fly in awesome helicopters and I had some of the coolest pilot friends ever.

If you can't tell... this is a really nice executive helicopter :)

I flew people like this dude.. and employed my awesome friends :p yay Tricia

Donne and Elana have come and gone now :/ I am sad but we had a ton of fun. We went to Burnt house, walked around London and basically just hung out. It seemed so normal for them to be here but now that I think about it... it was weird :) I really enjoyed it and Alex and I are really sad now..
I miss my family and I miss my neices. They grow up so fast...
Pretty picture of Donna and Elana in St. James' Park
Me and Elana!

Elana at Buckingham Palace
Alex is a great Uncle :) He hiked around with her for hours. Within days she would just go to Alex to cuddle and fall asleep :) Really cute.

Elana with Alex's Digg hat. Train home to Charing Cross from Granny's.

Elana and Jake decide it is nap time :) Jake is a massive cuddle bunny
Me at burnt house.... sorry I just like orange :p Cool lighting

I was thinking the other day in the shower about my favorite pair of pants. I don't know why but two pairs came to mind. Both pairs I had owned in highschool. One was a really awesome pair of olive green thin strip cords that were incredibly baggy and had like cargo pockets everywhere. I freakin loved them and I wore them everywhere. I was devastated when I was riding my bike and the leg ripped on them tho.. The other pair were from my Dad and I got them at Aeropostale on my 14th birthday. They were light blue jeans, again totally baggy... and I owned them up until a few years agowhen I decided to wear them during some home renovation.
But I will not bore you with my favorite pants anymore although, I am still going to talk about pants because in England pants means something else.
I still cannot grasp the fact that PANTS means you underpants here. It is the only word I know that sounds appropriate except jeans... but I still call my jeans pants. So when I say, I got shit all over my pants or something, yeah I get some weird looks. I can't say omg I like your pants and once I was buying jeans for Alex and asked the store clerk where he got his pants because I liked them. He looked at me like I was crazy and was like... do you mean my jeans? No idiot I have xray vision and like your boxer shorts.
So anyway, I have to be careful saying pants and am learning new words.. well not new but utilizing words such as trousers, slacks, chinos.. anything other than pants. Weak.
So another thing I can't say in England or actually these go for most places besides America... is fanny. In the US saying fanny is a nice and less vulgar way of saying your butt. We wear fanny packs... we name people fanny... we say fanny all the time so we WON"T offend people. Well don't... not outside the US. What does it mean here? It is your vagina. So you can't say oww my fanny hurts from sitting on that bench... or sit your fanny down. Or... I have a fanny pack because they may think you got it at a novelty sex store. They call it a bum bag.. which to me sounds like a medical bag that you get attached for incontenance.
So pants and fanny's. Words that I need to eliminate from my vocabulary over here. It is really hard though. To me it is like if you walked up to someone and said I like your shoes and they slapped you in the face for being vulgar. "What?! Shoes are what we call penises here.. how dare you say that word in front of me and my children." You would just be completely surprised and then when you had to talk about shoes you would never be able to think of other words for them... because they are freaking shoes and that is what you know. It would make the pick up like "nice shoes, wanna fuck?" a lot more relevant though.
And.... while we are on the subject of taboo words. I use twitter.com and so do a lot of people. It is basically just a page where you can post in short sentences what you ar doing, how you are feeling and you can send quick messages to people. People who use Twitter are Twitterers, not twats, and messages you send are call tweets. So the word tweeter is not used here really but somtimes it is. A tweeter is a type of speaker by the way. But, in my family, your tweeter was your vagina. So the words are similar it makes me cringe all the time. It would be like if the word cock made you cringe and everyone kept talking about cacks. You would be like... scuuuse me? Oh. sorry. I have friends who also did audio stuf in cars etc and everytime I heard tweeter I admit I thought about vaginas and I laughed.

