Alleviating suffering

When we see real and unavoidable suffering all around us—on television and even within our own communities and families—we may experience helplessness or guilt. We know that these two responses do not serve others yet we don’t know what else to do sometimes. It may seem particularly indulgent and selfish to focus on ourselves when others are struggling with basic survival. How can we let ourselves get wrapped up in figuring out whether we should go back to school, start a new career, or even what to do about a problematic relationship while others are worried about having enough food or shelter or medicine? The answer I offer is that it is an illusion to think in such either/or terms. The truth is that we don’t have to and shouldn’t choose between helping others and helping ourselves simultaneously. Why? Because the more we do to alleviate our own unnecessary suffering, the more we are available to help serve others whose suffering is unavoidable. We naturally feel compassion for those who suffer from pain, illness, poverty, natural disasters, or political repression and we are drawn to seeking ways to help, such as donating money or even our blood. But our ability to help will be limited by the amount of our self-inflicted suffering. What is the source of this unnecessary suffering? There is an old Buddhist saying that our worst enemy cannot harm us as much as our own thoughts. The truth is that our self-imposed suffering is caused by our self-judgments. When we tell ourselves that we are unworthy in any way, such as convincing ourselves we don’t deserve a loving relationship or a great job because we’re too fat/old/stupid/bad, we not only are likely to make this a self-fulfilling prophecy, we will not be able to offer others hope either. We may even surround ourselves with people who have the same limiting belief, which will simply reinforce our unworthiness. If you have ever had “a bad hair day,” then you know exactly what I mean. You wake up in the morning and for whatever reason, you don’t feel good about yourself. You go out into the world and what happens? No one flirts with you. Or you feel invisible. Or someone is rude to you, as though your feelings don’t matter. The world mirrors back to you in a myriad of ways that you don’t look or feel good about yourself. When we judge ourselves, the world will mirror back this judgment on us. So if we think we are unworthy in any way, we will get this reinforced, not because the world or the universe is cruel, but because we exude an energy that invites this feedback. If we are mired in self-judgments, we are limited in our capacity to be of any real help to others. Think for a moment about the last time you were in need of some moral support. Where did you turn to? Probably not to someone who you knew was also having a hard time in that moment, someone who was equally, if not more, stressed. We turn to those who are capable in that moment of picking up the slack, those who are not enduring to the same degree or at least not in the same way as we are. So if we want to help others, it is crucial that we alleviate our self-imposed suffering. But how do we stop judging ourselves? By exiting Courtroom Earth and choosing to hang out in Classroom Earth. Courtroom Earth is where we are our own judge, jury, and executioner. Classroom Earth is where we recognize that we are all students learning through making mistakes, practicing, and taking risks. In Classroom Earth, we don’t have to defend ourselves. Instead, we take responsibility for our errors, make amends (including to ourselves), forgive ourselves, and move on. In Classroom Earth, we practice new behaviors, ones that are in alignment with who we wish to become, not who we have always judged ourselves to be. Because we truly want to be helpful and alleviate others’ suffering whenever possible, and because we deserve alleviation from our own suffering, we must make a decision to choose our thoughts wisely and compassionately. Whatever self-judgment you have been carrying around for years—yes, that one, the one that never goes away and you continue to find new evidence for—let it go. Be willing to see something better in yourself. Be willing to let others see something better in you. You will not only free yourself from unnecessary suffering, you will be of greater service to your loved ones and to your community.

Terrific and terrifying pianos

What’s the best piano you’ve ever played on? What’s the worst? Can the quality of pianos that are used for composing and performing seriously affect your musical output? Here are some thoughts. Two of the most remarkable pianos ever built are the nine foot Steinway and the nine-and-a-half foot Bosendorfer. The Bosendorfer is more of a conversation piece because of its additional low notes, used for extra resonance when playing the sustain pedal. Both brands are of the highest quality, and produce a sound and key action second to none. There are so many quality brands these days that deserve honorable mention. Heintzman pianos are generally gems and Yamaha are producing wonderful instruments. I could go on, but I’d rather talk about lousy pianos. It’s more fun. Terrifying pianos are just another name for poorly maintained pianos. Although these types of pianos can be found virtually anywhere, occasionally they are found in schools and in retirement homes. What a shame! A bad piano in a school supplies students with a lesser music education. Musical demonstrations by an instructor are out of tune and private piano tutoring is a disastrous effort on such instruments. Retirement homes with bad pianos are truly a tragic circumstance. Just because residents in a home are retired, doesn’t mean that the poor piano has to retire from a life of tuning and maintenance. Yours truly encountered one such piano in a retirement home in Baltimore, Maryland. The year was 1988, and it was the year that I came closest to breaking a finger. While playing a Chopin study (opus. 10 no. 8), my right hand third finger actually got stuck in between two black notes! Ouch! One of the black keys was too close to the adjacent black key, either through poor construction or through some sort or warping process over time (probably the latter). The otherwise happy Chopin Etude must have had a painful emotional feel to it from about the midway point of the composition until its conclusion. Thankfully, this was the last piece on the program. Suffice to say, there were no encores. Here’s another gem of a piano. When first arriving at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, I was invited to a house of a friend. After dinner, I was asked by our charming host to perform on their piano for the three couples that were also invited to dinner. On this occasion, I decided to play the Chopin Barcarolle. To my great surprise, the piano was out of tune by more than a semitone. To a composer with perfect pitch, this is a death sentence. Before going on, no implication was intended in labeling Baltimore and the surrounding areas with an infestation of bad pianos. Two bad pianos in one state is nothing more than an unfortunate coincidence. From the above past experiences, it can be concluded that badly maintained pianos can most definitely have a negative impact on performers. However, can the quality of a piano actually improve ones output? After all, it can be argued that music comes from within and that true emotion will not be subdued, regardless of the instrument that one is composing or performing on. In the practical world, good equipment is always an asset. If a piano delivers a quality, singing tone, it becomes addictive to play. That, alone, is an extremely positive consideration. Any composer or performer that has incentive to remain at their instrument for greater lengths of time is bound to produce positive results. Another point to consider is that a singing tone makes ones soul sing. Any performer or composer that is brought to a state of singing is in a very positive creative place. As a final thought, a well maintained piano makes for a happy performer, composer and piano. The better the instrument is, the better the chance of a successful emergence of profoundly moving performances and compositions from performers and composers respectively.

Adolescent anger management strategies

Adolescent anger management is becoming more prominent in our society. Traditionally, children who enter this last acute phase of bodily and mental development can go through some rough times. As kids enter their preteen and then their teenage years, chaos can ensue at times for everyone involved. A child or young adult may feel that his or her body and mind are out of control occasionally, and the parents and teachers who supervise children at this age may tend to agree. Anger can spring out of nowhere to challenge innocent requests and reasonable expectations. Yet kids between the age of twelve and sixteen sometimes react in unpredictable ways, surprising those around them and even themselves and requiring the intervention of adolescent anger management strategies. Today’s teens face even greater pressures than those of the past. By age eighteen, most have witnessed thousands of murders on television and video games. Some are involved in violent or illegal gang activity. Others come from broken homes where domestic violence and substance abuse are the norm. By the time they start going through puberty, their entire existence may seem out of their control, and they may grow increasingly enraged, acting out their anger in antisocial ways that require adolescent anger management. Adolescent Anger Management and Juvenile Delinquents Sadly, many teens experience frustrations that drive them to vent anger toward people or things, breaking civil laws. This type of behavior often leads to incarceration, or at the very least, intervention by parents, teachers, law enforcement officials, and juvenile experts who attempt to train children how to respond in age-appropriate ways. Adolescent anger management programs teach kids individually or in peer groups how to identify negative feelings, work through them in the right kind of ways, seek help when needed, and practice more mature behaviors. During periods of time spent at juvenile detention centers, teens involved in adolescent anger management programs can learn how to improve their behavior in socially acceptable ways. Therapists can help to point out alternative attitudes and behaviors to teens who have never seen positive responses to everyday irritations modeled for them by responsible adults. They may be able to learn directly from the therapist how to manage difficult feelings, and they can read resource materials or visit websites like anger-management-information (site is not complete yet) for more information about this condition, and how to address it. They will find others like themselves who are learning how to get along with people and accept the situations that cannot be changed. Community Adolescent Anger Management Programs If you have or work with a teenager that is struggling with angry outbursts and a poor attitude, get in touch with a teacher or psychologist at your child’s school or a community social services organization that can direct you to self-help resources or a local adolescent anger management group that might be willing to admit your child. Letting unresolved anger fester or continue to be displayed in dangerous ways can lead to serious consequences. Get your teen the help that is needed for coping with this behavioral disorder.

