The top 50 ways to survive college for the first time off to college kid

1. Never miss a meal – you might regret it later that hour. 2. Park your car accessibly close. 3. Don’t park in timed zones (2 hour, etc.) – parking overtime adds up. 4. Don’t park in No Parking zones – parking tickets add up and have to be paid before next semester’s registration. 5. Don’t park in Tow Away zones – towing fees are hard to come by. 6. Take the bus. 7. A fine-point Sharpie is the best thing to use for signing autographs. 8. A fine-point Sharpie is the best thing to use for signing casts. 9. A fine-point Sharpie is the best thing to use for signing “I’m a friend when you need one” cards. 10. Staplers can be used to repair the hem on your jeans. 11. Staplers can NOT be used to repair a torn dress or bra strap. 12. Staple removers make great ice tongs for tiny ice cubes. 13. Staple removers are almost worthless for removing heavy-duty staples, whether they are in paper or your drunk roommate’s eyeball. 14. The smell of the contents of a laundry bag is proportional to the height of the guest you just brought in your dorm room compared to where the bag is hanging. The shorter the guest, the higher the bag needs to hang (fumes rise). 15. The smell of the contents of a laundry bag gets worse as the contents get higher in the bag. 16. There are two alternatives to the smell of the contents of the laundry bag: a. Wash the clothes. b. Buy new clothes. c. Taking the clothes home for the weekend for Mama to wash is not an option!! 17. When you have to produce a chart for Geography class, make it color-coded. 18. The extra expense and time of a color-coded chart will be well worth the effort when you see the “A” on the paper. 19. RoseArt makes the cheapest markers and colored pencils for making charts for Geography class. 20. Crayola markers last longer and are probably darker, but since they all dry out eventually and you’ll have to buy another set next semester for the Anthropology charts, why waste the money now? 21. Wal-Mart is the best place to buy school supplies, towels with the University logo, and sweatshirts with the school emblem on them. 22. Prices for EVERYTHING at the college bookstore are seriously inflated to show a profit to the Board of Regents. 23. The Board of Regents really does not care how much you spent on markers. 24. Wal-Mart was the first store on the moon and on Mars, so there will be one in your college town. Find it. Patronize it. Get to know its manager. 25. Wal-Mart and Waffle House are case studies in your Marketing classes textbooks. 26. Waffle House is open 24 hours a day. 27. Waffle House coffee will hold open your eyes, fill an empty tummy that has no other money, and warm a tired student who needed a place to come in out of the rain. 28. Waffle House waitresses LIKE tips. 29. Waffle House waitresses love college kids who tip. 30. Waffle House waitresses will listen with interest when you are professor bashing – just make sure he’s not her brother before you start berating him. 31. Waffle House waitresses will come to your graduation and look on you with pride as their “rent-a-kid” if you’ve tipped often enough. 32. Use a corkboard, not the wall, as your bulletin board. 33. Push pins leave little holes in the wall. 34. Push pins leave little holes in your bank account when you have to pay to have the holes filled in at the end of the semester. Staples do, too. 35. Staples are hard to remove from a bulletin board. Use push pins. 36. Push pins can not be used to deflate your roommate’s boy(or girl)friend’s tires. Except when inserted into the sidewall of the tire (near the rim). 37. Taking 12 pairs of shoes to college is a bit excessive, especially since you’ll wear OUT your favorite tennis shoes, sandals, and loafers, but the others have to be transported to school and back home. 38. Dr. Scholl’s makes great gel inserts for worn-out favorite tennis shoes. 39. If you share a room/bath with several other roommates or hallmates, set the guidelines, nicely, on the first day: a. Don’t use my ________ (insert soap, shampoo, crиme rinse, deodorant, towel, washcloth, loofah, etc. as needed) and I’ll try not to use yours but once or twice. b. Don’t bring your girlfriend (or boyfriend) to the room without warning me first. If you do, bring me earplugs and eyeshades so I won’t have to watch what you’re doing. c. Don’t take my last pencil/pen/paper without warning me first. If you do, I might have to use the back of your term paper for my class notes. d. Keep your dirty, smelly laundry on your side of the room. My side will be full of my own. e. Be nice to me. Otherwise, my overly large primate friends might trash your side of the room one night while I’m out for the night and have conveniently left the door unlocked. f. Let me know when you’re going to spend the night out so I can make use of your side of the room. 40. Hole punchers only work if you keep them aligned. 41. Hole punchers only work if you keep them emptied of the little dots they create from punching holes in your papers. 42. Little dots from the hole-puncher hopper make great confetti. 43. Little dots from the hole-puncher hopper are REALLY hard to get out of carpet. 44. The cheap, shag carpet in older rental trailers that your older college friends are renting holds a ton of little dots from the hole-puncher hopper. 45. Use the appropriate size binder clip for the project. 46. Binder clips come in several sizes: a. Teensy (holds 1 sheet of notebook paper or 2 kisses) b. Tiny (holds 4 sheets of notebook paper or 1 folded dollar for the Waffle House waitress). c. Small (holds 8 sheets of notebook paper or 2 quarters for a bad Waffle House tip). d. Medium (holds 20-40 sheets of notebook paper or for attaching 1 small magazine to your roommate’s pillowcase). e. Large (holds 100 sheets of notebook paper or a split seam of a fairly loose garment until you can get back to your dorm room; a split seam of a tight garment needs a coat or garbage to cover it up – repairing it is a waste of time). f. Excessive (holds 4 books and takes 3 people to press it open; if you get your finger caught in its jaws of death, have someone else dial 911). 47. Sticky-do’s (commonly referred to as “post-it notes) come in several flavors: a. 1.5” x 2” (Small. Worthless for anything but reminding yourself to buy larger sticky-do’s). b. 3” x 3” (Medium. Don’t use this size to leave notes on your roommate’s pillow like “We’re all out of cornflakes. FU” [quote from Felix Unger, played by Jack Lemmon, in “The Odd Couple,” a GREAT movie about roommates]). c. 4” x 6” (Large. More expensive, but in the louder colors, make great backgrounds for your roommate’s dull bulletin board). 48. Gem clips, whether plastic or metal, are worthless. Unless you need to hold used tissues together while your drunken roommate spills the beans at IHOP about the frat party bash/orgy/sleepover. 49. IHOP waitresses like tips, too. 50. Academic pursuits in college are for your spare time. Pursue them sparingly. Next: How to survive your first semester academically.

Affix ingredients to your website

People basically search your article to get some particular information on particular topic. So it is more important for a writer is to write the basic things. As the same formula applies on Web Design, Any body can choose a website on the basis of its design. So it’s the time for seriousness. You would not settle for just any other design which would be very impressive, especially when your customers are advanced and have dynamic preferences. Your website Web Design Delhi Company ought to be different for others. e-fuzion, a prestigious web development organization, you would get more than what you thought you could do with your precious website. In Web Design Delhi organizations you get the different websites, which should be designed in such a way that it creates comfortable readability for every visitor. In web design all the valuable designs comes in a trim and proper way. Which would help the readers to not only get interested in what you have to stay, rather good design also makes it possible for your readers not only get interested in what you have to say, rather a good design also makes it possible for your readers to retain what they read in your website, with out any extra effort to that end. In Web Design Delhi Company ( e-Fuzion ) web designers team has to take the time to design a good site. But in Web Design Delhi Company, you need to conscious on some points. First you make sure the site map is straight linked to the homepage. Make sure that the site map link is a text link. Make sure the site map page does not exceed indexation limit.

How do traffic exchanges work and how do i get free traffic

Imagine the next time you join a discussion about traffic. When you start sharing the fascinating traffic facts below, your friends will be absolutely amazed. Traffic Exchanges offer a great free way of promoting your business. They should be included in your advertising arsenal but make sure that you leverage your time effectively and you don't surf for hours for those advertising credits. Try to find a traffic exchange program that will not hinder your normal surfing behavior, while advertising your business, and you will be one of the few people who maximize their time and effort with this free marketing tool. Some traffic exchange services will make your surfing experience a bit more complex, since you would have to wait for a timer to expire in order to be awarded credits, and while that timer counts down you are forced to view another person's website from the network. Some of these measures were taken by the traffic exchange programs in an effort to minimize or eliminate cheating, as some users have created ways to cheat the system by using software programs that auto surf and earn them credits. Typically, participants to traffic exchanges will surf the Internet with a slight modification of how they normally would, in an effort to collect credits. The less departure from the normal surfing experience, the more the webmaster will be willing to use that traffic exchange program. Also, the less you force a user to view your website, the more targeted they will be for that product or service. For example, someone who reads a headline in a traffic exchange and clicks on it to view the website is more targeted than someone who views it because they are forced to wait for a timer to expire. Now that you have an overview of what traffic exchange programs are, and how they work, lets have a look at their main benefits: 1. You can recruit affiliates to gain more exposure to your site 2. You can build a list to market your products to 3. They're free to use 4. Targeted Traffic (for Internet Marketing) So far, we've uncovered some interesting facts about traffic. You may decide that the following information is even more interesting. Almost all traffic exchange services are free, although you can upgrade your membership to get additional benefits in some. This means that someone with a low or no budget can quickly start advertising their website for little or no cost. If your product is Internet marketing related then the traffic you would receive to your website will be somewhat targeted because they will be people who are also looking for ways of increasing their online income and traffic. To capture these names and add them to your email list have a page designed to give out a freebie or a 5 part e-course in exchange for an email address. You can then follow up with these leads and sell them more stuff in the future. If you have your own product and affiliate program, you can recruit affiliates to sell your products for a commission. The more people selling your products, the more passive income you will make. In conclusion, Traffic Exchange programs are services that are used by webmasters to attract more traffic and to obtain more exposure for their business. There are different types of traffic exchange programs. Many will let you surf the Internet as you normally would but require that you set your browser's start page to their default advertising page. Then, every time your browser loads one of their pages you earn advertising credits. You can also get credits for clicking on links of other members in the network. The credits you earn can be used in exchange for visitors to your site. Don't limit yourself by refusing to learn the details about traffic. The more you know, the easier it will be to focus on what's important.