YAY!!!! My sister and Elana's passport issues were fixed and they can pick them up tomorrow :)
So this is the IMDB top 250 movies of all time as voted by users. It is the best and largest database of movies and is the best place for any information on a movie from reviews and cast to parental warnings and forums. Anyway, basically I trust their sources and SO SHOULD YOU.
Anyway, Alex and I set out years ago to watch every movie listed in the top 250 and really have not gotten tooo far. Here are some issues:
Some of these movies are so old you need an old timey movie projector to watch them.
Some of the movies are reeeaaallly hard to find even online.
Some movies are just voted to the top.... ahem... because they have a huge fan base. Such as ALL of the LOTR and Star Wars movies
Some of the movies sound incredibly boring to me.
The movies near the bottom and middle, especially more recent ones pop on to the chart and then off again within a year sometimes just weeks.. so again popularity only because of ridiculously loyal fans.
Anyway, we must watch them and we will try to start nearer to the top I guess or just pick out the ones we like first. I don't know. So when we started this, the cool thing was we actualy did watch some movies that we never would have picked out and we both thought.. wow that was awesome. A few of them.. the opposite reaction :p Anyway, have a look through and rip on us for not having seen BLAH. Click on the link above for the current list if you want to know more about a movie. Oh and in case you cannot figure it out I put a D if I have seen it and an A if Alex has seen it. :p means heh. Blank means Blank. You should know that.
So without further ado.. and in VERY particular order.. ladies and gents..the top 250 movies of all time
Rank Rating Title Votes
1. 9.1 The Shawshank Redemption (1994) 411,270 ------------- D A
2. 9.1 The Godfather (1972) 343,514 ------------- D
3. 9.0 The Godfather: Part II (1974) 198,744
4. 8.9 Buono, il brutto, il cattivo., Il (1966) 120,325
5. 8.9 Pulp Fiction (1994) 338,461 ------------- D A
6. 8.9 The Dark Knight (2008) 351,859
7. 8.8 Schindler's List (1993) 224,412 ----------------- D
8. 8.8 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) 171,936 ------------D A
9. 8.8 12 Angry Men (1957) 86,832 ----------------D
10. 8.8 Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) 232,823 -------------D A
11. 8.8 Casablanca (1942) 141,799
12. 8.8 Star Wars (1977) 274,637 -------------D A
13. 8.8 Shichinin no samurai (1954) 80,505 ----------------- A
14. 8.8 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) 298,743 ---------------D A
15. 8.7 Goodfellas (1990) 185,915
16. 8.7 Rear Window (1954) 97,110 --------------D A
17. 8.7 Cidade de Deus (2002) 127,796
18. 8.7 Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) 207,752 -------------D A
19. 8.7 C'era una volta il West (1968) 57,276
20. 8.7 lotr: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) 326,896 ------------------D A
21. 8.7 Fight Club (1999) 306,608 --------------D A
22. 8.7 The Usual Suspects (1995) 224,583 ------------D A
23. 8.7 Psycho (1960) 117,742 ---------------D A
24. 8.6 The Silence of the Lambs (1991) 201,983 --------------- D A
25. 8.6 Sunset Blvd. (1950) 43,147 ---------------A
26. 8.6 Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) 133,023 ---------------D A
27. 8.6 Memento (2000) 220,866 ---------------D A
28. 8.6 North by Northwest (1959) 77,291 ---------------A
29. 8.6 The Matrix (1999) 314,966 --------------- D A
30. 8.6 Citizen Kane (1941) 119,072 ---------------A
31. 8.6 It's a Wonderful Life (1946) 85,604 ---------------D