Network attached storage an alternative to tape back up

Businesses have been using tape to back up their data since the early days of computing. Tape has its limitations, but it was much cheaper than the alternatives, so its use continued. Today, the situation is changing. The price of disk storage has come down dramatically and the performance, longevity and use characteristics of disk are far superior to tape. As a result, many businesses are looking to move away from tape for their backup and disaster recovery needs. The key requirements of an ideal backup scheme are: • It must be economical. Large amounts of data need to be accommodated (due to the need to keep multiple versions of the data), but in many cases the data will never be accessed. Its contribution to the company’s bottom line only comes if the data is needed, otherwise, it is an unnecessary expense. • It must be reliable over the long term. Some data must be stored for long periods of time, perhaps decades in some situations, to meet regulatory and business needs. If that data is ever needed it must be readable and accessible. When tape sits unused for a long period, it gets brittle and is prone to breaking and data loss. • It must be quick and easy to set up and operate. Back-up windows are getting tighter as the hours of operation increase and the amount of data continues to grow. As a result, the speed of the backup is critically important. If the backup process can be automated, human errors and costs are reduced. • Restoring data, either individual files or a whole system, must be quick, easy and reliable. Today, it can take a long time to retrieve tapes from their offsite storage. Data on tape is stored sequentially so access to specific records can be cumbersome. Reading the tapes can be problematic if the tape is old, brittle or distorted. All this uses precious IT resources that would be better spent elsewhere. Disk storage has none of these issues. The NAS Approach With prices in the $2 per GB range, Network Attached Storage (NAS) systems are rapidly becoming the ideal, cost-effective back-up solution. • Disk-to-Disk data transfer speeds far exceed those of writing to tape, so more data can be backed up in less time. • Disk storage has greater longevity than tape, so the data is going to be there and accessible when you need it. • Random access to data on disk saves time when trying to restore specific files. • NAS devices are independent, complete systems that connect directly to your network so they don’t impact your other systems. • Tape rotation schemes are possible with disk-based systems and sophisticated ones can eliminate duplicate files for more compact storage. • For smaller amounts of data, removable disk drives mounted in hot-swap enclosures can provide a competitive alternative for offsite data storage. • Locating a NAS system in another office and backing it up over the network provides a fast, automated remote backup. In the event of a disaster, the backup system is immediately ready to step in for rapid recovery and business continuity. Many businesses are implementing a staged approach, where an onsite NAS provides fast backups and restores for servers and workstations. Then, to prepare for a disaster that destroys or prevents access to the primary place of business, the data is automatically replicated to a second NAS at another location. For rapidly changing and highly important data, the on-site and off-site systems can be set up to mirror each other, so that little or no data is lost if disaster should strike. There are other reasons for deploying a NAS system. By accomplishing multiple goals, the NAS can be even easier to justify. Examples include: • Additional end user storage. Centralized storage is easier to back up than data stored on many end user systems. • Ideal for central repositories for workgroup or departmental data that must be shared. • Regulation compliance, such as email retention requirements for HIPAA or Sarbannes-Oxley. Even if you decide not to abandon tape backup entirely, you can use a NAS as a rapid staging server to gather the data from other systems quickly during your backup window. Then let the NAS feed the data to the tape unit without worrying about time constraints. This is referred to as disk-to-disk-to-tape backup. Network Attached Storage systems are quickly becoming the preferred data sharing, management and backup solution for enterprise applications and database environments.

Breaking the rules on how to get erection with levitra

Decrease in sexual urges can lead to various untold situation. It brings halt to your normal life and your relation with your partner may proof to be serious and sometimes you may be on a verge of a break up. Sexual dysfunction comprises various disorders like decrease in sexual drive, loose the ability to achieve or maintain a sexual excitement, loose the ability to achieve orgasm or uncontrolled ejaculation. Disorders related to sex lead to anxiety, sexual frustration, and also insomnia. Mainly, sexual disorder relates to erectile problem. But, remember that every problem has a solution. Levitra is solution to such so called sexual dysfunction. It is a medicine specially formulated to treat erectile problems. Its use has improved the quality of erections in majority of men. FDA have approved it and confirmed it that problems of erectile can be cured at any age. Recent studies confirmed that patients consuming Levitra is experiencing quality erections. Now, how does Levitra work? It helps increase in blood flow to the penis and keep an erection that last long enough to finish a sexual act. Once a sexual act is over, the blood flow must stop and this what Levitra does. It has been clinically proved that it improve erection quality even for men who have high cholesterol, high blood pressure, or diabetes. A lot of man who tried Levitra for the first time found it to be effective and tried it again. According to them it helps them to maintain their erection for a longer time during intercourse and gives full satisfaction. It comes in 2.5-mg, 5-mg, 10-mg, and 20-mg tablets and is taken only when needed. A tablet a day is enough to keep you sexually fit. But it’s your doctor who will decide whether you need to have Levitra or not and if needed then what’s the dose. Besides clinical trails have found that the most commonly side effects are headache, flushing, stuffy or runny nose. One thing that should be kept in mind that Levitra doesn’t work in sexually transmitted diseases. So if you are experiencing a lack in your sexual urges, better go to your doctor.

7 Ways to ensure you re paying the right creditor

Many consumers do not know that once a delinquent account is reported to a collection agency a consumer has a short amount of time to pay the bill. This is because collection accounts are put on a nationwide registry and each collection agency in the country gets notified of a collection account. However, only one collection agency has a legal right to collect money on a delinquent account. It can be very difficult trying to make payments on a collection account because a collection agency holds a collection account for a few months, it they are unsuccessful in collecting on the debt owed the account is forwarded to another collection agency. This process continues until the account is paid or legal action is taken against the consumer. Collection agencies don't want you to know that as a consumer you have a legal right to question the validity of a collection agency which is called debt validation. Many consumers have paid money on delinquent accounts to a particular company only to find out that the company did not legally have a right to collect money on that account. As a result the consumer still owed the money on the delinquent account. To prevent this from happening to you, here are 7 ways to validate a debt and ensure you are paying the right creditor or collection agency: 1. Request the creditor, collection agency or attorney to provide documentation that the company is authorized to collect on the debt. Ensure the name and address of the collection agency appears on the documentation which should be on company letterhead. 2. Ask for proof of the total amount of the debt including payment history from with the original creditor and status of the account. Verify the documentation against your own records. 3. Request the collection agency to provide the original contract or other documentation showing the agreement you made with the original creditor including the name and address of the original creditor. 4. Ask the creditor to provide a copy of their business license to prove they are licensed in their state to collect money on delinquent accounts. However this varies from state to state. 5. If the creditor use profanity, harasses you, is rude or threatens you inform the collection agency that they are subject to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), they might argue and say they are not but they are considered debt collectors and are covered under the act. 6. If the creditor cannot verify the debt they cannot collect any money owed on your account and is not allowed to contact you about the debt. They also cannot report the account on your credit report. 7. A creditor may respond to your debt validation letter by sending you a summons to appear in court. This is a scare tactic and is illegal. A creditor has to validate the debt before they can file suit against you. Keep records of all documentation you receive and all documentation you mail. Send all documentation via certified mail with return receipt. If you find that the creditor or collection agency is violating the FCRA you can file a complaint with your local small claims court, notify the credit bureaus and file complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, ftc. gov. Article originally published at EzineArticles.

Energy boosters

: I needed to learn about energy boosters. Fatigue and a lack of energy have been problems for all my life. In an effort to find out why, I've asked doctors, read books, and finally decided that some questions just won't be answered in my lifetime. Fortunately, I've also learned that even without discovering the root causes of my tiredness, there are things I can do to alleviate it. Below are some of energy boosters that have worked for me and others over the years. Try them to see which work best for you, and use more than one at a time if necessary. Ten Energy Boosters 1. Energetic music. Different types of music have different effects on us, but you can learn which are best for you by trial and error. Once you find the music that wakes you up, keep it ready. Keep a tape in your car, and a CD in the player at home. 2. Sleep better. The research seems to show that as long as you get at least five hours of sleep, the quality is more important than the quantity. Try drinking something warm before bed, or relax with a simple meditation. 3. Talk about something interesting. Have you ever seen a tired person start to talk about something they're passionate about, and suddenly "wake up." It's a powerful technique you can use for yourself. Have a few "favorite" subjects that get you going. 4. Coffee. For some of us, caffeine makes us more tired when it's abused, but short-term, it can work wonders. 5. Deep breathing. Several slow deep breaths help oxygenate the blood supply better, and especially seems to wake up the brain. 6. Have an "energy drink." The verdict isn't in on most of them, but it's a cheap option to try. I seem to get something from the ones with Ginkgo Biloba in them. 7. Move your body. Sometimes just getting up and washing the dishes, or walking around the house helps boost energy levels. 8. Exercise. It's not a quick solution, but many people notice an increase in their energy level when they get regular aerobic exercise. 9. Hot and cold shower. Try a minute of hot water, then a minute of cold, alternating for six minutes. This isn't for those with weak hearts, but it will wake you up. Incidentally, research shows that this also revs up the immune system. 10. Get outside. Often, a little sunshine and fresh air can be very energizing. Write down the techniques that work for you when you find them, to remind yourself to use them. Of course you should try to find the reasons for your tiredness or fatigue. You may have more luck than I. In the meantime, though, why not try a few of these enrgy boosters?