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HOW TO START A ROOMMATE FINDING SERVICE The average income for the owners of this kind of business in California is $65,000 a year. Best of all, here's a business that you can start with an absolute minimum investment. Practically anyone who lives in a city anywhere in the country can expect to do just about as well, and with a bit of imagination, mixed with some business "moxie," you should be able to do even better! Income and market potentials for a service such as this are truly fantastic! rent increases that have far outpaced wage increases have brought about a tremendous need for a method to alleviate the cost of housing. Also, many apartment complexes are being converted into expensive condominiums. These two factors have created a problem of gantic proportions for millions of people who are concerned about keeping a roof over their heads. You can make big money solving that problem with your own Roommate Finding Service. We're going to tell you how. Many of the nation's leading economists are predicting this kind of living arrangement to be the "money-saving answer" for the apartment dwellers for the rest of this century. Others are predicting the roommate finding service to become as popular as the employment agency by 1990. This is an ideal absentee owner business. Most of those operating on the West Coast have a woman doing the managing--sometimes as just the manager, and sometimes as the owner-manager. This apparently has something to do with the nature of the business, and how most people seem to naturally trust a woman to fid the right roommate for them. As to the fee structure, I suggest something similar to the successful employment agencies. Charge everyone a $25 registration fee to start the ball rolling toward finding them a suitable roommate. You take a Polaroid snapshot of each registrant, have them fill out an appropriate application card which will indicate the kind of roommate they'd be happy with, and start searching through your files for people with similar likes and dislikes. To get started, you'll want a bank reference; a legal reference, a telephone, a business name, letterhead paper, envelopes, and business cards; and office supplies such as 3x5 index cards; typewriter; file cabinet; and printed questionaire-application form. You'll also need a responsibility disclaimer, which can be combined with the applicant's agreement-to-pay contract. Once you've found a roommate for your prospective client, you should have it spelled out in your agreement that each of the "matched roommates" will pay you 15% to 20% of the first month's rent. You should charge a bit extra for particular requirements, and perhaps somewhat less for older persons, or foe persons with handicaps. The approval or disapproval is left up to the parties involved. You simply look through your registration card file, pull five or six apparently suitable roommates, call each of them on the phone and arrange separate meetings for them with your client. Your client reports back to you, and tells you his or her decision, and you call the person chosen and finalize the deal. Good advertising will play a most important part getting this business off the ground. Make a good circular or "flyer" detailing your roommate finding services, and listing your phone number. Get these flyers on as many bulletin boards in your area as possible. Get them in grocery stores, barber shops, community colleges, beauty salons, bowling alleys; the list of places to " billboard" your flyers is endless. Another idea is to set up "take one" boxes in as many retail places of business as you can. Don't overlook the value of placing your flyers on windshields---particularly around apartment complexes, and in the parking lots of colleges in your area. You might even pay the downtown parking lots attendants to slip one under the windshield wiper of each car he parks on Monday. If you do a good job with the make-up of your flyer, and use your imagination in getting them into the hands of your prospective clients, you'll have no trouble moving your business into the black quickly. Even so, you'll need to run regular ads in your area newspapers. The best headings to run your ads under is the Personals Column. Your ad might read: NEED A ROOMMATE? We'll find the ideal roommate for you! Everything handled on a strictly confidential basis. For details, call Jan, Mary, or Carol, 123-4567. Within only a couple of months, you should be well enough established, and with a income large enough to afford an office location. When you establish your office, do some publicizing of your business with press releases to all the media in your area, and plan some fanfare that will bring attention to your services. Tacking up on your office walls the enthusiastic testimonials of people you've have matched with roommates is a very good idea. Later on, you might want to input all your client information on computer, and take video pictures of each client for showing to prospective roommates. In the final analysis, once you have your business underway, your future success will be limited only by your imagination.

Don t let your roof repairs go sky high

Before you go to the expense of calling in a roofing contractor, see if you can analyze and repair your roof problem yourself. The best possible time to repair your roof problem - is as soon as you realize that you have one and if the weather is calm enough to climb up onto the roof. In fact, this could be further qualified by saying that the best and most economical way to a trouble-free roof, is to inspect the roof regularly, so that you see the problem developing. A leak from one dislodged tile is a small and inexpensive matter, but if you do not inspect your roof regularly, this will go unnoticed. By the time that you DO notice it, it may be because water is dripping into your spare room! This means that this whole area of the roof structure is soaked, the ceiling will need to be replaced and hopefully the flooring will recover. Always check your roof after a wind storm, as most roofing is not designed to withstand fierce winds. Scrutinize the tiles for cracks, splits and torn-off corners; also check for lifting. Lifting is a common cause of roof leaks, and can be easily rectified. Be aware of multiple tiles lifting, as this could be a sign that the roofing material is too old and is warping from all the weathering. Climb into your attic/loft and ensure that any insulation that you have in your roof is not right up against the roof itself. There has to be a gap for air to circulate; also when a roof heats up and there is insulation directly behind it, this heat is thrown back into the roofing and excessive heating like this can damage and warp the roof. Another weakness in all roofs is the flashing. Flashing is designed to provide a watertight junction between roof materials and structure, especially if the roof projects out or changes design (as with extension roofs). If you are installing a new roof, it is worthwhile to get the flashing 'inspected' as it is a common failure area. Often the simple fact that the gutters, leading into down pipes from the roof, are blocked with leaves and twigs can cause a problem. Roofs must have adequate run off, especially in the areas which may have snow. Water trapped in the gutter will mean that it will back up the roof for a few inches and have time to seep into the edges of the roofing tiles. Not all homes have adequate perimeter protection on their roofs, although this is one good feature to ask for on a new roof. Quite often homes incur roof leaks all at the same time (often after strong gales winds and torrential rain etc). This can mean that all contractors are busy and you have 'stop up the leak' until you can get help. If you do get a leak, and you have placed buckets under the dripping water, be aware that the leak may be in a completely different place than it would seem. Locating the source is difficult, as water can run along horizontal timbers and appear to be leaking from a place that is sound. Getting up into the attic and actually looking for a wet spot on the roof decking will be an accurate way to tell. If you can find the spot an emergency patch can be made applying roofing felt and using plastic cement to hold it until you can call in a contractor. You can also attempt to repair it yourself, if it is just a shingle that is damaged. You can carefully prize up the roof shingle by removing the three or four nails that are holding it in place; next, apply a generous coating of tar beneath the tear in question, and also coat the underside of the shingle with a with a coat of tar before putting it back in place. Add a spot of tar to each nail head. Most roofing companies advise against the 'liquid' asphalt repair products. Roofs can also be temporarily repaired using roof membrane and sealants. Care must be taken to clean the roof surface first to ensure that the sealant will stick and keep the leak protected from rain etc. In fact, as long as the roof is clean and dry, the wonder of the 20th. Century - duct tape - can also be stuck onto the roof!

