Reliance Industries Ltd.: Reliance Q2 profit rises 17% to Rs 9,516 crore, GRM at $9.50 per barrel | Stainless Steel Braided Sleeve

Al-Anon/Alateen: 12-step support group for families and friends of alcoholics. 800-449-1287 or www.greensboroalanon.org.

Following the catheter base liner is a braiding to provide additional strength. The braiding is typically some form of stainless steel, nitinol or other biocompatible metal. Such braiding can take a variety of forms and pick counts to tailor mechanical properties of the device.

Cassidy Harris, realtor associate with CENTURY 21 Preferred, was awarded with the CENTURY 21 System’s Pinnacle Producer Award for customer satisfaction for 2017. The award is given to members who receive a minimum index of 95 percent for two consecutive years.

Interstate 15, runs from Sweet Grass, Montana, all the way to San Diego, California! According to DeseretNews, the 181-mile stretch of the road that goes from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, Nevada is exceptionally dangerous! The high-risk road is said to be due to the long, dark and straight shot roads running through the desert, making it quite easy for drivers to speed up and stop paying attention to what they are doing, says the source. Getting distracted on the road is far too easy, however, it is not something you want happening on a major road such as the Interstate 15.

One recurring theme we noticed: new customers are getting better packages, for less money, than existing customers. When pricing out comparable bundles for the bill guides, we generally saw that new customers were being offered the same or better service for $10-$20 less than our current customer. We even found one ten-year Charter customer, whose bill we did not publish, paying roughly $75 per month more than a brand-new customer, getting similar service, in their neighborhood would. Customers who do happen to live in competitive markets might as well shop around, check with other businesses, and see who’s offering the best deal. Competition has this way of dropping prices and improving available service, after all. Unfortunately, a huge percentage of us live in markets where we are stuck with a cable/broadband monopoly, so switching is off the table. The conventional wisdom says that if you can’t quit, you may as well negotiate. And for a long time, that was good advice. As recently as 2014, our siblings at Consumer Reports put together a handy list of tips for negotiating a better deal with your cable company. Even in a 2015 survey Consumer Reports still found that by and large, the 42% of customers who tried to negotiate were able either to reduce their bills or to get more services included for the prices they were paying. Anecdotally, however, it appears that the big companies — especially Comcast — aren’t as interested in negotiating with you as they used to be. Consumerist readers who have tried to negotiate better TV or triple-play rates with Comcast in recent months tell Consumerist that the company is simply not playing anymore, and the calls are ending either with rates unchanged or with Comcast calling a would-be cord-cutter’s bluff, and cheerfully snipping their service. Why the turn-around from extreme efforts at retention to a “don’t let the door hit’cha on the way out” attitude? Perhaps the wave of high profile, awkward, painful, retention-related PR disasters the company endured in 2014 and early 2015 has finally pushed it in that direction. Or maybe they’re just reading the writing on the wall: pay-TV has been losing customers for a while, after all, while broadband subscriptions are going up, up, up. And pay TV costs a lot more to provide, and has much thinner profit margins on it, than broadband service does. So, friends and readers, we leave you with a parting curiosity. We want to know: if you think your bills are too dang high, have you tried negotiating, and how has that worked out for you? [polldaddy type=”iframe” survey=”B107034769717C73″ height=”auto” domain=”kcoxconsumer” id=”cable-negotiation-1″]

SPOTTED: DCCC Chairman Ben Ray Luján (N.M.) and Democratic Reps. Ted Lieu (Calif.), Mark Takano (Calif.), Zoe Lofgren (Calif.), Ted Deutch (Fla.), Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.), Brad Schneider (Ill.), David Cicilline (R.I.), Lois Frankel (Fla.), Charlie Crist (Fla.) and Debbie Dingell (Mich.).

There are 40 qualified bidders competing for the 28 GHz spectrum, including Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile, but none of the major cable operators are eyeing wireless plays—though Cox is signed up for the 24 GHz auction of spectrum for 5G, which has larger license sizes and will begin as soon as the 28 GHz auction ends.

New Year, New You Wellness Expo: noon-4 p.m. Jan. 12, Griffin Recreation Center, 5301 Hilltop Road, GB. 336-373-2928.

Greensboro Host Lions Club: noon, first and third Mondays, PorterHouse Bar & Grill, GB. Mark Gaylord, 336-282-2936 or www.gsohostlions.org.

Once Moonves’ annual Emmy reason to show face — Showtime’s CBS Corp. broadcast sibling doesn’t fare as well in Emmys’ sexier categories — the Showtime party again hosted a mix of network talent, staffers and hangers-on.

In the Don Valley, Toronto’s wooded oasis from the urban jungle, 1,495 people recorded their ride on The Don: Ridge Leaside Bridge to Cricket Tree segment. There may not be any mountains in Toronto, but this super buffed slice of urban singletrack delivered a high speed, winding cross country escape from the city streets for over a thousand Toronto riders in 2018.

His slam in the third quarter led to some good-natured ribbing from teammates such as Torrey Craig, who also had a high-flying dunk.