San diego beach hotels

San Diego Beach Hotels Places to stay in Pacific Beach, and Mission Bay San Diego California is famous for its beaches, and laid-back tranquility. Keeping this in mind it's hard to visit San Diego without going to, at least, one beach. The only thing that would make for a better visit is finding a place to stay in San Diego that's right on the beach. This article will be focusing on places to stay in Mission Bay, and Pacific Beach hotels. For many businesses and hotel's one of the most important aspects is location, location, location. The Dana on Mission Bay is the place for an unforgettable stay in San Diego. With a picture-perfect waterfront setting on Mission Bay less than a mile from the beach, The Dana offers everything for the perfect stay. They are the closest hotel to SeaWorld and within minutes of San Diego's most popular things to do, and attractions including the San Diego Zoo, the Wild Animal Park, and Balboa Park! Shuttle service is available for arriving and departing guests to the Airport, Amtrak, and Cruise Ship Terminal. SeaWorld shuttle service is also available, and the schedule varies based upon park hours. All shuttle service is limited, based upon availability, and is subject to change. The Dana on Mission Bay offers beautifully appointed rooms and suites nestled among tropical landscapes in the heart of San Diego's Mission Bay Aquatic Park. A wide variety of accommodations and amenities are available and you'll find that the staff is ready to assist you. After all, service is what they're known for and they want your visit to San Diego to be everything you hoped for. With all the places to stay in San Diego you can hope for the best, and be prepared for it. Experience the beautifully reborn Hyatt Regency Mission Bay Spa and Marina. A stunning $65 million transformation brings the epitome of California coastal chic to our San Diego hotel, with incredible ocean views, waterfront dining, a contemporary poolside lounge, an eco-friendly spa, and redesigned guest rooms and meeting rooms. Delight in a water playground with three new pools and multiple water slides, waterfront health club, and a full-service marina with jet skis, sailboats, kayaks, sports fishing and whale excursions - everything you could wish for in a San Diego California hotel. Coupled with our premier location close to famous sights, our luxurious new hotel in San Diego, California has become the unparalleled choice for discerning travelers. Relaxing and rejuvenating by day, the Pacific Terrace Hotel is conveniently located near some of the finest oceanfront dining, shopping and entertainment that San Diego has to offer, providing an ever-enticing nightlife or an uplifting day-around-town. Overlooking the white sandy beaches of San Diego, the Four-Diamond Pacific Terrace Hotel stands between the sun and the surf, and strikes the perfect balance between comfort and luxury, serenity and inspiration. This Hotel has got all the extra amenities you'd expect from a San Diego luxury resort, like gated underground parking, complimentary wine reception in the evening, complimentary continental breakfast in the morning, and an outdoor pool with a spa and an expansive sundeck adjacent to the ocean, a calm and private setting where you can watch the ocean while you sunbathe or have a massage. With a breathtaking view and well-groomed, spacious bedrooms you can't help but enjoy the Ocean Park Inn. Whether you bask in the sun at poolside or walk a few steps to one of San Diego's finest beaches, you will see why so many people vacation here. Ocean Park Inn is conveniently located near La Jolla a city world renowned for its unique shopping treasures. La Jolla is also noted for its fine galleries and quality restaurants for every preference. Enjoy dining in one of Pacific Beach's quaint seafood restaurants or hit the town for a dining experience to remember. Ocean Park Inn is located just minutes from Sea World, the San Diego Zoo, downtown San Diego and the San Diego International Airport. So whatever the reason for your visit find your place to stay at the Ocean Park Inn. For many people who decide to travel getting away from it all starts with taking away all of the stress that drove you to a vacation in the first place. The Catamaran Resort & Spa offers casual elegance in a tropical paradise, with acres of exotic trees and plants bordered by a white sand beach at the edge of Mission Bay. The Catamaran's spacious rooms are decorated in a Tropical decor. All of these rooms offer a patio or balcony, and include refrigerators, hair dryers, coffee makers, irons and ironing boards, in room movies & video games, and high speed internet access. Resort Amenities include the award winning Atoll restaurant, Moray's cocktail lounge, a large heated pool & Jacuzzi, full service water sports rental department, bicycle rentals, and the Catamaran Resort Spa, a world class health and wellness facility. Not everyone has seen pictures of Southern California in movies to posters sent just about every television station out there. If that's the kind of vacation you're looking for then Paradise Point Resort & Spa may be for you. It's Southern California, just as you've pictured it-blue skies, towering palms and a landscape exploding with color. And it's all here outside your plush bungalow. Step onto your lanai to find cloudless skies, lapping waves, soft sand beaches and lush gardens. Sound like paradise? You may just have found it at Paradise Point Resort & Spa-a private 44-acre island tucked away on Mission Bay, minutes from the heart of San Diego. Maybe your idea of the perfect vacation is simply stretching out next to a pool with a refreshing cocktail and doing little else. Or perhaps you're an explorer, eager to soak up as many Southern California experiences as each day allows. From spa services to water sports, the resort alone provides enough activities to keep every type of traveler happy. For those travelers who believe that a vacation just isn't a vacation, without falling asleep to the sounds of the waves crashing on the shore, the Pacific Shores Inn has the answer. The Inn is just steps away from the glimmering Pacific Ocean at Mission Beach and Boardwalk, San Diego's most action-packed area with over two and a half miles of shops, restaurants, and nightlife, with plenty of places to run, jog, roller blade and bike ride. Each of their rooms and has been newly updated, and all rooms include refrigerators, microwaves, cable television with HBO, and a variety of other amenities. With their cheerful and contemporary decor, you'll either feel right at home, or as far away from it as you like. Hotel amenities include an outdoor pool, complimentary breakfast, complimentary newspaper, and outdoor grill and patio for all of our guests to enjoy. Their friendly staff and comfortable accommodations will make you feel right at home. Rates are subject to change.

Weight gain in adulthood slowing it down

The biggest problem we face in America today is not terrorism – it is obesity. This is according to Dr. Julie Gerberding, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in America. And it seems much of this problem is happening in a slow and creeping way, through gradual young and middle-aged adult weight gain, over very long periods of time. On the average, a typical American adult gains at least two pounds per year over his or her lifetime. That probably means that approximately 100 extra calories are being consumed each day, according to Dr. James Hill of the University of Colorado’s nutrition center. If you simply burn off those 100 extra calories, or don’t consume them to begin with, you will then not gain that yearly extra weight. Dr. Gerberding says that fixing the problem will involve changing most Americans’ daily social norms. This will have to start in our early childhood, she says. People will have to begin performing more physical activity and eating less every day. And Dr. Hill has examined government figures showing that about 40 million adults are currently obese. He has also noted that Americans are steadily gaining more weight than usual in recent years. But what can be done about this socially and personally significant health problem? “The future is not hopeful unless we act now,” Dr. Hill says. He estimates that if current trends continue, the obesity rate for American adults in 2008 will be 39%, which compares unfavorably with 31% in the year 2000. Middle age shows a great increase in the amount of weight gained. There is a doubling of body fat in this time period in both men and women living in the developed countries. Such weight gain is strongly associated with increased morbidity and mortality. But there is ample evidence to conclude that moderate physical activity combined with a steady and healthy diet slows down or stops middle-aged adult weight gain. Young adults are also at a high risk for weight gain. In America, for adults ages 25-74, the major weight gain was shown to be highest between ages 25-34. This was found by recent US government studies. And in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults Study, even though trends were constant across ten years of follow-up studies, age-related weight gain was larger in the early to mid-20s than it was for older age groups. It may not be wisest to wait until middle age, even though that may be when obesity becomes a more significant health threat, to lose weight. Irreversible health damage from weight being above optimal levels may occur prior to the beginning of a health-related diet and exercise program. But modest weight loss can reduce cardiovascular risk factors, and in high-risk individuals, it also prevents the development of diabetes and hypertension. The American College of Preventative Medicine endorses the guidelines of the National Institutes of Health when it comes to advising obese and overweight patients on how to go about both losing excess weight and keeping it off. They encourage moderate physical activity for 30 to 45 minutes for at least 3 to 5 days per week for clinically obese or overweight persons, whenever such a program is not contraindicated by any current health problems. They also advise counseling regarding an energy-reduced or low-calorie diet of 800 to 1500 calories per day for an obese or overweight adult until optimal weight is attained. Then it is suggested that the patient should remain on a healthy, normal diet that is not higher in calories than the amount burned by ordinary activities and exercise each day. It is felt by many experts that simply avoiding excess weight gain during the early adult years may be very important. It may ensure the prevention of adverse health reactions and establish an early foundation for the maintenance of lifelong healthy habits in later adulthood. It is also felt that interventions such as simple changes in diet and the maintenance of a regular exercise program will help parents establish lifelong role models for their children. This would greatly help to prevent America’s steady increase in obesity over the oncoming decade, and its accompanying morbidity and mortality over the next several generations of aging adult Americans. Information in this article was obtained from the four sources listed below: The “Cutting 100 Calories/day Might Prevent Weight Gain & Obesity” page at Weight Control and Obesity; The "Symposium: Adult Weight Gain: Causes and Implications" page at Nutrition. org; The “Weight management counseling of overweight adults” page at National Guideline Clearinghouse; The “NHLBI Working Group Report Preventing Weight Gain in Young Adults” page at National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