Seven keys to happiness

This article summarizes much of what I’ve learned thus far on my journey to self-discovery and positive growth. Along the way, through many of life’s ups and downs, with the help of many awesome teachers and mentors, I now most often live in a state of happiness and contentment. I still have lots to learn but I wanted to share with you what I’ve found most helpful thus far. I truly believe that all people have the capacity to choose their mental attitude. Therefore, if happiness is what you desire, then you must choose it. Here are some helpful ideas to help you do just that. 1. Self-Worth Self-worth—without it, happiness will always be just beyond your grasp. Self-worth is, of course, something that can be measured along a continuum. It isn’t like you either have it or you don’t. You can possess varying degrees and those degrees can themselves vary depending on the circumstances of your life. Generally, the person who is happiest has a healthy amount of self-worth without an inflated view of their own self-importance. This is the fine line that must be walked between confidence and arrogance. Confidence implies a certain sense of surety while recognizing that each of us is just a different cog in a very big wheel. No one person is any more important than anyone else. Those with high self-worth know their life’s purpose. They are in tune with what their mission is and proceed to make it their life’s work. They also recognize the value of everyone else with whom they share space. Those who are arrogant recognize their own self-worth but then proceed to look down upon those they deem as unworthy. Then at the other end of the continuum, there are those who recognize the importance of others but don’t believe they are worthy to breathe air. A healthy balance of self-worth is the key. 2. Gratitude The second key to happiness is gratitude. It is human nature to enumerate the things that are NOT the way we want them to be. We are programmed to notice when things are off, and not necessarily appreciate when all is as we want it. This makes maintaining an attitude of gratitude a challenge but nonetheless something we should strive for. I have mentioned before that Universal Law tells us that we attract those things we think about most often. When we are grateful for what we have, more is bestowed upon us. I know someone who believes, “No good deed goes unpunished” and lives his life accordingly. Another person I know always says, “I have the worst luck. Nothing good ever happens to me.” And you know what? They are right! The Universe delivers to them exactly what they expect. There are others who have similar bad luck but who persevere or find the lesson in the situation. These people find more happiness and contentment in return. Another point about gratitude is to be thankful for what you have. I love the line in the song that says, “It’s not having what you want; it’s about wanting what you got!” There’s nothing wrong with wanting to do better than you are as long as you are grateful along the way. Even when things are bad, there is always good to be found in it. Life is in perfect balance and order. Anything with a great deal of pain associated with it also has a tremendous positive side if we are of the mind to see it. 3. Positive Life Framing The third key to happiness is positive life framing. There are three ways to view any piece of information—positively, negatively or neutrally. Viewing information as neutral is the best way to go through life. It allows us to accept everything as it comes and to stop resisting what actually is in any given moment. However, many of us have great difficulty with that one. As an incremental step, it is helpful to find a way to reframe life’s negative events into positive ones. Even in life’s tragedies, there is a way to find something positive about the situation. Almost always, in hindsight, we can see the benefit. The real benefit comes when we are able to see the benefit as the tragedy unfolds, or at least stay open to the thought that there is a benefit even if you are unable to see it in that moment. Just as in physics where there can be no neutron without a proton, so it is with life where there can be no negative event without a corresponding positive one. 4. Internal Locus of Control The fourth key to happiness is possessing an internal locus of control. People who have an internal locus of control believe that they are responsible for their own behavior and its results based on their own personal decisions and efforts. This is contrasted with those who have an external locus of control. These individuals believe that their behavior is determined by external circumstances such as other people, fate, luck or circumstances beyond their control. Having an internal locus of control produces a “can do” attitude. An external locus of control generally results in a helpless attitude. Even though people with an internal locus of control still have situations that occur that are beyond their control, they will seek some action that can be taken by them to improve the situation. They do not spend time bemoaning the fact that something bad happened to them. They look for decisive action opportunities to turn things around. In this way, a person is more in charge of their own destiny. They can reject the role of victim and take definitive action to create greater life satisfaction. 5. Lifelong Learning The fifth key to happiness is to adopt an attitude of lifelong learning. Your goal each day should be to learn something new. As you encounter new people and situations, look for the wisdom that can be extracted from them. Particularly in areas where we believe we made a “mistake”, seek to uncover the lesson. There is always a lesson to be learned. When we believe we know all there is to know, that is when we are in dangerous territory. When we think we know all, then we stop learning from the people and situations in our path. When we stop looking for the lessons, we begin to blame things external to ourselves for the pain we experience instead of seeking to learn whatever we need to know for our life’s journey. 6. Love Love is the sixth key to happiness. I am not talking about having a significant other in your life who loves you. I’m talking about having love inside of you that is just bursting out of you to touch others. Unconditional love is a concept we all strive for—unfortunately, most of us are looking to receive it rather than give it. You are truly fortunate and blessed when you have the unconditional love of someone—whether it’s your life partner, your mother, father, aunt, uncle, grandmother, grandfather, foster parent, friend or puppy! Truly unconditional love is rare and a gift to be cherished. However, ask yourself the question, how many times have you extended unconditional love? Do you have unconditional love for your fellow human beings? This is the kind of love that will lead to happiness. It doesn’t matter if that special someone doesn’t love you back, it’s what’s in YOUR heart that matters. Are you someone who only loves as much as you feel you are being loved in returned? That certainly isn’t unconditional! If you are seeking love in your life, then you must be loving in order to attract the love you seek. This will lead to the ultimate happiness—loving, expecting nothing in return. Try it. 7. Contribution The last key to happiness is contribution. This is a combination of knowing and following one’s life purpose. When people understand their divine purpose in this life and then go about fulfilling that purpose, they are making an awesome contribution to the good of mankind. Having meaningful work and leaving a legacy is an important key to happiness. When we do the work we were meant to do, we touch lives. It doesn’t matter whether one’s purpose is to clean the public restrooms or to find the cure for AIDS, following your divine purpose will bring about a strong life fulfillment that cannot be experienced any other way. Contribution is critical to happiness. Implementing these seven keys to happiness in one’s life is not an easy task. Personal coaching can be helpful as you are attempting to change some old, harmful habits into more productive, happiness-inducing ones. Jack Canfield says, “Of all the things successful people do to accelerate their trip down the path to success, participating in some kind of coaching program is at the top of the list. A coach will help you clarify your vision and goals, support you through your fears, keep you focused, confront your unconscious behaviors and old patterns, expect you to do your best, help you live by your values, show you how to earn more while working less, and keep you focused on your core genius.” Why not give it a try?

The many uses for canvas tote bags

The Many Uses For Canvas Tote Bags If you have ever noticed someone at the beach with a bag thrown over their shoulder or a shopper with the same, you have probably already seen a few of the many uses for canvas tote bags. These convenient accessories are sold everywhere, in every color and almost any design imaginable. They are available in a variety of sizes to accommodate virtually every use. Whether it's a day at the beach, a picnic, browsing at the flea market or just a day at the mall, canvas tote bags are very popular. The design options are unlimited with canvas tote bags. If you like solid denim, you're in luck. If, on the other hand, you prefer a solid hot pink, casual khaki or classic black, these and more are also commercially available. For the creative do-it-yourselfer, a broad range of patches, emblems and add-ons are available in the craft section of most retail stores. These little products allow for personalization, including animals, flowers and almost any favorite design that you wish. All it takes is a needle, some thread and a little patience to personalize any canvas tote bag with that special touch. Or, if you are really creative, purchase some fabric and make your own tote bag. They are simple in their design, but unmatched in their convenience. Solid canvas tote bags aren't all that's available, however. Totes featuring nature, flowers, religion and pets are also readily available if you are willing to shop around. As mentioned previously, there are a variety of uses and the possibilities are truly limitless with canvas tote bags. If you are into internet auctions, perhaps you enjoy selling items online for extra cash. What better way to carry all of your packages into the post office than with canvas tote bags? It's a lot easier to manage than trying to balance packages against your chest while watching where you are going. Just toss the tote over your shoulder and you are all set. If you plan to spend the day at the beach, perhaps you will want to take along a good book, some sunscreen, a beach towel and a pair of sunglasses. Well, if you are wearing a swimsuit, there certainly isn't going to be a pocket for you to carry these things. Consider packing everything into a convenient canvas tote bag and enjoy the sun in style. If you're out shopping and find that the handles on plastic bags are just too flimsy to carry around the mall for hours, consider canvas tote bags as a way to carry your purchases. After you pay for your items and the cashier gives you a bag, simply put that bag down into your tote and you won't have to worry about the straps breaking or becoming week. Happy toting!

There s nothing bad in steroids

You often see/hear/read a lot of people speaking spitefully about anabolic steroids, but completely disagree with their dear opinions. In fact, these seasoned agitators are completely ignoring the good these drugs can do to humans. I ask these gentlemen advocating against anabolic steroids, why do they create so much fuss, if people buy steroids for their betterment? Certainly, everyone has right to live and look better. I can’t really understand, why such ado, if some guys buy steroids just to make themselves fit for survival. What harm they are doing to the society, if they buy steroids to treat some of their diseases and disorders that are caused by low secretion of their natural testosterone in their bodies. Honestly, there’s nothing bad – if some people buy steroids to improve their sexual powers and libidos. Frankly, there’s nothing unscrupulous, if some people buy steroids to improve their strength & stamina or power & performance. Genuinely, there’s nothing immoral, if some people buy steroids to sexually satisfy their partners. Can these malicious minded gentry tell me, what wrong do they see, if some people buy steroids to treat their chronic wasting diseases, such as, Cancer and AIDS? Do these gentlemen have any problem, if the people suffering from cancer and AIDS could live little longer by just using anabolic steroids? Are these people arguing for mere argument sake? Let me tell some good points of anabolic steroids. Anabolic steroids are wonderful drugs for treating the disorders, such as, delayed puberty in teens, general weakness, weak libido, penal dysfunction, which usually occur due to the deficiency of natural testosterone in body. You know, some people are really shy sharing such problems with others. They genuinely need anabolic steroids, but due to strict laws & polices on steroids, they buy steroids illegitimately from illegal sources, which often provide them with fake steroids, which are really more harmful. Steroids also have powerful ability to fight chronic wasting diseases. They can also help aging people live healthy life in their later years. These people really need steroids, but they can’t buy steroids easily. I admit steroids have side effects, but they are mostly associated with the steroid abuse and over use or excessive use of steroids. Steroids cause side effects, if they are used for longer periods or permanently. They are pretty safe, if used rightly, in right doses, for limited time period.

Tips for choosing a provider of online construction training

Choosing an online training solution is easier with a bit of expert advice. The following tips should make your decision-making process a little easier. 1. Assess Your Resources. If you’ve already committed yourself to the idea of online training, you’ve likely already done some assessment of your resources. If not, evaluate your budget, time, equipment and computer availability to see what you can afford. 2. Conduct a JHA. The next, and most important, step is conducting your own Job Hazard Assessment (JHA). This consists of a safety professional - your safety representative or consultant - visiting the job site, analyzing field worker operations and noting what physical and environmental hazards exist. A good JHA will identify what particular workers in various positions need to be trained on in order to eliminate or reduce the hazards associated with their job. You’d then want to match up your needs with exactly what the online training company provides. 3. Target Your Specific Needs. Choose an online training provider that can offer you the training topics identified in the JHA or one that has the ability to customize the training to address the unique hazards associated with your particular industry. You should ask, “Is the training offered here specifically geared toward meeting the training requirements set by OSHA or is it just awareness level training?” 4. Choose ‘Deep or Wide’. Also, ask yourself how in depth the training needs to be given the student’s level of responsibility for site safety. If you are looking into training for a supervisor or manager, oftentimes you will need more in-depth coverage of that subject matter. Perhaps you have a supervisor who needs training that qualifies him or her as a “Competent Person” or a worker who simply needs awareness-level training. A “Competent Person” is defined by OSHA as: an individual who, by way of training and/or experience, is knowledgeable of applicable standards, is capable of identifying workplace hazards relating to the specific operation, is designated by the employer, and has authority to take appropriate actions. 5. Track Your Training. From an administrative standpoint you should make sure that the online training provider can track and maintain the student training records. Also, find out if you will have instant access to these records. Following these tips and doing a bit planning will undoubtedly make finding the right online training provider much easier on you. As with any major purchase, the more research you do the better. Good luck.