32. 8.6 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) 272,878
33. 8.6 Se7en (1995) 224,400 ---------------D A
34. 8.6 Léon (1994) 157,361 ---------------A
35. 8.5 Apocalypse Now (1979) 144,792 --------------- D A
36. 8.5 American Beauty (1999) 245,205 --------------- D A
37. 8.5 Taxi Driver (1976) 125,082 --------------- D A
38. 8.5 Lawrence of Arabia (1962) 67,171 --------------- A
39. 8.5 American History X (1998) 178,736 --------------- D
40. 8.5 WALL·E (2008) 121,821 --------------- D A
41. 8.5 Vertigo (1958) 75,364 --------------- D
42. 8.5 Slumdog Millionaire (2008) 86,775 --------------- D A
43. 8.5 Paths of Glory (1957) 35,904
44. 8.5 Forrest Gump (1994) 239,710 ---------------D A
45. 8.5 Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain, Le (2001) 146,939
46. 8.5 M (1931) 32,079
47. 8.5 Double Indemnity (1944) 29,410
48. 8.5 To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) 69,006 ---------------D
49. 8.5 The Departed (2006) 206,235 ---------------D
50. 8.5 Alien (1979) 147,087 ---------------D A
51. 8.5 A Clockwork Orange (1971) 158,671 --------------- D A
52. 8.5 The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) 26,738
53. 8.5 Das Leben der Anderen (2006) 52,557
54. 8.5 The Third Man (1949) 42,022
55. 8.4 The Shining (1980) 142,097 --------------- D A
56. 8.4 The Pianist (2002) 102,865
57. 8.4 Chinatown (1974) 63,915 ---------------D A
58. 8.4 Saving Private Ryan (1998) 224,122 --------------- D A
59. 8.4 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) 176,163 --------------- D A
60. 8.4 Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (2001) 78,546 --------------- D A
61. 8.4 Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) 186,836 --------------- D A
62. 8.4 Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) 132,563 --------------- D A
63. 8.4 Requiem for a Dream (2000) 146,698 --------------- D A
64. 8.4 L.A. Confidential (1997) 140,626
65. 8.4 Aliens (1986) 139,661 --------------- D A
66. 8.4 Das Boot (1981) 59,395
67. 8.4 The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) 49,093--------------- D A
68. 8.4 The Wrestler (2008) 38,479
69. 8.4 City Lights (1931) 20,850
70. 8.4 Laberinto del fauno, El (2006) 118,846 ---------------D A
71. 8.4 Reservoir Dogs (1992) 173,277 --------------- A
72. 8.4 Rashômon (1950) 31,198
73. 8.4 The Maltese Falcon (1941) 42,986 --------------- A
74. 8.4 Raging Bull (1980) 73,200 ---------------D
75. 8.4 All About Eve (1950) 29,105
76. 8.4 Modern Times (1936) 27,999
77. 8.3 Singin' in the Rain (1952) 45,760 ---------------D A
78. 8.3 Der Untergang (2004) 62,812
79. 8.3 Metropolis (1927) 31,473
80. 8.3 Rebecca (1940) 28,676
81. 8.3 Some Like It Hot (1959) 55,438
82. 8.3 Gran Torino (2008) 41,708 --------------- D A
83. 8.3 The Prestige (2006) 152,932 ---------------D
84. 8.3 Amadeus (1984) 80,223 ---------------D A
85. 8.3 Vita è bella, La (1997) 87,281 --------------- D A
86. 8.3 The Elephant Man (1980) 46,186 --------------- D
87. 8.3 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) 133,491 --------------- D A
88. 8.3 The Apartment (1960) 28,905
89. 8.3 Nuovo cinema Paradiso (1988) 36,045
90. 8.3 The Great Escape (1963) 50,595 ---------------D A
91. 8.3 Sin City (2005) 207,211 --------------- D A
92. 8.3 Full Metal Jacket (1987) 122,313 ---------------D A
93. 8.3 The Great Dictator (1940) 29,003 ---------------A
94. 8.3 Once Upon a Time in America (1984) 57,472 --------------- A
95. 8.3 The Sting (1973) 54,290 --------------- D
96. 8.3 Touch of Evil (1958) 26,648
97. 8.3 Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) 27,416 ---------------D