Searching for mortgage rates how to utilize the internet

: Anyone who has every had to look for a mortgage will tell you how important it is to check various mortgage rates to ensure that you are getting the best interest rate and the best mortgage for you and your finances. In the past, searching for mortgage rates meant calling lenders and finding out what their rates were, as well as their terms. This was a long process that many people balked at - and many didn't do at all because of the amount of time that it took. However, now you're in luck. Finding mortgage rates for comparison has never been easier thanks to the Internet. The Internet has opened a whole new realm of competition between lending institutions, which is beneficial to mortgage rate seekers. This means that the information about different mortgages, including the mortgage rates, is just a few clicks away for anyone. It's important that you have your ducks in a row, and that you have a mortgage in place before you begin to purchase a home. Having a mortgage in place will tell you how much money you can spend on a home and you will go in knowing how much it will cost you. This can help make your decision on the upper limit you want to spend on your home - you may want to save some of that 'mortgage credit' to upgrade the home you choose, so spend carefully. The very first thing you need to do when looking for a mortgage is create a database so that you can make your comparisons. Microsoft Excel, or a similar program, is perfect for this, because you can have multiple tabs for different types of mortgages and you can lay it out so that it is easy to understand when you begin to make your comparisons. Your database should compare an in-depth comparison of the many options and rates associated with a mortgage. Your database should include:

• Mortgage type (adjustable rate mortgage, fixed rate mortgage, balloon, etc.)
• Interest rate overall
• Index rate (that the lender uses to create the final interest rate)
• Lender's margin (percentage point that is added onto the index rate by the lender)
• Length/term of the mortgage
• Any other features that make or break a mortgage to make it more friendly to your finances

The first thing you should do is compare the interest rates. These can vary quite a bit, and it's important to understand how they work. Regardless of the type of mortgage that you get, the lender will base the interest rate on an index. The most common indexes used to determine the interest rates are:

• One-year constant maturity treasury securities (CMT)
• Cost of Funds Index (COFI)
• London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR)
• A lending institution's own costs of funds.

On top of that index interest rate, the lender will attach their margin percentage. The margin ensures that the lender will make money on your mortgage at a fairly steady stream. It's also important to note that when you are looking at the interest rates, the very first thing that will jump out at you is how 'low' the adjustable rate mortgage interest rates are. While they can be very compelling, in some cases several percentage points lower than a fixed rate mortgage, it's imperative that you check out all the factors that pertain to an adjustable rate mortgage, including:

• Payment cap
• Interest rate cap
• The margin
• How often the rate will adjust
• Prepayment penalties on the mortgage
• How long you will be staying in the house

Most adjustable rate mortgages appeal to home buyers who only plan to live in the house for three to five years - this means they can take advantage of the lower interest rates and pay less, while not having to worry about drastic increases in the interest rate over a longer period of time. To use the Internet, all you have to do is go to a major search engine and search for 'mortgages rate'. You will find thousands and thousands of results, literally. There are many websites that offer mortgage rate comparisons online from many different lenders as well. But, by doing your own research, you may be able to find some smaller company that is offering great interest rates. The best place to start is with an idea of where you want to look - your friends, relatives, neighbors, other home owners, forums on the Internet, your realtor - all of these people may be able to give you some referrals to mortgage lenders that you should check out.

Seven drywall finishing tips

Hanging drywall is almost an art. Just ask anyone who does it professionally and they'll tell you that it takes years of practice to do a perfect job. If you're lucky enough, you might even get a few drywall finishing tips out of the conversation. If not, don’t worry. Here are some drywall finishing tips that everyone can benefit from! Make Sure You Have Everything Before You Start Drywall finishing tip #1: You need to have at hand a taping knife spreader, application knife, joint tape, joint compound, bread pan and a corner taping tool. Get Secure About What You're Doing Drywall finishing tip #2: Drywall demands that all your measurements are accurate and that every panel is tightly secured to the supports that it's nailed to. Could there be anything more embarrassing than to complete a drywall job - only to have it unexpectedly fall down during dinner or entertaining guests? Make sure that your nails are long enough to keep the panels on their supports. If you're more comfortable with using screws, then use them instead. You could even use a second set of nails as reinforcement. The important thing as that you feel as secure about your project as they're secured to its foundation! Beware A Muddy Mess Drywall finishing tip #3: When mixing your cement (or mud), strive for a consistency that resembles icing on a cake - not too stiff and not too loose. Essentially, you should be able to scoop some of this mud onto a trowel, hold the trowel upside down, and not lose any of the cement. At the same time, you should also be able to easily apply this cement into drywall joints without too much effort. While mixing, take care not to "whip" the cement. A whipping action will inadvertently attract air - air which will form bubbles in drywall seams. Mesh Your Work Into A Smooth Finish Drywall finishing tip #4. Use mesh tape instead of paper tape. Because mesh tape is porous, it allows the cement to seep through it. The end result is much smoother than paper which is sometimes visually apparent. Use More Glue And Save On Nails Drywall finishing tip #5: Use an adhesive to hold panels in place. Although this technique can't and should never be used on the ceiling, you'll only need to insert nails at the edges of drywall panels. Give Your Drywalls A Little Dimple Drywall finishing tip #6: You can hid the heads of your nails by hammering them in just below the surface of the drywall. This might take a little practice beforehand, as you don't want the nail heads to show, but on the other hand, you don't want to break the surface of the drywall either! Patch Like A Pro Drywall finishing tip #7: Stuffing a hole with newspaper tends to leave weak spots on a wall. Instead, cut a sizeable circle around a hole that needs patching. Insert a support piece that will fit behind the hole, and then glue it in place with cement. After about three hours, use even more cement to adhere a small piece of drywall to the support piece you inserted earlier. When dry, cover the hole with more cement and tape. You want to continue this process in the same manner as if you were concealing a joint.

The five things you need to look professional

: Particularly when running a business from home, there is still a slight stigma attached to using your home as the primary place of business, so you want to give your customers the same level of comfort they'd have shopping at any other high street business. Item One: A Business Phone Number You'd be surprised how many people forget this important item. At a minimum you want to have a dedicated business phone number, answered in your business name. These days, you're no longer restricted to getting a second line put in. You could use one of the many VoIP providers to get a dedicated number, just using some PC software and your broadband internet account. Alternatively, you could use a "virtual office" provider to set up a phone number which would either be answered by an operator or forwarded to your mobile or home phone, or both. The options with virtual offices these days are quite sophisticated, and you often get phone and fax numbers and IVR menus built into a standard package, along with operator call forwarding and SMS text messaging. Item Two: A Business Email Address When you sign up for broadband, your provider probably gave you an email address like <yourname@yourisp>. Whereas what you need if you want people to take you seriously is an email address like <yourname@yourcompanyname>. In other words, you need your own internet domain name. This is not nearly as big a deal as it sounds, and you definitely don't need to get the geeks involved! There are many providers of domain name services online, and nearly all of them will bundle "mailboxes" (email addresses) with the domain name at little or no additional charge. You can sign up for these services with a credit card and have your new domain name operational the following day (it takes up to 24 hours for a new domain name to become active). Item Three: A Digital Letterhead These days it's far more likely that you'll be sending electronic documents to your clients than paper ones. You may send some paper ones too (in some jurisdictions, you may still be required to send a paper invoice for services for example), but if you have a digital letterhead, you can always print it out for a hard copy. The best format for a digital letterhead is a Word template (substitute your favourite word processor for Word if you like). A template is a "locked" document that enables you to create new documents using the template as a starting point. You can start a new document from your template just by double-clicking on it. Then you can turn the template into whatever you need: an invoice, purchase order, with compliments slip, etc. If you want to get really ambitious, you can create custom templates for each business document you require. When sending documents to clients via email, it's a good thing to convert them to a PDF before sending them. PDF stands for Portable Document Format, and is a file format created by Adobe. The advantages of PDF are: the reader is a free download (and most people already have it installed), so you don't have to worry about whether your recipient has Word installed; the document is read-only so it can't be modified by the recipient; and PDF's will always print out exactly as you see them on screen, so if your recipient uses a different paper format or has their printer set up differently, you can rest assured the document will still print out OK. Item Four: Business Cards Whatever your business, even if you think you're not going to have any face-to-face contact with your customers, you still need professionally-designed business cards. Remember, it's not just customers you may be meeting - suppliers, bank managers, small business support groups, networking events, even friends and relatives. Every time you have one of these contacts and you don't have a business card with you, it's a lost opportunity to get exposure for your product or service. A business card is often the only contact you'll have with someone for a long time, so it's important to make an impact, and ensure that all the details are 100% correct. This is why it's best to spend a little bit extra to get the card professionally designed. Item Five: A Contact Log Every time you make contact with anyone, be they a customer, supplier or other form of business associate, ensure you log the contact in your business contact log. This can be as simple as entering information in the "Notes" field of your address book or email program. Alternatively you could use a paper system (although these tend to become unwieldy very quickly). There are custom contact management and lead management applications on the market, however these can be expensive for the SOHO operator. The advantage of keeping notes in your email address book is that anytime you receive an email from a contact, you immediately have the contact history on hand. Even when speaking to someone on the phone, it is a small matter to ask the speaker if they wouldn't mind holding for a few seconds. You can then quickly look them up in your address book, digest the history and retrieve the call. The contact log is vitally important - nothing gives your business a more professional tone than to be completely informed about everyone you speak to. Humans thrive on social contact, and if you are well-informed about your contacts in a business setting, it will serve to increase your business profile and people will be more likely to remember you with a positive attitude.