A ghillie suit a sharpshooter s most essential item

Everyone has heard of what camouflage is, but far fewer people have seen a ghillie suit. You might not see it at all unless you are looking hard. The ghillie suit dates back to Scotland when barons would pay men to patrol their properties to repel illegal hunters. Ghillies, as they came to be known, would get in the bushes and wait for poachers in outfits they would craft from rags and frayed materials. Nowadays ghillie suits are used for a number of activities from the deadly act of sharpshooting to the much less deadly game of paintball. The materials used have changed but the concept behind the covering remains the same. Even when the enemy or mark comes within a really close range to them, the modern ghillie suit wearer can remain unseen and look like a pile of sticks in the forest. Ghillie suits have been associated with sharpshooting because of their straightforward concept and high effectiveness. Around the time of the conclusion of the eighteenth century the art of sniping began. To destroy and break the spirits of the enemy, rebels would pick off targets from far-away areas. Snipers came about when weapons became more accurate and a shooter could be over one-hundred meters from their mark. The use of snipers in military combat changed the the technique in which wars were fought. Officers would stand with troops and give commands during battle before the deployment of snipers. Infantry warfare went from direct engagements to covered, flanking techniques as more commanders were killedmanders had to try and mix in with the lower-ranking soldiers to avoid being shot. These tactics took engagements from an open field to locations that had more shelter for both forces such as forests or hills. As more ferocious and far-away techniques were implemented to fight, the code of conduct that military men in the past held onto was forgotten. To kill high-ranking officers and to break the spirits of enemy armies during WWI, every side used ghillie suits and sniper techniques. The talent to stay unseen for sharpshooters lies within the ghillie suit; textiles hang down and give the sharpshooter unbelievable camouflage protection. No matter what climate they are in, there are so many styles of the suit that the wearer can blend in with their terrain everywhere. A desert ghillie suit, for example, would appear a lot different than a woodlands ghillie suit. Modern day sharpshooters still continue to use the suit for protection and cover while on imperative missions. A sniper's talent to remain hidden is essential for their safety and life since most of the time a shooter works alone or with one other man as the spotter. A well-made suit to cover the shooter is the most essential asset besides the gun. A sharpshooter's safety would be extremely compromised if they didn't have the skill to stay unseen until it was time to take the shot. The getaway after a shot was taken is just as essential to a sharpshooter as the actual shot. Several times during the escape the shooter will use the camouflage of the ghillie suit to get him out without harm.

What are the advantages of watching satellite tv on your home pc

Computer hardware, software, and the vast infrastructure that constitutes our global communications network have made it not only possible but actually rather simple to enjoy the full benefits of satellite television from your home PC. Is this legal?.... and is it free? Yes. Though that is a qualified yes depending on the specific television shows or movies you desire to watch. There are a range of methods to receive television content on your PC, including a high speed Internet connection, a satellite feed, a cable, or some combination of these methods. Before jumping in head first and setting satellite tv up on your PC, look at the true advantages of watching TV on your PC. At present there are a lot of deeply ingrained cultural assumptions about what computers and televisions are for. Even though it is true that PC's are becoming more and more popular as an entertainment tool, playing computer games, surfing the web, chatting online etc..... they are still more closely associated with the workplace, and the idea of work in general. By contrast, the TV is associated with the domestic realm, and to some would even be considered the most relaxing space and activity to undergo in the home. Using a computer is generally an active experience, however watching TV is passive.... stretching out and laying on the couch....... or snuggling up in bed and catching a movie. This much is clearer if you take a step back and look at the body positioning of someone using a computer compared to that of a person watching TV. In front of a computer, we are leaning toward it (often more than good posture would allow) and inputting directly onto an attached keyboard and mouse. In front of a TV, we are detached, sitting in our favorite recliner or couch, and inputting via a remote. Also, using the computer is thought of a solitary affair, while TV viewing is a family affair, or at least a more social one. All this is changing of course, with television growing more and more interactive as it becomes digital (and, the opposite is true, with computers becoming more and more social with high speed connections bringing people together through real time text, audio, and video transactions). So how has the viewing quality of satellite tv developed? Over recent years, home PC technology has seen a major re-development, making using a computer on a daily basis a much more enjoyable, flexible and efficient experience. As a result computers have become more and more a part of our everyday life, and now a more logical way to watch TV. The majority of households have converted from the old box monitors and monotone speakers to widescreen lcd and high quality surround sound speaker and sub packages. For more information on correctly upgrading the picture and audio quality from your PC, or simply connecting your computer with your existing television and stereo setup, read our information on home theater for your pc. In saying this, convergence looks to be the magic word in terms of telecommunications media at work and play. And, if you don't mind blurring this distinction, convergence would be one of the most obvious benefits of setting up and receiving satellite TV on your household PC. Convergence is not just about using the same device for business and pleasure, it's about doing an array of different tasks at the same time or from the same place. If you choose, you can simply let yourself become sidetracked and surf the new while watching a slowmoving sporting event, or during the adbreaks of your favorite television series. You may remember to pay a forgotten bill while you are watching the nightly business news. You might even want to look up a few reviews of a movie that's about to start but you haven't decided whether or not to sit through it. You would also be able to easily access and play media on your TV (audio or video) that is stored on your computer. In general, convergence creates a network between your own personalized communication devices - phone, computer, television - that effectively enables them to "talk" to each other. It's the simple tasks you can achieve that make watching television on your PC a desirable option. You would accomplish all of the above multi-tasking by minimizing the TV content in a smaller window on your computer, while freeing up the rest of space for your other tasks. Of course, an adept multi-tasker may choose to watch one (or several) TV channels on multiple windows, while surfing the net, cooking dinner, and playing harmonica all at the same time. Other benefits to watching TV on your computer arise from the ability to receive television shows that would be otherwise un-accessible for various reasons. For example, with a high speed Internet connection and a media player (freely available software such as QuickTime or Windows Media Player), you can access some television content that may not otherwise be available to you in your location. The ability to watch remote content is then another benefit of watching TV on your PC. Such content might be foreign language programming that actually originates in a different country. In addition, the television shows you enjoy and decide to watch online are not necessarily remote in a spatial sense; they can be "temporally" remote. For instance, you may be able to access a sports event that you would ordinarily receive much later in time through digital feeds that you can stream via the Internet. Another common issue that watching TV on the computer solves is the ability to access shows that appeal to a smaller viewing market. Your computer opens up channels for content that falls outside what would be deemed mainstream or designed for the mass market. In this sense, it is a simple task to download TV that is said to be "narrowcast" - as opposed to broadcast - and designed to reach a multiplicity of smaller targeted audiences, rather than one massive homogenized one. Staunch advocates of narrowcasting believe that there is really no such thing as a mass audience anyway. Examples of niche marketing would include anything from religious sermons delivered in non-mainstream religions to cooking shows for, say, gluten-free vegans. Before throwing out your old television set and coming over to the PC side, make sure you are actually going to use your PC TV technology, research your options, and find the most suitable satellite tv software for your needs.

6 Ways to guarantee record breaking holiday sales

Winter smells fill the air, cool breezes send the geese on their way, and frost steals the color from fall leaves. Yeah, it's that time of the year again. We get out our winter clothes and head for the malls. Shopping and the holidays go together like a hand in a glove. The question is, how many of these holiday shoppers will you woo into your store? Let's look at some sure-fire ways to catch the attention of shoppers and set record profits this holiday season. 1. Surprise Them With a Holiday Discount You really don't expect to find products at their cheapest when the demand for them is the highest. Sure, after the holidays are over, the discount sales soar. That's when you expect the "steal of a deal." Surprise your customers with a truely discounted product right in the middle of the holiday season. That'll get their attention! 2bine Products For A Special Deal Two are better than one! At least we feel like we're getting a deal when we buy a combination package... and we usually are getting a better buy for our buck. Find some products you can group together and sell at a better price. You'll double your sales and spike your profits in the process. 3. Give A Freebie Let's face it... nothing in life is free, unless there's a reason behind it. Yeah, customers scoop up freebies like ice cream and cake, but you're setting yourself up for future business when they walk out your doors with a smile on their face. 4. Speedy Delivery Impatience is par for the course these days. Hey, we can get online and find anything we want in a few minutes... whey wait forever to get it? The quicker you can get your product to your customer, the happier they will be. It's as plain and simple as that. 5. Put Off The Payment Procrastination is highly appealling to customers who are short on cash around the holidays. Give them the option of using a credit card, or making delayed payments on your product... and you've invited an entirely new class of people into your realm. 6. Advertise What good does it do to have the best buy in town if nobody knows about it? Get the word out! Send out postcards, advertise it across the top of your Web page... do whatever it takes to let the world know that you're making an offer too good to pass up. Everybody loves a special deal. A special deal around the holidays, is like an extra goody in their stocking. Treat 'em, and they'll love you for it!