98. 8.3 Ladri di biciclette (1948) 20,766
99. 8.3 Sjunde inseglet, Det (1957) 28,995
100. 8.3 On the Waterfront (1954) 33,113
101. 8.3 Back to the Future (1985) 163,033 --------------- D A
102. 8.3 Hotel Rwanda (2004) 72,810
103. 8.3 No Country for Old Men (2007) 153,153
104. 8.3 Braveheart (1995) 201,496 --------------- D A
105. 8.3 Batman Begins (2005) 222,261 -----------------D A
106. 8.3 Jaws (1975) 114,355 ---------------D A
107. 8.3 Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) 145,452 ---------------D A
108. 8.3 Strangers on a Train (1951) 27,270
109. 8.3 Blade Runner (1982) 155,440 ---------------D A
110. 8.3 Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) 178,831 ---------------D A
111. 8.3 Unforgiven (1992) 77,840 ---------------A
112. 8.2 The Manchurian Candidate (1962) 29,608 ---------------A
113. 8.2 The Green Mile (1999) 157,411 --------------- D A
114. 8.2 Notorious (1946) 25,459
115. 8.2 High Noon (1952) 28,099
116. 8.2 The Big Sleep (1946) 23,791
117. 8.2 There Will Be Blood (2007) 98,995
118. 8.2 Oldboy (2003) 71,856
119. 8.2 Gladiator (2000) 226,774
120. 8.2 Fargo (1996) 138,657 --------------- D A
121. 8.2 Cool Hand Luke (1967) 36,623
122. 8.2 Per qualche dollaro in più (1965) 32,598
123. 8.2 The Wizard of Oz (1939) 85,686 --------------- D A
124. 8.2 Die Hard (1988) 148,623 --------------- D A
125. 8.2 Mononoke-hime (1997) 52,432 ---------------D A
126. 8.2 Donnie Darko (2001) 169,893 --------------- D A
127. 8.2 The General (1927) 15,942
128. 8.2 Yojimbo (1961) 23,575
129. 8.2 Ran (1985) 28,380
130. 8.2 Smultronstället (1957) 16,509
131. 8.2 Witness for the Prosecution (1957) 13,905
132. 8.2 Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) 10,142
133. 8.2 It Happened One Night (1934) 19,805
134. 8.2 Annie Hall (1977) 53,033 ---------------D
135. 8.2 Heat (1995) 117,364 --------------- A
136. 8.2 Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) 188,129
137. 8.2 Salaire de la peur, Le (1953) 10,802
138. 8.2 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) 72,965 ---------------D A
139. 8.2 The Deer Hunter (1978) 71,692 ---------------D A
140. 8.2 The Sixth Sense (1999) 202,145 ---------------D A
141. 8.2 Platoon (1986) 89,453 --------------- D A
142. 8.2 Into the Wild (2007) 63,078
143. 8.2 Ben-Hur (1959) 47,961 --------------- D
144. 8.2 Million Dollar Baby (2004) 110,337
145. 8.2 Notti di Cabiria, Le (1957) 8,344
146. 8.1 The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) 112, --------------- D A
147. 8.1 Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) 10,834
148. 8.1 Diaboliques, Les (1955) 10,878
149. 8.1 Life of Brian (1979) 77,457 --------------- D A
150. 8.1 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) 47,277
151. 8.1 8½ (1963) 22,598
152. 8.1 The Big Lebowski (1998) 142,347 --------------- D A
153. 8.1 Ratatouille (2007) 99,625 --------------- D A
154. 8.1 The Grapes of Wrath (1940) 18,760 ---------------D
155. 8.1 The Killing (1956) 19,672
156. 8.1 Amores perros (2000) 48,911
157. 8.1 Snatch. (2000) 135,622 --------------- D A
158. 8.1 The Graduate (1967) 63,642 --------------- D
159. 8.1 Finding Nemo (2003) 130,671 ---------------D A
160. 8.1 The Night of the Hunter (1955) 19,867
161. 8.1 Dog Day Afternoon (1975) 46,793
162. 8.1 Stand by Me (1986) 73,526 ---------------D A
163. 8.1 Brief Encounter (1945) 10,265
164. 8.1 The Gold Rush (1925) 16,487
165. 8.1 Gandhi (1982) 40,627
166. 8.1 The Wild Bunch (1969) 25,273
167. 8.1 Gone with the Wind (1939) 63,852 ---------------D A
168. 8.1 Trainspotting (1996) 123,227 ---------------D A
169. 8.1 V for Vendetta (2005) 175,140