Supplemental security income a valuable aid to the disabled

Disability makes one feel equally miserable about oneself irrespective of his social stature, earnings and age. But as the time passes by one gets accustomed to things, adjusts to the surrounding and starts living. Enjoying more and more, and complaining less and less one goes about the curious business of living. That's, loosely speaking, the 'philosophical' part of the story though I don't claim to be philosopher of any sort whatsoever. Now the harder part. The philosophical distinction between childhood disability and adult disability is also reflected in the disability benefits one is entitled to, albeit in a slightly different fashion. To put it straight, the law makes a distinction between the disabled below and above 18 years of age. Supplemental Security Income or SSI is a social benefit program instituted by the Social Security Administration (SSA). The SSA pays a monthly sum to those whose income is lower on account of old age, blindness or disability. Most of those under 18 years of age are considered children and the ones above as adults by the SSA. To be eligible for the SSI the rules are much the same for children and adults, but 'disability' in case of children is by definition more accommodating than the one employed for the adults. The amount one gets as SSI is meant to meet one's very basic needs because it is assumed that a disabled person may not be able to earn enough. The need of one person living in a certain condition may be different from another in another set of circumstances. Therefore, the amount payable also differs. For instance, it is estimated that the disabled children living with their parents in the State of California need a sum of $722 per month. For those who are blind the amount is higher at $ 901, as their expenses are higher. If, in the opinion of the authorities, you have money to spend on your basic needs in view of your sources of income, the amount is deducted from the payable sum and what remains is what you get for the SSI.

Home improvement how to get it right

Few people who have gone through a major home improvement project will tell you that the whole thing went smoothly and was finished on time and with no problems. There are just too many people involved and too many things that can go wrong. With a little advance preparation, though, hopefully you can avoid the worst home improvement nightmares. The first thing to do is to put someone in charge, otherwise you’ll end up doing it yourself – architects tend to be good at this, as once they’ve designed the improvement, they will have an idea of who is needed to make it happen. The next thing you need to do is absolutely vital: budget, budget, budget. It’s so easy to spend far more than you wanted to if you don’t work everything out in advance and set a limit that you won’t go over – a few extras here and there, and before you know it you can’t afford it any more. If possible, negotiate fixed prices with the builders, so that however long the project takes they will get paid the same amount. This will encourage them to finish quickly, and remove the risk of you getting stuck with a large bill. You might need to phone around for a while before you can find someone who will accept the deal on these terms, but as long as you’re offering a reasonable price, they are out there. Avoid hiring too many specialists, as you don’t need that many people working on a home project. Stick to more general professionals, who can call in people they know to do the parts that must be done by someone trained or registered in that area. Avoid hiring plumbers and electricians directly, for example, as they will just stretch out the work – leave it to the builder to bring in his own plumber or electrician instead.

Managing with enterprise content management

: Enterprise Content Management involves capturing structured and unstructured content that’s generated all over the enterprise, storing that content, processing it into information, delivering that information to those who need it for decision-support, and finally transferring it to long-term storage for preservation until it can be removed safely from the system. Enterprise Content Management seeks to prevent duplication of functions and redundancy in resource usage that are typical where each department and function uses dedicated stand-alone systems. Earlier articles identify capture, storage and preservation, and delivery components. This article explores the "management" component that works on other components to achieve desired results. This management component manages content capture, processing and transformation, and information delivery. It uses databases and access-authorization systems to do this. It also attends to the archiving and final removal functions. Elements of the Management Component Document Management: Document management involves:

• Check out/Check in facilities for working with the content,


• Version control to make different versions of the same content available to users,


• Search and retrieval facilities for locating and accessing needed information, and


• Viewing facilities to see the information in overview and other kinds of views

Collaboration Management: Collaboration management involves providing facilities that make working together possible. These facilities include:

• Using common databases


• Designing workflow procedures for more than one person to work on documents and processes


• Providing facilities such as white-boarding and video conferencing that allow a number of people to hold discussions from different locations, and also add files and notes for reference and actions


• Providing facilities for administrative tasks such as appointments scheduling

Web Content Management (WCM): Enterprise content management systems typically include a web portal with interactive facilities available to employees, customers, suppliers, and business partners. This means that web content management has become part of ECM. WCM typically allows users to create content even if they do not have HTML and other kinds of programming skills. WCM includes facilities for:

• Creating and editing content


• Creating editorial reviews and modifications where necessary before publishing the content


• Accepting content in different formats and converting to standard formats


• Publishing the content


• Personalizing page displays by users to meet their needs and preferences


• Separating public and non-public content and restricting access to the latter

Records Management: Deals with the logic of achieving storage, archival, and removal objectives. Procedures and functions are developed for:

• Filing and indexing systems


• Retention and removal schedules


• Protection of sensitive and confidential data


• Document and information-retrieval metadata

Workflow and Business Process Management: Workflows can be along standard or custom sequences determined by the user. Workflow objectives are achieved through workflow engines that control the flow and workflow solutions with autonomous clients.

Managing workflow involves planning, capture, processing, delivery, administration through delegation, deadlines, monitoring and reminders, and documenting the process. Business-process management seeks to integrate different workflows and applications into an integrated business process. It also involves generating business intelligence by mining the data warehouse.

Conclusion The management component of Enterprise Content Management seeks to integrate all the other components into an integrated process that helps achieve business results. It incorporates different disciplines and technologies such as Document Management, Collaboration Management, Web Content Management, Records Management, Workflow Management and Business Process Management.

Victoria sin redefines dirty

The pornography industry is one that is consists of many genres, as producers and porno stars are looking to create an availability for dirty materials o matter what someone’s tastes or preferences. Besides so many websites and videos on demand and various pornographic outlets, the genre of filthy whore porn is popular for those guys really looking to get off hard from seeing a filthy slut take the dick in many different ways. Often times filthy whore porn is more graphic than other genres because after all, hookers, whore, prostitutes or sluts, no matter what you call them, are known for being sexually promiscuous. Scenes in these types of films often include many men at a time in gang bang orgy scenarios where a dirty whore is either sitting on a dick that is up her ass, taking another in her pussy and of course sucking on another or jerking some lucky man whore off. These dirty whore role play scenarios also are thematic with the names of the stars in the adult films. Victoria Sin is one such name that would ring a bell among those fans of dirty whore porn and similarly filthy videos and imagery aimed to make horny men cum hard. Victoria Sin is an example of a porno name that might include an element of the actress actual name, maybe her first name is Victoria or last name Sin, maybe not both. Whatever the case, it is sinful not to want to watch as hot horny women depicted as hustling prostitutes get laid in a variety of positions and of course showing off their flexibility and acrobatic skills. Besides porn, men are often times interested in moves commonly related to whoring, such as a woman pulling her legs behind her head, taking a hard, long cock in the ass and one in the vagina at the same time. These types of relations usually do not occur in real life, that is why dirty whore porn is popular where men and their fantasies, and of course gays can be equally as interested in this type of pornographic material as well. Victoria Sin may be an adult film star within the super dirty, filthy, but hot and sexy world of hooker porn and gang bang type scenarios, but nonetheless, this porn and every type of porn for that matter is for men and women eighteen years and up to enjoy and perhaps even masturbate to, never under any circumstance can minors obtain these materials due to a companys negligence and if they do then that is a punishable crime in most states.

Easytips

EASY TIPS ON HOW TO CARE FOR YOUR PLANTS Many people worry a lot when it comes to caring for their plants. When talking about house plants, there is no need to worry. There are just a few things you need to consider. 1. Watering Overwatering kills most houseplants. Looks can be deceptive, so to see if your soil is dry enough to water, try the finger test. Insert your index finger up to the first joint into the soil. If the soil is damp, don't water it. 2. Feeding Foliage plants usually have high nitrogen needs, while flowering plants, K2O is needed. Slow release fertilizers can be mixed with the compost. However, certain plants like cacti and orchids need special fertilizer. Feed plants during their most active growth period. 3. Lighting Plants like Sanseveria and Aspidistra require no sun. They can be placed away from a window. Spider plants need semi-shade. You can put plants like these near a window that does or does not get sunlight. Check the label to see what your plant needs. 4. Temperature Houseplants can survive in cool or warm temperatures, but drastic fluctuations of temperature may not be good for them. One thing that most plants cannot survive is gas heating. If you have a plant that likes warm conditions, don't put it near an air conditioner in the summer. 5. Humidity Some houseplants require a humid environment. One tip to maximize humidity is to put the pot inside a larger pot and fill in the gaps with stones or compost to keep in the moisture. Grouping plants together often creates a microclimate that they will benefit from. If you want, you can spray them with water once or twice a day depending on the temperature. 6. Re-potting Some plants require re-potting for optimum growth but there are others that resent having their roots disturbed. Or their roots system may be small enough that they don't require re-potting. One way to check if your plant needs re-potting is to turn it upside down. Tap the pot to release the plant and check its roots. If roots are all you see, then re-pot. Sometimes the roots will come out of the pot. You should either cut them off or re-pot the plant. You just need to have a little care for your plants and in turn, you'll reap the benefits. Indoor plants not only add to the beauty of your dйcor, but also give much pleasure to the indoor gardener.