Global positioning finding your lost pet quickly

It's every pet owner’s nightmare - your dog is lost. Your dog is outside facing the elements and the dangers all alone. You don't know where they are and you have no idea how to go about finding them. Most dogs just love to explore and some breeds are more prone to straying further than others. Hunting dogs like beagles are even more adventurous than other kinds of dogs and will quickly stray out of sight. It's not just hunting dogs that can go missing. Dogs and cats escape all the time. Whether it’s the dog that escapes underneath your feet as you open the door or the cat who has escaped over the weekend. Pets also face all kinds of dangers while traveling with their owners. If you’re pet does get lost finding them soon will reduce the threat of serious harm coming to them. A pet that is lost after nightfall has significantly less chance of being found safe and returned alive. The cold temperatures and dangers of traffic are increased and your pet becomes more vulnerable to attack by wild animals too. If this all sounds like a nightmare to you there is a method of keeping track of your pet which might alleviate your worries. Using satellite technology you can keep tabs on where your pet is. GPS technology is not new for cars and boats but for pets it's pretty new. Global Positioning Systems can now be used to keep track of your dog or cat. The system uses governmental surveillance techniques with satellites; enabling a Mobile System for Communications (GSM). This means you can use your phone or laptop to keep track of anything from your car to your dog. You will need a service provider to relay the information to you which you will need to pay for. A tracking device can be attached to your dog’s collar; so it doesn't hurt or hinder them in any way. Except for curbing that adventurous spirit a bit! The system is very personalized - you can set perimeters and zones and you can change them as you travel or even move house to house. These "safe zones" can be set so you are alerted whenever your pet leaves an area determined by you. If you choose GPS; remember it is only effective as part of a wider strategy. There's no substitute for proper training but there are some tools you can use to make your pet safer.

Hello from the canadian rockies part 26 a final walk through calgary

Our last couple of hours before our departure had arrived. We had left Banff at about 9:30 am and got into Calgary just shortly before 11, parked our car just east of downtown and set off on foot on our final walk to explore a bit more of downtown Calgary. The first place we passed by was Calgary City Hall, a classic sandstone building, located right opposite the Olympic Plaza. Originally constructed for the medal ceremonies for the 1988 Olympics, Olympic Plaza has become a centre of activities in downtown Calgary and many festivals are held here. During the Calgary Stampede every year pancake breakfasts are served at Olympic Plaza. During the winter it serves as a skating rink. The Telus Convention Centre is adjacent to the Olympic Plaza, and the Art Gallery of Calgary as well as the Glenbow Museum are right around the corner. The south-west corner of the Olympic Plaza holds the “Famous Five” sculptures commemorating 5 famous women activists who changed Canada, celebrating that women had become persons. A copy of this sculpture is located on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. From there we continued on to the Stephen Avenue Walk. Named after the first Canadian Pacific Railway president, Lord George Mount Stephen, it was officially declared a Canadian Historic site in 2002.Calgary experienced a huge boom in the early 1900s and as a result wealthy merchants built a variety of prestigious sandstone buildings that housed shops, saloons and restaurants. Today the entire street is a pedestrian area and surrounded by six major shopping centres, a variety of boutiques and galleries. In the summer it is the location of live performances, festivals, musical and artistic events. One of Calgary’s unique features is its system of interconnected elevated walkways that connect shopping areas in numerous high-rise office towers downtown. They are called “+15s”, referring to the fact that originally these walkways had to be at least 15 feet above the streets that they were traversing. The most visually stunning elevated walkway is the Royal Canadian Pacific Pavillion that is suspended above the street below. This particular facility is not accessible to the general public. Calgary’s +15s are the world largest enclosed elevated walkway system, they span 18 km and consist of 58 bridges that connect over 100 offices, retail and other buildings in downtown Calgary. We decided to check out this walkway system that connects all the main buildings flanking the Stephen Avenue Walk including buildings such as the Calgary Eaton Centre, TD Square, Bankers Hall, The Bay and the Scotia Centre. Right in the TD Square you can find a tropical refuge from city life called “Devonian Gardens”. This is one of the world’s largest indoor parks and includes waterfalls, tropical plants and flowers, a secluded woodland setting, water fountains, humongous goldfish, water turtles and many other delights. It is a wonderful place to relax, it’s open from 9 am to 9 pm every day and admission is free. On this cold winter day we enjoyed this tropical sanctuary and Calgarians and tourist alike appreciated the enclosed indoor spaces that Calgary has to offer. One of the corridors leading to a +15 walkway contains a collection of historic posters of the Calgary Stampede, dating all the way back to the early 20th century. It was interesting to see graphic design and the visual representation of the Stampede evolve through almost 100 years. Well, our departure time was getting closer, and we had to leave and take our rental car back and hop onto the plane back to Toronto. But our sneak peak at Calgary and our entire week in Banff had given us a great opportunity to explore Western Canadian history and hospitality. I am sure we’ll be back….. For the entire article including photos please visit travelandtransitions/stories_photos/calgary_final_walk. htm

Create an indelible bond with your child

Every parent aims to bring up a child that is loving, giving, confident, happy, and a part of a closely knit family. Parenting is a natural process and more often than not it is not books, counselors, or doctors that will guide you but it is your in born instinct and bonds with the child. When a child is born it trusts its mother without questions and looks towards her for sustenance and protection. A mother in turn instinctively holds the child close to her bosom and knows without words when the child is well and when it is ill. This connection must be maintained as the child grows. Never allow a distance to creep in. If you want to be close to the child and always be there for him or her it is crucial to maintain a close and trusting relationship. A few essentials of parenting are: 1. Understand the child’s emotional needs. Find out what the child’s likes and dislikes are. 2. Accept the child for who he or she is. Never try to mold a child to what your vision of a child is. Love the child dearly. 3. Motivate the child to do their best but do not set unrealistic goals. Every child has a comfort level and it is hard for every child to be an achiever. 4. Studies show that each child has a talent in some field or the other. It is impractical for parents to want their child to be a soft ware professional, a doctor, or engineer if the child has a talent for growing plants or nursing. Allow the child to realize his or her own dreams. Don’t foist your unfulfilled ambitions on the child. 5. Ensure that you don’t fight or shout in front of the children. It only upsets them and often creates deep rooted emotional trauma in them. All differences must be settled behind closed doors or in the privacy of your room. Ugly fights upset kids. 6. Help the child find its path. Expose them to different options and nurture their interests. 7. The slim difference between a happy cooperative child and a sulk difficult one is love and understanding. Throughout the child’s growing years you must emphasize that you love the child dearly and will always be there for him or her. 8. Listen to your child, often fears or doubts emerge when you are having a conversation. Make time to chat with the child about your day, the child’s day, and things happening around the world and so on. Keeping communications open will introduce as sense of security and openness into your relationship. The essence to a deep relationship is knowing your child inside out. Show the child how to embrace life and to manage disappointments and anger. Be honest with the child in the long run being honest goes a long way. In case you are facing problems on a personal level be it your job or relationships never hide facts from a child and pretend that everything is fine. Allow the child to hold your hand and face problems big and small together. Teach the child to be curious and to satisfy the healthy curiosity by reading. Foster a love for learning, music, plants, and life. Encourage the child to explore and not to be afraid to ask questions or to disagree with you. Parenting is a crucial responsibility that cannot be handed down to others. The key to good parenting is never be afraid to love your child, show them the difference between right and wrong, and instill in them a sense of self and trust in you. Emphasize that you will always be there for him or her. Let them place their trust in you.

Web detective

So, you want to find out information. Maybe about an employee, a friend, or you may be trying to find an old friend or loved one. Can you search the internet for this information. Or do you have to hire a private investigator, or how about you become your own Web Detective. Online detectives are becoming more and more a hobby than a career. You can find out much of this information yourself if you have the right tools and there are many many programs out there that can help you find the information you are searching for. So how do you become a detective? Which Net Detective program is the best out there? Do you pay a private investigator or become a web detective yourself?? Where do you start your search for the best programs out there. First, you need to figure out the type of information you are search for. If you are looking for a type of background check in your internet investigation, then I would search for companies that specialize in background checks. Most of these companies will do background checks, public records which include birth records, death records, marriage records, divorce records, social security checks, adoption records and many other public records. You will also be able to retrieve property records as well. Some companies have a choice of what type of information you are looking for. For instance your web detective search only requires a location and phone number of a person, then some companies will charge you a nominal fee for a one time one person search only including the most recent address and phone number on record. If your net detective search requires a criminal background check or a more extensive people search, the fee goes up and it may only be a one person search or you may be able to buy an unlimited package. These web detective sites are composed of a collection of links to resources that allow you to search many forms of demographic information. These detective sites have compiled all the links to save you a great amount of time, days or even week it would take one to find all the resources available. Although the resources are free to you, you are paying the net detective for the convenience of having all of them in one location. The list of search types for the internet detective is usually quite extensive, but here are a few examples of what you can find. 1)Adoption Records 2) Aircraft Crash Database 3) Real Estate Brokers Directories 4) Census Data 5) County Ordinances And Codes 6) FCC Radio Licensee Search 7) Annual Corporate Reports 8) Court Records 9) Military Records 10) Criminal Records 11) Marriage Records 12) Copyright Information 13) Patent Information I hope your searches are helpful for whatever your reasons may be as being a net detective can be fun and adventurous. So good luck and have a great time being a Web Detective.