170. 8.1 Scarface (1983) 120,524 ---------------D A
171. 8.1 The Lion King (1994) 104,229 ---------------D A
172. 8.1 The Thing (1982) 60,236 ---------------D
173. 8.1 The Princess Bride (1987) 107,349 ---------------D A
174. 8.1 Harvey (1950) 18,915
175. 8.1 Groundhog Day (1993) 108,796 ---------------D A
176. 8.1 Shadow of a Doubt (1943) 16,644
177. 8.1 The Incredibles (2004) 127,150 ---------------D A
178. 8.1 Toy Story (1995) 113,723 --------------- D A
179. 8.1 Sleuth (1972) 13,445
180. 8.1 Battaglia di Algeri, La (1966) 10,390
181. 8.1 Umberto D. (1952) 6,589
182. 8.1 Children of Men (2006) 124,045 ---------------D A
183. 8.1 The Hustler (1961) 20,682
184. 8.1 The Terminator (1984) 140,804 ---------------D A
185. 8.1 Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) 8,494
186. 8.0 Twelve Monkeys (1995) 138,617 ---------------D A
187. 8.0 The Ox-Bow Incident (1943) 7,003
188. 8.0 The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) 14,151
189. 8.0 Låt den rätte komma in (2008) 15,511
190. 8.0 The African Queen (1951) 28,505 ---------------A
191. 8.0 The Kid (1921) 9,789
192. 8.0 Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) 99,326 --------------- D A
193. 8.0 Letters from Iwo Jima (2006) 42,170
194. 8.0 Duck Soup (1933) 21,835
195. 8.0 Stalag 17 (1953) 16,985
196. 8.0 The Lady Vanishes (1938) 14,086
197. 8.0 Hotaru no haka (1988) 26,191
198. 8.0 The Conversation (1974) 25,996
199. 8.0 Casino (1995) 85,823 ---------------D A
200. 8.0 The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) 18,735
201. 8.0 In Bruges (2008) 58,845
202. 8.0 Dial M for Murder (1954) 22,900
203. 8.0 King Kong (1933) 31,596 ---------------D A
204. 8.0 Scaphandre et le papillon, Le (2007) 20,029
205. 8.0 Ed Wood (1994) 59,977 --------------- A
206. 8.0 All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) 17,221
207. 8.0 Anatomy of a Murder (1959) 12,610
208. 8.0 Crash (2004/I) 141,257
209. 8.0 The Exorcist (1973) 83,596 --------------- D A
210. 8.0 The Lost Weekend (1945) 9,613
211. 8.0 A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) 26,763 --------------- D A
212. 8.0 The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) 27,680
213. 8.0 Rope (1948) 24,198
214. 8.0 Bonnie and Clyde (1967) 32,795 --------------- A
215. 8.0 Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004) 146,560
216. 8.0 Watchmen (2009) 3,451 <---------------------- :P
217. 8.0 Rosemary's Baby (1968) 39,160 --------------- D
218. 8.0 Patton (1970) 32,631
219. 8.0 Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) 15,097
220. 8.0 Strada, La (1954) 13,768
221. 8.0 His Girl Friday (1940) 16,721
222. 8.0 Wo hu cang long (2000) 94,134 ---------------D A
223. 8.0 Frankenstein (1931) 18,764
224. 8.0 Coraline (2009) 7,164 <------------------------- :P
225. 8.0 Glory (1989) 47,558
226. 8.0 Sweet Smell of Success (1957) 6,929
227. 8.0 Changeling (2008) 27,005
228. 8.0 Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922) 23,528
229. 8.0 Little Miss Sunshine (2006) 118,904 --------------- D A
230. 8.0 The Philadelphia Story (1940) 23,078 ---------------A
231. 8.0 Safety Last! (1923) 3,896
232. 8.0 Magnolia (1999) 103,082 --------------- A
233. 8.0 Network (1976) 25,498
234. 8.0 Manhattan (1979) 30,987
235. 8.0 Big Fish (2003) 109,859 --------------- A
236. 8.0 Roman Holiday (1953) 24,846
237. 8.0 Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) 24,673
238. 8.0 Mystic River (2003) 92,950
239. 8.0 Spartacus (1960) 41,173
240. 8.0 In the Heat of the Night (1967) 18,517
241. 8.0 Vals Im Bashir (2008) 7,211
242. 8.0 Laura (1944) 11,282
243. 8.0 Dolce vita, La (1960) 15,682
