Champs! James' triple-double lifts Heat to title

MIAMI (AP) ? The decision is final: LeBron James made the right call coming to Miami.

Finally an NBA champion, it's all worth it now.

James had 26 points, 11 rebounds and 13 assists, and got the kind of help that was worth leaving home for, leading the Heat in a 121-106 rout of the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday night to win the NBA Finals in five games.

Best player in the game, best team in the league.

James has found it all since taking his talents to South Beach.

"It means everything," James said moments after the win. "I made a difficult decision to leave Cleveland but I understood what my future was about ... I knew we had a bright future (in Miami). This is a dream come true for me. This is definitely when it pays off."

He left the game along with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh for good with 3:01 remaining for a round of hugs and the start for a celebration he's been waiting for since arriving in the NBA out of high school as the No. 1 pick of the 2003 draft.

James hopped up and down in the final minutes, shared a long hug with opponent Kevin Durant, and watched the confetti rain down from the rafters.

The Heat took control in the second quarter, briefly lost it and blew it open again in the third behind their role players, James content to pass to wide-open 3-point shooters while the Thunder focused all their attention on him.

Bosh and Wade, the other members of the Big Three who sat alongside James as he promised titles at his Miami welcoming party two summers ago, both had strong games. Bosh, who broke down in tears as the Heat left their own court after losing Game 6 last year, finished with 24 points and Wade scored 20. The Heat also got a huge boost from Mike Miller, who made seven 3-pointers and scored 23 points.

The disappointment of losing to Dallas in six games last year vanished in a blowout of the demoralized Thunder, who got 32 points and 11 rebounds from Durant.

That made it easier for James, the most heavily scrutinized player in the league since his departure from Cleveland, when he announced he was "taking his talents to South Beach" on a TV special called "The Decision" that was criticized everywhere from talk shows and water coolers straight to the commissioner's office. James has said he wishes he handled things differently, but few who watched the Cavaliers fail to assemble championship talent around him could have argued with his desire to depart.

He found in Miami a team where he never had to do it alone ? though he reminded everyone during his sensational postseason run that he still could when necessary. He got support whenever he needed it in this series, from Shane Battier's 17 points in Game 2 to Mario Chalmers' 25 in Game 4.

In the clincher it was Miller, banged-up from so many recent injuries that he practically limps from the bench to scorer's table when he checks in. He made his fourth 3-pointer of the half right before James' fast-break basket capped a 15-2 run that extended Miami's lead to 53-36 with 4:42 remaining in the first half. James had 15 points, five rebounds and five assists at halftime, with the Heat ahead 59-49.

Durant added 11 rebounds for the Thunder, who made a remarkably early trip to the NBA Finals just three years after starting 3-29. With Durant, Russell Westbrook, Serge Ibaka and James Harden all 23 or younger, the Thunder have the pieces in place for a lengthy stay atop the Western Conference.

But their inexperience showed in this series, a few questionable decisions, possessions and outright mistakes costing them in their franchise's first playoff appearance since Seattle lost to Chicago in 1996. Westbrook scored 19 but shot only 4 of 20, unable to come up with anything close to his 43-point outing in Game 4, and Harden finished a miserable series with 19.

Nothing they done could have stopped James, anyway.

Appearing fully over the cramps that forced him to sit out the end of Game 4, he was back to his dominant self, a combination of strength and speed that is practically unmatched in the game ? and rarely seen in the history of it.

Wade skipped to each side of the court before the opening tip with arms up to pump up the fans, then James showed them nothing wrong with his legs, throwing down an emphatic fast-break dunk to open the scoring. He made consecutive baskets while being fouled, showing no expression after the second, as if he'd hardly even known he was hit. Drawing so much attention from the Thunder, he started finding his wide-open shooters, and the Heat built a nine-point lead before going to the second up 31-26.

Oklahoma City got back within five early in the third before consecutive 3-pointers by Chalmers and Battier triggered a 27-7 burst that made it 88-63 on another 3-pointer by Miller. James didn't even score in the run until it was almost over, hitting a pair of free throws after he was flagrantly fouled by Derek Fisher while powering toward the basket.

Gone was the tentative player who was mocked for shrinking on the big stage last year, too willing to defer to others who didn't possess half his talents. This time, he was at peace off the court and on attack on it, vowing to have no regrets and playing in such a way they wouldn't be necessary.

James promised multiple titles at his welcoming party, and the Heat have three pieces to build around. Pat Riley will have to fill some holes on the roster, but will likely find some players eager to come to Miami for the good weather and great chance to win.