Diamond watches

Diamonds are beautiful jewels and are used in many types of jewelry from diamond necklaces to diamond rings to diamond watches. They are becoming more and more popular with both men and women due to the fact that they do not have to be too flashy. Both men and women continually look for new ways to use diamonds. Diamonds are not a rarity by any means. They are very easy to find and purchase. The diamond watch is becoming more and more popular. They have become less expensive. It is also easier for consumers to find diamond watches. Diamond watches are something that both men and women can wear. The diamond watches are made in many sizes, shapes and styles. The prices of diamond watches vary just about as much as the styles do. There are diamond watches that can be worn by women out on the track. These diamond watches are a way of showing that women can wear the diamond watches even when they are active. This type of diamond watch functions just like any other sport watch, but it has the diamonds and looks a bit nicer than the typical sport watch. Women still wear the classic style of diamond watch. This type of diamond watch is typically worn for a nice evening out on the town. Some of the popular brands that make the classic style of diamond watch include Rolex, Seiko, Citizen, Omega, Bulova, and Cartier. Men are sporting diamond watches more and more. The diamond watch for men is distinguished and beautiful at the same time. Many of the same dealers that make women's' diamond watches also make men's diamond watches. So men's diamond watches are just as readily available as women's diamond watches. The dealers do not make men's diamond watches to look the same as women's diamond watches, though. The men's diamond watch is larger and more masculine looking. They look more powerful looking than a woman's diamond watch. When purchasing a diamond watch it is important to know what you are getting. You want to know the quality of the diamonds in the diamond watch you are purchasing. Price and quality do not always match when it comes to diamond watches. Purchasing a more expensive diamond watch does not necessarily mean that you are purchasing high quality diamonds. Instead of looking at the price of diamond watches, be sure to purchase your diamond watch through a reputable dealer. Whether you are a man or a woman you can find a diamond watch to fit your personality and lifestyle. A diamond watch is sure to be in style as long as man continues to exist. Diamond watches step a wardrobe up a notch from ho hum to ooh nice. It does not matter how much money you make, you can find a diamond watch from a reputable dealer that will fit into your budget. Go out and shop for your diamond watch. Watch and see for your self how a diamond watch can enhance your wardrobe step up the excitement in your life.

Snowboarding for beginners

Snowboarding For Beginners If you are interested in taking up a new hobby, and you enjoy thrilling, fast paced action, why not consider snowboarding? Increasing in popularity year on year, snowboarding has always been highly fashionable, and is no more accessible than ever, so you really have no excuse for not giving it a go if you are interested. In this article we will look at the equipment you will need, where to get started, and the things to watch out for when snowboarding. First thing’s first - get yourself online. Look around, and find out exactly what snowboarding involves. It is a dangerous game, and highly physically taxing. Additionally, it can be quite expensive, so you need to try to ensure it’s right for you. Next you need to look for a board to get you started, and some clothing for wearing on the slopes. First off, forget about buying a top quality board. You need to start off with something cheap and cheerful, designed for beginners. You can find these easily online, and you may also be able to come across some models in your local extreme sports shop. Alternatively, you could try to pick one up second hand from a friend, or from another snowboarder. You also want to make sure you look cool whilst your out there! Check out some of the highly fashionable snowboarding wear, and kit yourself out from hats, to sunglasses to thick socks - make sure you’re prepared for the elements before you set off. It is worth looking around to find lessons in your local area. Lessons range in availability, quality and price, although you will often find recommendations or local adverts particularly helpful. Again you could look online for some tips to get you on your way. If you do take lessons, it is important to take on board what the instructor says from both a performance and safety perspective. Additionally, get out there and practice between lessons if you ever want to improve. If you stick at it, and work hard, you will eventually see an improvement, and find the sport significantly more enjoyable also. It is also good to note that snowboarding is a highly dangerous activity and people do get hurt. Before you even think about snowboarding, take some lessons in safety, and make sure you are fully equipped both mentally and physically for avoiding injury to yourself and others. Snowboarding is responsible for many accidents every year, and it is an extreme sport after all - if you’re of a weak disposition, it is perhaps not the best sport for you. Having said that, snowboarding can easily be performed safely with a bit of common sense, and a bit of research, so make sure you’re prepared before you get out there. Warnings aside, snowboarding is great fun, if you like this sort of thing. Many people adopt the mantra that you should try everything at least once, and as far as snowboarding is concerned, this is definitely true. Try snowboarding once, and join the legions of followers who enjoy snowboarding at every opportunity. Chances are there are clubs and associations in your local town, so get yourself along and join in with like minded people. Your level of experience doesn’t matter, as long as you go along and participate, you will gain a lot from it, and you will definitely have a good time in the process. Word Count 571

Home equity loans can they help you

Cash can be hard to get, at times, and the debt can pile up, but if you own your own home it may be much easier than you think. A home equity loan allows you to take out a loan based on the built up cash value of your home. Here is what you need to look for in order to get a good deal on a home equity loan. How It Works A home equity loan is worth the amount of money that you now have invested in your house. For instance, if you house is worth $250,000 on the market, and you still have $155,000 on your existing mortgage, then you have an equity value of the difference - $95,000, in this case. That means that many lenders would be glad to give you a loan worth up to $95,000, as a second mortgage, or home equity loan. Two Kinds of Mortgages When you apply for a home equity loan, there are two kinds that you might get. The first kind, called a home equity loan, simply gives you the money - like any other loan. You are free to use the money as you want. The other kind is called a home equity line of credit, often referred to as a HELOC. Both of these are also referred to as second mortgages, since they are secured by the house itself. The Simple Home Equity Loan A home equity loan, or second mortgage usually is tax deductible, and is often based on the entire amount of the equity of the home. Generally, it is at a higher rate than the first mortgage, and usually has a maximum of 15 years to pay it back. Many homeowners use a balloon payment with this type of mortgage, or a large payment that is due at the end, in order to keep their payments low. Line of Credit This type of home equity mortgage gives to the homeowner a credit line that they are free to draw on - when needed. The ceiling amount is pre-approved by the lender, and then they are free to draw out money as they need it - or if they need it. Up to 100% of the equity value can be borrowed, and interest is only paid on the amount borrowed. The rate of interest, though, will vary, depending on what the rates are at the time you withdraw any money. These loans are generally held open for up to 30 years. Like with any other loan, you need to take the time to shop around in order to ensure that you get the best deal. Not only should you compare interest rates, but also the various fees that are involved. Separate the actual loan from the fees and compare them other loans - fee against fees and loan costs. Do not make the assumption that since the home equity loan has no closing costs, that they are not in there somewhere - they are.

The rising trend of do it yourself

Within the last few years, America has become a do-it-yourself type of country. From television to books to magazines, the people in the U. S. have decided to help themselves with the projects that need to be done at home instead of hiring someone to do it for them. The reasons for becoming a "do-it-yourselfer" are many and people have found that DIY is the answer to many issues. Taking on a project at home yourself can be very advantageous. Many people do DIY to save money by tackling household projects. Some "do-it yourselfers" are such because it helps them to be able to flip houses, a popular way to make money, without hiring a contractor. Others are "do-it-yourselfers" in order to make money as a handyman, doing projects for people who can’t do it on their own. One more reason "diyers" do what they do is to improve the value of their own homes. Some people are "do-it-yourselfers" because it saves them a great deal of money. Generally, contractors can be expensive when fixing something that you, for the price of materials, could accomplish. Paying someone materials plus labor tends to put a giant whole in one’s check book. By doing small projects around your house as things need doing, two things can occur. One, you can put away the money you might spend needlessly on professionals and save it for something that you really need or want. The money can even go toward making upgrades to your house that you would not be able to afford otherwise. For example, a "do-it-yourselfer" can install a tile floor for the cost of having a professional install a vinyl floor. This would be an upgrade. Two, if you learn to do something on your own, the knowledge will most likely come in handy again if the problem arises at another time in the future. Another reason "do-it-yourself" has become popular over time is because of the popular rise of people flipping houses. With the recently strong real estate market, many people have picked up the task of buying houses that need fixing up, fixing them, and selling them for a sizeable profit. A way that doing projects themselves comes in is that people can save money so that their profit margin is much larger. Using a contractor on only large jobs that are dangerous or require training to execute is a smart way to make money and in many cases, helps the flipper to take more pride in a project. Sometimes, a person’s reason for becoming a "do-it-yourselfer" is to make money being a handyman and helping someone else. Many times, people can not afford to hire a professional contractor and can not do the work themselves. In this case, they will call a handyman to be able to do what ever work is needed around the house. Many people make good money off of being the local neighborhood handyman. When work is done to a satisfactory degree, word of mouth will generally fill up the calendar of the handyman who has done the work. One more advantage to becoming a person with "DIY" experience is the fact that tackling projects at home can definitely add value to your house and property. Texturing the rooms in your house or removing dated popcorn ceilings, for example can drastically change the look and value of your house, no matter how old it is. Whatever the reason for the changing wave of "DIY", it has definitely become a trend. Stores like Home Depot, Lowe’s, and Ace Hardware have seen a marked rise in customers coming in to take on bigger and more difficult projects. Whatever the motivation, "DIY" is very advantageous in many ways.