244. 8.0 Great Expectations (1946) 7,741 ---------------D
245. 8.0 Rocky (1976) 72,751 ---------------D A
246. 8.0 Dev.D (2009) 1,703 <------------------- :p
247. 8.0 Belle et la bête, La (1946) 7,983
248. 8.0 The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) 19,237
249. 8.0 Harold and Maude (1971) 23,161
250. 8.0 Frost/Nixon (2008) 16,022 ---------------D A
Note from IMDB
The formula for calculating the Top Rated 250 Titles gives a true Bayesian estimate:
weighted rating (WR) = (v ÷ (v+m)) × R + (m ÷ (v+m)) × C
where:
R = average for the movie (mean) = (Rating)
v = number of votes for the movie = (votes)
m = minimum votes required to be listed in the Top 250 (currently 1300)
C = the mean vote across the whole report (currently 6.7)
for the Top 250, only votes from regular voters are considered.
So a few things have happened in the last few weeks that I could NEVER have predicted.
1) I have a job lined up.
2) My sister and my neice are visiting me.
3) I adopted kittens..
I have been playing the role of a house wife/ tour guide for the past year or so and I will say it all has its ups and downs. I like cooking dinner every night, I hate laundry and hate being alone. But I have adapted to that and now I am adapting to two new family members, a new schedule and getting stupidly excited that I have visitors coming :)
So my job is with an airline and I am really excited about it. The role is sort of more of a starter position in aviation however, I have never worked for an airline so it is my first step in the door. Plus... no one is hiring so at this point I am happy to take any job and I was just lucky they decided to hire me. Good people and a good company.. I will update later after I start. I don't know when I start but that is a whole other story. It will be interesting and oddly somewhat of an ego blow to be turning in my coveralls and tool box for a skirt and high heels..
My sister and Elana are coming in less than a week and I am sooo excited. I have already bought diapers and some snacks for Elana. I am also planning obsessively and trying to memorize which tube stations have step free access. I know most of the bus routes so that really helps because the bus is slower but might be easier. I just really never thought my sisters would ever visit me because they have busy lives and kids.. so it was a massive surprise.
Lastly, the kittens. I think it was way too soon to get them. It has been pretty tough but they are a lot of fun. They are sometimes little cuddle kitties but often they are destructors of doom. I sort of got them with some expectations and I should not have done that. However, I am really getting attached to them they are learning a lot about being good kitty cats. I really enjoy their personalities so don't get me wrong, I am definately appreciating them for who they are :P
So that is it. I am still drinking a ton of diet coke. I always have to tell you when I went to the gynocologist for some reason so yeah 2 weeks ago :p Oh and Alex is still awesome. Hopefully I will post more and they will be a lot more inspired than this one.. Such a dull post that you can't tell I am in a really good mood haha.. just tired.
Don't know why I am really posting this.. but this is Donna's bathroom that I layed the floor for back in November. There is more floor and a toilet around the corner to the left. I am really pissed because the caulk looks bad. I shoul have used gray and may sneak in next time and replace it. Ahh well. I did have the flu when I did it haha... It's not that bad I just nit pick my work :)
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