Breaking the dependence on sleeping aids

There are numerous sleeping aids available in the market, likely because people tend to have so much trouble sleeping. A lack of sleep can come about for a variety of reasons such as having work-related stress and insomnia. There are other reasons and, as some people have speculated, anything and everything can be interpreted as a cause for lack of sleep. Of course, the prevalence of this problem is fueling the steady market for sleeping aids. However, with a market that is near the saturation point, just what are the chances that the sleeping aids being sold are actually safe to use? For now, safety guidelines and the approval of the US Food and Drug Administration would have to suffice. A lack of sleep can be the problem itself, or the symptom of a larger, more expansive problem. Insomnia is just as likely to be an outcrop of depression as it is a symptom of other, more dangerous mood and behavioral disorders. Ideally, people who have trouble sleeping should see a medical professional to be properly assessed. The need to know if their problem is really just a lack of sleep or if there's something else beneath the surface. The availability and popular consumption of various medications has spawned what others call the “pill culture.” People are becoming increasingly willing to turn to a convenient pill to solve an obvious problem without seeing a professional to check if there are other problems. Everything from pain medication, muscle relaxants, and sleeping aids can end up as part of this problem. Recently, a new perspective on sleep disorders was put forth by a team of researchers led by Dr. Jesse Milby from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Milby considers sleeping problems as a lack of “sleep hygiene.” According to a research project he and his colleagues from UAB conducted, there are several things people routinely do that contributes to the development of the sleeping problem. His data showed that using the bed for nothing more than sleep and sexual activity helped improve people's sleep cycles and reduced the severity of their insomnia, even without medication. That means no reading, no “hard” conversations, no doing taxes, or any other activities people might be inclined to do in bed. The problem, he noted, was that the process often took longer than the average person was comfortable with. With more and more people turning to medication to get a quick fix for their sleep problems, Milby believes society is risking making their sleeping problems much worse. The problem, UAB internist and palliative-medicine specialist Rodney Tucker noted, was that people who could not deal with the stress of daily life were seen as “needing a pill.” There is a prevalent belief that everyone can deal with all the problems being thrown at them when this is simply not the case. The perception that taking a pill can fix their problems, along with the unwillingness to let go of established personal routines and invest time in personal therapy, has caused more and more people to become dependent on sleeping aids. It allows them to avoid having to deal with the harsh reality of having a problem and the need to rectify the situation, which is likely to do more harm than good in the long-term.

Trade show giveaways attract visitors

Promotional gifts at trade shows act as magnets to draw visitors inside your trade show booth. Your trade show giveaways not only help to break the ice and get the conversation going between trade show booth staff and visitors but also serve as a way to define your visitor’s intentions in attending the trade show. If you find the right trade show giveaway to hand out, you will be able to better engage your attendee and thus learn what they are looking for at the trade show. But how do you do this? According to Mark Kramer, Vice President Sales and Marketing for Private Label Executive Gifts of Campbell, California, promotional giveaways are tools to entice people to come inside your trade show display. There are two categories of gifts. The first category is the inexpensive trade show giveaway under $2 that drives traffic and excitement to your trade show booth. A good example is candy. Branded Jelly Belly candies in a cellophane bag with your logo on it costs about $1 a bag. If you are attending a consumer show and have your kids with you, another popular item is a temporary tattoo with your logo on it that kids can adhere to their skin but will easily wash off. The second category is the gift that creates the opportunity for you to gather detailed information about your trade show visitor. These are the more expensive promotional gifts called the incentive product. This is a quality item that usually ranges in price up to $25. The incentive gift needs to be something of value. In order to qualify for this trade show giveaway, people are required to either spend time filling out a survey, watch a demonstration at your trade show booth, or give feedback to help you with your market research. The trade show booth visitor fills out a form that requires their company name, address, website, amount they spend each year on products and services and other relevant data you would like to know. Only after they complete the form, do they get the gift. An example of this type of incentive trade show giveaway can be a fine quality writing instrument, a steel tape measure or ruler (ideal item for engineers), a key fob (a good tie in at the auto show), etc. The information you get from the completed surveys help your market research team and adds to your database of customers. Once you learn the basic needs of your visitors, your trade show booth staff can better tailor their sales presentations, address the prospect’s specific needs and improve the closing rate on sales. Kramer sites that the majority of exhibitors use some form of trade show giveaways. According to the Promotional Products Association International’s 2005 report, trade shows comprise 12.18% of the $18 billion a year promotional marketing industry. Studies have found that trade shows offer the ultimate targeted sales opportunity. Since trade show audiences are so targeted and well defined, promotional giveaways succeed as a proven and recognized source of new sales and return on investment for the trade show exhibitor. Kramer is an expert consultant on promotional marketing. He gives the following tips on finding the right trade show booth gift: 1. Examine the purpose of the gift Ask the question: What do I, as an exhibitor, want this promotional item to produce at the trade show? Is my purpose at the trade show to reinforce my brand or to make sales or both? 2. Know Your Demographics Find out who comes to the show or group of trade shows. It is essential to analyze the demographics of your trade show attendees in order to pick the right promotional products. It is essential to get a grasp of the demographics of the trade show attendee to determine the most appropriate product. 3. Work with a promotional marketing consultant who can ask the key questions. Since there are over ѕ million products that can be imprinted with your logo, it can be a daunting project. The consultant will steer you away from selecting the wrong product and guide you to the most suitable one. 4. Plan A Pre-Show Advance Incentive Mailing One proven trade show exhibit traffic builder technique is to start with a teaser. Prior to the trade show, use part of your incentive trade show giveaway as a pre-show mailer. An example of this type of incentive gift is the Swiss Army Knife key chain fob. Mail the toothpick from the Swiss Army knife to the list of your targeted attendees. Be sure to include your trade show booth number and invite your selected list of attendees to drop by your booth to pick up the remaining part of their gift. Make sure your product has at least two easily separated parts and is lightweight enough for a pre-show mailing. By following the above recommendations, your incentive gift can be of great value in stimulating traffic to your trade show booth. This holds true no matter where you exhibit from the McCormick Convention Center in Chicago, to the Kaiser Convention Center in Oakland, the Moscone Center in San Francisco, the Las Vegas Convention Center, or the San Jose and Santa Clara Convention Centers. Remember, the next time you exhibit at a trade show, explore ways to offer memorable promotional giveaways to your key visitors as a way to break the ice, increase your sales, reinforce your brand, and engage your trade show opportunities.

9 Packaging trends that will connect you with consumers

Today’s consumer is a moving target. Choosing the right consumer and the right demographic to target is an important decision. Monitoring what is hot and what’s not can dramatically influence a package design’s success or failure. Package design is an integral way to connect with your customer. But do you clearly understand the needs and wants of these elusive markets? Understand the customer is critical. The problem today is that one package may not satisfy the needs and requirements of all buyers. There are many niche markets out there and each one requires specialized packaging. So if you are targeting one of those, do your research first. What works for one target market may not work for another. So.... 1) Find out what package attributes appeal to the customer you are targeting. If it is a harried homemaker shopping for your product then convenience of use had better be at the top of the list. Those over 50 are seeking convenience too but issues like the size of print on the package and ease of use top their priority list. Make sure your package employs the characteristics that appeal to your target market. 2) Understand how the package will be used. Families no longer sit and eat a meal with everyone at the same time. There are special diet requirements or dieting in general in most households. It’s not uncommon to serve different meals to different individuals. Package sizes will vary accordingly. EX: People who travel a lot buy sample or trial size packages because they are small and easy to deal with 3) Know your customers current buying trends. Several years ago, we went through the supersized phase. There are still a lot of supersized packages; however, buying trends are changing to smaller sizes in general. To package smaller does not mean less profit, in many cases it means more. Consumers are willing to pay a premium for convenience, ease of use and a smaller quantity. Remember the three premium baking potatoes in a package cost almost the price of a 5 lb bag. If you live with just one other person, do you really need 5 lbs of potatoes? 4) Keep abreast of new packaging technologies. Creative, new products have the advantage in the marketing world even if their technology is not new. Several years ago, Metedent took the world by storm with the duel aperture dispensing mechanism. Recently hosts of new cleaning products have revived interest in this type of dispensing. Look for innovate ways to combine two products into one package. 5) Watch where people shop. There is a shift from traditional retailers to new and innovative store formats. The convenience store, once considered a low-end marketer, has now transitioned into store that provides premium products at a premium price. This evolved from the hurry up and go mindset demonstrated in today's shopping habits. Recent studies are showing that consumers no longer make one big trip and stock up but make several trips a week and get just what is needed at the moment at the most easily accessible retail outlet. EX: The grab and go cups of snack foods convenience stores are now offering. This category did not exist a couple of years ago. 6) Keep pace with "hot button" packaging issues. This includes legislation too. People do really care about the environment and the amount of excess packaging. There is a move afoot to expand the number of vegetable-based plastic materials used in food packaging. If packaging consumers give these products their endorsement, look for other new products to surface. Legislation can change packaging mandates overnight. There have been "bottle bills," surcharges and bans that prohibit the use of certain packages. EX: Several fast food companies are test marketing corn-based plastic packaging materials. Ex: Ban on juice boxes in Maine and aerosol cans in Chicago. 7) Security in packaging is becoming increasingly important. This will continue to come into focus as more people become concerned about product integrity. One major security scare could force everyone to change their packaging methods immediately. Look for new tamper evident and security devices that can be incorporated into your packaging. Cost efficiencies are now making many of these devices more affordable and will soon become mainstream. 8) Competition of various packaging materials is increasing. From the imports that are readily available to the merger and acquisition mania that is taking place, keep current on your chain of supply globalization. Certain products such as plastic bags that used to be the mainstay of American manufacturing have now gone offshore. Ethic diversity both her and abroad is demanding that all packaging be multi-lingual and people really don’t care where the product packaging is manufactured. 9) External influence of power players. The big box retailers are driving packaging procedures and policies at retail. Mandates from these companies such as RFID tracking are in their infancy. This type of requirement could become mandatory overnight. If you want to do business with companies such as Home Depot and Wal-Mart, you will need to include the design and selection of your packaging materials as per their demands and others will follow suit. Remember, the customer depends upon you, the designer, as a resource. They expect you to keep up with packaging trends and technologies and provide the latest and greatest innovations the industry has to offer. If you cannot connect with the consumer through package design, do not expect your products to fly off the shelf.