Online temptation blocker

Copyright 2006 Jim Edwards One of the best things about doing business online involves the fact that with a computer and Internet connection you can do just about anything you want. One of the worst things about doing business online involves the fact that with a computer and Internet connection you can do just about anything you want. In a business context, computers and Internet access represent the ultimate double-edged sword that requires discipline and self-control when it comes to the endless possibilities of how to spend your time. Now, for all of us who fall into the category of needing a tad more will-power to stay on task, help arrives in the form of a free software app for PC called "Temptation Blocker." Originally developed to help the software's author avoid playing "Half Life 2" (a great game, by the way) while under pressure to meet a critical deadline for his work, "Temptation Blocker" operates with a very simple purpose. He knew that if he could just let the sane part of himself set limits, he would head off the game playing in moments of weakness later on during the day. Now, for the rest of us who need a little help avoiding temptation throughout the day, we can use this same program in a variety of ways. The software comes free of charge for PC users (sorry, no MAC version at this time) by logging on to thenetreporter/temptation-blocker. html Download the software and follow the simple installation steps and then restart your computer. Once the software installs, you start it up and see a list of the programs in your computer's Start Menu. You can check off the ones you want to block, tell it how long to block them, and then get to work. If you ever give in to temptation and try to start the blocked programs, a dialogue box pops up telling you how much longer until the programs are available again. If the program you wish to block doesn't show up in the list, you can browse for it and add it to the program list. If it lists programs you know you'll never want to block, you can right mouse click them and remove them individually from the list. You can then create profiles to block specific programs based on the job you need to get done. * The Email Addict * I admit it: I'm addicted to email. I've developed a compulsion to click the "Send/Receive" button on my Mail Washer software at least every 5-10 minutes throughout the day. Not only does it distract me to run down at least a half - dozen rabbit-holes daily, but it also adds greatly to my overall stress level. By blocking access to my email program, I'm actually weaning myself out of the habit of constantly checking email every few minutes and reclaiming valuable time. * Get Work Done! * No matter what deadline you face, by blocking those programs which tempt you to sidetrack and waste time, you'll actually get more time to enjoy them! Instead of fragmenting your time into inefficient bits, you can concentrate on one task at a time, get it completed, and then do whatever you want with the extra free time - and do it with a guilt-free conscience.

Buying an engagement ring

So you think you want to take your relationship to the next level? Are you considering marriage? If you answered, "yes" to both questions then you should be getting ready to make another important decision … the engagement ring. Traditionally, the engagement ring is a diamond ring. There are many styles of diamond rings to choose from (not to mention the cut, color, clarity, karat and shape). All of this can seem overwhelming to even the most love struck suitor. If you can follow a few basic rules; do a little detective work and ask some questions then you can take most of the headache out of this decision and be well on the way to the perfect diamond. Cost is probably the first thing to consider when purchasing an engagement ring. Most etiquette states that the groom to be should spend two months salary. Although this is not a hard and fast rule it can be a good starting point. Making sure the ring is the correct size for you fiancй-to-be is also crucial. What could be more embarrassing than popping the question and then finding out the ring is way too small for the finger. A good way to avoid this dilemma is to take a ring out of her jewelry box and have the size checked. If you aren't sure this will work or your significant other doesn't wear rings then you could stop by a jewelry store in the mall and have her fingers sized. To avoid giving away the possible surprise be sure to have more than just the ring finger on the left hand sized, though. When considering the type of diamond you may want to do a little detective work. Ask friends (hers not yours) what they think she likes. Perhaps she has already had this kind of conversation with her friends in the past. If not then maybe one of her friends would be willing to ask a few "innocent" questions and get back to you. Also, family can be a good source of information as well. Just a little effort to this regard can pay off big dividends in selecting an engagement ring. Besides you who would know what she likes best … her friends and family, of course. It is important to remember that selecting the ring is one of the most important decisions in the engagement process, but don't let it overwhelm you. If you consider the size and cost of the ring, do a little research and ask a few questions then you are well on your way to making the perfect decision for the perfect engagement ring. Now you are ready.

Easy games to play for fun

: Get acquainted with a practical guide on the easiest games that you can play online. And once you read this article, you will find that you have at least stopped losing all your money. If you follow the advice well and to the dot, you will also learn how to start winning cash from other players or by beating the casino. Sounds interesting? It is. Note that the games you must look out for are those where the house edge is very low. If these are hard to find at the casino you have entered, look for those games that depend more on skill than on luck. Some of these include blackjack and poker. The games to avoid because they depend solely on luck are any of the slot machine games such as Caribbean Stud or the regular or progressive slot jackpots. These rely only on luck and the house edge there is against you. What is a House Edge? Since the casinos and betting establishments are in it for making money, they have created an artificial method to gain leverage over the players. This is what they have termed house edge. What it means is that over and above what you win, the casinos deduct a certain amount for themselves. It is something like insurance but only for them and not for you. But the casinos do not actually do this. Instead, they have inserted these odds into the game winnings so that you do not notice it. When you win, you are paid according to the newly calculated odds and you are no wiser. For instance, if you walk over to a casino and place a bet of ten dollars on a roulette table. (For arguments sake, let us also suppose it was an American roulette table.) If you win, you should be given three hundred and seventy dollars because the true odds is thirty-seven to one. Instead, you will only get three hundred and fifty dollars according to the odds of thirty-five to one. This is what I was referring to in the previous paragraph. What has happened is that you have lost twenty dollars to the casino as part of the house edge. Playing Poker: Pick and play this exceptional game because, here, you are not competing against the house at all. It is other players like you who you are up against. Do battle against them and defeat them for cash. No house edge comes in the way here, but you do pay a small part of the money you win to the casino as a commission. This winning commission is called rake, and its so minute that you do not feel it pinch your pocket. In addition, this is one of the best games to play if you are good at it and if you have razor-sharp skills. You will be able to mint money like crazy if you can read other expressions and count the cards well. You can also pick from a variety of game variations such as Red Dog Poker and Texas Holdem. Playing Blackjack: This is one of those games that the casino does not like you playing. If it was up to the betting establishments, they would remove these tables altogether. Why? Because the edge for them is only a half percent! Thus, is you play well by remembering that you have to beat the dealer and not reach 21, you stand a big chance of accumulating a large sum. I also suggest you brush up on your mathematical skills. If you wish, learn how to count cards, but be careful. Because card counting works, casinos have banned it. All you have to do is count the colored cards (the cards that are ten and above). Then, it will be easier to decide which bet to make and which not to make. Practice again and again at home because you not only have to master this skill but you also have to learn to do it silently so that the casinos do not catch on. Video Poker: This is a game very much like one of the many regular and progressive slot machines games you will run into at a casino, but it is different. Unlike slots, skill plays a big part in the results, and thus you have a bigger chance of winning than at one of the slot machines. But, before you begin, glance at the payment structure pasted on the machine. You should make your gaming decisions based on the house odds and payment structures of the machine.

Additional start up airlines are looming

: Several months ago, in a related article, I made mention of two start up air carriers for the US market. Since then, both EOS Airlines and Maxjet Airways have taken flight and are successfully serving their passengers and making plans for future expansion. Beyond these two carriers, additional carriers are waiting to take their first flights. Let's take a look at some leading contenders. Fly First Class -- This Florida based air carrier is planning to use Wilmington, NC as its base. With flights to Bermuda and London planned, the airline -- true to its name -- will offer only one level of service, first class. Expected first flight is sometime during the second quarter of 2006. Primaris Airlines -- Already FAA approved and the owner of a single Boeing 757 aircraft which they currently are leasing to another carrier, Primaris placed an order in January 2005 for Boeing's new Dreamliner aircraft, also known as the 787. Before the first of these particular aircraft arrive in 2008, Primaris reportedly will be leasing three additional 757 aircraft and begin scheduled service between New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco by the middle of 2006.

Virgin America -- Pending government approval, Virgin America will fly upwards of 105 Airbus aircraft. Based in San Francisco, the Richard Branson inspired airline must overcome some hurdles first including convincing the US government that the airline is, indeed, mostly US owned. Other start up carriers which are also being watched include: Blackstar Airlines, USA Jet Airlines, and Baltia Air Lines. All start ups must secure key funding, receive various federal and local governmental approvals, organize a management team, and commence hiring well before the first flight is made. It is this particular process that shakes out all the pretenders leaving behind carriers committed to making a go of it.

How to house a successful online business

: It is worth taking the time to make your site more search engine friendly, because it will bring you profit and appropriate exposure. Here are some simple advices on building successful web site for your online business. How to build search engine friendly website? You can find plenty material when browsing the Internet, but a good foundation cannot sabotage your online initiative. A search engine friendly site is not just beneficial for top ranking in the search engines, but also helps to attract customers, thus getting business for you. Before designing a site, make sure you have got a good domain name. The Domain name is your URL or Universal Resource Locator as in what a person types into the search engine bar like yoursite and others. Hypothetically, if your business is related to something like ruleta then it is good to have the word "ruleta" included into the domain name separated by dashes from other words or numbers. Generic domain names may help in search engine listing. It will be easier to find the sequence of words within a domain name directly related to the main idea of your business. Make your site content based with at least two hundred words holding clear information of your products, services and business. This will help your potential customer to know about you and get some information on products they require. Apart from verbal description, you might use web design attributes to underline your point. Please do not startle the visitor of your web site with blinking texts, shocking colors and confusing animations on the web pages. The website must have a clean look so that the web visitor will feel relaxed to get all relevant information about your services, otherwise, he will shut it down within a minutes. Keep the site simple and easy to navigateplicated navigation will confuse the visitors. The navigation must be user-friendly and easily understood by the visitors. If you search through search engine results, you will find all the top ranking websites are optimized properly. These optimized websites make their presence felt in the search engines by making their site user friendly with good navigation, content texts, and Meta tags relevant to their websites, and having proper placed images. Why shouldn't you use such simple tool like navigation at your favorite? News relevant to your site is also a great way to bring in traffic. Many people nowadays get their news online and not just world news. Maybe someone wants to read about the gambling bill that was passed in congress recently to ban money transfers to and from online casinos, a great advantage to having news on your page is that if it is well written piece of writing, other news sources like Yahoo and Google may take your masterpiece and put a link to it from their site. This would give you thousands of hits, and that is the goal. While designing your website, the most important thing to remember your website is not to trick search engines by adding hidden texts or hidden links, irrelevant keywords or text, or very small text which is hardly visible for human eyes. Google usually punishes these websites by giving them low rank or sometimes removing them forever. If you incorporate all these tips when building your website I can guarantee it will make your job much easier, no one wants to build a site and then find out they need to star over from scratch, because every day offline is potential money lost. Use the above suggestions and utilize them into your company website in order to guarantee you stop losing money that you could be making.