Miller was one of them last year, and though injuries have ruined his effectiveness, his shooting turned this into the only blowout of the series after Miami had outscored Oklahoma City by just 389-384 over the first four games.

Notes: Miami became the third team to sweep the middle three games at home in the 2-3-2 format. The Detroit Pistons took all three from the Los Angeles Lakers in 2004 before the Heat did it against Dallas in 2006. ... Coach Erik Spoelstra tied Riley for the Heat franchise record with his 34th postseason win. He is 34-22, while Riley was just 34-36. ... The four-game losing streak that Oklahoma City finished the season with was its longest of the season. The Thunder had dropped three straight games to Memphis, Miami and Indiana from April 2-6.

___

Follow Brian Mahoney on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Briancmahoney

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Sitcoms of a Certain Age

The foundations of TV Land's prime-time schedule include Home Improvement?and other lower-brow hit comedies, many of which involve middle-age white men living in the Tri-State area with their nagging wives. Two years ago, it launched its first original series, Hot in Cleveland, on which showbiz veterans (Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves, Wendie Malick) play showbiz veterans resettling themselves in Ohio, on a set with a couch in the middle and Betty White attending to the Polish jokes in her role as the elderly caretaker. Its success led to subsequent TV Land originals including Happily Divorced (with Fran Drescher as a gay divorc?e splitting a home with her gay ex-husband) and The Exes (where talent from Scrubs, Seinfeld, and 3rd Rock From the Sun perform scenes on a midlife dating-and-roommates theme). On each of these shows, the material, like the characters, is of a certain age, and that is the point.?

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Romney says Michigan win would hand him presidency

FRANKENMUTH, Mich. (AP) ? Now the likely Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney was back home in Michigan on Tuesday ? where, he says, the "trees are the right height."

"I'm going to win Michigan, with your help!" Romney told the crowd gathered outside the sprawling Bavarian Inn Lodge in this resort town. "If I am lucky enough to be elected president, I'll be the first president in American history to have been born in Michigan."

Flying home on his campaign plane Monday night, Romney joked about a past comment that drew some ridicule ? and repeated it for his traveling press corps. "When we land, look around, and you'll see the trees are the right height," he said, to laughter. Asked if carrying the state in November would have special meaning, Romney said: "If I win in Michigan, then I become the president, and that would mean a lot to me personally."

Romney is the former governor of Massachusetts, but he was born in Michigan and raised in the suburbs of Detroit. His father, George Romney, ran a car company ? American Motors Corp. ? and went on to run the state as governor.

In 1968, George Romney failed to win the Republican presidential nomination, a prize his son is set to be officially awarded at the Republican National Convention in August. It's been a long journey that began nearly six years ago, when Mitt Romney launched his unsuccessful bid for the 2008 GOP nod.

Michigan is one of several states that could make the difference in November. It's not on his campaign's list of top targets ? that's reserved for what the campaign sees as traditionally Republican states like Virginia and North Carolina and swing states like Ohio and Florida.

But it's one of a number of Rust Belt states President Barack Obama won in 2008 and where Romney's campaign team sees an opportunity.

"There's another level of states that are all states that Obama won last time," said deputy campaign manager Katie Packer Gage, a Michigan native. "And he won't win if he doesn't win them again."

Romney faces an uphill climb in Michigan. There's a strong Democratic base in Detroit, and he's already struggling to explain his opposition to the federal bailout that saved General Motors and Chrysler.

Romney started Tuesday in Frankenmuth, where he participated in a round-table discussion with small-business owners and then held an outdoor rally. He stopped at the Sweetie-licious pie shop in the afternoon and made an unannounced detour to an ice cream shop in Holland, where he said his campaign is "thoroughly vetting" Sen. Marco Rubio for vice president. He concluded his five-day bus tour on the shores of Lake Michigan. At each stop, he criticized Obama's energy policies but steered clear of mentioning the auto bailouts.

Romney's campaign has been filled with reminders of his Michigan roots. George Romney's photo was tacked to a wall in the campaign bus during the primaries. Supporters come to campaign rallies armed with Romney '68 memorabilia and stories about volunteering on his father's presidential campaign.

The Republican presidential challenger also has talked about his love for Vernors, a distinctive ginger ale that's popular in Michigan and has strong carbonation that sometimes prompts sneezing. And there are the cars ? the product of the industry that's driven Michigan's culture and economy. Romney loves them, and easily recalls exactly what he was driving during special moments in his life. On the campaign trail, he frequently mentions the Rambler, the car his father seized on as a way to revive a struggling American Motors.