The secrets behind the runaway success of open source software

Anyone who has used the Internet on a regular basis has heard mention of open source software. However, very few people understand what its full potential is and how it works, and how it can benefit the online community. Open Source Software is unique because it can be designed by everyone for everyone to use. The intention of the software is to enable every computer user to be able to use it without having to worry about high costs or administrative issues. In most instances, when software is developed it is done under a cloak of secrecy. Not many people are involved in the design and development phase. With most software, there is a huge cost that is associated with it, and it is usually this cost that is paid for by the consumer, whereas the develpment of open source software is completely free from start to finish, and the general online public can download it immediately at no cost. Open Source Software is not new to the Internet. It has been around for over twenty years. Yet many people still do not understand its scope. This software played a big part in the way the Internet developed. it is the reason why the world wide web is free for all to access. Many different Internet providers have converted their browsers to Open Source and have had great success. When a company installs Open Source Software, they are giving themselves the ability to reach markets that they not ordinarily be able to do business with. all business people know that image is everything, and when they use Open Source Software, they are able to contribute something back to the public thereby increasing their popularity with consumers and acquiring customers. The creators of Open Source Software believe that when you allow the public to view how the software is made, it creates a sense of trust and thereby building a strong and united online community. Those who are dedicated to Open Source Software claim that is more reliable with fewer problems than the commercial counterparts. The people who contribute to Open Source Software often are talented, caring, and are available to provide customer support when it is needed. They are able to provide a quality product that is far superior to commercial software. They do not do it for the money; they do it for the love of the software and Internet. They do not rush through the process just to get it done and sold, they create a product that everyone can understand and use on a daily basis. Another benefit to Open Source Software is that anyone who uses the software can contribute his or her ideas to be used. What this means is that the general public can offer their preferences in the development of the software, where commercial software is developed according to the designers preferences. Finding Open Source Software can be found very easily. By doing a simple Internet search, you will find millions of links to this software.

Why free myspace layouts are exciting

Myspace is being used by millions of users, and it is the most popular networking site in the world. Every day several thousands of users are being added to the sites. They use various layouts as well as backgrounds to make their profiles look much better. Most of these Myspace layouts options are available for free on several web sites. Free services like free Myspace layout will be appreciated by anyone, and they will begin to use these for various images. The variety is large and thus will keep all the users excited. No other site offers such a variety, as these free Myspace layouts. Because of this, all users try to make as much use of it as possible. They even begin applying them every day if they have the time. There would be possible thousands of free Myspace layouts, and it is sometimes difficult to pick one of them for the profile. However to make things simple, members can divide the interests and pick what suits the mood of the profile most. This would be the most exciting part of using these free Myspace layouts. They will also keep the visitors occupied to a great deal because of the variety. No visitor wants to be bored with layouts, and they definitely doo not want to see the same thing over and over again when they visit everyone’s profiles. So by using various free Myspace layouts, the members allow the visitors too to have a better impression about the profile. The various categories make it all the more exciting. This free Myspace layout can be used according to the theme of the profile, as each member will have a different concept with his profile. Free Myspace layouts are probably one of the most exciting things about this community, as this social networking community offers this completely free. Designers take a lot of effort to be as creative as possible. This way, users will not be bored of their own profiles, and they also get the chance to be very innovative as well. Based on the interests of the members too, free Myspace layouts can be used, as the variety is easily available. For example, music lovers will have layouts of music bands, and movie lovers will have movie layouts. The popularity of these layouts has also increased, as the variety is never ending. Members can browse through as many layouts as they need before setting them up for the profile. If they have patience, they can also change them once a week. There is absolutely no need to have any knowledge about technology to apply these layouts. Free Myspace layouts can be as exciting as ever, because anyone with any kind of interest will be able to find what he is looking for. The library is so huge, that one may not even be able to use them all if he wants to.

Top tips for successful navigation in the backcountry

As an outdoor enthusiast you will at some point make a decision to learn how to navigate in the backcountry. Whether you use a map, compass, GPS receiver or all three, there are several things you should know about successful navigation. Your safety and the safety of your companions depend upon it. Backcountry activities such as hiking, orienteering, hunting, climbing, geocaching, fishing, four-wheeling and camping are all loads of fun - until you get lost. That’s why you should know how to navigate. But navigation doesn’t start when you find yourself hopelessly lost. Navigation begins BEFORE your adventure begins so that you don’t place yourself in harm’s way. Let’s take a look at the top tips for successful off road navigation. The first three tips pertain to getting ready to go: * Prepare your body. I cannot overstate the necessity for proper preparation. If you are not in good physical condition when you begin your adventure, you are placing yourself in danger. No matter what your current physical conditioning is - improve it before you start. An exhausted body will negate any acquired navigational skills. * Prepare your mind. If you are using tools, and you should be, such as a map, a compass or a GPS Unit make sure you know how to use them. In order of priority: Maps are most important to understand and use, proper use of a magnetic needle compass is next and finally a GPS unit. Do not rely solely on your GPS. GPS’s only work well when you’re moving and they don’t work at all with dead batteries. Take a class on using your compass with a map. It is not only interesting, it is also a required life skill for the outdoor enthusiast. * Have a plan and tell someone about it. Whenever you go into the vast backcountry, be sure to tell someone back home where you plan on going, how you plan on getting there and when you’ll be back. If you break your leg, it would be nice if help could find you. Now that you are a prepared navigator, you’re ready to go. Here are the remaining tips: * Trust your compass. Many people get lost by trusting their “instincts” instead of their compass. * Always orient your map to the landscape. The best way to do this is to orient North on the map with the North bearing on your compass. I also face north when making directional decisions off of a map. A miss-oriented map can easily lead to confusion. * Be sure of your Declination. The difference between True North and magnetic north is called your declination. This is critical for accurate compass use. If you don’t understand declination, you weren’t paying attention in your map/compass class. If your map is fairly new, use the declination value on the map and adjust your compass as required. If your map is older than 5 years…you’re not very well prepared. Most modern GPS Units calculate the declination value for you. This value should match the value on your map. * Always measure for yourself. You’ve prepared for your trip, now you should use what you learned. Bearing (direction of travel) and distance (number of steps or lapsed time) are the two most important measurements to you when traveling in the backcountry. Always measure for yourself, do not rely on anyone else for this. If your partner comes up with something different, sort it out. If you come up with the same thing as your partner, then move on in confidence. * Never travel at night. Although a star lit sky can offer accurate navigational data, traveling at night is risky. Only experienced travelers should travel after dark. The major risk of traveling at night is injury. It is difficult to judge “footfall” distances and terrain in the dark. * Keep a log book. If you are traveling from station to station (map feature to map feature) keep a written log of the bearing and distance decisions you’ve made. This will aid you in recovering from navigational errors and will also aid you in returning to a known location. * If you think you’re lost S. T.O. P. Oftentimes admitting you are lost is the toughest thing to do. It is also the most important thing you can do. Once you’re lost, Sit, Think, Observe and Plan. S. T.O. P. will save you. Some final thoughts: * It’s OK to write on your map. * You should know how many steps you take to travel 100 yards. Write this number down on your map and in your log book. * When a new land feature presents itself to you, compare it to your map. * Keep your compass hanging around your neck, not in your pack. * Never use your compass on the hood of your car or truckpass accuracy is adversely effected by metal objects. * Always travel with extra batteries for your GPS. * Pay attention to natural and manmade features such as fence lines, power lines, railroad tracks, ridges, valleys and rivers. Backcountry activities are fun…until you get lost. That’s why you should know how to navigate. Take a map reading class, read an orienteering book and practice. Like most life skills, navigating in the backcountry is easy to learn. Use this information and you’ll Get It Right The First Time. Get Outdoors!