Live poker pros and cons of participating in a tournament

: If you have had enough of playing poker with friends or with playing it online and winning some money and then losing some money to only win that money back again, then you have reached the stage in your poker playing experience where you need to start entering live tournaments. That is the real deal. No more long hours in front of the computer, no more feeling guilty for taking your friends' money: you are now ready to turn pro. But, before you do, here are a few things you must consider: 1) One of the big differences of playing in a tournament is that you need to pick you hands carefully. Spend most of your time throwing your cards away at the right beginning. If you see that your cards won't amount to much, fight the urge to exchange most of them, and just hand them all in. This is what most tournament players do anyway. If you don't believe me, watch the others play. 2) Money you take with you to tournaments lasts for a much lengthier period than when playing with friends or online. This is one of the advantages of not playing every hand you are dealt. (Hint: You should do the same thing when playing with friends even though that then becomes boring.) 3) Do not sit to the left of the dealer. Ensure that there are at least two players between the dealer and the players to the left. Why? Only the first 2 players seated on the left of the dealer have to place the ante. Since, most of the tournaments involve ten players on each table, you save this much each time you play. This also means that each hand that you fold will mean that you have spent only half that of the lower limit. This amounts to three dollars in a two to four dollar rake tournament. 4) Take into consideration that the mere fact that you are away from home means that you will spend money on food and drinks. Try and get your own, but in any case keep it light. 5) Tournament dealers are not paid much, and so it' general practice to give them about three percent of whatever you win. Consider that all gambling halls and poker rooms also take a certain percentage but at least this comes from the money you win and so you don't feel it. 6) One of the other advantages of playing in a tournament is that you can use more money than you had. For instance, for a hundred dollar sit-in, many casinos and poker rooms will give you about five hundred in tournament chips to bet with. 7) If high odds and high risk is not what you are looking for you can take advantage of the late night satellite tournaments. These generally begin at one in the morning and since the number of players won't be high, you stand a bigger chance of winning. Conclusion: Playing poker requires tremendous skill as well as come luck. While you cannot depend on luck, improve your skills and your online casino or other kind of betting account will show a profit.

How to create a quality info product in one day

Are you looking to create a hot selling info product? What if I told you that you could do it in one day? And you only have to write five paragraphs! Anyone on the planet can do this. So without further ado let’s get started. Now what we’re going to do is use other people’s hard work to create our very own unique products. Sounds too good to be true doesn’t it? However this is a very real opportunity that the top gun ebook publishers use time and time again to create products in lightning quick time. Go to goarticles. In my previous article we looked at how to find niche ebook ideas in article directories. Well today we’re going to use the content in them to create ebooks. You see web site owners write articles and submit them to article directories so that they get free publicity for their sites. At the end of each article is a link back to their web site with a bit of information about their site for example. These site owners want people to take that article and market it to people so they get visitors to their site without spending a dime on marketing. This is perfect for savvy entrepreneurs who are willing to spend a few hours of their time in order to profit for many years to come. What we can do at go articles is type in a niche in the search bar at the top right (make sure it’s on “article content” rather than search by author). Type in your niche market. So for example type in “dogs”. You’ll get thousands of results related to what you have searched for. Now what I want you to do is simply go through the results finding at least seventy quality articles related to the dogs market and copy and paste them into word or some kind of word processing application. As I’ve said make sure they are quality articles. If you create an ebook using rubbish you’ll just get a sky high refund rate and it will all be a pointless exercise. Do it right from the off and you’ll set yourself up for success. If you can, try and tie all the articles together in one sub niche. For example a sub niche of dogs might be training your dog. So you could find articles on stopping your dog from barking at night, toilet training that kind of thing. Use a bit of imagination when using this method. Email Article Authors You don’t want to use any articles without the authors permission. Remember the majority of articles will have been submitted so the author can get visitors to their site without spending a dime. However you never want to breach any copyright laws. To avoid this email the authors of each article. Explain to them that you are creating an ebook aimed at their niche market. You’d love to include their article in your book and you’ll include a link back to their site and information about them. Also ask them if they have any other articles you could include. I would expect about 70 percent of authors you contact will be over the moon to approve the use of their articles in your book. After all it will give them increased exposure and potential sales. Then you just need to discard the articles from authors who haven’t replied or who have declined the use of their articles. Put the remaining articles in an order that makes sense and create a contents page. Use the titles of the articles as contents topics. You could even create chapters aimed at solving certain problems people in your niche have. So for example if you were creating an ebook on golf you could create a section on improving your golf swing, a section on the mind game of golf and so on. All articles would make up separate chapters. Now if you remember at the beginning I mentioned writing five paragraphs. Well this is it. Write a short introduction and conclusion. These only need to be a few paragraphs telling people what they can expect to learn in the introduction and a summary of what they have learnt in the conclusion. And make sure that you sign off with your name! This will instantly establish you as an expert in the field. Another tip is to link to your back end products at the end of the book or add a link to your sign up page in order to increase your sales. Finally you need to turn it into an ebook to sell. Go to primopdf/ and download the software. Don’t worry it won’t cost you a dime. Once downloaded all you need to do is in your word software hit “file“ and then “print” and then select “primo PDF” as your printer. Voila. You’ve just created an ebook using other people’s hard work. This whole process can be done in just a few hours. Obviously you may need to wait a day or two for the article authors to get back to you but apart from that you’re all set! Anyone can use this method to create more ebooks than you’d ever be able to sell. Didn’t I tell you that anyone could do this? Just think, you can create a product without spending a single cent yet you could sell hundreds or even thousands of copies and you get to keep ALL the profits. And all from other people’s hard work! What a great method, right?

Move making in snow time some experience

Everything is White this morning! What a great time to make a movie! Winter does present some interesting problems for videos. First thing is, it’s cold! That means keeping not just yourself, but your equipment warm as well. There’s some controversy surrounding whether batteries lose their charge quicker in low temperatures, maybe the guys at Mythbusters can answer that one; personally, I say they certainly do. I also can say with some certainty that cold weather affects equipment as well; I have a digital camera that takes great pictures above 32 degrees Fahrenheit, but below that it starts out as if filled with molasses and eventually just stops working. It may be the lubricant, or close tolerances in the parts, but it can’t take the cold. So before you make a big project out of your winter flicks, let’s run a few tests. Make sure it’s below freezing outside first. Find a place outside that’s a safe place to leave your equipment, a back porch, backyard, etc., that’s got some light available, if it’s after dark. Set up your camera with a freshly charged battery pack, select a setting, and start filming. Place a spare battery outside on a dry surface. Go back inside and make some hot cocoa! No sense you freezing, leave that task to the equipment. Wait 10 or 15 minutes and check to see if anything is still working. If the camera’s stopped, try the spare battery to see if it works. Keep checking at 10-minute intervals until the media fills up or the camera stops working. Now you have some idea of how long you will have to make your video. Now for the second test: on a sunny, cold day, take some shots that include total sunshine, partial shade, and deep shadows. Shoot the same footage on several different settings: if your camera has a snow/beach setting, try that, also the full automatic, and any other settings that you think might work. You may find that the snow/sand setting is inadequate for deep shadow shots while in bright sun. Review your test a shot, make a few notes and it’s on to the last test. The final test is you: what do you have for personal warmth equipment? Remember the little gut in A Christmas Story that looked like an overstuffed Teddy bear? You don’t want that look. You want flexible, warm layers; you want gloves or mittens that have removable finger covers, and warm, comfortable footwear. Leave the sunglasses off when you film so that you can better gage the lighting. You also want to have some sort of equipment cases, to hedge a little against the bitter cold you may encounter. I keep my batteries inside my outer clothing, to add a little time to their life. When you’re ready to go, make a mental note of what kind of video you want, think about where you want the camera, and whether you’ll be able to re-take any shots or just rely on one take for everything. If you’re off to the slopes to shoot some awesome snowboarding moves or some exciting mogul moves, remember to try to protect your camera from spraying snow. Keep the equipment off until you’re ready to shoot, and turn it off when you’re through, and put it away, even back the still-warm car. If it’s ice-skating or cross-country skiing, or just having fun in the snow, shoot until you run out of battery power; then head back to the editing studio. The last step is the editing, including any sound editing you want to do. I like to use Audio4fun’s Voice Changing Software Diamond 5.0 for audio editing, as it has some dynamic features that allow for real-time editing, and many filters and effects for adding depth and quality to your productions, and the ability to morph your own voice into almost anyone else’s voice. This would be great if you want to create a funny video clip with this Voice Changer. Once you’ve got your final product, burn a couple of CD’s or DVD’s, invite the relatives over, and don’t forget the popcorn and hot cocoa! ABOUT AUTHOR: Wayne Rice is a freelance journalist, copywriter, photographer and artist. He currently resides in the United States