In Troy, Ohio, on Sunday, Romney climbed into the front seat of an immaculately maintained 1961 Rambler owned by 20-year-old Michael Scheib. "I've got a '63, but it's not in as good condition," Romney told Scheib as the young man took his burger order at the local hamburger shop.

"Brings back memories," he told reporters afterward.

Still, cars caused Romney some problems before the Feb. 28 Michigan primary. During one event, Romney mentioned that his wife, Ann, drives "a couple of Cadillacs," a comment that helped paint him as out of touch with Americans struggling in a bad economy.

And while Romney's opposition to federal support for GM and Chrysler wasn't a big issue in the GOP primary, Democrats continue to criticize him for it. Romney has struggled to clarify his position, saying that he supported the managed bankruptcy that eventually restructured GM. Still, he was opposed to using federal money, and attacked the bailouts during the primary campaign.

There are already signs he plans to soften his tone. "He's going to acknowledge, as he has, that President Obama and he ultimately shared the same goal, which was to see the auto industry survive and thrive," said Gage, the deputy campaign manager. "They just had different ways of going about it. He's pleased to see that he does seem to be getting stronger."

Romney steered clear of the issue during his early events Tuesday. Instead, he and his wife told stories about growing up in Michigan.

"People don't know, like, how wonderful it is to be from Michigan," Ann Romney said, to cheers from the crowd. She held up her hand, as Michiganders do, to help outsiders understand its mitten-shaped geography. "I love coming here and showing the hand."

At their final stop, on the shores of Lake Michigan in Holland, both Mitt and Ann Romney kicked off their shoes and walked through the sand down to the water. Holding hands, they walked into the water.

Ann had said earlier: "Lake Michigan! Yay!"

___

Follow Kasie Hunt on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/kasie

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Video: High temperatures scorch Midwest, head East

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Sprint HTC Evo 4G LTE Users Currently Locked Out Of Google Wallet

For the past few weeks, users of the new HTC Evo 4G LTE on Sprint have been unable to get Google Wallet working. It would hang at the ?adding prepaid card? dialog and eventually timeout with a message to try again later. This was verified to be an Evo LTE issue only since modifying the device?s build.prop file to identify it as a Galaxy Nexus would fix the issue.

Lately, however, Wallet changed its behavior and began displaying an error message that seemed more ominous, telling users ?Google Wallet has not yet been certified in your country or on your device / carrier.? The app is then basically dead in the water.

There are currently two rumors as to why this is happening. The first is that Google is working on a fix and this new error message is simply a stop-gap measure until the fix is ready. After all, it?s better to tell the user the app won?t work than to just hang and let the user wonder what?s going on. The second rumor is that Sprint is blocking Google Wallet since they plan to launch their own NFC payment solution called?Touch.?We?re hoping it?s rumor #1 and NOT rumor #2. I don?t like the idea of different payment systems for different carriers.

There is a lot of discussion about this topic going on over at XDA. Hit the source links below to check them out.

source: xda 1,?xda 2,?xda 3,?xda 4
via: android police

View full post on Android News, Rumours, and Updates

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Arthritis Treatment Linked to Liver Problems in Study

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$600000 :: 17561 Shepherds CT, Lake Oswego OR, 97035 ? Lake ...

Posted by admin on Jun 19, 2012 in Blog

4 beds, 2 full, 1 part baths
Home size: 3,011 sq ft
Lot Size: 5,662 sq ft
Property Type: DETACHD
MLS Number: 12557716

This amazing home is adjacent to a greenbelt in a quiet 5-lot subdivision. Fabulous upgrades & amenities: Viking, Bosch, plantation shutters, B/I vac, Brazilian cherry floors, beautifully crafted woodwork, wrought iron balusters, ?Bainultra? air jet tub, A/C, security, whole house networking, attic fan, gutter guards. Near schools, tennis, fields, I-5 & short walk to the lake.

Listed with RE/MAX Equity Group

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Brought to you by Chris Larsson, Coldwell Banker Seal. Call me today at 503-683-2897!

The content relating to real estate for sale on this web site comes in part from the IDX program of the RMLS? of Portland, Oregon. All real estate listings are marked with the RMLS? logo, and detailed information about these properties includes the names of the listing brokers. Listing content is ? 2009 RMLS?, Portland, Oregon.

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Lake Oswego Map Seach
Tags: real, Sale, 17561 Shepherds CT

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Chris Larsson- Lake Oswego Real Estate Agent

Let me help you find everything you need to know about buying or selling real estate in Lake Oswego, OR! I have been a top-producing Coldwell Banker real estate professional for over 8 years in LO. I am 120% dedicated to providing world-class concierge level service to my clientele.

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