Why free credit card debt consolidation

: A credit card is a small plastic card used for borrowing that involves some charges. There is a hike in the use of credit cards that in turn has led to the biggest debt problem known as credit card debt. It happens when you have many credit cards and store cards whereby you are unable to pay your creditors in due course of time. Credit card debt consolidation is the solution to all your credit card debt related problems. Many companies and online websites provide free credit card debt consolidation. There are many reasons due to which it is beneficial for you if you switch over to a credit card debt consolidation. 1. You have to pay multiple creditors but when you consolidate your all credit card debts carrying high interest rates into a single credit card debt with less interest rate, you get financial benefits as such. 2. Credit card issuers asks the consumer to pay an annual fees for the use of credit card and when you own multiple credit cards you have to pay high annual fees. When you consolidate your credit card debt, you are saved from paying such annual fees because the card issuer knows that might get new customers. 3. If you don’t know how to spend on credit cards. You might think that it is necessary to spend the whole amount of money in the specified period of time and indulge in more debts. By consolidating all your outstanding credit card debts you can later pay them as monthly installments. So if you feel that it will take more than one year to pay your outstanding credit card debt you can consolidate your credit card debt as personal loan. 4. The reason when you are building up with all your credit debts and unable to pay off your monthly credit card debts i. e. you have a bad credit rating. 5. Credit card issuers also pay you if you consolidate all your credit cards debt into one credit card debt consolidation. For more information we recommend our website credit-card-debt-consolidation-guide. info

You too can be a foreign exchange student

Have you ever wondered why there are so many foreign students at your school, college or university? Have you considered the possibility of you studying abroad as part of you studies? Many full time overseas students are studying for a full degree at your college and stay for the 3 or 4 years it takes to complete the course. There are however, thousands of foreign students studying on a short term basis, usually for the second or third year of their course. These are exchange students and as these exchange programs are generally reciprocal you may be able, as part of your study program, to study at an overseas university for a year. Each year there are also thousands of school children who also attend school in another country for periods up to a year. Again it is not because their families have moved during the summer but it's because they are foreign exchange students and their experience abroad is as much a part of their education as their regular classroom studies. Foreign exchange students can be found in many different countries all over the world. They generally have an avid interest in the culture of the area they have traveled to and usually have to have at least a basic grasp of the language. By living abroad they gain an insider’s knowledge that they could never aquire from a text book back in their homeland thousands of miles away. In addition they learn the language, often becoming fluent during their time abroad Foreign exchange students embark on an adventure that includes living in the home of virtual strangers for months at a time. The program involves recruiting host families who provide a place to stay as well as the essentials for the foreign exchange students. Host families are carefully screened and chosen based on certain criteria. When a host family applies to the program they are asked if they have a preference regarding the gender of the foreign exchange students or the age. The majority of foreign exchange students are in the mid to late teens. Once the host family is chosen they are given more information on the student that will be living with them. This helps them prepare for their arrival. The foreign exchange students in the program have usually studied the language and the culture of the country they are visiting and therefore have the ability to communicate, at least at a basic level, with their host family. Sometimes host families are surprised by the level of comprehension that the foreign exchange students have. Foreign exchange students also have to go through a series of steps to enroll and participate in the program. Being away from their homes and familiar surroundings can be difficult and therefore they are normally expected to undergo several psychological tests including speaking with a professional. It is important for the foreign exchange students, their parents and the host family that the children are able to handle and embrace the experience. Many foreign exchange students become an honorary member of the family they visit. When their visit has ended and it’s time for them to return home it can be a bittersweet experience. It can also be difficult for the host family as they have to say goodbye to the young person who lived with them for months. Frequently the host family and student become lifelong friends and visit each other regularly. If your school or college participate in a student exchange program (and most do) and you are studying a course where you will benefit from the overseas experience (e. g. a foreign language) then enquire and see whether you could be spending the next academic year abroad. Whether you are one of the foreign exchange students or part of the host family the experience can be one of the most enriching and rewarding things you will ever do.

Spectrum workbooks have helped kids learn for a decade

Available to supplement classroom learning and help children achieve higher grades are Spectrum workbooks, a series that allows young learners to reinforce subjects they are learning in school. Spectrum workbooks follow current teaching methodology and subject standards, according to editors at School Specialty Publishing. The books are written by educational experts in various subject areas. They are ideal for students who need to extend their learning in a specific subject. This series covers nine subjects ranging from reading to test preparation. There are over 100 Spectrum titles in all for children Pre-K through eighth grade, each book cover distinguished by a starburst icon. Spectrum's instructional design offers young learners a smooth transition between each exercise and activity that is age appropriate, along with illustrations, graphs, diagrams and charts that visually support the concepts being taught. Assessments are included to track student progress, and each workbook has easy-to-understand directions and an answer key. In the third grade reading workbook, for example, each lesson features an illustrated story followed by exercises that test comprehension. This allows students to get the practice they need in essential reading skills. The reading workbook is a perfect supplement to a traditional school basal reading program since it combines activities that reinforce skills in phonemic awareness, phonics, word recognition and reading comprehension with a proven method for developing reading proficiency. Spectrum has recently celebrated its 10th birthday and its sales have exceeded 15 million copies. These exceptional additions to home and classroom instructions sell for about 10 dollars in bookstores and teacher stores.

Making an instant online credit card application

The Internet has changed the lives of many of us in a lot of different ways and we can now do our shopping, book flights, download music, software and books, and even apply online for a credit card. Making an instant online credit card application is quick and efficient and comparison charts make it a cinch to find a low interest rate credit card, or the best credit card deal to suit your personal needs. Whether you apply online for a credit card for the first time, or are a pro ready to switch to a new low interest rate credit card, there are a plethora of companies and agencies willing to help you find the best credit card deal around. But what of the risks in giving out your personal information online. Are you safer in making a credit card application offline? Well when you apply online for a credit card, every company offering an instant online credit card application form will have a secure area where you complete the form and your personal details will never be seen by any other human while the information is passed through to the issuing company. It is in fact safer to surrender your personal information or even credit card details over the internet than it would be offline. The personal details requested in an online credit card application form are no different than a promotion form you would pick up at your local bank or financial institution. But consider the dangers in applying for a credit card offline.. You will invariably post your completed application form to the head office of the credit card issuer or hand it in to the cashier at your bank. Either of these two offline methods is fraught with danger. Post can be lost.. posted to the wrong address etc. and paperwork can be misplaced in any office situation. You can easily tell when you are in a secure area because the url address on the page you are visiting will start with 'https' as opposed to 'http' for an unsecured site. Also you should see a gold padlock to the right of the address bar on your browser. Never give out your personal or credit card details on the internet unless you see the gold padlock and you are sure the site is a secure area. (You might also check if the security certificate is provided by a reputable organization e. g. Verisign). There are other advantages in making an instant online credit card application. Firstly when you apply online for a credit card the process is quicker and there's a chance you will receive your credit card at an earlier date than if you completed the application form in ink at home and posted it the following day. Secondly, the facilities for comparing credit cards from different companies is so quick and easy on the Internet and would be impractical to make the same comparisons offline. It is always useful before you apply online for a credit card, to compare interest rates, reward schemes and annual fees before you make your instant online credit card application. This facility makes it easier for you to find a low interest rate credit card or indeed find the best credit card deal that suits your personal requirements. You are also able to contact the credit card issuers by email should you come across any difficulties in completing your instant online credit card application form. Typically your email will be answered within a few hours, but some will respond almost immediately. So, to sum up, you can apply online for credit card in the knowledge that when you make your instant online credit card application, your privacy is secured and your personal details are passed through the system safely. Your new low interest rate credit card may turn out to be the best credit card deal on the Internet! Trevor Taylor

Is add a learning disability

Attention Deficit Disorder, in itself, is not a learning disability. The term “learning disability” typically refers to a perceptual disability, such as an auditory or visual processing disorder, like autism or dyslexia. A person with ADD, however, has no problems perceiving or interpreting information. Therefore, it does not qualify as a learning disability. Although it is often jumbled in with the mass of “disabilities”, ADD actually does not hinder the process of learning. A child with ADD can intake information, process it accordingly, and preserve it in memory, just like any other person. The problem comes with getting them to pay attention long enough to hear the information in the first place! A child with Attention Deficit Disorder may have difficulties in school and with learning in general, but it is not due to a learning disability. Often, when a child is treated for ADD, their academic performance improves by leaps and bounds. On the other hand, an individual with ADD may not have any difficulty in learning at all; this will vary by person. However, while ADD is not a learning disability, it is often accompanied by one or many. Some children, particularly at the preschool age, may have difficulty interpreting sounds or words and may also have speech issues. Older children may have problems spelling and reading, writing, and arithmetic disorders may arise. Likewise, dyslexia, a reading disorder, is common in children with ADD. However, none of these disabilities is inherent to Attention Deficit Disorder. While some children may have them, many will not. Whereas ADD may cause difficulty in learning, steps may be taken to help the child perform well in spite of the disorder. Most ADD children do better with a schedule – the exact same thing, day in and day out. Because they may have problems with memory retention and are easily distracted, this helps them stay on track, because they are acting out of habit. The same goes for organization; a set way to do things and places to put things makes it easier to remember and stay on course. On the same token, teaching the child to utilize organizational binders and planners also helps them stay organized and keep up with important assignments. During class time, it helps if an interactive approach is taken as opposed to a lecturing style – this keeps the child’s attention better and decreases the likelihood of distractions. The most important thing is to not make ADD a crutch for the child; they can grow and be successful, even with this disorder.